In The Middle

Final Destination

2008-05-08T14:48:00.005+08:00

Fine, so obviously I can't keep up with maintaining my blog nowadays. Been just a bit busy and lazy to be honest. But I'll try to update it every now and then, just not as often as I once did.

Why I'm updating now is mainly because of one main reason - I am finally a Police Inspector! =D Or what we are referred to as National Service Probationary Inspectors (NSPIs). After 13 months of slaving away, I have finally hit the ranks of being a full fledged Senior Officer. No longer will I need to wear the common number 3 police uniform. No longer will I need to comply to the order of needing to march around the academy. No longer will I need to greet every walking officer sir. A new sheriff is in town. And that sheriff is me XP

Yesterday was our Passing Out Parade. It was something I wanted ever since I heard I could get into this position and now that it has been done - I still remain focused to complete the next phase of training, the Company Commander (CC) course. That's right. I will be a company commander. What is it? Basically, I will be in charge of a barrack's/company's (coy) admin, logistics, discipline, inspection, etc. On top of which, with my new NSPI rank, I am quite basically a walking god. My rank is so high that the next highest National Service officer below me would be a sergeant or 5 ranks lower than me. It's also very uncommon to have Inspectors roaming the streets of the academy, so to have someone like me hold the rank.... hehehe

Anyway, my next course will be a tough one. I'm expecting one of the worse trainings yet. Even though when I went away to Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) for my 16 day leadership training course at Pulau Ubin 2 weeks back, I still think this CC course will be even tougher. Not to say that the OBS training wasn't tough; in fact, it was extremely tough. Up to this point, it has been the toughest training I have ever gone through. It was intense, extreme and a whole new experience for me. After the whole experience, I have to say that I was at the prime of my physical fitness. Never before have I been so fit. I had muscles and strengths erupting from places I didn't know existed. Truly, it was a great experience to go through this course but I'm grateful it's all over too.

Just for the benefit for the people who don't know what I did, we basically went through 3 different expeditions - land, cutter (sail boat) and sea.

The land expedition was a 4d 3n expedition where we had to locate checkpoints on the island using a map and compass. This required us to backpack our belongings and other essentials like our tents, water, ponchos, etc. around the island in search for these checkpoints. It was not easy at all, especially how we basically walked the entire day through rain and shine. I was bitten by a couple of red-black ants. It was a fascinating experience to be bitten all over my leg, but something I definitely didn't enjoy at the time. Up to this point, I still have the markings of where the ants bit me.

Then of course, there were other things like glazing upon a lake filled quarry. To most the sight was breath-taking and I tend to agree. It was quite a sight and surely most will take it as a once in a life time experience to see such a sight. What I found a bit new for me was how we had to pitch tent and cook our meals in the middle of nowhere. After which, the washing up using whatever beach sand we can find to scrape away the burnt pots and other utensils. Everything we did, we had to do with whatever resources we were given, and quite frankly, it was very uncomfortable to be living without the comfort of our luxury.

After the land exp, we had to embark on a 3d 2n cutter expedition. It wasn't long before I started to get sea sick. The cutter really affected a lot of people on the boat because of how it swayed from one side to another so easily under the impression of the advancing waves. Fortunately for me, I didn't vomit like a Singapore Merlion, but I heard a lot of my friends vomited on the other cutters.

Overall, the cutter expedition was interesting under the fact that I learnt a lot about sailing; how to tie different knots, how the wind affects the sails, how irritating it is to have to anchor up each time you wanna move off. It was fun, but I'm glad it's over =P

Finally, our sea expedition. It involved us kayaking over a distance of 117km in 4d3n. But to cut a long story short, we killed ourselves and covered the distance in 3d2n to make it back in record breaking time. The route was challenging for how we had to cover locations which involved us to push through 'tread milling' areas. One particular area, the Changi Naval Base, the first day, we kayaked for what was nearly 4hrs on the same spot trying to break through the current of the waves from the oceans. It was excruciating because we were so exhausted by the time we reached this Base that we still had to push ourselves without stopping for 4hrs because if we did stop, we would have been drifted back to where we started, leaving all our hardwork to waste. What made us take so long was how everyone had to move together. No one goes too far ahead, no one goes too far behind. So the stronger ones would be up ahead but the weaker ones would start to fall behind. That's why before the stronger ones could actually pass through the area, we would have to wait for the others and thus, sending us back to where we started. It was sooo frustrating to have to go through that because during that time, I didn't think it was going to end. Just seemed too impossible to complete and I thought I wasn't going to make it. That was only the first day, not to mention the next few days. Just seemed too difficult at the time. But now! It's over! And boy am I glad it's over! XP

Well, like I said, it's not like it wasn't hard, but I'm expecting something even more difficult when I go through the CC course. I'm not too sure of what we will be doing, but I am expecting one of the worse. We'll just have to see what will happen. But for now, I will enjoy my freedom as an NSPI and roam the streets of the academy as a walking god. muhahaha!

RoboCop

2008-02-29T21:17:00.006+08:00

Yes, well another chapter of my NS story has just crossed over in a blink of an eye ... in the blogging world that is. Whereas in actual reality, it seemed like decades. Time just isn't moving as fast as I want it to move and to me, it seems like time stops every second to catch its breath. Nevertheless, it's still moving, so that's a plus ... I guess.

Last week, we returned from our police station attachment program and I chose to return back to my division where I worked for nearly 4 months. I didn't tell anyone beside one or two so to many, it was a surprise for them to see me. But this time, when we went back, it was an attachment program to the Police HeadQuarters as well as the Neighbourhood Police Centres (NPC) - which meant following a police car to do their rounds around the vicinity and attending to different cases, which was exactly what I wanted to experience as a police officer.

So anyway, we went and to my expectation, the attachment to the HeadQuarters was really boring but the attachment to the NPC was a whole lotta fun. We were able to attend to different cases on the ground rather than having people come to you at the Police Station.

One case that I really enjoyed attending to was one noise pollution case at 3am. The location was this apartment block 9 storeys up and from the moment we arrived at the scene, we could hear the noise from ground level. In my heart I went, "Awesome! This is gonna be great!"

So we went up and found the apartment and started knocking on the door. We knocked and knocked and knocked but no one answered. That was when we started to really knock =P I, for one, was knocking on the window and pressing the door bell till I think the whole neighbourhood could hear. But we definitely knocked and called out loud enough for the lady next door to come out and reveal herself as the person who called the police.

Anyway, to cut the long story short, after a good 20-30mins of knocking, we managed to get the lady who was inside to open the door, turn the volume down and close the door on us. Oh, and she was pretty pissed at us because we intruded into her privacy as we tried to open the window to get her XP It was clear she didn't like what we did to her window hehe

Besides that, there were a whole lotta other little stuff we did during our shift that made it quite enjoyable. Just like how we were able to attend to a case at one of the largest condominiums in Singapore, the Caribbean Club at Keppel Bay. w00t! It was so much fun walking inside as an officer of the law looking cool and stuff ... but it was kinda cramped inside.

With that aside, now I'm back at the Police Academy training again =( We've got a whole lotta exams coming up and I really hope I'll be able to do well. After which, we'll be going to Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) for what should be 16 days of 'fun'. Not sure if I should be ecstatic or freaked out, but either way ... I know it's gonna be 16 days of physical and mental stress. Oh, and just as a word of warning for those who will see me after that - even though I may come out with all sorts of bulging muscles (XP), I have been told that I will look like a really dark Malay too =P Not dark enough to be an Indian, but just a dark enough to be a dark Malay.

If all goes according to plan, I will be gone on the 8th of April till the 24th of April. After which, we will be rehearsing for our POP =D Something I'm just dying to look forward to cause I know, when that comes, the day of all this stressing will almost be over! Then, if I manage to get what I wanna do after, it will be smooth sailing till the end ^^

Oh, and what I wanna do after I POP is to become a Company Commander back at the Police Academy. The current Coy Commanders say that life in the PA is really boring and slack which is exactly what I want cause then I'll have more time to do what I wanna do and not have to do something that I don't wanna do which in the end, prevents me from doing what I wanna do. hehe

And yeah, I know that since this is a public blog, chances are ... some trainees might find this site and have a read of it. For all I know, they may already be doing that because when I'm on duty doing provost, they could have searched me up and discovered my life outside of the PA. How do I know? Simple. Because I do it to my instructors =P But only because my friends told me that they found our instructors friendster account. lol

So to all the trainees out there who might read this, I say this to you. As far as I'm concerned, life at HTA stays in HTA. Never do I or will I bring it out of those walls and into life outside HTA. I do what I have to do because it's what I have to do as part of my national service. But once I'm outside, call me your friend because at the end of the day, we are all still people of this world - nothing more.

Anyway, back to something more joyful - my ORD date! =D

I have done some calculations and to my delight, I have discovered that if everything goes according to plan, I should officially finish my final day of service on the 23rd of Jan, 2009. My original ORD date should be on the 10th of Feb, 2009. But with the 14 days of leave I am entitled to, and with CNY occupying two very convenient slots on the 26th and 27th of Jan (monday and tuesday), I will be able to officially finish on the 23rd of Jan, which is a Friday! ^^ Yay! What are my plans after that? Well, at the moment, I only know I will stay for the CNY bit to do my part XP. That's for sure. When I will go back to Australia, I will have to see. Hopefully not too long because I'm just simply dying to go back!

Anyhow, that's just a quick review of what has been going on here for me. I will try to update again before I head off to OBS at least. Can't promise I will update so often now because it's just getting harder and harder to update as often as I did in the past. But for now, this will have to do.

Rush Hour 3

2008-01-25T20:47:00.000+08:00

I think it's pretty obvious that my blog is kinda dying off because I haven't really been able to properly maintain this thing with all the things that have been happening. It doesn't really help how I just discovered that the last time I blogged was over a month ago back in 2007 XP

So righty now, I'm not gonna do a mega blog post to make up for it because I really can't be bothered. This blog post is meant for the few of you who try to check up on me every now and then to see if I'm alive - so this is me saying, "I'm still alive!!!"

A lot has happened since my last blog and I will go crazy if I try to recap everything here. So I'll just try to briefly cover the main things that have and are happening with me now.

Firstly, Amoz is leaving soon =( / =) Yeah, I'm sad and happy at the same time. Sad because I'm losing the company of my only brother for an entire year and I will definitely miss all his weird quirkiness and 'Amoz-ness'. But! It's only for a year so it won't be too bad.

Happy that he's leaving because it means I get the laptop all to myself and I won't have to fight with anyone over it (which means I have to pay the bills myself now...=[ ), and I will ORD very soon - not now, but soon. See, if he were here, it means I still have a 'long' way to go but now that he's leaving/gone, it's a lot closer than if he were here! =D

Nevertheless, I see this year as a year of being active. I plan to occupy myself with a lot of Police and Church because I knew in my heart that this would happen this year and I see it happening already.

Once I pass out of the OCT course, I will definitely be quite occupied at work and whatever comes along. This, I will cover more later when I am nearer to the POP =P

As for church, I'm starting to get more active as I promised. I've started leading the youth worship and hope to get more active with the electric guitars with the main service. One of my goals for this final year is to learn the bass too so we'll see how that goes XP At the moment, not so good, cos honestly speaking, I can hardly remember where the basic bass notes are on the bass =P That'll take time I guess.

Attended two of my cousin's wedding over the past month and I guess it was nice to see our cousins tie the knot. But with each wedding, the remaining cousins who are still single/temporarily attached will usually start listing the next possible candidates for the next wedding and needless to say, the line is getting shorter and shorter and coming towards me. But whoa! I'm still 18! There's nothing to worry about. I've got time XP Relax Boaz.

Lately, I've stepped up and out of my comfort zone a lot more and tried a bunch of different stuff that I wouldn't have imagined I could do now. One of which was becoming the emcee for our senior bar social night where we celebrated our promotion to senior cadets. I never would have imagined doing something like this before coming here but I guess as officer cadets, these kinda opportunities will come around and hey, it's a good experience too. I took up the challenge and glad to say, it didn't go as badly in reality as it did in my head. Sure, it was difficult trying to get people to volunteer but it's over now and looking back, I'm glad I did it. It was interesting and kinda enjoyed myself making a fool of myself on stage.

Oh! And just last Saturday, I decided to go shopping. Yes, that's right. I went shopping. Alone. A surprise to me too. But wait! Just because I went alone, doesn't mean I 'shopped'. Oh no. When I say shop, and when I say alone, I meant I went shopping alone ... with a purpose. A goal. A target. I went shopping to buy an iPod speaker. I wanted one because it was really getting quite quiet and lonely in my room and thought it was irritating having to wear earphones all over my room and when I saw my friend with an iPod speaker, I thought it would be nice to have one in my quiet old room.

So with my determined desire to get an iPod speaker, I went to Bugis Junction. For people who know where that is, you know what I'm gonna be talking about. It was TORTURE for me!

I am someone who doesn't like to window shop alone. If I do shop alone, I go with a purpose. So I had no time to waste around there. But you add the elements of ..

Boaz + purpose + time limit + people + more people + and even more people + small walking space = psychotic anxious Boaz begging God to allow him to find the iPod speaker because he doesn't want to come back again. And that was it really. I went CRAZY trying to look for it. People were stopping in the middle of the small walk path and that really made me go 'seow' (insane). It didn't help how it was so hot and humid so I was really desperate to find it and get out of there.

Thank God, I found it with time to spare and decided that I deserved a reward for shopping, finding it, sweating in a shopping junction and utilizing my effective yet innocent Puss-n-boots bargaining skills by begging the uncle to give me a $3 discount (to which I felt guilty for doing after winning =D). That's when I got myself a cup of Bubble tea ^^ Yum!

I'll end with this; another story from that 1hr of torture at Bugis Junction.

When I was looking for my iPod speaker, I was frantically trying to get out of the clothing section because none of it looks anything like an iPod speaker. While doing so, I came towards the end of the line and noticed this Caucasian flipping through a display of soccer jerseys. Upon spotting that, I remembered I promised myself I would get a Liverpool jersey this season because I liked the design of the jersey this season. So I made my way there and after the Caucasian made this purchase of a jersey, I made it obvious that I was interested in getting one too. The sales person was quick to ask what I wanted.

