Better

The medication took effect and I'm feeling better.

Much better.

Apparently, I think I somehow cut my eye so there is like a small 'cut' in my eyes.

My cough however has gotten worse and the remedy?

I'm gonna go to the DOCTOR.

Yes, I've decided to take the advice of many to finally go to the sage of many awful medication.

Tomorrow that is.

When it is my off day.

I didn't want to skip my Operator Maintenance course so I could nurse my illnesses.

Didn't reflect well to the unit if I had not attained such a simple course even though it might seem meaningless.

Bleah.

Since my mood has kind of perked up even though I'm a lil lethargic, I shall be nice and put up some pics.

Oh, I forgot to add that I've been working with some incompetent people who so conveniently assumed stuff was already done and it had to be ME to do some HARD PRESS QUESTIONING before I knew the assumed was the mother of all fuck ups.

Apparently, it was thought that the VIPs for the Commissioning Ball was already invited and paid up.

When in reality, all it took was thru one phone call of clarification that the above mentioned task wasn't DONE at ALL.

Seriously.

If you said you will do the task, DO IT. Double check if it's done.

I snarl at incompetency.

Thank god the meet up with the emcee was great, seems like he settled down a lot of our knotted questions that were dying to be answered.

Well, as promised.

Photos & Commentary from my commissioning parade n the Monday after that.

I felt the parade when well except for an obvious flaw where the person standing in my front rank dropped his handguard.

Major hoo hah.

Other than then, comments from Mdm Helen that the Artillery contingent was very well synchronized and we all berhenti with one sound unlike the rest.

So yah. Think it went pretty smoothly. Could be better though.

May I present to ya....

Marching out in style

The joys of FINALLY throwing the peak camp - Undescribable joy

Family Pic

Me n Grandpa

Me n Best Fren

Me n Gwen

Me n MeiFen

Ivan came too but he took the photos with my Grandpa's camera and my Grandpa has yet to send me those pics.

By the way, my grandpa is reaching 90 and he's still learning. He's becoming an IT whiz and very into photography

He was holding to a Digital SLR camera for my parade.

I have a very trendy Grandad.

Damn scary. I heard he got like 400 over photos of the parade. Can't wait for him to burn those photos to me.

After the parade ....

We had dining-in where it was a formal setting Chinese style.

Food standard was like 1/5.

Me n Mdm Helen, Dy Course Commander n was the table Host

Chatted loads with her.

She blabbered something like Benjamin was so quiet until I open my big mouth and I shocked her. Something along that line.

Oh she also shocked me at the start of the dinner.

Mdm Helen: Oh yah, Benjamin, I forgot to tell you something.
Me: What is it, Mdm?
Mdm: Your posting has changed.
Mdm: You're .... (everything seem incoherent after that)
Me: What?
Me: What?
Me: What?

It finally went thru that I was posted as a unit FO and that I was the only change in posting.

Then this week, there were even more shocking postings.

At least I wasn't the only one who got these free handouts of heart attacks.

I wanted to be an instructor so bad that I already prepped myself mentally on what to teach, how to teach and planned what I wanted to do.

Oh well, plans changed and I couldn't eat much during the meal.

Too shocked and bewildered but nevertheless, accepting of whatever was thrown to me.

Just a lil upset I wasn't gonna be an instructor alongside Louis n Terence.

Mommy dearest

Daddy the pillar

Alex, BMT buddy in ADA. Ironically, we're in "Artillery" lol

All the 2LTs instructors with Louis. Very blur.

With 2LT "I'm so gonna select you to 20SA but didn't end up going" Jason

With FO instructors

And a parting shot of that day .....

ARGHHHHHHHHHH !!!! We're OFFICERS lah !!!!

Monday morning, had post admin of de-kitting.

Felt damn weird donning something else than the 3 black bars.

Here I am with some pals at MacDonalds:

Me n Alvin Pek

Me n Zwee (Mr Starve-a-lot)

Going bonkers with John

Terence poking fun at my tooth

Admiring our ranks in very different ways

And if one wonders how we got dengue ......

I "siam" far far away from this monstrous insect

Now, it's time to look ahead.

Monday is a brand new pathway for me to travel. I need to recover by then.

Get yourself soon u arse,
Benjamin

Grouchy

Yes.

I've commissioned.

Boo Yay.

But what's taking me so long to blog about it beats me.

I'm too lazy to upload the photos.

Don't know why but I think it boils down to my illness.

Make that illnesses.

~ Blocked nose since commissioning parade
~ Bad cough with hard to come out phlegm since today
~ Diarrhea since last week
~ Sore red left eye

I'm contemplating to report sick but I know I can't.

Tomorrow have to return to Khatib for OM course.

1 hour of missing the lesson means I'm out of course. Yikes.

Have to meet up with Emcee tomorrow to discuss contract details about Comissioning Ball.

