NDP Fever!

Man! The NDP Fever is on again! Now.. where did I last stop? Becos' there is certainly a lot to update abt.. so I feel tat this is gonna be long.. so ya.. so here goes..

Thursday (13/07/06)

Slept in camp yesterday nite, becos this morning got CO's Parade and we had to attend, becos last minute, our rehearsals are being pushed to the afternoon session.. sianx..

CO Parade is ok but its the first time I see so many ppl attending it.. its like almost the whole flight is attending sia.. becos there are course trainees attending it too.. so ya.

Then I got the thing which made me so happy the whole day; I got my dental FFI liaoz! Its scheduled nxt thurs (20/7) at 1100, but then I have to do it fast, becos the same afternoon, I've got to go to National Stadium for NDP rehearsal, since now the rehearsals are thurs and sats.. so ya..
As I always said, when I get my FFI, its a step to ORD! So now I can shout, "ORD LOH!!" =D

Then its rest in the afternoon before its pushed off for rehearsal at National Stadium at abt 1500..

When we went there, I didnt really eat dinner which was served almost immediately when we reached there.. the reason why I didnt really eat dinner is becos I ate 1 whole cheese toast, 1 cup of tea and 1 box of chee chong fun.. so ya.. so I eat all these, and u think I still can eat dinner? I dun think so loh =)

Then its rehearsal but this time, the field has tarpaulin laid on it, which is better lah.. at least get us familarised abt the markings and stuff, since we screwed up the other time becos of the markings..

Abt 3 hrs later, the drill ended (which was quite slack actually!) and we went back to camp, and by the time it reached camp, it was already 2000.. I was thinking becos nxt day (fri - 14/7) I P1 and the rest on off, so no pt bking out, since need to come back the next day.. my bunk mates (who is also in GOH shift!) also think the same way.. so we did not bk out loh..

But before I went up to bunk, I pre-asked my P1 sgt how the P1s and stuff.. he explain to me, and at tat time, he cldnt confirm any details.. so I asked him to SMS me the details the nxt morning.. and he said I wld be in charge.. I was like.. "huh? ok loh..".. sgt ask me things, I cannot say cannot rite..

Friday (14/07/06)

My specs went for a range session and then it only left my P1 grp, me, and the previous day's P1 group.. My sgt did msg me in the morning as to give specific instructions to ppl loh, machiam like I really a IC like tat..

Did wat my sgt told me to, and then, I went to the I-NET room to check my email and stuff.. then suddenly, one of the HQ personnel told me to take my shift's parade state on behalf of my specs.. I was like WTH! I told the person tat my sgt is coming back in the afternoon at noon so he can do it, but he replied tat noon is too late liaox.. so ya.. did it anyway.. and I actually felt quite frightened lah, becos my name is at stake! I actually put down my name in the parade state as the person who take the parade state, so if anything wrong, I have to answer, so its quite impt tat wat I do inside the parade state is correct lah!

Then after tat, went up to bathe, before I went down to guardroom to do duty becos I was P1.. Did my duty with my "boy boy", Randy.. and we talk a lot, sumthings which are too personal to be stated in this blog.. so ya.. but it was a great chat with each other.. so ya..

At abt 3pm, we are being "pulled back", and I went back to bunk to like slack a while.. so to slack, I went down to my I-NET room again.. this time, during my time of surfing, I stomped upon an idea; look for kakkis to watch "Pirates of the Carribean 2 : Dead's Man Chest".. I first looked for Mingjun, but he said he watched liaox.. so I was like thinking of who can I asked to watch.. suddenly, a tot came to my mind.. ask my best friend, Bingxun.. Man. so excited! Have not seen Bingxun since I graduated frm my primary sch.. so if you count back, tats 9 long years, and its only recently tat I got his contact thru another friend of mine whom I found on Friendster! And we had agreed to meet on Tues (18/7) for movie and dinner.. fwah! Best! I hope I can recognise him loh, and I dun cry when I meet him.. ha.. you all koe me lah.. very emotional one! Imagine seeing a old friend of urs when u have lost contact for 9 long years.. oh man! This is gonna be exciting =).. can't wait for tuesday to come =)

My other 3 P1 friends (boon sen, samuel & yeow siang) went to "cheong sua".. they act as enemies for the course trainees who were doing section movement activity.. so ya.. they were totally "chao ta" lah.. fortunately I did not go (which I initially wanted to actually), or else, my whole neck wld be covered with heat rash and this is disgusting lah! Then they also came back quite late in the evening, whilst yizhou, guowei and myself had our bath already and were watching TV.. they so poor thing =(

Then I was so shacked lah, so by 2200, I was fast asleep!

Saturday (15/07/06)

Woke up this morning at 0645.. brush teeth and stuff.. and by 0815, we were downstairs and got ready to draw our rifles for our NDP rehearsal today (which happen to be an NE Show!)..