Immediately, I showed him the Liverpool one and asked him what size would fit me.

"For you, medium. Medium." I pulled it out and gave it to him.

"Ok. How much is one?" I asked him

"We're having an offer. $30. Chinese new year offer. Usual price $35. Confirm direct rejects from original jerseys"

"Wah, $30. Can give me better price?"

"It's on offer. Chinese new year offer. $30"

"Yeah, but maybe you can give me a better price?"

"Hey! Understand english? I don't have time." He gave me this smile which I read as insulting and something that read along the lines of, 'I don't need your money'. If he was going to give me this kinda attitude, there's no point if I bought anything from him. So I turned and walked away. hehe, it was interesting though. I've never been turned away like that before. How fun! =D

- Oh, and I realised that coming here, there wasn't any point in talking like how I would if I were back in Australia because as I told my friend, it's so much easier if I talked like a Singaporean than how I would normally speak here XP It's a lot easier and clearer for my friends and to save time from having to repeat, I talk like one of them now. Not that I want to but because I 'have' to =P No offence to any Singaporean who reads this, but this is what I'm kinda doing now. I thought that if I could talk like how I would normally speak, it would be 'ok'. But I've realised, it's a lot easier if I didn't .. so yeah, that's how I speak now whenever I'm in Singapore talking with some of the locals (even though I'm a local too =S ).

Elf

2007-12-23T20:10:00.000+08:00

Yes, it has been a while. And needless to say, it's pretty clear my discipline of blogging weekly has gone down the drain along with other things I'd usually dispose of.

Anyway, quite a bit has happen since I last blogged so I'll see what I can recap briefly in this blog post that I don't intend to blab on endlessly.

So let's see, I've had my first of many exams in the PA and I'd just say I did alright. I was highlighted, along with several others, in class for our results but after finding out my 'score' that the Course Manager so sluggishly gave me, I wasn't totally pleased. Therefore, I have decided to push myself for the remaining few exams I have left to be among the top. And so that's the academic.

As for the physical, I'd say I'm quite ok now. Among the top few but still more than capable of going further which I plan to. But with all the festivity occurring at the moment, it's going to be harder to reach that point. There's no doubt that with the cancellation of several recent physical training sessions that my physical level has dropped slightly. By the time I return back to camp, I will have to work a bit more to be satisfied with myself.

I finally had my first IPPT, since coming in, a few weeks back and that's how I judge my fitness now. The other four stations for me are really no problem at all. The four being chin ups, sit ups, shuttle run and standing broad jump. People tend to have great difficulty at the standing broad jump station but I am blessed with a strong set of legs to get maximum points each time =)

So yeah, the only station I really dislike to the max is the 2.4km run. But somehow, like a goldfish, I keep forgetting how painful running the 2.4km really is. Unfortunately, it really doesn't take long for me to remember the hatred I bore of it as we ran the distance. Thankfully, I didn't drop all the much and still managed a time of 9 min 20 secs; a drop of 15 secs since my last run. I think my secret to running that fast is having someone by my side who I can scream and shout at as we run. Having that someone there allows me to shout at the top of my lungs so that I won't look like an idiot. And strangely, it works. Not the part where I look like an idiot but having to encourage someone. Maybe it helps my breathing. Or maybe it helps distracts me of other pains in the body. Either way, it helps.

Enough of training life. I've forgotten about training cause it's Christmas!!! ^^ yay!

It's my favourite holiday of the year. Not so much because of the presents. In fact, I'm not in it for the presents at all but rather, the Christmas mood. I love Christmas songs and if you didn't know, I listen to Christmas songs all year round. I musta fallen in love with Christmas when I was little after hearing some of the Christmas songs I've heard.

Anyway, we've managed to arrange it such that we get leave from training from last friday evening onwards till thursday morning. A good 5-6 days of leave which will do me a lot of good because I need it! Just some time to relax and not worry about having to attend some lesson makes me happy.

So what have I been doing? Well, had my cousins wedding yesterday at Four Seasons Hotel. It was nice and all. A bit less formal than the usual but it was good. A quick procession followed by a rich heavy buffet lunch. It was so heavy and rich that I was K.O'd by the 2nd plate. And the plates weren't that big at all! I was squirming in discomfort from the pressure that was forming in my stomach by the end of it. Fortunately, the few minutes of pain quickly decimated as I 'vultured' around the dessert table to have another bowl of dessert. That plan of feasting quickly died after finishing the few bites.

Tomorrow night, we're having this church Christmas celebration at Furama Hotel somewhere in Chinatown. The budget for the event was estimated to around $26,000. Unbelievably, in case you haven't heard, by the grace of God, a one time offering brought an amazing $52,000 onto the table. Something that the leaders were not expecting so we are believing that it is going to be an amazing night tomorrow with many lives saved. Let's see what happens tomorrow =)

For those who do read this, I'll end with this thought which I am so proud to have been a part of Gods plan.

For those who did not get to know about it, when I was in basic training in the PA, I was blessed enough to bring one of my friends to Christ. He was open and eventually, he started to attend the church I go to. Well, week after week, he continued to attend and to cut a long story short, I am so glad to say that after knowing him for 3 months, I can see tremendous change in him. There is a new light and hope in his life and if it wasn't for God's grace upon him, I don't see how he could have found something that has made him as happy and different to how he is now. I'd see him fellowship with the other youths as if they were good long time friends and as I came to this conclusion about him, the sight of him singing in the youth carolling group made me so proud to have been a part of Gods plan in his life. I wouldn't have thought that anything like this would have happened to him when I first met him. He's like a completely different guy. Someone who I found to be lost and ill-disciplined suddenly became this amazingly happy young chap with full of joy in his life. There is not a day that I don't see him smile whenever I see him. He even told me the other day that his grandma told him he looks a lot more handsome now. And I think she is right in saying so.

All thanks to the grace and mighty work of God in his life. If I could be an instrument to bring more of these kinda people to get to know God, I would be more than happy. And what's more is that I heard him telling me that he is reaching out to all the people at his work place. Wow! That's something to give God all glory for!

So Albert, if you happen to be reading this, don't ever lose your heart and joy. You've not only become a better person but you've made others like me happier in knowing that your life has been of much glory to God's work in all of our lives; yours, mine and the people around you.

X-Men

2007-11-27T19:20:00.000+08:00

Not entirely in the mood to blog but I might as well, seeing that I've exhausted all other possible activities I could do for the day.

Well, I could study and all, but guess what!? I'm not in the mood for that either!

Hmmm, I didn't realise that it has almost been two weeks since I last blogged. Kinda pathetic, I know .. but hey! I do try ... =P

I think a lot of people have been getting tired of all this blogging stuff. Can't say that I'm not cause I am. The whole idea of having to type everything up constantly is a bit strenuous, especially ... yup, when you're not in the mood. lol

Training wise, nothing much has been happening. Literally, nothing much has happened. I think during the one week of training I have, I'd actually train for half a week. And by train, that includes classes and other stuff put together. Like yesterday and today - if it wasn't for how we had PT in the morning, I'll be sleeping, playing CS and watching movies the whole day. I basically didn't have anything scheduled for these past two days and hey! It's not like I'm complaining or anything. In fact, I'd rather do this than to have to go to class and fight fatigue in front of the lecturer. It's embarrassing I tell you; to have to flip my eyes open when I know that his voice is coming towards me or has suddenly gotten louder because he has turned around to face the class to explain some law stuff. Comparatively, I'd say I'm quite ok. I know I'm awake during class. My friends ... well, does drawing a map on the table say it enough? If it doesn't, let's just say that they didn't quite use ink. It's liquid, just not ink. lol

Last week was just as relaxing for me. The reason why I don't attend as many classes as my other squad mates is because we upgraders have been exempted from attending lessons that we have already done like dojo training, shooting and swimming. So while my squadmates are off having a wonderful day getting pumped, you can say that I'm back at the bunk pumping lead into some bot in CS.

Anyway, as I was saying, last week it wasn't as 'full-on' as it would normally be because we were heavily affected from the Asean Summit event held in Singapore. A lot of police officers would be returning back to our Coy (company) as well as another one after a hards day work of protecting some VVIPs. And as a result, many classes were cancelled and I, being Head Provost, enjoyed the luxury of just sleeping in and waking up for breakfast before class actually started at 10:30am; provided I'm not on duty that is. We did that for the whole of last week and boy was it wonderful - not to mention the special food they served because of them. Us OCTs were 'allowed' to eat the food they gave the other officers and boy was it yummy. I was really sad when it was all over. It made life at the PA a whole lot more interesting XP hehe

Well, Amoz is going back in a couple months time and I have to say ... I'm happy and sad that he is. The only reason why I'm happy he's leaving is that by his departure, it means my ORD date is only getting closer. But if he's here, it means I have a long way to go and I don't like that. Oh, and I'm sure he doesn't like how I kick him off the computer at home whenever I come back during the weekends because I'm only there for those few days. hehe, but hopefully when he gets his own laptop, that won't be a problem.

And of course, I'll be sad when he leaves because I'll really miss the company of my brother. I mean we've been separated so much as of late and it doesn't help that we only see each other during the weekends for a couple of hours before we go off and do our own stuff. And now that he'll be going back, I'll miss another year together with him all over again.

And I'm sure by the time I go back, we'll both have our own world and will probably see each other every now and then; not like how it was when we were kids. Ah well, all a part of growing up I guess. It was bound to happen. Just didn't expect it to happen so soon.

Anyway, I really can't think of anything else to blog about so I'll just end here. I've got a full day of class tomorrow and I don't know how I'll possibly stay awake for most of it.

P.S: I really hope nothing happens to Rafael Benitez at Liverpool. (Just a side for me to note)

Commando

2007-11-15T13:09:00.000+08:00

Here I am, blogging in my bunk. This week, there has a been a bit of 'excitement' here in training.

Coming into the OCT group has really made me step up my level of discipline as well as workload.

As I've mentioned before, being Head Provost, I have the responsibility to take charge of this area of working with the trainees and our provost officers to ensure that there is a level a discipline in and out of the mess area.

Because of this posting that I have been entrusted with, I am left with quite a bit of work to do ... something that a normal trainee wouldn't be facing. But then again, being an OCT, we have to be able to lead and things of this sort.

Anyway, it's only Thursday, and quite a bit has happened.

Firstly, two more upgraders came in on Monday, which increased the original number of upgraders from two, being my friend and I, to four. They seem to have settled in quite ok .. unlike me when I found it a bit of a shock to be back in the PA again. Now, we have really increased the record for the largest number of officer cadets in one intake in the Police Force. There has never been more than one squad of OCTs but now, we have two - totaling the record of number of OCTs in an intake to 61.

On that same day, my bunk buddy, or 'buddy' in short as we call it, had to move out to a room downstairs. Reason being, one of the upgraders had to stay with our chairperson, and because of that, several people had to shift, including my buddy. So he left, and I am now left with being the only person staying in one room by himself. If it wasn't for the fact that we have joint toilets linking two rooms together, I'd get really lonely. Yeah, it does get kinda lonely at times. It's usually quiet in the morning so I'd have to really rely on my iPod for most of it - just so it doesn't seem too quiet.

But hey! I really like sleeping in my own room. There's a lot more 'freedom' and privacy in having your own room. I have the final say for everything and because I do, I see to it that everything is neat and very soon after this, clean. And usually after PT or anything that gets my uniform wet and dirty, I'll be able to hang my clothes any where I want to so that it can air properly. So I'll usually leave my clothes hanging at the end of the other bed as well as mine. Not to mention the several clothes hooks around the room XP

Throughout this entire week, we're having the same trainer teach us stuff about Police Procedure Practices starting from 9am till lunch. And somehow, each time he speaks, I have been using all the strength that is left within me to fight my heavy eyes. I tell you, it's very torturing. It's one of the worse feelings I know of. I wanna stay awake but my eyes are telling me a different story. Humble to say, I've managed to not sleep through each lesson but that came with so much determination to fight. Sure, I do close my eyes for several seconds at times, but that doesn't count =P I was awake throughout. But if you wanna talk about how much I actually listen ... I'd rather not talk about that. hehehe, as a matter of fact, a lot of what they're teaching me now is what I've already done during my time as a trainee. The main difference is that there are times when it's a bit more intense and more in-depth. Besides that, I recognise some of the slides.

So yeah .. on Tuesday, we had night class. Wasn't too thrilled about that. It started at 6:30pm and ended 2 hours later. Now this, I really tried to be positive about it all. I tried going in there with a positive attitude to wanna listen and not get sleepy from it all. But ...

... inevitably, due to the fact that it was 'night' and the air-con wasn't on, everyone was getting grouchy and was in no mood to study anymore. I, for one, was fidgeting all over just to stay awake, but because I did, I worked up a bit of a sweat. Not a very pleasant night at all. Was really happy when he oh-so-suddenly rushed out the door at the end of the lesson.

Wednesday, we had the morning class followed by the guy who did the night class the previous night after lunch. After that lesson was over, the four of us (upgraders) approached him because he was our Course Manager (CM). We told him about how we had to go to dojo and shooting but do nothing. We simply sat there and did absolutely nothing but talk and sleep. He kindly agreed and advised us to 'self-study' in our bunks during the times when our squad are having their dojo or shooting. So yeah, here I am, blogging while my friends are off shooting and I have ALL afternoon till dinner to self-study. hehehe

That's why I plan to do a bunch of stuff like clean my room thoroughly and type up some stuff for the provost officers. =D

And the highlight of the week ... this happened last night.

All of these OCT officers actually come from the army. Hardly any actual police officers get chosen for this course and as a result, we 'upgraders' are treated to a very special night. I missed out the first time when they did it to my former buddy cause I was sick and really not feeling well. And plus, I was in the bunk during that time. So yeah, last night was 'my turn'.

I thought I would be able to escape it because maybe they would just forget about it and never return to the topic again. But no, two new upgraders had to come, and because they came, I knew they wouldn't forget me. lol, I was in for the time of my life.

