Chinese New Year

In army, your scope of existence is definitely limited. The people I work with are solid, dependable people, and we can definitely do what we have to do well. But what you can and cannot do is so circumscribed in there. Which is why, when bookout day comes, we'll all be looking forward to the outside world. To be able to have the chance to put all this new experience into the context of real life again, I guess. The prospect of booking out always adds a certain sharpness, and extra energy, to all that we do. Everything looks better in the light of the outside world. One thing that has to be said about army life, is that it really does make you appreciate things you have on the outside more.

And so it's Chinese New Year time! Congratulations and prosperity in abundance to all. Keep yourselves safe, everyone, and may the surprises keep coming this year! Heh it's good to be able to see the extended family again. Missed out on the big reunion dinner this year, so these few days would be the only time to at least catch a glimpse of their faces. Interestingly enough, they didn't really mention much about my hair. Which was just as well, really, because I don't particularly fancy repeating the same story over and over again.

Also met an old family friend who's currently working in MFA, and her French boyfriend who works in Hong Kong. Interesting convergence of circumstances, isn't it? Anyway her work does sound enticing...working on policy with regards to multilateral diplomacy, touching on stuff like ASEAN and the IAEA. (Oh, and I guess you'd want to know about the PSC interview too. It went better than I expected, actually. The people were rather nice, except for a bit of dryness here and there. Beyond that I can't say much. Results out in a month. The highlight of that day was actually not so much the interview but the two hours of free time after that in which I could be alone...communal living does take away something indefinable, the calmness of solitude, or something like that.)

Then meeting up with old friends too. Had dinner and went to Esplanande with Pui Man on Friday night, and yet again Esplanade delivers! There was this rather upbeat and optimistic Indonesian band called Mocca playing there...the songs were as hopeful and amusing as the stuff we'd do for Fruits and Veggies, I thought. And then halfway through the sky suddenly exploded with grenades of colour. The fireworks were definitely a nice surprise...didn't know that they would be letting any off on Friday night. I think the taste of surprises goes well with the bayside atmosphere. Just what a nice pleasant island like Singapore needs to make it really exciting - the tang of unpredictability.

And then tomorrow moving on to catch up with the Texprog people, and the class as well. Staying in the east side because book in is at 1945 tomorrow, which isn't bad, really. The trend seems to be that our book ins get later and later, which is a nice trend to have =P Dunno how things will work out tomorrow...I expect the army experience will tend to set the present apart from the past, and the boys apart from the girls. One just hopes that enough remains the same that we can continue to come together.

In other news...field camp coming up next week. I expect it'll definitely be an eye opener. It will certainly stretch some people to the breaking point. For me, I think it'll only be uncomfortable. The only real fear is of hurting myself somehow, and not so much the normal stuff like fear of snakes or spiders and so on. It's something surprising that I discovered, that I'm actually not the one least equipped to adapt to army life. I put it down to all the trips I've had the privilege of taking. Experience is a powerful defence, I've come to learn - once you know you can physically and mentally do something, that something becomes less fearsome. Anyway I guess we'll see what happens. The challenge will be how to keep healthy and to keep learning.

Also big weapon handling tests coming up. Interesting shift in perspective here, to come to see tests as something that doesn't need to be done on paper. I realise that in the beginning I'd not really taken weapons seriously. They were just tools to be mastered, not used in combat. It was one thing to be able to strip and assemble a rifle in record time, and another thing entirely to shoot someone with it. It continues to be a big psychological barrier, the prospect of firing a real rifle, of throwing a live grenade. It's something that scares me terribly, because for so much destructive power, there are only so few ways to control it. So many things can go wrong. And who will be able to take full responsibility for that enormity that we call a life?

Anyway, enough with the gloomy thoughts. Have to enjoy these few days because next bookout is rather far away, on the 11th! This weekend will have to create enough good humour and happy memories to last two weeks. Heh...after so long we still can't escape the pressure of time, eh?

pondered by phoenican @ 30.1.06