Reached there and when I saw Ann Tat (my friend frm Changi Airbase), he told me he got bad news for me.. I was like, "oh.. wat is tat".. then when I found out wat was it, it was quite bad lah.. it apparently he's not taking part in the parade today becos his leg pain.. When he told me abt tat, he like very upset and want to cry like tat! I can sense his disappointment when he told me tat lah.. but anyway, I did cheer him up by telling him positive things lah.. glad it helped him a bit loh! =).. Cheer up bro ok =)

Then its resting a while at Indoor Stadium before we go to the National Stadium for some rehearsals.. and this is where another change took place.. my RSM suddenly called me to change my drill position frm the 18th column 3rd man, to the 20th column (which is the perimeter rear column) 5th men!.. so this again, takes a bit of get used too (no one now tells me whether I'm on the marking itself and stuff, and my marching muz be a bit more 'zai' now, becos I'm at the perimeter row and when I go for the march past, I'm quite prominent as in I'm the 2nd row frm the front.. so ya.. There are pros and cons lah.. the pros is tat I'm more susceptible to camera shots by camera man (both on the parade square as well as casual shots which I got one from a camera man! He took an abstract image of me.. he actually focus his camera on my chrome bayonet.. so its like he dun take me directly, but he use my bayonet and take me.. quite cool rite?) as well as TV coverage, but the con is tat I have to very careful in my actions.. every drill movement have to be executed perfectly and becos I'm at the perimeter, so everything is visible.. so ya..
Then we had lunch (which was Pizza Hut).. not too bad!

Then I saw my cousin, Sherwyn, and called him lah! Apparently, dun koe wat is his role in NDP.. so ya.. anyway, I did call him but becos he is like so busy, never really talk to him.. so ya.. Then guess wat! My cousin told my grandma abt it, and at nite, my grandma asked me abt my mtg with my cousin and stuff!..

Then we went back to Indoor Stadium to eat our dinner and rest.. Dinner was KFC.. not too bad.. the chicken finally for once is big! =)

Before we moved out for Parade, my RSM said, "see.. ppl from paya lebar taking photos, why sembawang ppl dun want to take?".. then I answered back to my RSM, "Sir, not we dun want to take.. we want to take actual day..".. then my RSM said tat actual day dun have time becos all too busy.. so ya.. anyway, we did manage to take a few photos.. some candid and some formal.. photos wld be uploaded soon as soon as I have it! =)

Anyway, the parade today was above average, though initially when marching in, there were a slight cock up but we did retify in the end.. the crowd today at the Stadium were Primary 5 students frm the schools in Singapore, and this show is considered an NE Show for them.. So anyway, when I march in, I was quite taken aback tat there were actually abt 52,000 Primary 5 students watching the Parade.. it was certainly noisy lah! Its noisy to the pt tat even b4 the Parade Commander shouted the command, the students already koe the last word to the command and they shouted it out, which if we were not alert, we wld juz follow lah, and we wld be made of a laughing stock!
Then again, there were some cock-ups with the command, tat out of 5 at ease positions, we had only 2.. the rest were at attentions.. and the last one was very long.. we stand attention for close to 15 mins becos of the programme lineup, and halfway, my arms juz started shivering liaox, and I was almost at the verge of like giving up, but realise tat its mind over matter.. if I really given up, I think I wld screw up the show as well as being kicked out of GOH.. moreover, I'm at the rear row, so have to show tat AirForce garang (malay for fierce).. so ya.. I'm glad I manage to control loh..

Then came we singing the National Anthem.. and there it starts again; my tears juz well up within my eyes when I sang the National Anthem, and I can feel tat my eyes are wet! I was almost at the verge of tearing lah, but didnt! Thank God!

Then it came to the march past.. it was quite stressful for me, becos I'm like quite prominent, becos I'm 2nd row frm front, and the last column.. so ya.. but I'm glad tat I delivered in the end lah! In front of me, despite my timings (cant really shout too loud, or else ppl may see/hear, and this is not desirable!), is a bit out of step.. haix.. =(

Then its debrief and I'm quite shocked tat Yizhou told me tat he teared not at the National Anthem but actually at the march past.. Gosh! People have different feelings! so ya.. =)

Then its good news lah, becos we were told tat we are going back late, but surprisingly, we left quite early but going hback to camp frm National Stadium is a chore, becos the bus goes one big round, becos the roads near National Stadium is closed.. so ya..

Shared cab with boon sen (surprisingly the cab fare is not very ex.. just a weeny more ex.. to be exact, $0.40.. so ya..) and then reach home and then blog this post liaox!

Ok lah.. have to sleep liaox! very late! too shacked after drill! Tml waking up and hopefully go out with family and have nice dinner or sumthing.. ok.. *yawns*.. sleepy!

** I'm still counting down the days LEFT to serve.. its 96 DAYS to ORD!!

Sleepy head,
<<< abriel >>>