After having a provost meeting, everyone was called to fall-in. People in our squads came and sat at the courtyard of our barrack as they 'got ready'. I knew what was going on; my D-day had arrived. I heeded the advise of my friend and got changed into something I wouldn't mind getting dirty.

When I came back down, they asked me to get a chair as well. So I went and got one of the chairs in my room and brought it out and placed it on the grass in front of every body.

"I'm sure you three know why you have been asked to come here, so why don't we start by introducing yourself and telling us where you went to school and stuff." I went last and not long after, they got bored and decided it was time to do less talking and more action. Off came the shirt then proceeded to sit on the chair half-naked. Prepared for the 'fun', I decided I should just be sporty about it all and just have some fun while we're at it. There was no way I could 'weasel' out of this one.

Pulling out two small yellow coloured tubes, they said, "As you know, we came from the army, and in the army, we have to wear camouflage to hide in amongst the bushes. So open up your hands." We flipped our hands out and got a good doze of camo cream.

"Now, smother it all over your face." As soon as I was done, we all looked like sons of the Incredible Hulk except only half done with the body still very much yellow.

Squeezing the other tube of black camo into our hands, they said, "Draw three lines across your face diagonally. You might wanna do it for each other." So I promptly went and did my friends and drew the three black diagonal lines.

"Ok, in the jungle, we aren't allowed to bathe or anything like that for several days straight. So we had to use powder to keep ourselves 'clean'." Then, he begins to cover us in Prickly Heat powder. For those who know what prickly heat powder is like, you know the wonderful sensation of having the cooling effect on your skin. They poured powder all over us as they told us to 'smile' at the count of three.

1 ...

2 ...

3!!! SPLASH!!!

Three guys behind us, armed with a bucket of water, covered us in water as we then immediately began to chase after everyone. Instinctively, everyone ran, trying to avoid our delicate touch XP We looked like three angry Hulk kids who have been agitated to the max and now, we have been 'unleashed' as everyone ran for cover from us. lol

All in all, it was a whole lotta fun. At least everyone had a good laugh and thankfully, it was a one time thing because them camo cream is really hard to wash off. I had to search high and low just to make sure it's all off before getting out of the shower. It was the longest shower I've ever had in my life. hehe

There were several photographers on the scene and hopefully, my squad mates will have it in our montage at the end of our course =) It would be great to see again cause all this is memory of all the things we've done here. Should be something great to look back upon for sure.

I can honestly say, it was great. Not the part where I got covered in all that, but the part where we can have a good laugh and enjoy doing silly stuff like this. It was fun. I just hope that there'll be more to come, and I'm sure there will be. Another 5 more months here, wonder what else could happen!

Garfield

2007-11-03T21:23:00.000+08:00

This entry will have to be a short one because I'm feeling rather sleepy due to the lack of sleep I get in the PA.

Basically everyday, I'd wake up around 5:30am - depending on what we gotta do for that day, I'd force myself up in the morning. For me, I need at least 9 hours to be wide awake for the day. If I get anything less than that, I am not functioning at 100%. And quite often, I'd find myself getting heavy eyes during the day and whenever I get the chance, I'd take an afternoon nap. Don't ask me why, but I just need my 9 hour beauty sleep. lol

Last week, I was finally given the opportunity to be a provost officer. After having been given the role of Head Provost, I think I really need to know what it's all about.

So quite frankly, provost officers are OCTs who are given red sashes and a stick about one and a half feet long which we comfortably slot under our armpits. Don't ask me why we do it, we just do. lol, I never question the powers of the stick. hehe Oh, and we would never dare to smell the stick either.

So yeah, we'd usually patrol the mess as all the trainees and regular squads come marching or jogging to the mess. Our duties are to basically make sure they do the right drills and have their attires on properly. Besides having to do flag raising and flag lowering each day at 7am and 7pm respectively, that's our duties as provost officers.

I find it a whole lotta fun because I know how to be a provost officer after watching the other OCTs do it while I was still a trainee. Unlike my other squad mates, who mainly come from the army, I have refined the qualities of a provost officer into something that I would like if I were a trainee. So I'd try to interact with the trainees; talk with them, motivate them, get them psyched about the mess food (which many of us find to be unbearable at times). I reckon this kinda positive interaction is great. Good for me and for the trainees because life in the PA can get really dull at times. So at least by doing this, I'm keeping them positive for their short three months of training.

Somehow or rather, one of my friend mentioned to me that he disagrees with my technique. He said that maybe I should be more strict and perhaps not as kind. I knew that by doing this, I would be putting myself on the line with the respect of my friends. Even though I may gain the respect of the trainees, I might not get the same response with my OCT friends because by being so friendly to the trainees, my friends are left being the 'mean ones' while I treat the trainees nicely. It's a risk, yes. But it's a risk I am going to take. I think this is the right thing to do, and even if I don't gain the respect of my friends, I think I should be humble enough to empathise with our understudies.

Also, I know that when I say this here, there is a possibility that some of my friends in the OCT might read it, but I will say what I have to say because everything I say, I say in honesty.

I realise that coming back to the PA, and upgrading into the OCT course, instructors would tend to treat me differently when compared with the rest of my squad. Seeing that most of my squad mates came from the army, they are practically new birds in the academy. But as for me, I have been there for a good 3 months, enough time to get to know some of the instructors. And also, on top of that, being the statue award winner, my name carries the pride of the Police Academy and because of that, a lot of the instructors and trainers would tend to treat me differently. In some ways, I would be given 'special treatment'.

And of course that's nice and all, but I feel that I am losing the respect of my friends. Because the instructors care for me in that way, my friends might feel that they are somewhat biased with me and I don't want that. I want to be treated the same as them, irregardless of where we came from. I am still part of the squad and should be treated equally. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy this luxury, but I just feel that I don't think I should be given a more advantageous field.

Oh well, maybe it's just me. Maybe my friends don't realise this, and I hope they don't treat my differently for it.

Anyway, I've gone on longer than I wanted and so I'll end here. Got to enjoy my last day of freedom tomorrow before I am trapped back in there lol. Hope to have more stories to tell in the weeks to come. For now, I'll leave it as that.

Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach

2007-10-27T15:09:00.000+08:00

Like all first days, or first weeks, or first anything, it will always seem the longest.

My first day back to the PA was especially long, compared to the rest. And I'm sure that last week will seem long when I compare them with the weeks to come.

On Tuesday, the curse of the PA came upon me again as I fell sick. I'm not entirely sure what happened but by Tuesday, I knew my health condition would deteriorate when I realised I was plagued with the annoying sore throat. Wednesday, that developed into a sore throat-running nose tag team handicap match. Thursday, it transformed into a 3-1 tornado handicap match with the cough teaming up with the other two. By Friday, I was completely out-numbered four to one with phlegm adding up to the equation. Suffice to say, it wasn't the best week for me. It didn't help with the fact that this was my first week in and could have made a better impact on my newly made friends.

Anyway, physically, I couldn't have done any more to impress because I was completely out of their league. They were better conditioned, and better mentally. My friend and I were downcast with the 'weaker' ones as we fell short of being physically capable among the rest. Mainly because they have always been training since the start of NS and had been in the PA for more than a month. But as for us, we were basically on a road of physical agony after being out of action for nearly 3 months. Can't blame us for feeling so elderly after the training.

Basically, that day we had physical training (PT), we were forced to run 15 laps around the track, along with exercises in between each run.

It was a test of great endurance and I really can't count how many times I really wanted to give up because I was on the brink of giving up so many times. But the sight of one of my friends suffering the consequences of giving up these runs kept me running before finally crashing into the finish line.

The torture seemed endless. Like this lasted a thousand years and yet, the thoughts of the beautiful day when I get to ORD from this dreadful life-style kept flashing itself in my head. The things I would do. The things I could do when I'm finally done. How funny this would seem when this is all over. But at the present moment, the day I am first looking forward to would be the day I pass out as an OCT to become a police inspector.

This week has been the rehearsal week for the 128th intake and our senior OCTs passing out parade. We basically didn't do much this week but I don't think it really did me any good because I only got more envious of our seniors as they were practicing for their POP. Each time I watched them slow marched across the face of the grand stand, it only stirs up this desire in me to wanna pass out now! But then, I'm hit by the bulldozing-fact that it's still another 6 months away and this is only my first week back. How crap.

At least being OCT isn't as bad as being a normal trainee. As my friend and I entered into the rooms of the Alpha coy for the first time, I said, "We have seen what very few have seen. Things which people have only imagined was true in the police academy's best coy."

And now, I reveal it to you, what my eyes have seen.

I think my expectations were really high going into the coy, so it wasn't as outstanding as I thought =P Nevertheless, many of the things I have heard were real. There are two people to each room. We have one toilet joining two rooms together. The cupboards are more than two times the size of a normal trainee. We all have our own desks, chairs and laptop with internet connection (but many of the sites have been blocked off. Anyone with really good recommended proxy sites, please tell me! XP). Alpha being next to bravo coy, we are directly opposite from the female's bravo coy, so we've got a good coy that faces us XP ...... In a good way! It just means the FIs can't as easily spot us sleeping on our beds from the opposite coy because they're not allowed there. Ew, c'mon guys. Don't get any dirty ideas now. I must be a good boy. tsk. lol

Besides that, nothing much different ... to me anyway. There's also a mess where there's air-conditioning, fridge, TV, DVD-player, and other stuff. Not overly excited about that though.

Actually, I just realised how true my friend was in saying that when you're out in division, you wanna go back to the PA, but when you're in the PA, you really wanna get out there. I believe those words because I experienced them both twice. I remember going out to division wishing I was back in the PA. But now that I'm back in the PA, I wanna go back out!

I admit that I got nostalgic about division life during my first day back. It's normal. When you're used to one thing, the first day of change will always be the day where you'll wanna go back to the norm. I just need a few more days to get back into the gist of things. Kinda sucks though.

I think the highlight of the entire week was to finally get to talk to my former OC squad again. I saw him in the morning yesterday while doing his 2.4km run for the IPPT test but didn't get a chance to talk to him for very long because he was in a lot of 'pain' from running. lol, but later that afternoon, he managed to catch me as I was heading back to my barrack to book out. He didn't realise but I also wanted to talk with him so I didn't bring up the issue of having me having to book out. I chatted with him and to be honest, it was really pleasant. Even though I called him 'sir', it didn't feel like a trainee and OC squad talking anymore. It was like a friendly conversation mainly because I have now gotten the experience of going out into the police world and how people around your rank were considered your friends, not superiors. It was really nice and I actually wanted to talk longer but because we were booking out, I was afraid the rest of my squadmates would be waiting for me so I didn't want to hold them up. If not, I would have talked for as long as I could have. Oh well, I've got 6 months to catch up with him.

My former OC squad is on loan to the PA and will be there for 2 years, which kinda coincides with my NS life-span; even though I'll ORD two months before his loan is over. Although he isn't my OC squad anymore, I don't think I can ever not refer to him as sir. It's just like a child who has been taught to address his elders as uncle or aunty, they can't refer to them by their names anymore. It'll just be too weird. Not even when I pass out and out-rank him by many ranks, I don't think I can not call him sir. Just wouldn't feel right. Cause he was a really good OC squad. He was good to me and as a result, look at how far I got. I might not be his best or highest scoring trainee in his course of time there, but at least I will be his first 'best trainee', and he will be my first OC. That'll go a long way, I reckon.

Anyway, this could get deep so I'm not going to attempt any more lol. It's the weekend and I want to enjoy my freedom while I still can!

16 out of 22 months to go! ^^ We're on the way!

Toy Story

2007-10-21T15:27:00.000+08:00

It's a bit weird.

I feel a bit at a lost to be honest. I thought my training days were over. Guess not.

But facts are facts. I'm going to become a trainee all over again. The thoughts of having to wake up at 5:30am all over again are a bit troubling. The thoughts of having to eat mess food all over again are a bit troubling. The thoughts of becoming a trainee all over again are a bit troubling.

I promised that I would blog once more before going in and so this is that blog. Tomorrow is the first day of my officer cadet course and I'm not very confident about it all actually. The only thoughts that comfort me are the hopes that being an officer will be a lot better in the sense that our barracks will be luxurious and our timetables will bit a lot more less packed. I've heard a lot of things which we officers will go through. None of which I can confirm right now but at least these things keep me slightly excited about what we are gonna do in there.

For now, I will have to wait and see if they are true or not.

Meanwhile, I've been occupying myself with lots of church activities. On Friday, I was asked to play for the evening service. Seeing that I could make time for it, I shrugged off the fatigue from the night shift which ended that morning to attend the rehearsal at 7pm. The service finally ended at around 10:30pm, allowing me to get back at around 12am.

Yesterday (Saturday), I left at 10am for my grandma's house for lunch before heading off to church again for the Sunday service practice. Got to church at around 1pm where we practiced till around 4pm when the second part of Friday's service continued. That ended at around 7pm. By then, dinner was beckoning so we headed off to one of the near coffee shops when we were given a sight from the heavens on a dual television screen as the Everton V Liverpool match featured live from Goodison Park. It was like a gift from heaven when one of my friends spotted the game about to start. My plans were to rush back to watch the game which I thought was at 9-10. Obviously I didn't check properly cause the game was already starting.

Having no other choice, we watched the game which ended with Liverpool winning on a pair of penalties; the second one being in injury time. About time Liverpool won again. =)

When I got back, it was around 10:30pm. Enough time for me to get ready for me to sleep at 11pm.

Today, I had to leave the house at 7:30am for the early morning run-through of the songs. Got there a few minutes late because I found a new interesting game on Facebook XP It involves using a Rocket Launcher and blasting the helpless lives of opponents on Facebook. Whole lotta fun till I die. =(

So yeah, that's my weekend. A lot more interesting than my last few weekends which usually involves me working for 12 hours then going back to sleep. It was good to be back at church and playing too. And it felt like I never really left. =D

Anyway, I don't really have much else to say - just that I'm not all that excited about going back to the PA. Who knows, maybe at the end of next week, you'll hear me saying I don't wanna be out here. lol, you never know. hehe

I'll keep this one short so I can prepare some other things for tomorrow (in other words - mental preparation; blasting more helpless people on facebook XP).