Liaise with printers on cost and deadline for printing 44th FAOCC commerative booklet.

I seriously need to get well and perform miracles for what I have to do.

I spend today, my off day, just lying flat on my mom's bed.

Recovering, sweating off and just recuperating.

I feel a tad better than yesterday but still no vast improvement.

I've been taking tonnes of medicine to no avail.

My loss of tooth also has made me lost the ability to appreciate the crunchiness of food anymore.

To top it off, I've yet to post my pics online.

Now.

I'm suppose to be over the moon at the fact that I'm a SIR.

In fact, I am.

But I'm just not in the state of mind to rejoice.

Just feeling grouchy and incoherent. I'm just negative karma right now.

If anybody dare aggravates me, I'll just stare at them with my red eye, spit him with my phlgem, sneeze onto his face and shit all over him like Niagara falls.

Grrr....
Benjamin

Extraction

I'm home on a weekday.

Not that there is anything to boast about.

There's always a reason.

And the reason for me being home is not good.

I had my molar tooth extraction out yesterday.

Least to say, I'm feeling less than wholesome.

The tooth decay on my molar had penetrated to the nerves, causing me not to eat and sleep properly since Sunday night.

There were 2 options.

1) Nerve repair. I get back my tooth, visit the dentist 4 more times and cost a whooping $500.

2) Extraction. Permanant removal. Nuff said. Cheaper. $57.

When the kind dentist applied alot of force on the pliers, I was in pain.

Not in pain as the pain from the tooth but the pain of thinking of the future where I can't appreciate food (munching on them) properly anymore.

Quite sad.

Well due to $$$ constraints, I went for the sacrifice.

I now feel equally grumpy when I was feeling the nerve pain before the extraction and when I was feeling the loss of my molar after the mini operation.

I can't do any vigourous exercise due to the medication I'm taking.

Antibitotics and painkillers.

So I skipped one parade rehersals which happens to be today and it is Commander's Vetting !!!

Damn scared if SSM puts me out of the comissioning parade.

I only skip one day but I've tahan for the rest of the 1.5 weeks rehearsals.

Oh well.

Come what may.

As I was DAMN bored today, I went around ppl's blog, and doing quizzes.


You are a Samurai.
You are full of honour and value respect. You
are not really the stereotypical hero, but you
do fight for good. Just in your own way. For
you, it is most certainly okay to kill an evil
person, if it is for justice and peace. You
also don't belive in mourning all the time and
think that once you've hit a bad stage in life
you just have to get up again. It's pointless
to concentrate on emotional pain and better to
just get on with everything. You also are a
down to earth type of person and think before
you act. Impulsive people may annoy you
somewhat.

Main weapon: Sword
Quote: "Always do the right thing.
This will gratify some people and astonish the
rest" -Mark Twain
Facial expression: Small smile


What Type of Killer Are You? [cool pictures]
brought to you by Quizilla

If I only can go back in time.

I wanna be a SAMURAI.

One of my few dream occupation.

Ain't it cool?
Benjamin

Waiting to Evolve

Had Sunday brunch with my best fren, Jun Mian.

JM looking like a Taiwanese punk; Me like some hobo

Wow, life has certainly change for him.

He has already ORD-ed and leading a high life in university.

Listening to his hall stories and camps, his interaction time with the other species and leading the lifestyle he wants.

I'm like so jealous.

I SO now want to go to a local uni.

I can perpetually visualize life there now as I daydream.

Army life stinks due to how it seeps ur soul. Uni life would be so much more interesting.

I'm now inspired to stay in Singapore. Argh.

1 more week to Comissioning.

1 more year to ORD.

Sigh,
Benjamin

Wielding the Sword

My week was filled with Commissioning parade rehearsals.

Drills are a torture especially to the feet but I'll survive.

Just 'henta taki' is enough to make me sweat profusely.

My sergeant-major likes to call me 'Lao Fu Zi' becoz my specs keep drooping down like the said character.

Can't blame mah, I sweat alot and naturally, my glasses will naturally bounced with all that marching.

Will be wearing contacts that day, at least I can look good.

Hehe.

Marching in vest and No.1 pants

I'm way back in the last row, almost unspottable :P

Marching in files - everyone looking mighty fine

Full dress rehearsals - A preview of what to come

Day in day out, march until super sianz.

1 more week to go. Can't wait.

Yesterday, there was the Army Certificate Presentation Ceremony.

Me in my No.2 - looking puffed up

Since couldn't take photos during the ceremony, I honoured the wishes of my School sergeant-major and didn't take any.

Post-mortem was however different.

We had a formal dining in and had to eat prim and proper.

After which we headed to the mess for some concoction of the OCS spirit which made up of many funny liquids (i.e. tonic water, peppermint, apple juice...) which taste ghastly.

