Friends

Just this week, I was having a conversation with my friends with regards to friendship. In light of randomness, my friend blurted out, "Actually, I am quite a loner." after posting some questions to another buddy. At that instance, I had a eureka moment lol. I think that friends these days are so hard to keep. It is not because we all are superficial, pragmatic, non-relational creatures - in fact I think we are the opposite - but because we live in such a fast-paced society that our friends and social circle change when we move on to different life stations. I think it is inevitable, but sad at the same time. Often or so, I have so many relationship that I wished did not drift but nurtured.

- From Pete's blog

Happy new year (again) !

Happy Chinese New Year ! HUATTTTTTTT AH.

Anyway, I'm writing this post because I Thought I'd share this little thought that's been itching at the back of my head for some time now.

Have you ever looked back at a moment in your life, in your youth when you had no responsibilities, just spread your wings after school and do whatever you want. Or back to the times where you'd just lie on the sofa waiting for your mother to bring breakfast to you. Or the times when the adult asks you "what do you wanna be next time?" and you tell them something audacious like an astronaut or a billionaire (maybe) ? Well just this afternoon when I visited my younger cousin's house, I had such a thought.

I'm turning 20 this year, and my sis, mid 20-ish (not nice to reveal her age right ! lol). Time flies, it seemed like yesterday when my mother was giving me 4 bucks a day pocket money for school. And when I raise my head and look forward, I think about all the things thats going to change in the next 5 years.

• I'm going to have to become financially independent.
• I'm going to need a game plan (yeah, my draft for making my next million dollars ain't gonna write itself out)
  
• I'm going to need to support my mother *like every other filial son*
• I'm going to need to invest in myself - I'm my greatest asset. I need skills, a second language, a sport at the professional level, entrepreneurship skills, buisness skills, IT skills - I'VE GOT NONE LOL !
• I'm going to need to think about what I wanna spend the rest of my life doing. (A Job)

God dam it's a tough world out there, and if I could, I wanna just reverse time and go back to living a life with no responsibilities, no worries, just living it day by day. But that's not going to happen. And this year, I'll be thinking about my future all year round.

Well thank god I'll have until 27Feb 2012 to come up with my rescue package. But for now, its just a long and slow wait till I .. ORD. :)

Hello 2011 , Bye bye 2010 !

Happy new year folks ! Alright, I'm not really in the mood to write anything right now, so I'll get straight to the point and buzz out.

From my A-level results, to enlistment, hell week .. graduation. Looking back, this year had been 2010 was the toughest and most emotional year so far for me. 2010 gave me the greatest highs, and banished me to the lowest moments in my life.

This year, more than ever, I control the direction of my life. I'll learn to live with greater responsibilities on the weight of my shoulders, make better decisions, and be more matured.

As I launch 2010 into the archives of my memories, I open up a new chapter in my life where I hope I'd be able to :

1. Complete the Adidas Sundown 42km under 5hrs
2. Complete the Standard Chartered 42km.
3. Get my driver's license
4. Go for a leisure diving trip with my friends.
5. Complete my SSDC (special skills diving course) smoothly and become a clearance diver.
6. Get fitter, run farther, swim faster and fight harder.
   
7. Make it a point to learn a new subject in my free time
8. Save more and spend less money.
9. Keep my friendship fired up with all my buddies who're going separate ways to UDG, and JJ taekwondo. (Somehow, the word taekwondo doesn't exsist in my computer's dictionary. The replacement for it ? - Wonderbra .. wtf -_-)
   

Please excuse me I don't mean to be rude , But tonight I'm fucking you.

Enrique Iglesias .. only he could say that.

Running

Running can be so addictive (of course, except when you're running your lungs and intestines haywire in 2.4km or timed 6km runs). Just get the right pair of shoes, plug in your ipod with your philips sports earphones, let the music play and let your feet take control.

Somedays, I feel good. I feel like I could go on and on forever, I feel like my wiring's been messed up, as though the new nerve center of my body is way below, in my feet. instead of me controlling where they go, they take me wherever they want to go. The spirit of exploration and a sense of appreciation for the scenic great outdoors can really make your run an addictive experience. And the music? The music makes the whole experience the sex.

The last 2 days I've had those kinds of runs. Yesterday, I decided to go for my usual 5km run, and I ended up doing around 8km. Today, I decided to go for the same run, to relive that addictive sense of mobility and freedom, and sure enough, I ended up doing 11km !

Running, though I'm not very good at it, I've come to understand why people are so in love with this sport, (though, i really dislike running in NDU, cause every time i put on my running shoes there, i'll be running as though I'm trying to escape a zombie Apocalypse, and that's very different from the kind of run I'm talking about here LOL.)

All I can do is train harder, get tougher, and try to be a better person. Then maybe, someday you'll see something in me :)

Thanks to all my family and friends who came to share my special moment with me.

Its been a tough 7 months.

From my medical assessment,
to my vocational assessment,
to the interview,
to recieving my enlistment letter,
to enlistment,
field camp,
final mission,
route march,
fast march,
SIT test,
BEEP test,
diver fitness test,
IPPT ( the least of my worries lol.),
Timed runs,
Sea swims,
Sea Circuits,
scuba diving,
O2 diving,
boat PT,
Boat paddling
.. team building week

Shit, I've endured one roller coaster ride of emotions. Every day of this journey feels like it's been etched into my mind. Down the road, I can just imagine myself, digging out the 33rd Batch's Hell week photo, and I'll tell my son, "yeah, those were some unforgettable crazy times !!" And I'll tell him about each and every person in the class. We may not necessarily get along well with each other all the time. We may hate each other sometimes, we may fight among ourselves sometimes, but without realizing it, we share a very special bond. A bond that cannot be forged under normal conditions .. one that's different from any bond we'll ever have in this life again .. its a bond that's forged through rough and rugged times, through hell week, through a living hell.


But here I am today, standing at the finish line feeling satisfied. Whether all this training has made me a different person or not, I don't know, you decide.

All i know, is that now that I've earned my share of glory (like the people who've gone down the same path before me), I've got a responsibility to live up to the name of the Naval Diver. I won't let myself be any less tired every night, because that's the life here .. ITS HARDCORE !