The Prince of Egypt

2007-10-15T17:00:00.000+08:00

Luke 6
27"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them.
33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full.
35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

I was going to type up a blog entry based on my working-progress experience obeying this scripture but as I typed on, I found that my questions to the agony of the lack of recognition of appreciation was simply answered in the very scripture that I wanted to quote.

So instead of my usual abortion of a blog entry, I've decided that I would like to share, with whoever reads this, my current mindset as I attempt to obey the scriptures as I put it into practice.

Ever since I started NS, I've based a lot of my thinking and mindset according to how God instructs us in the Bible, and to little surprise, they were to my success. Of course all glory and honour belongs to our Lord but I am just so fortunate that I have a God who chose me to give me the instruction book to life.

And as much as it sucks to follow it at times, the rewards of having to endure such hardships are always worth it. So I'm putting my trust in what God has promised and will continue to love all regardless of what they have done to me. However, during the past coming days, I've noticed that there have been more and more recent multiple occasions when I am not 'repaid' for my relentless efforts to show the love that God has transplanted into my heart. And to be honest, I was really getting frustrated with it all because I am still human. I wanted recognition. I wanted to be repaid for my efforts. At least a simple thank you would do. But there was none of that. Worse still. It was as if they didn't realise that I was doing it.

But all that is behind me now. I don't care whether people repay the efforts I put in. All I care is that God sees what I'm doing and that in due time, my reward will be given from God.

The reason why I've said all this was to hopefully encourage those of you who are walking my same path, or even those of you who haven't started yet, to keep persevering. Don't give up. Never give up. Cause at the end of the day, everything will be made right by God.

When I first went into the Police Academy for the first time in April, I lived upon a couple of Bible verses. But these two really stood out to help me through.

Luke 9:48
Then he said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest."

Being the youngest in probably the whole of the Police Academy, I realised that greatness was possible. All I had to do was lower myself to be the least among the rest and I would stand out and be the best. And at the end, it happened! The key element was humility. I took the time to see to it that everyone in my squad was ok and would talk to them every now and them. Even if it was just a simple hello and a short chat. At least that kept me on par with everyone else and as I did, I made sure I didn't develop a big head. I think at the end, everyone basically supported me to get into the OCT course and it was really touching because comments were made when I was in for the running for the course. My good friend Raimy told me one day that he and the rest of the squad will revolt if I didn't get into the course. lol, thanks guys.

Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

My desire was to get into the OCT course. I don't think I need to say much about this other than a lot of effort was put in. This was one of the few handful of verses I kept on my heart throughout the duration of the training and sure enough, it was helpful for me as I received the desires of my heart. =)

And when I moved on to the police station, God had another scripture for me to carry - the one above. I've been trying as much as I can to put it into practice and boy is it hard. It took a lot of effort to see to it that the payment for my efforts were not rewarded. I kept doing things to show the love again and again, hoping that people would see that there was something different about me. Being the only christian I know in the station, I had to stand out from the rest, and I believe I've done that.

Yesterday at work, I was really touched by the words that were mentioned from the regular officers. One particular officer told me that they will miss me. And really, even those few words made everything worth it. At least it told me that I was not going unnoticed. And they were nice. I understand why I've faced some troubles working with them due to my 'different' character and speech - it's because the life of a policeman can be really really boring. I'm not talking about the experiences that policeman faces time after time, but rather the repetitiveness of it all. Some of these guys have been in there for 20 years. Imagine the things they encounter day after day during their work. After a while, it can get a little stale, as do a lot of other jobs. Which is why after a long time, someone like me rocks up and they are suddenly having a lot of fun. Of course there were times when I would question why they were saying the things they were saying to me, but now, I understand. It's like a breath of fresh air to them. At least if I can give them that bit of spice in their police life for that short while, that'll do.

And if I thought the appreciation doesn't end there, during the beginning of my shift last night, I was bombarded with invitations to stay on and not return to the Police Academy for my officer course. It was actually quite nice to know that these people felt this way. I couldn't help but laugh it off and hope they weren't serious. There were even threats that they would tell one of the Heads to block my move back to the PA. How funny.

My next tour (day and night shift) will be my last. I have no idea what they might possibly do to me but I know for sure that I will miss working there. The friends that I've made. The laughs we've had. The funny moments when we would make fun of accused will all be but memories. I really had a good time working there actually. The working hours were crap but the moments were gold.

Coming out to division life was a good move. It gave me exposure and I reckon more trainees should be doing this. When I go back, I will definitely have a greater understanding of the police system and will probably have a greater advantage when it comes to studying later on for the exams.

Anyway, I'm glad for how my NS life has turned out and is turning out so far. I will have experienced so many things that only a small handful will ever get to experience. I've realised that at the end of my NS, I will have a large wardrobe of different police uniforms. Maybe one day, when I accumulate all my different uniforms, I will post them up so you guys can have a look =) At the end of the day, I should have four different types of police uniform. XP All different from the rest.

For now, the end of this chapter of my NS life is coming to a close and another one will soon re-open. Hopefully I will find the time to blog when I come out from there each weekend. But I don't think it will be a problem. So to all my friends in Delta division who might read this, it's been an honour serving NS with you guys. All the best and I will hopefully see you guys again!

Band of Brothers

2007-10-08T16:56:00.000+08:00

Argh, I've gotta blog. I've gotta blog.

I was telling Tiffany just a few moments ago about how I have to get to the 'determine whether to blog or not' stage before getting to the point where I decide to blog. But somehow, I've managed to skip that stage and just went straight into blogging. Why? I'm not quite sure why.

I've been meaning to blog, but after putting it off for so long, I don't really feel like blogging.. Something's gotten into me these past few weeks that made me feel and think differently from what I've been used to.

I think it's cause I haven't been able to get my way these few weeks that I've gotten a bit agitated with the smallest things that I don't usually get agitated about. Like what happened yesterday after my night shift. It was a Sunday morning and I was taking the morning bus back to my grandmother's place. As I boarded, I realised that I was practically the only one on the bus. That made me think that I was gonna get back earlier than expected because it's a Sunday morning and people won't be out too early, so we should zoom right pass all the bus stops and arrive sooner.

However, that wasn't really the case. Just because there weren't anyone at the bus stops, and just because there wasn't anyone who wanted to get off at each bus stop, the bus driver had to 'make sure' no one was coming, and would slow down till the very last moment when the bus was just about to come to a complete stop at each bus stop to decide that no one was really coming. That really irritated me. I was on the verge of going into a state of rage that morning but thought to myself, what has become of me? Why am I getting so ticked off like this so easily? I've gotten irritated so easily about such a non-life threatening ordeal. Something's happened.

I've also noticed that since going into the police world of division life, I've become some what less mature and more playful. Reason being, that's the level I find myself communicating best with the people there. No offence to any of my fellow officers who may read this, but the majority of the people there have sunk to a whole new level of lifelessness and because of this, there is hardly any one there who is willing to have a good meaningful conversation about things that are worth talking about. It's become this new routine of mine to endure whatever childish acts that they enjoy playing in the police station which would sometimes mean making fun of an accused with a helium-like-voice or laughing at a robber who is scared of a cockroach.

I may be digging my own grave if someone from the station reads this but there are 40 year old men in there who have the exact same personality and characteristic of a 12 year old child. Heck, even our station sergeant would play pranks with our fellow NS security officers. He'd call them on the phone to come to the charge office because he has something 'important' to show them. Upon arrival, he would eventually be caught hiding in one of the rooms at the back while posing in a squatting-like position giggling at them. Oh and he wouldn't do this just once or twice? Oh no. There were multiple occasions when he would play such pranks. And I've heard that it started long ago, so this wasn't something new.

This is just one of the few sad cases that I've heard about. I'm sure there's more, but I haven't unearthed them just yet. But just looking at the situation they're in. Or, the situation I'm currently in, I won't have to look far for a sad story. I mean working two days, one in the morning and one at night, then getting two days off, where's the sanity of having a purpose filled life in that? It's barely possible to wanna plan something the following week because of the irregularity of the system. And even if you wanted to take leave, and you get it approved, it just takes one joker to take MC, and there goes your whole plan of travelling overseas. I've been called back twice, and I have barely been here three months. That just shows you how miserable things can get.

Well, one thing leads to another, and by the end of it all, it's a sad life you'll be living. I guess the only thing that keeps us NS men sane is the fact that'll all end in less than 2 years - some more than others. If I compare the life and the sanity of the NS men with the regulars, it's clear to see the difference of a more meaningful person with a person who's trapped till retirement.

That's the thing. With almost all of the police officers there, there's no where else to go. Most of them are trapped in there with no other possibilities of starting a career else where. Mainly because they didn't have a choice due to the lack of education and had to join the police force for some sort of income. And because of the lack of education, they don't have anywhere else to go. That is the most common reason for all the regulars I've talked to who wanted to get out but couldn't. There's no where to go.

They're all telling us to no join. Do not sign on. It's like the souls who have already chosen their life in eternity by not following Jesus and have gone straight to hell, shouting at the souls who still have a chance to take the path of a christian. But some of us are just too stubborn. Some of us are just too blind. By the time we realise, it's too late, and we're stuck with no where else to go. I'm so glad I'm not stuck.

There is something about the people here that strikes me as amazing. I haven't really encountered anything of the sort during my years of travelling and to see this, in Singapore of all places, I've been touched and realised what I've been missing out.

Brotherhood.

Basically, there are two things that people do around here that make the 'brotherhood' around here such a nice place to live in. One, most guys call each other 'brother' or 'bro'. I haven't really encountered that many people calling each other or strangers by that title. And it's really nice actually. If you don't know what to call someone, just call them brother. If you don't know their name, just call them brother. Lol, that's how useful it is. And it's nice as well. Imagine the situation for yourself cause I really can't be bothered setting a scenario. lol

The other thing that makes the brotherhood here so much more visible is how everyone waits for one another. Or if someone wants to go to the toilet, we'd go together. I failed to realise this when I first came here, and when my friends asked me, I'd reply my usual and give them an honest answer like, "Nah, I'm good." That's how I did it in the past! I'd say if I wanted to go or not because there wasn't any point in me going if I didn't need to go. But now, it's different. Even if I didn't wanna go, I'll go. Just for company. And it's nice. I'd now ask my friend if he'd wanna go for breakfast and stuff, and I notice he'll usually answer positively and we'd co-ordinate it such that we'll be at the canteen together. It even went to the extent of climbing 4 storeys just to wait for our friends to change clothes before heading off together. I was kinda reluctant to go up that time because some of us could have gone home straight, but that just shows how far brotherhood goes around here.

Well, I can't be bothered with anymore blogging now. I hope that's enough to show that I'm still alive and well .... or something like that.

In exactly 2 weeks time, I will be in the Police Academy again, so expect at least one more blog post before then. And when I come out from there, after my first week of confinement, expect another blog update. Hopefully I'll come bearing good news. In the mean time, my days of division life are numbered. =D =(

Little NIcky

2007-09-19T23:02:00.000+08:00

After nine months, I've suddenly realised where I am.

After nine months, I've suddenly realised what it's all about.

After nine months, I've suddenly realised that this is it.

After nine months, I've suddenly remembered that Singapore is near the equator.

For the first time in nine months, I've realised that Singapore is hot! Maybe some part of it has to do with the Tom Yum fried rice I had for dinner just a few hours ago which somehow seems to be burning a sensational hole through my stomach. But still, at 11pm, if I'm feeling warm, somethings not right. That's right, it was hot today. For the first time, it was hot!

Actually, I was 'fortunate' enough to be working today because it was hot! Every time I stepped out of the room, I'd be like, "Is it hot out?" Then, after prowling for a few seconds, those thoughts would be out the door as I returned back into the air-conditioned lock-up office XP

One of the accused actually complained to me today that it was warm. Thoughtlessly, but more so uninterestedly, I simply told him to remove his shirt and take a shower. After all, what did you want me to do for you? Order some ice cream and have it delivered to you? Or better still, have the contractors to enter lock-up and have air conditioners installed for each cell. Yeah, in your dreams dude.

Anyway, having the luxury of two mega air conditioners in our small lock-up office, I really didn't think much of the accused as I remained in this wonderful office. To be honest, I can't remember anything else he asked me today because my mind would be unconsciously determined to return back to the room, just to get out of the heat of the lock-up area. But now, after thinking about how warm the day was, I kinda feel bad for the fella. hehehe

Yeah well, as many of you have noticed, I've been a bit reluctant to post. Mainly because there really isn't much to post about. My life now basically lives under the continual cycle of a four day work week, and unless you understand the working conditions, there's no point in me blogging about work here cause it's just boring. Well, to me at least. But it just goes by so quickly, I dunno where time actually goes. Well, actually, I'm lying. I do know where they go. It'd be going into work and sleep.

Seriously, that's where my time is really going nowadays. I'm working 12 hours, so that's like half the day gone. When I am home, the other 3/4 of the remaining day is usually used as sleep, so quite frankly, I have 1/4 of the remaining day to ... 'relax'.

And just the other day, after I had finished my night shift, I decided to not sleep till the evening of my first day off. So when I came back around 9:30am, I mucked around until 6pm before I crashed into bed ... not waking up till 7:30am the next morning. I can only recall 3 times when I woke up during those hours of sweet sleep. One around evening time, one in the middle of the night and another sometime after 6am because I noted how the foldable bed that Amoz sleeps on was already in the room. But the sky was still dark and that prompted me to continue my already 12 hour sleep-athon.

See how I use my time?

You can imagine the hours from 9:30am till 6pm, I was pretty much sore to the bone, yet I persisted on staying up. Just so I could 'enjoy' those 13.5hrs of slumber. Actually, this was the first time I've actually slept for more than 12 hours. Never can I recall a day where I've woken up to the realisation that I've slept for more than 12 hours. It's just never happened before. I just can't on a normal day. So for me to sleep for more than 12 hours, it just speaks volume. Moi tired.

Well, it's not like I haven't been going through any of life's lessons during this time. In fact, I've learnt a bit more of myself during my time at work too; with colleagues and all. And the one main thing I've learnt during this time is that, 'the weaknesses of who I am are what defines me'.