Photos for your perusal:

Nice shot of the swords at our respective seats

The gleaming sword

10 months for this ???

My scroll - with my future rank - i know - OMG !

On the cab ride home with the sword !

I'm a certified officer as of 2nd OCT!

Souvenier glass from the OCS spirit

Me wielding the sword

Me n Terence, puffed up in No.2

Me n Melvin

Me n Wen Yao

Me, Alvin, Chin Puang n Ling Wei

With Chey Sing, my new room buddy

Terence and Me

Me and Kah Siang (Mr SOM wor~~)

Standing proud with our swords

Well all the formalities and ceremonies are done.

Anticipating October 1st.

I already got my posting.

I'm gonna be an Instructor. ***Gasp***

Come what may,
Ben

Reality TV check

I can't help but blog again.

Reality shows are finally making a comeback. Hopefully with new formulas.

Amazing Race 8

Starting Sept 27th - it's their family edition.

Instead of running in pairs, it comes down to packs of 4.

All the families running against one another AND each other is gonna be pure drama.

Entertainment the way I like.

Survivor: Guatemala

Their pilot episode where they had to navigate must be one of the toughest challenge.

I would have excelled in that challenged.

And they brought back my 2 fav Survivors, Bobby Jon n Stephenie.

Hope they last longer to the end this time.

Yaaaaaaaaaaay I hope to make more time for TV once I commissioned. I so need to fill my void of reality shows.

Ben

Recap: Thailand

It's been a torturous 3 weeks for me thus far.

Thailand back to back followed by my move back to OCS @ SAFTI.

Ex. Battleking was siong but 1 day of parade rehearsals are like HELL.

My foot is filled with blisters and rotting skin. I think it's a tradition to have foot rot.

Don't worry, no pictures like that to vomit out what you just snacked upon.

Instead, bevy in the glory of photos of my journey in Thailand !!!!

Flight to mysterious Thailand !!! - Me n Louis

What I wake up to every morning

BnRO teammates - prepping up the mood for Ex. BK

First Set - 'C' BRO signaller

I felt I was quite 'zhai', even though I had little background in field artillery as I specialize in the liaison package, after a few excursions outfield to recce the ground, I felt I could take over the role as a BRO.

However, I HATED the vehicle I travelled in coz the freakin' road is super bumpy and my ever so bony buttocks has been smashed into pieces from ALL the bumpy rides.

Please note that all rides were like 2 hours long to and fro.

Imagine 1970s SBS bus with absolutely nothing to grip onto.

It's the only time I thank SAF for making the helmet compulsory or I would have suffered from concussion.

Another fantastic scenery shot by moi:

For the uninitiated, THAT is a 1.5 tonner with a HELL driver


'C' BRO group with our Instructor 2LT Huang


Wonderful evening shot - feels so dreamy

My second set was to be a FO, calling for arty rounds.

Did 1 fire mission only and was about to do Adjust FFE Linear Target but they cancelled it due to safety issues.

Grrrr.....

OP (Observation Post) photos:

Me acting like an instructor :P


Set 2 - FOs


Me and Terence


Infiltration exercise - Camo On

Had an enjoyable time up there.

Was determined to choose my route as a FO. See how the posting goes lar.

We then had an exercise intermission at some makeshift camp.

Men in green

Third set: Gun Crew

Woo Hoo! Time for some action ! Being at the gun site is SUPER SHIOK.

Why?

Bamboo rice and Soya Bean. Super up la. Cheap and damn good.

I will never forget these hawkers. They are damn convenient and perk you up whenever you hear their incoming vehicles.

I was damn scared it'll explode on me anytime


Being the layer!

Fired 2 rounds in total, the back blast was damn deafening sia.

Lifetime opportunity siaz~~

After the exercise ended, we had an end of frame dinner and 2 days of e-tour.

Syndicate 3 once again - Best shot ever.


John, Me, Zen, Desmond & Derek - End of Frame dinner


One of the many stray cute dogs at our camp


The very cheap yet nothing to buy floating market


Smiling at how fast we are gonna sink very soon

We also went to some safari and met face to face with loads of creatures. Lions, bears, giraffes, zebras and camels !!!

Ladies and Gentlemen - Meet the Llama


Me n Wen Yao outside the Croc fighting Pit


Met up with Abraham Lincoln at the Wax Museum


Scaled the Death railway

With that, it was a wrap.

The finale has ended. And back in Singapore 3 days ago ....

It was ACPC : Artillery Certificate Presentation Ceremony.

Getting my 2LT rank & my cert with Ta Hong & Alvin


44th FAOCC at its best.

The next 2 weeks are preparation for my comissioning parade.

Sianz, a lot of parade drills. Have to go get some blister plasters.

Well, hope to update next week.

Soon to be 2LT,
Benjamin