I am less than perfect. I am no where anywhere perfect. But for the imperfectness of who I am are what makes me wanna be a better person towards others. I know that there are times when people make mistakes, and I'll tell you there were plenty of times when I made mistakes too. Most of the time, it was due to my forgetfulness or carelessness. And from this, I've understood how to empathise with others when they make these mistakes too.

A lot of times, I try to see things according to how I want people to treat me. So I figured that if I wanted people to be nice to me, why not I be nice to them too? Cause after all, it's only nice when people are nice to you =)

So from this, I've realised that if someone were to be nearly as forgetful and/or careless as me (which would be humanly impossible), I know what it would be like if people would not be so critical towards them and just tried to help them along instead of just pin pointing the person. That's why I've figured, because of the weaknesses that I possess, it only makes me more empathic for others when they undergo any similar kind of humiliation of making mistakes. Which is where I try to help them sort it out instead of making life even more miserable for them by up-roaring the whole saga.

Yet still, I'm sure there are still plenty of areas of my life that still needs some 'straightening', but it's gonna take time and lots of humiliation like what I've been going through these past few weeks. Actually, all that's happened to me during the course of my stay at the police station has only brought me back to earth about my human status. Cause after winning a number of awards during the training days, I guess my head got pretty big and needed a bit of deflating. Guess this did the trick XP

Anywho, I shall leave it short tonight because I'm running out of things to write about and if I keep blabbing, it would be pretty much non-sense; not that everything prior to this hasn't been anything of the sort. hehe

Oh yes, and I'm still alive.

The Truman Show

2007-08-31T15:51:00.000+08:00

Yes, I've been lazy with my blog posts.

And I do pity you guys who keep coming back here to see if I've updated but instead, get an eye-full of a picture of the Teletubbies! haha ... I pity me for coming back to see if I've updated too! Yet somehow, by some great unsolved mystery of science in our world today, I too get an eye-full of 4 different coloured Teletubbies.

Nothing's picked up as of late. Every thing's all a routine basically. The reason why I don't update so regularly is because since it's a 4 day week, every time I aim to finish the final night shift to get those 2 days off, I'm confronted with this need to sleep and by the time that's done, it's the 2nd day of my day off. Now, would I want to spend it on a day of blogging or! A day of mindless internet surfing activities such as looking up videos of Whose Line Is It Anyway? on youtube. I think I'd rather be watching Whose Line Is It Anyway?

But really, nowadays, the days are finally picking up. I always look forward to the end of the night shift. It just means I have 2 days off to R&R. By the time I realise my 2 days are done, it's back to work. Then I just work again, looking forward to another night shift, when it's time to have another 2 days of R&R. It just goes like that. So having to check when was the last time I updated my blog doesn't take long for me to realise that the last time I blogged was last week. Still, I pity those who had to look at those 4 very colourful combination of colours I had as my last blog post title poster. XD

Last Sunday, I was the maintenance officer for that day. It just meant I was the one who had to issue and disassemble the PR sets for our team and the returning team respectively. So that day, I was in-charge. I was the one with the key to the maintenance room.
However, as the maintenance officer, we aren't always in the room all the time. After issuing out and retrieving the sets, we are 'required' to aid the charge office downstairs. So that meant we had leave the room locked. This meant the key would go into our pockets. This would mean, someone like me would forget about the key.

This has happened many times before. Even when I was still in the process of learning how to do maintenance, my senior forgot to hand over the key to the taking over officer. So he had to return all the way back to the station to hand the key over to him.
But me being me. I had to be special. I had to be smart. I had to be forgetful. I had to be me.
Unlike my senior, I left the key in my locker. So when I went home that night, my friend gave me a call 2 hours after my shift asking me, "Hey, where did you put the key? Did you hang it somewhere?"

It was there that I realised that I had left the key in my uniform pocket. And that was back at the station. If only my lock were number locked, but it wasn't. It was key locked. And the only set I had were the 2 keys with me and the spare key in my uniform. And having locked the uniform in the locker, it would mean I had to go down. Argh.

So me being me, I had to pay for the consequences as I have many times before. Usually for my careless mistakes, I would find some way to rectify the situation. In this case, the only way I saw to rectify this situation would be to go all the way down in the middle of the night to the station to retrieve the key in my locker. Which I did.

If there is one thing I am grateful for, it would be the fact that home is not that far from where my station is. The fact that my other squad mate's house is literally a few minutes walk-away is irrelevant to my point. The point is, I'm grateful for the fact that I am only 30 minutes away from the station and not somewhere insane like 1.5hrs away, like my bro XP
Comparing it with the travel times back in Australia, I could travel all the way from Geelong to Melbourne and still have time to order a cup of coffee and drink it before Amoz reaches his camp. That's how insanely 'efficient' our transport system is. So really, 30 minutes for me to reach my station is great!

If I had to go to the PA, it would take me around one hour plus to reach there. Compared with my 30 minutes travel time, that's nothing, really. I'd much rather be traveling 30 minutes each day than to have to travel 1hr+ to some camp weekly. That way, if I forgot anything, the consequences of having to pay for my forgetfulness wouldn't be so bad. That's how I see it any way.

Yesterday, I was called back from my leave. They were short of manpower and needed people to work. So I got a message from my OC Ops that she wants me to come back to work and I can take leave next time. Having not much of a choice, I fork-lifted myself off my bed at 6am to shower. We've concluded that getting a message from OC Ops in the early morning can only mean one thing - disaster. It would mean that our leave has been cancelled due to some wise guys MC. So that's when I had another one of my leave cancelled. Twice it's happened already. I just hope they don't call me back again when I take my next leave..

Anyway, she mentioned in the message that I would be in lock-up - possibly one of the worst stations to be posted in during your shift. It's boring. It's tiring. And it's a lot of time wasted to just sitting there. I've attempted bringing in my Bible and a book, but after a couple of hours of reading, it hasn't been pleasant trying to fight fatigue with my head constantly looking downwards. Gravity generally pull the eyelids down.

So this time, I've decided enough is enough. I will give in to my urges to try to draw the room I'm in. Don't ask me why. I'm not much of a natural artist, but I just had this urge to wanna replicate what I saw on paper.

After 3 hours of drawing and interruptions, I managed my first drawing piece at work!

This is the general view of which I see for 12 hours! So now you guys have an idea of what I have to stare at hour after hour. I dunno if I'm breaking some sorta law by posting this. Maybe a law that conflicts with the prevention of the possibility that a terrorist would want an insight of the lock-up room of one particular police station to where hundreds of police officers work and has resulted to 'studying' my picutre so where he'd know how to not get lost if he happens to break his way into a police station ...... ok .....

Anyway, by then, the time was 12pm, and I had run out of things to draw. It was either drawing the other side of the room, drawing the lock-up hallway where we're 'supposed to' prowl every 5 minutes, or ... something I imagined in my head and just felt like drawing.

I had several attempts at the hallway before deciding I didn't like being restricted to reality. I'd much rather draw something from the imaginary than something people can judge upon in our working environment. I even got criticism for the accuracy of the first drawing! It was just a dry run and didn't care much for it. For all I care, I wanted something to do, and that was it. Stuff accuracy. Lol. So... after hours of much boredom, I came up with something like this ...

It isn't much. I didn't even know I could handle something like this till yesterday. To be honest, I've never even pictured myself as much of an artist. Don't think I have the hand for the precision cause I'd stuff up a lot of lines.

Oh, and if you're saying it's very detailed, it just tells you how much time I have at work. Sadly, after several hours, the 'can't be bothered' attitude came in and a lot of detail went out the window. hehehe, anyway, it's just one for the records I guess. I'll see what other things I'll end up discovering about myself in that room.

Teletubbies

2007-08-21T22:30:00.000+08:00

Today, we were obliged to attend the work retreat planned for us so that we could 'spend some money'.

The money was more like the money collected from somewhere which I have failed to ask where from. All I know is that it was 'work' money and we had to spend it on this retreat. We went to some secluded Home Team NS facility in the middle of who-knows-where but it was somewhere near the highway. That's all I know. lol

Needless to say, it was deemed for failure due to the poor organisation and preparation skills of the appointed officers. No one wanted to be there. In fact, the appointed officers themselves admitted in the beginning of the retreat that they didn't want to be there.

You'd think a retreat would be somewhere nice. Somewhere where people want to go and have some fun with each other. Or at the very least, do something which people wanna do too. The last retreat, they went bowling. Now that sounds like fun. Four games of bowling. That really sounds like something worth doing. But no. None of that even happened.

My OC Ops 'instructed' (that was the exact word used to) me to have my guitar on scene so that I can present a song. Any song. A gospel song even. I immediately resisted. I even requested that I pay the consequences of disobeying instructions prior to the event because I knew that this was not a place where I would wanna play the guitar. Not in front of a whole bunch of strangers too.

We had to report at the police station by 0820hrs. But police officers being police officers, we only started moving at 0915hrs. Boarding on the bus, we made our way to the location and to be honest, at first glance, it really looked nice. I actually thought it was gonna be a nice day.

There was a nice swimming pool which looked too top class for me to swim in. There was a very nice lobby area and there were even recreation rooms. There was also a pool room consisting of what seemed like a room full of countless pool tables stretching into a dark dark end. Down below in the basement, there were 2 Jackpot rooms which clearly stated at the entrance;

No persons under the age of 18 allowed.

To which I blatantly disobeyed at the sight of it.

I mean seriously, people are constantly shocked at the fact that I'm still 17 and not at least 18 yet. If not for the way I speak, then for the way I look. To the average asian, I am considered 'tall'. And also to the average asian, I am considered 'large'. Well, at least larger than the average asian anyway. So I don't see any reason why they would wanna screen me of all people; besides the fact that I tower well over most of them anyway. In most cases, this does come in handy; such as this one.

At first sight, I was immediately uninterested to the 'action' going on in there. The two rooms were filled with electronically operated jackpot machines.

Having experienced a lot of this back in Myanmar, I knew that it was pointless trying to win. It was more meaningful if I jumped on the net and played this exact same thing because I would not be losing anything this way.

The odds of winning in something like this is extremely unlikely because you tend to lose more than you win. On top of which, all this is computer operated which basically means you lose the moment you sit down anyway.

Back in Myanmar when we would visit the arcade each week, our dad would continually remind us that these kinda games are for fun. For amusement only. There wasn't any point trying to win because it will just get you addicted and eventually, lead to many problems. The point of it all was to play for the fun of it and to have a great time.

But one thing that struck me while I was seated in that room was that there was this old lady in there playing as well. Just observing her for those few minutes I was in there, I noticed that she would return to the counter for more coins every few minutes because of these machines. It was clear she didn't have much else in her life. Or at least, something wasn't sitting right with her at home - otherwise she wouldn't be there. Not in the middle of no where at least. The poor thing.

Anyway, when we got there, we were all seated in this not too big meeting/dining room. Two division teams were present. Ours and another. We sat and waited for the program to start.

It promptly started at 10:22am as they began the day with 'random' team presentations. This was where I was 'supposed' to play my guitar.

Picture this: a small dining room, with nearly 50 people in it. Half of which were tired from the night shift they had just done, and the other half not wanting to be there. Now, try adding the elements of a silent room filled with tables topped with edible objects suitable for 'flight'.

Then add this to the picture. A young international-Singaporean boy who hardly knows any 'non-gospel' songs trying to entertain this tough crowd. What in the world would I play? If I attempted any gospel songs, I'd most probably be the only one in the room trying to sing. But if I attempted any non-gospel songs, ... well, they would probably be most appropriately described as 'attempts'. Either way, they were both do or die situations.

Fortunately for me, I saw this coming. Which is why many people were asking me, "where's your guitar?" =D Much to my delight, I would try to look shock with palms facing the sky every time someone would ask me.

Anyway, story was - I was so glad I didn't bring it. It was probably one of the best decisions of my life thus far. Even though I have told myself that I would take some 'adventurous steps' quite some time ago, this step was way too far to be tested. So I resisted taking this step and I'm glad I didn't. XP

Lunch was just as terrible. The 'buffet' was humiliating. It was just a puny table with stacks of fried noodle and rice, followed by one tray of chicken wings and fried squid balls. Then, there were some desserts and a massive drink dispenser. I was not surprised to see so much noodles and rice left over cause it wasn't very impressive at all. I think Chariz could cook way better. Go Chariz! XD hehe

Well, after eating one puny plate, I decided to stop. It wasn't worth my consumption. But as if that wasn't enough, we had to endure more torture.

AFter lunch, the tables and chairs were cleared for 'games'. If you can call them games..

The first game was called "the Longest Chain". I'm pretty sure many of you have played it before but the point of the game is to use as many personal accessories to create the longest accessory chain. Unfortunately for the organisers, personal accessories also included tongs, mobile phone chargers, umbrellas, newspaper articles and human bodies. It was funny at first, but really, it was quite sad. The room was so small they had to make laps in the room just to satisfy their long chains.

But that wasn't the game which threw the entire day off. What was bad was that they expected us dance. They called all the NSF guys from our team and asked us to dance.

"What for!?!?" I really didn't see the point in us dancing. The day was sad in itself and you wanted us to have 'fun' by doing something like this!?

Pleading with us, they said we only had to dance for 30 seconds. At the time, it seemed like they were asking us to dance for 30 hours because everybody was waiting. Staring. Everybody was waiting to see us dance so that we can make complete fools of ourselves in a day like this. They even got one of our female officers to stand in the middle of our li'l circle so that we can dance around her. Yeah, .. right.

Anyway, to cut a long stupid and humiliating story short, we 'danced' for 5 seconds or so before breaking up the scene.

And as if that wasn't enough, what happened to me later on was even worse!

The day was just about to close and they said, "let's finish off with some fun!"

'Right' ... I thought to myself.

"Let's get someone to sing!"

The last thing you want to hear at this point was someone calling out your name. Quite inevitably, someone called out my name! Soon enough, people were trying to get me on stage to sing something.

Someone claimed that because I was a 'gospel singer' (ok...), I can sing. It was like trying to fend off a thousand eyes on me as people would cheer and applause for me to get up there. On top of which, my Station Sergent was already started making his way towards me. He strode purposely all the way from across the room to pull me up and on. When I set eyes on his advancement, I knew this was gonna be bad. That this was a sign of desperation to try to kick in some revival into this already decomposing event.

There was no way I was gonna get up there. I had to see to it that I don't get up there. Even though I had this vague mindset to wanna make things better around sad events like this, this was not gonna be one of them.

He tried to pull me off my seat but I was so glad I had the strength to retaliate. It came to a point where I was nearly off my seat when I had to activate my last resort to finally getting my Station Sergent off me.

A little bit of childish reaction by shouting out, "OH!? You want to sing don't you!? Hey! Zin wants to sing! Quickly! Go up now," did the trick. He immediately backed off before anyone else agreed with me that he was in fact a good candidate for this momentous occasion.

"Hey guys, the earliest we can leave will be 1400hrs. So we'll have to endure just another few more minutes. In the mean time, does anyone want to sing?" Names were suggested, and two others embarrassingly made their way on stage. It was very brave of them to do it because the day was terribly sad in itself. At least they had the guts to do it and that's pretty admirable. At least they didn't chicken out like I did.

What am I saying? I think I was Braveheart with a brain! LoL. I still don't regret not singing. In fact, I think I would have regretted it if I sang. I'll never hear the end of it back at work.

Anyway, we were finally allowed to leave. When asked where is the closest train station, I was surprised to discover that I was quite far away from home. At the very least, I thought they'd have the bus bring us back to the station but no. Police efficiency is such that we were brought out onto the battlefield without any means of escape. No matter how dangerous the war might be. It's either do or die.

Or just taking the train back which was quite far away.

On the bright side, I was able to sleep on the train. The previous night shift, I didn't sleep the entire day. I was awake for 27 hours without sleep. It was the first time I had done something like this and quite honestly, I was quite amazed that I can still be awake after so many hours of work. The trick was to keep moving. If I were seated somewhere for many hours, chances are I'd be in Teletubby Land - just like today ...

Showtime

2007-08-17T17:03:00.000+08:00

It took twelve 12 hour shifts but it's finally happened.

I believe I've gotten used to it now. It took 144 hours to finally get used to the whole working for 12 hours in the day and 12 hours in the night shifts. And of course it does still seem a bit long, but it's not as bad as when I first started.

Like for all first days, the first few shifts seemed like eternity. But it wasn't as bad as when I first started working back in year 10 for work experience.

After having to work from 9 to 5, I came back each night wishing I was back at school. I still recall the first day of work experience when I wondered why the time was still 2pm and not 5pm. I thought it stayed like that for several decades till it finally ended 3 hours later.

On top of experiencing the work life, I think the massively long working hours I went through earlier this year helped ease the transition into this 12 hour working shift. The major difference between working at that admin job and at this one, is that the travelling time is a lot less consuming. Despite this 12 hour shift being 12 hours long, having to travel at least 40minutes to 1 hour every day, in one direction, can be really stressful and tiring cause you'd have to wake up early and by the time you get back, it's time to sleep.

I guess the benefits of this police shift is that I get those 2 days off which is very very helpful. Everytime I start work the first day, I focus on those 2 days off which is only a few hours away. And when it comes, it's like a high school musical where the kids all stampede out of the classroom and out onto the road at the sound of the final bell.

But I think the elements of having a really nice working environment makes it a whole lot better. There's this nice gradual age increase in my team. With me being the youngest, the next oldest NSF would be a year older, followed by another guy another year older and so on. The oldest NSF is 22 and so after that, I'd say the next police officer would be in her mid 20s? That's right. Female officers! Whoo!

"Thank you Father for making my life a nice warm loving place to live in."

Ahem.

Right, anyway. After that, you got all the senior officers who are aged between 30-50. At least with this gradual age increase, the working environment isn't such a bad place to be in. The older officers can relate to one another, and then younger ones can muck around. Then of course, because they're all so relaxed, people tend to socialise a bit more and that's why everyone is quite open to each other.

And of course with my very direct, purposeful mentality, I am able to take advantage of this and make myself right at home there. I find myself doing things as if I've been there for years. At least around the accused, I want to look like I know what I'm doing and not just stand there like a complete idiot thinking, "this isn't my job is it?"

With these fresh accused, we can make it seem like we know what we're doing. But having been there for 144 hours, I've already seen some familiar accused!

There was this one guy, I believe it was my 3rd shift, and I was asked to escort the young female officer to take the DNA from this Malay guy. Now, this Malay guy looked whacked. I think he consumed some controlled drugs, thus causing his arrest, so he was like somewhere else. There were moments when I thought he would collapse!

Anyway, just a few shifts ago, I saw this guy come back in. This time, I think it was for Fradulent Possession of Stolen Property. He has 15 pairs of shoes on him and he didn't know how to explain it. I had the honour of sorting through his 'property' to ensure everything stated is present and accounted for. I really don't know how he comes up with stuff like this.

Speaking about the accused, I just heard today that a 15 year old girl in Geelong was raped last night at around 7:40pm!

This goes out to all the young girls and even the old ones =P Please be careful! Guys in Australia can be pervs. Actually, guys in general are pervs. Sorry guys. Be careful girls. LoL

The article can be read here, so I won't go too much into the story's detail.

Shockingly, it's in the area near our old church in Geelong and if I'm not mistaken, even closer to the Toh's house! Be careful Tiffany! Make sure you're not alone when you're outside!

Actually, I don't think the area's very safe at all. A lot of weird people stay there. I don't mean to sound harsh, but that's how I see it.

There was another double rape case back in May when two 14 and 15 year old girls were raped by 5 guys. Soon after hearing about this, my caution for all girls in Geelong escalated. My mum also disallowed Chariz to go out with her friends during certain times. Being so far away, I simply frowned at the thought of girls going out alone. I don't like the idea of young girls walking outside alone in Australia anyway. It's definitely like throwing a piece of meat into a jungle. You attract all sorts of animals.

At least in Singapore, it's not so bad. You can hardly turn a corner without seeing someone but in Australia, there are plenty of secluded areas.

But of course I'm not saying that all guys are like this. It's just that group of people who 'want it easy' and would prey on young girls. Disgusting.

So this is my plea to you girls out there, especially those in Australia. Be very careful! Don't think you're some strong chick who can fight off guys cause you can't. Even if you think you're Chyna, I don't think I could win against a guy holding me at knife point, despite me thinking I'm an exact replica of Arnold Schwarzenegger. You'd be way too freaked out! I'd be way too freaked out!

At the very least, have someone follow you. Even another girl, but preferably another guy. Just make sure the guy's not a perv! haha =S

Anyway, it donned upon me just a few days ago that I failed to post up any image of me in a police uniform! hahaha, so today being a very unproductive day in itself, I've decided to be very generous and post an image of me! And on top of that! An image of me in a police uniform! To all pervs out there, remember this face! It'll be the last face you see if you wanna go for young girls!

XD lol

I had the honour of having my face in my friend's MSN display pic, so in response, I'll have the same picture with him in it posted here.

Being the only Corporal in my squad, I had the honour of taking a lot of pictures with my friends on our POP day. And yes, I have not been lying. I really am a police man XP

Our POP where we formed the letters 'POP'. Each POP, they try to do something different. I think we did this because they did something similar during our National Day Parade back on the 9th of August; except theirs was on a much larger scale with their men forming the words "NDP 07" then transforming into "NS 40" - representing the 40 years of National Service in Singapore.

These two awards were for the Best in Studies and Best in Ops fitness. I took this picture the night I received it at the Graduation dinner, so the other two awards for Best Trainee and the PNS Statute award didn't come till the POP day.

Baby Ally: What-ever!

2007-08-14T22:28:00.001+08:00

It's been a while since I've seen something this cute. Makes you wanna just grab and smother her! =P

Death To Smoochy

2007-08-12T22:32:00.000+08:00

I basically spent the whole morning and afternoon in bed making up for the hours of sleep that I lost during the night shift last night.

But as a result, I have now become a nocturnal mammal.

Seriously though, these night shifts really stuff up your 'bio-clock'. Times when you're meant to be sleeping, you're awake. And times when you're meant to be asleep, you're awake. I reckon I could move to the US about now and not suffer from jet lag.
Sure, I could try to do what I've been doing and try to 'save' my sleepiness for the night so I could sleep for 12 hours or so by turning in early. But what does that do? It leaves my head spinning in the morning because of the lack of sleep.

You see, calculating the hours of sleep, the afternoon before the night shift, I'd try to get some sleep - maybe an hour or two. Then, as I rock up for the night shift, I'd lose 7 hours of sleep, because I'd try get at least 9hrs of sleep.

Coming back at around 9am after my shift, I'd sleep for 6 hours till 3pm. But hey! My body is thinking I've only slept for 6 hours and not 9! So I'm still missing those 3 extra hours. And it's because of that that I'd still be groggy.

That's when I'm faced with two choices. Sleep some more till 6pm where I'd have made up those hours lost the previous night, leaving me pretty much nocturnal for the right of the night, or stay awake and endure fatigue till evening. Unfortunately for me, I've tried the second option many times and each time, I end up feeling really awful in the morning. The last time I tried it, my head was spinning the moment I woke up. It lasted till that night when I finally slept at the correct time again.

However, this time! I've decided to test out option number one. I've slept till 6pm but I had a 3 hour interval from 12pm because I was awoken to the sound of noisy relatives outside. I can recall someone, who I believe was my nephew, banging on some sort of metal object. It sounded something like a pot of some sort. But for those who know me, I don't usually wake up all that easily. Not even if you're blasting music in the same room, I'd still sleep soundly.

But somehow, the volume created this afternoon was amazingly sufficient to wake me up from my deep slumber.

Anyway, it's not that I'm complaining. All I'm saying is that, now, I've turned nocturnal and I'm free to blog! LoL. Yeah. All that blabbing I did above was just so that I could say that I am now free to blog. hehe

Sarah has given me some additional inspiration to blog a bit more about my life in the Police Division. And so now thanks to her, I now have something I know I can blog about! lol

During our previous night shift, we had 3 cases of '32's come in. The term '32' relates to people of unsound mind. Insane. Mentally blank. Idiot. Stupid. Ok, maybe stupid is a bit far, but you get the idea.

From the look of them all, the last 32 that was brought in was the youngest. Probably around his late teens to early twenties. He was like completely oblivious to what was going on. When we were trying to bring him into the Temporary Holding Bay, he resisted said to the officer, "I don't want to die."

The officer bringing him in said, "What? Aiyah, you won't die. Just sit in there. C'mon." Yet, he still refused to move. They were motionless for another few seconds before they told him to remove his glasses as well. But being a 32 and all, it seemed as though nothing was going into his head. He had this really blank look; as if we spoke some alien language and he didn't know we were talking to him.

After finally handcuffing him inside, he sat quietly for a while. Few minutes passed till, one of the officer saw that he was standing towards the corner of the THB and looked as though he was gonna urinate in the corner. It would be very frustrating if he actually did because it would mean cleaning up and at 4-5am, which cleaner would be awake and on duty during those hours? None of course. So it would mean we would have to do it.

But that was not the highlight of the night. The highlight of the night was when one of the 32 went completely bonkers. Fun for me cause I was the first one to spot him acting funny.

Being handcuffed to a metal railing behind the seats, he suddenly stood up, turned around, and started to kick the railing. He repetitively kicked the railing till his end of the railing was actually out of its socket. I actually didn't notice it till I heard all that banging. I looked at the THB and saw him hacking at it with his foot.

I leaped off my seat and shouted at the guy, "Oi! Hey!" banging against the glass window I shouted until I eventually caught his attention, "Oi! What are you doing!?" I purposely pointed my finger at him as I gave him this pissed off aggressive look to intimidate the fella. I'm not sure if he took to it because he too stared back at me, as though he was the boss. After another few seconds of staring, he turned back again and started to kick the railing again. I shouted even louder, "HEY!" By then, all the officers in the vicinity came to the scene and confronted the guy. The 32 turned around again and stared at me again and I stared back. I wasn't worried because I was still behind the glass but the other female accused who was brought in was like a bit panicky and was like giving me this 'What should I do?' look. I briefly directed her to follow the female officer, pointing the female accused to the corner as I continued my stare down with this 32. The regular at the scene asked me to retrieve the other regulars who had just left a few moments ago as my friend, who was equipped with a T-Baton, confronted the guy, speaking in Hokkien.

It wasn't long till I returned back to the scene with my friend at the mouth of the entrance of the THB. He tried to ask what in the world the guy was trying to do, and he told me that all he was speaking was gibberish. All he could pick out was that the 32 said a chinese idiom. It was something like, "Blood will flow like rivers."

Actually, at the time when I heard about it, it really didn't seem like anything. To be frank, we don't take anything the accused say during their stay in our custody seriously. Most of them are nut case and some just insane.

But after typing it back here; after quoting, "I don't want to die," and, "blood will flow like rivers." It does sound a bit freaky. Doesn't it? Well, to me it does; especially when I'm the one encountering stuff like this. lol

Well, those are most of the interesting situations I have had to face during the few shifts that I have been doing. It's really interesting to be in this industry. You see a whole lot of things that people normally wouldn't get to see. I'm sure if I didn't get in there, I wouldn't have seen some of the things I have seen to date and of course, there will always be plenty more I won't get to see, or at least don't hope to see. For example, my friend was dispatched to a multi-storey suicide case on his first day as a neighbourhood police officer. How freaky is that!? I've seen pics of people dying like that and it really ain't pretty. Cases where people hang themselves too. It can be really messy when the police find them.

Anyway, I won't go into too much detail. I can hardly stand the sight of it. That's why I'm not into anything medical. The last job I'll probably wanna get would be to become a coroner. Eeek!

If there's one thing I've learnt so far, it would be this. I've realised just recently that I will not like to use a squat toilet to poo. The old man who was under our safe custody showed me all the 'disgustingness' of pooing in a squat toilet and I won't like it at all. haha

Nah, but in all seriousness, this whole Police experience has really given me something to think about. After seeing all these sad cases of people dying and going insane and people doing illegal stuff, it makes me really grateful for what I have. For who I know. For who I am. I would be shattered if I were to see any of the things that I've seen so far happen to people I know. Takes the perspective of life to a whole new dimension. Let's just hope none of you will be victims of what I've witnessed so far..

Wayne's World

2007-08-10T21:17:00.000+08:00

Somehow, I find myself confronted with another 100th post to commemorate again but this time, I'm really not in the mood to do anything fancy. In fact, I'm not gonna do anything special at all.

The reasons why there has been a drought in my posting are simply because, I'm too tired and I don't have anything to blog about. And with these two elements combined, you get someone not blogging.

However, I will see to it that at all costs (not literally) I don't end up not blogging for at least a month.

That is, I pledge (pfft, not really XP) to blog at least once a month at the extreme. I will try my best to make sure my blog does not die unless I do; despite whatever drought I may experience in my blogging world. Meaning, hey! Not blogging for at nearly 2 weeks isn't too bad! At least I'm not blogging monthly! =P To whoever out there who still visits my blog nowadays.

Anyway, to anyone still out there who still read this, you will get to hear about some of the weird things that I have been doing in my new Police Division HQ. To be honest, after slaving away in front of the clock for 12 hours, you really feel far too tired to actually 'blog' about it at home so feel honoured that I am blogging about it because I really couldn't be bothered doing it if it wasn't for my blog. lol

Today, there was something new. There was this old man who we had arrested for safe custody. I'd say he was in his late 70s. White hair, missing teeth - most of which have been heavily decayed to the roots, foul odour and wrinkly everything else.

So we had him in our Temporary Holding Bay (THB) and what was rather interesting was that he kept on wanting to stand behind the door, no matter how many times we told him to sit. He'd also place his wrinkled old cheeks onto the glass door as he started to spit and drool all over the door and subsequently, the floor. He would repetitively spit and drool every few minutes until inevitably, we found that the floor had a puddle full of his saliva from all that spitting. And when I say a 'puddle', I actually mean a puddle. An actual puddle.

The amount of saliva that crept through the bottom of the door had leaked out from the THB and into the Charge Office! The female officers were all squealing and saying how much they wanted to vomit at the site of it.

But if that's something to vomit about, how about having to bring the old man to the toilet to watch him poo!? As a PIC (Person-in-Custody) officer, we had to watch - even with this old man. We had to accompany him to the toilet to watch him poo. Fortunately for me, I refused to 'watch' him and allowed my friend to do all the necessary 'contacts' with the old man, which included basking in the aroma of the faeces. It was so funny because he actually went in front of the old man to 'check up' on him and because he did, he was confronted with a powerful nose numbing scent. He came out coughing all the way. What made it worse was that the poo that came out wasn't the most 'compact' of faeces, if you get what I mean... =S

For the first time, I was able to escort an accused back from court today. I had to do the whole procedure of handcuffing, escorting, stripping, etc. It was interesting but really, it actually is a very dangerous job. If at any point in time the accused managed to escaped, maybe with the help of a friend or if he turned violent, I would have to pay for it, along with my supervisor. This is because 'they', being the prosecutors, assume that we allowed him to escape and as a result, we will be charged doubly heavy for being a law enforcer.

Also, fortunately I haven't been physically 'challenged' before and let's hope it doesn't happen. But really, I've had to cover some of the largest guys in there, I'm afraid if he took a whack at me I might get knocked out.

Usually people say I look 'tall' and 'big', but if I thought someone as large as those guys were tall and big, then I reckon they'll kill me.

Being the new guy, I am being very cautious about my role as the police officer. If any accused is standing in an advantageous position when we are in a confined space, I'll see to it that his position is neutralised as soon as possible. Others seem to be a bit more less cautious about it all. Maybe it's because they're more confident or more aware of their capabilities, but I'm not taking that risk. Not around people who are gonna be charged I'm not.

You see all sorts of things in there. I'm not sure if I am at liberty to say any of these things because I don't think these things are really that uncommon anyway and I'm sure many people can come across these things but for me, it's a first.

Like for one, I came across this young kid, 16 years of age, and he had STD! For me, it was a first because I've never really encountered anyone with STD before, or at least, not one that I'm aware of. But to see this kid with STD at such a young age, it's sad.

Another thing which I would not have seen if I were not in the police force, would be to see people with syringe scars on their arms. I noticed this once when I spotted one female accused brought in for controlled drug consumption. It wasn't something I was 'scanning' for but I happen to come across the markings one night when we were collecting rubbish and it was interesting because I had yet to see that in my life. But now I have.

I also saw an old man in his late 50s with an Elvis Presley hair style.

And I have a friend who talks like Fez from That '70s Show. Seriously, I do! He's from my intake. Unfortunately, he's in another team so I don't talk to him as much but when I first met him, I knew he reminded me of someone but I didn't realise who. Until one day, it all came clear to me. Fez! The way he speaks almost completely sounds the exact same way Fez speaks in That '70s Show. I mean how cool is that!? All I need now is to grab a funny line the Fez said in the show and make my friend read it. haha, ok ok ... I think,

I'll just stop now. =P

The Rundown

2007-07-30T12:42:00.000+08:00

When I was a kid, I thought police officers were really scary people.

The intimidating all blue uniform with those guns, handcuffs, T-baton, to a kid, I didn't know they were the good people. I always thought that these police officers would arrest me if I did something naughty. So that's why I was scared of them. And that's why I wanted to become a the bad guy with the gun who shoots innocent people because I thought they were the good cool people.

But now, after becoming a police officer myself, I know that all that is a load of ... ... rubbish.

Police officers are cool man! In fact, we rock!

We've got the best uniform there is. And the best thing is, is that kids are scared of us! whooO!

Ok, fine. That was unnecessary. But really though. In our police uniform, there's a great sense of dominance and superiority when it comes to dealing with civilians.

In the charge office (where they process all the people arrested under our custody), there would be a good handful of people who come through there everyday. And when we escort accused anywhere, there'd always be a clear indication that we as policeman are a lot more cool than the accused in them civilian clothing because the uniform tells them who's boss. Sure, there are cases where the accused would retaliate and completely humiliate the police officer in a fist fight, but we won't go into that.

The point is, I love how I am the police officer in uniform and how the accused is the, so called 'bad guy'. hehe

And what makes it all so much more cool is when we holster all the equipments onto our belts. It makes us look even more intimidating with all these wonderful contraptions which people don't know how to use.

Fine, I also don't know how to use some of them, but that's beside the point.

When I went in for my 3rd shift yesterday, I have to admit that I really wasn't all that 'excited' about going in. I couldn't sleep properly because I knew that the hour was coming for me to get up from bed and prepare myself for a tiresome 12 hours in the Police HQ. It was really hard trying to be positive about where I had to do my shifts because it isn't really pleasant to do what I have to do in there. I tried to look at all the 'possible' things that could be great about this job but really, there wasn't.

It's even worse than a normal person's working life. At least in the office you'd stay in there for like what? 9 hours? Give or take. And of course during that time, you can do whatever you want, as long as you complete your work.

Like for example, one could take multiple toilet breaks by drinking heaps of water. And even if you had to drink water, you'd have to walk somewhere to get it so you could kill even more time by walking from the computer to the water tap. Of course, this is just a suggestion. Not that ... I've done any of that ...

Anyway, with this 12 hr shift, there isn't really a time where you can 'relax'. Everyone has gotta be on their toes. If something goes wrong with the accused, we could all pay the price. That's why this is such a dangerous posting. And to make up for all the dangerous possibilities that could take place in there, they're giving us another $100 for 'risk allowances'. Just so that if anyone asks, the government could always say that they paid us extra money for whatever danger we were put through. Quite convenient I'd say.

I realised how dangerous this job really is when I had to do the night shift last Thursday night. I was the only officer in charge of the lock up and there were 3 guys in the cell. Having that in mind, how does this picture sound?

A 17 year old NSmen looking after 5 accused who were going to be charged in court, alone in a police division lock up with no one around. The closest officers who could reach me to save me if my life was at stake would be some 20 metres away behind 2 metal security doors that would take approximately 30-40 seconds to pass through, provided you were really quick enough to make your way through. I'd say that in 30-40 seconds, I could take down 10 wrestlers with a revolver and possibly a drunken diva ....

..... with my T-baton.

I mean, seriously. Don't you think that this situation could turn nasty? This is only 5 accused. Imagine a whole lock-up filled with people and there's only one or even two police officers in there. And now, imagine if those one police officer was an NSmen. And now, imagine if that NSmen was me. Don't you think it's just a little bit dangerous?

But what's the most we can do? Nothing really. All I'm doing about it is complaining about it on my blog and whoever else comes into my path, but that's about it. Being NSmen, there really isn't much point complaining because whatever you get, you just do. Whether you do a good job of it or not, that's a different story.

The NS guys in there told me, "Whenever someone gives you a job, just say yes. End of story."

One time, my friend said yes and never actually did anything about it. As a result, he got canned big time. Not too sure if I want that happening to me any time soon. Especially when I want to get out of there without much of a record. Notice that I said 'without much' ;P

Anyway, there's a time to complain, and there's a time to do work. I really wasn't all too happy about the whole situation but what could I do? I really didn't know.

That was until some people came to me and gave me some advice I was deprived of hearing - 'Do it for God'. I had completely forgotten that. Really, I had.

I had taken the entire situation into my hands and wondered, 'What can I do?', 'How can I do this?', 'What's the point of me doing this?' Until I heard those few words, I was completely caught in my own self centred world where everything was about me and not about God.

You'd be amazed by how quickly everything becomes so much brighter when God becomes the centre focus. Do it all for God and amazing things will come forth.

But of course I'm not here to be some lecturer about the greatness of God. I'm just trying to say that God was really the turning point in all this. He always has and always will be.

And with this, I went in with a more excited heart to work for God and it was so much better. Yesterday, I was put into the Filer section where I do most of the paperwork filing, and as long as I did it for God, it was all ok. I worked hard, and played hard. Most of the time, I'd end up with nothing else to do because I had finished all the filing work and no one was out in our area causing too much trouble to file any police reports. But then of course, it was a Sunday morning/arvo. People were still in their beds creating who knows how many 'la-la' lands.

So tonight, I must try. Tonight, I'm back in the lock up section where I have to stay awake for the entire night. Let's see how things turn out this time as I venture in a lot more prepared; unlike last time when I went in with nothing but my iPod and a mini What On Earth Am I Here For? book by Rick Warren. That night went by like a snail on a treadmill.

Anyway, if you see me blogging in the next few days, it means I am in the mood to blog and not too tired by the fact that the Singapore National Day is coming up and we as policeman are activated. I really don't hope I have to go but I believe the odds are against me.

Rush Hour 2

2007-07-24T17:26:00.000+08:00

The sad part is that I have to work 12 hour shifts.

The great part is that I get 2 days off.

The sad part is that I have to work at night.

The great part is that this is a different sort of exposure.

The sad part is that I have to work there till the 22nd of Oct.

The great part is that I'm not being confined, kinda.

The sad part is that a lot of people who can make your life a living torture roam the place like sharks.

The great part is that everyday is another day to completing NS.

The sad part is that I will have no luxury items with me during my shift.

The great part is that this is not permanent. Phew.

This is my life for the next 3 months. Fortunately, when I did some simple calculations, I'll actually only be serving 1.5 months because half the time, I'll be 'off' but it'll still be considered '3 months of National Service" =D. Iif it wasn't for these offs, I believe I would be on the verge of commanding myself to 'langkah merusuk, ke hadapan, gerak' off the roof of a 20 storey building.

I mean, really! 12 hours!? I've never even slept that long before! How am I to survive!?

My other friend who took the night shift yesterday started at 8pm. I had a moment of remembrance for him before I continued with whatever I did at 8pm. When I woke up this morning at 7:30am, I was still thinking about him and how long it has been; even with me sleeping at night, I still felt for him because he wouldn't be done for another 30 minutes.

I dunno if I should be more scared of the day shifts or the night shifts.

At first, I thought it would be better to have the night shift because there wouldn't be any big ranks walking around. But then again, I realised that I make a very bad friend to the insomniacs.

But then again, having the day shifts can be just as bad. In fact, having any 12 hour shift can be bad. It's bad enough I complained about my nine and a half hour work back in Feb when I was working as the admin. Now, I have to add another two and half hours of work? Oh no.

Anyway, there are only a few things that really comfort me in knowing that things aren't as bad as they could be.

For one, God is always with me and I'm really appreciative of that.

The other thing is that this is only temporary and I get 2 days off from work after the 2 days of day followed by night shifts. Having two days off is just awesome because it gives me time to just get away from the Police HQ and away from everything NS related. Thank God for this luxury =P

And something new that someone told me is that people 'get used to' this kinda shifts. I didn't know this and to at least know that I could get accustomed with this kinda odd timing shifts are somewhat comforting to know, because obviously having to go somewhere with total reluctance can be quite horrible to live through. So at least to know that this is something that one could get used to is great.

Anyway, with all this, my first day shift starts tomorrow at 8am. I have to report at 7am at the station all dressed and ready for the morning briefing. In Singapore, the sun doesn't rise till 7am, so I'll be, once again, watching the sun rise.

I do realise that I have been looking at this in a negative way and sure, there are a lot of things that I could look at positively .. but it's hard and I don't wanna. The thought of a 12 hour work shift scares me. I really don't know how I would survive something like that. I haven't even stayed online on MSN for that long before. And boy is that long.

On the whole, my schedule for everything will be messed up. This is because for this posting, everything is a 4 day week; two days work, two days off. This means I will miss out a lot on church for the next 3 months =( I thought it would be a lovely 5 day week, but I guess I was wrong.

Anyway, this post has been depressing enough. It'll be kinda funny if I rock up tomorrow night saying that everything was great and fun and I can't wait for the next shift! If that happens, you'll be sure to see me blogging about it!

In the mean time, I'm not happy at all. lol

Just Follow Law

2007-07-19T18:50:00.000+08:00

This week, I was on course for my new temporary posting as a PIC officer.

PIC stands for Person-In-Custody which basically translates into police officers taking care of people in police custody, may they be accused persons or people seeking police protection. So this is where we come in. We take care of people in our lock-up.

But of course, this means there is the possibility of unpredictable 'human danger'. The accused can at any time attack the police officer on duty with whatever they could get their hands on. This just means we have to be more careful with what we do and stuff. But then again, I will not be doing this for long.

As I said above, this is only temporary. This will only go until September because ...

... I got into the OCT course. =D

The OCT course doesn't start till September so they had to give us something to do and this just happened to be it.

Nevertheless, before the POP, my OC informed me during our graduation dinner that I had passed the final interview and am in for the OCT course. The final hurdle will be a final of the final interview at the Central Manpower Base (CMPB) sometime later. Not too sure what we have to do there but he told me that if you manage to get to the CMPB stage, it means you're pretty much through. So praise God. All obstacles were cleared!

By right, a lot of things should not have happened.

Because I volunteered for NS (before turning 18), I was 'not suppose' to have done many things. Mainly these:-

Wear the ever respected dark blue uniform for the Singapore's Special Constable (SC) as I was supposed to be a Vigilante Corps (VC).

Hold a gun

Shoot a gun

Be with the ITE squad (by right, I was suppose to be in the VC squad but in actual fact, I was suppose to be in the A-Level squad)

Wear the Corporal rank

Receive the PNS award

Get into OCT

And so who do we blame for all this? I believe we referred to this phenomenal as an 'Admin Muck-Up'. Don't ask me how all this happened. All I know is that there was an admin muck-up (or at least I'd like to think so XD) and when they discovered that I had made it to the final 4 OCT selection and the top-5 for the PNS award, they realised that I was not even 18 yet. Unfortunately for them, it was too late and now I realise that big organisations can make major mistakes as to see me defy all policies that states people like me aren't allowed to do such things.

In any case, it was a wonderful muck-up and I loved how it all happened. Looking back, it's all so funny.

I even remembered the day I went for the NS registration. It stated on the sheet that I should be a 'VC' and not 'SC'. Yet on the enlistment day, I was automatically placed into a ITE group with me being the only 'A-Level' in the squad. They only recognized that I had an A-Level qualification weeks before I passed out, so that couldn't explain why I was upgraded from VC to SC on the first day.

Nevertheless, what was even more amazing was how I managed to pull through all the way into the OCT course. Actually, I am not allowed to even get nominated because by right, I am 'under aged', yet there was no ruling that said specifically that I was not allowed for this course. So to look at all this now, we really have to thank and praise God for all that has happened thus far.

I say that because I believe that the amazing stuff has not yet been completed. I got this far and I believe that there are much more to come! If God could get me into this very exciting course, surely the course itself will be even more crazy! I will be stressed out to the bone with all my work but I'm sure great results will come of it! Be it something that might praise God or not. Either way, how fun! Can't wait for the real fun to begin!

So I will return back to the Police Academy in September for the officer training. In the mean time, I will be posted to the PIC course. This whole week has been course training for this posting and I have to say, it has been great!

Not the course itself but rather the way the course has been conducted.

The course was suppose to start at 8:30am and finish at 6pm.

But our very cool OC goes, "Ok boys, we'll start at 9am and finish around ... oh, I dunno ... 4:30pm? Sound good?" The first time he said that, we were ecstatic! We were expecting something like 9am to 5pm but to cut an extra 30mins of the lesson, that's even better! But that's the least of it.

Like how he said the lesson would start at 9am sharp; our very cool OC actually rocks up between 9:25am to 9:55am for class. So what do we do before that?

Sleep!

As soon as class began, which usually started moving at 10am, he'd comment that we'll be soon be going on a short break. By 10:30am, he would finally decide that it was appropriate for a class break which will go till 10:50am. At first, we were not aware of what we were getting into. We simply agreed that a 20min break would be great but that wasn't it! We were allowed to relax even more because he would rock up at the classroom (because he would go off to his office to eat something) between 11:00am to 11:15am. What do we do during that time? We would either ..

Sleep!

Or stand outside in the corridor terrorising trainees with our Corporal rank and boy is it fun!

Resuming part two of our morning class, our OC then states that we shall leave for lunch at 12pm, no later. Obviously, this kinda motivation keeps us going and we listen. After all, we have been sleeping many times during the day already. Keeping awake in that mightily cold air-con room was not too awfully difficult at this stage.

By 12pm, we would be walking out for our 2 hour lunch break.

But how long can lunch go for? Taking my own sweet time walking, ordering, eating, clearing, walking, all that can take roughly 40mins. So what do I, and the rest of the gang, do for the rest of the time?

Sleep!

I'd usually sleep for an hour or so. Amazed? Yeah! I am too! Especially even after getting 9 hours of sleep every night! But there is something about that room that makes me so sleepy! I think it's the fridge-like air-con.

Would you be shocked if our OC came back at 2pm?

I would be if he did. That's what so great about this guy! He rocks up late all the time so we would usually begin our afternoon session between 2:30pm to 3:00pm. And yes, at 3:30pm, we would usually take a break which would go till 4pm.

But does it start at 4pm sharp? Hardly! As much as we hate him coming back late this time round (cause we wanna go home), he'd usually enter into the classroom around 4:05pm to 4:15pm. So what do we do for the last 15mins of class?

No no, we don't sleep. Not this time. Just endure the final few minutes as he talks about his experiences in the police force. Not too bad I guess. We just have to sit impatiently as we dwell on the thought of running free in the next few minutes. It can get pretty clear that we would be thinking about that because whenever he would pose the question, "Any question?" Everyone would answer, "Nooo."

And that's what I've been doing for this whole week and I'm sad to say that tomorrow is our last day. It's been so much fun, I'm gonna miss it. What's even more cool is that we don't have to march as we walk around the PA. That's so cool! And what's even more cool than that is that we are allowed to eat at the cafe during office hours. So we'd just go downstairs and grab some food during any one of our breaks. Why? Just because we can. Some of them would order Wanton Mee, Chicken Cutlet, Fried Rice, whatever is available. I'd go down for the hot paus (buns) and a cup of ice milo or horlicks.

Oh yes, life as a Singaporean Policeman. The Americans got their donuts. We have our sweet sweet cafe XD

Eddie's Million Dollar Cook Off (Part 4)

2007-07-14T11:44:00.000+08:00

"Boaz, please report to syndicate room 37 at 9:15am. I think it's the same room that you went to when you did the OCT interview."

"Yeah, it's the same room. What's this for?"

"It's an interview for the PNS (Police National Service) award."

"The PNS award!? Whoa, really!?"

"Yeah, it's for the best in the whole intake award."

"Wow! Haha, that's really good news! Thank you sir!"

When I received that phone call, I was so much more happy - even after hearing that the reason that I was dropped from the OCT selection was something out of my control. After that, I was even more cheerful. Now there was something else to be happy about. That interview for the best in the intake took over my desire for OCT. I basically converted all excited of getting into the OCT selection to the PNS award. And just to think that I could get that award was enough to keep me going but this time, I was careful not to get too excited because I don't want the same kinda disappointment I experienced when I discovered I was dropped from the OCT selection.

After returning back to the bunk, it was really funny how people still came to offer me their sympathies to me for not getting into OCT. Ok ok, I guess it's not 'funny'. But it was nice to see all these random people coming up to me and asking if I was ok or not. Unaware of the fact that I had already moved on with the thought of the PNS award in my mind. =P

6th July, 2007 (Friday)

We had POP rehearsal that morning at 9am. With the interview at 9:15am, I informed the FI conducting the rehearsal and having no other choice, he allowed me to go off in the midst of the rehearsal.

I marched back to the barrack to get changed and off I went to the Syndicate room.

The last few times I had to go to the room, no one was inside, so I assume there wouldn't be anyone in it this time. But I played it safe and knocked first before opening the door.

*Knock knock* After knocking, I slid the door open and there in that puny room were 6 officers, all of which were high ranking officers; including the OCs of all OCs - let's call him OC K

They all turned to look at me and they were all stunned as was I. I didn't know what to say, and I'm guessing they didn't either. But being the 'intruder', I had better say something, especially when I'm the trainee and they're the police officers.

"Errr ... I think I'm a bit early ... so err... I'll wait outside."

Shocked and not sure of what to say, OC K responded with half broken sentences which clearly indicated that he had no clue what to say either.

In total embarrassment, I quickly made my exit, apologising in the process.

'What a way to start my run for the PNS award huh? ' I thought to myself, 'Won't it be hilarious if I won the award now? The guy who walks into a 'probably top secret meeting' ironically wins the best trainee in the intake award. Oh yes, I've got a good chance now.'

I stood in the end of the corridor, totally embarrassed by what had happened. When OC K came out, I immediately stood in attention and saluted him, apologising again for what had happened. He assured me that it was ok and asked me to walk with him as he wanted to speak to me about what had happened with the OCT selection.

From memory, I think he said, "Has OC 'H' spoken to you yet?"

"No, but my OC talked to me about it. It's ok."

"Well, we didn't know about the situation and should have let you know earlier. But now, it's ok. Everything is ok."

"Yeah, it's ok." And he walked off into the Co-ordination office.

After waiting outside for a few seconds, the door opened again and he saw me. He turned around once more and asked the guys inside, "What do you want to do with the PNS candidates?"

"You can just ask them to come in." With that, he directed me to go on in to the air-conditioned office and it was good. =D

I waited in there, and in time, the other 4 candidates for the PNS award came in.

In time, as we got ready for the interview, we lined up outside the room and as we waited, my OC who was gonna be seated in the interview came up to me and said, "Boaz, I have another piece of good news for you. Can you take a guess?" I couldn't really muster any 'good news' that I could think of at that time because my mind was pretty much beat.

"Nope."

"You have been retained for the OCT selection. So welcome back." As he said this, one of the guys who was one of the original six in the run for OCT shook my hand, congratulating me. In complete shock, I instinctively shook his hand with this blur look on my face. I mean, I had moved on from OCT. When I woke up that morning, I had moved on. I was living life post-OCT and now that I was back in, I had no clue as to what to think. My focus was on OCT the day before, but when I lost it, everything I had hoped as an OCT dropped into a deep dark pit. And so after hearing that I was back in, I didn't exactly know how to react.

"Sir, what happened?"

"Well, they searched the black and white (law books) and found no regulation that stated people like you couldn't be in the run for the OCT selection."

"Wow, that's great..."

At that point in time, I really didn't know what to believe anymore. Was I in? Was I out? Was I supposed to be there at all or not? What was going on!?!?

This completely threw me out for the interview. I didn't really worry too much as to whether or not I got this award or not. Sure, I wanted it. But after hearing something like this, I had to think about OCT life all over again. My focus was like a crappy cheap torchlight - there was no defined beam. I wanted to cry.

The interview went on as usual. I was the last one to go in out of the 5. This was of great benefit to me because as the 4th person went in, I was able to just calm myself down in the presence of God. So quite basically, I had an upper hand against the other 4 candidates. =D

I went in there, and was myself. They asked me to talk, and I talked. It was like a routine really. Just answered everything without offending too many people and I thought it should be ok. Well, that's what I thought.

When I came out of that room, I was quite pleased with my interview and merrily hopped off to my barrack.

We had another POP drill rehearsal that afternoon which ended up finishing around 1735hrs. After that, we quickly went off to our barracks to get packed. The same old same old boring routine of waiting for the Coy Commander to release us happened. When we finally reached the front gate, we passed through it and went our separate ways.

As we parted, I gave my OC a call because I needed to inform him something about the OCT interview that Monday. I spoke to him about it and said it was ok. Also in that conversation, he told me about the results for the interview I had that morning.

"Have you heard about the interview this morning?"

"Nope. I haven't heard anything yet."

"Oh, well basically you got the award." At this point, I was laughing in my heart because I didn't know what I did to actually get that award. Plus, I did walk into that highly top secret meeting room that morning too. Yet, they still gave me the award. hehehe

"Wow! Really? That's good news then."

"Yeah, there were only two really close candidates but you got it."

"Hehe"

I couldn't believe it. I got the award. All for God's glory!

Being the youngest, I didn't think I would be the one sweeping the best trainee in the intake award. Also, on top of that, I obviously had to be the best trainee in my squad, so I got that award too. And to God's glory, I also got the best in professional studies and best in operational fitness.

So in all, I managed to sweep all the awards I could get. XD

And I definitely couldn't have done it without my Lord and Saviour. Without Him, I wouldn't have this body to do all the stuff I did in there so it's all thanks to Him. For those wondering, here are the awards I got.

(Apologies for the crappy pic quality. Had to use the webcam to take the pics because there were 'technical difficulties' with my digital cam which I will not disclose over the world wide web because it is simply embarrassing - not that we need another embarrassing comment.)

In clockwise direction starting with the statue -

PNS Statue Award, Best in Ops Fitness, Best Trainee and Best in Professional Studies.

ANG KHENG HUI BOAZ

SQD NS 15/07

STATUETTE AWARD

BEST PNS TRAINEE

Eddie's Million Dollar Cook Off (Part 3)

2007-07-12T19:57:00.000+08:00

What happened later that afternoon was what had me in a bundle of nerves for the next two days.

We had to go to the Police Head Quarters to do a psychological test for the OCT posting and I thought it would be something like the first psychological test we all had to take a few months back. This time however, I felt as though I wanted to cry during the test because I had no clue whether what I was putting down was acceptable or not. In other words, I had no idea whether what I was answering was any where near right.

Basically, this was the section I was struggling with.

They issued us several paragraphs with heaps of statements and facts - each of which were different. However, as we read it, we had to suggest the validness of the 4 responses given relating to a statement in regard to the paragraph given. We did that by answering whether they were 'True', 'False' or 'Can't Tell'.

Sounds easy enough. But combine the elements of being timed in a completely silent tiny room with 9 people crowded around one puny circular table and the most confusing paragraphs of facts and you got Boaz crying out "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me!?"

Besides that section, the other 3 sections were personality tests, so I doubt I could get any of those ones wrong - unless I was lying all the way through which wouldn't be true because I have never lied once in my entire life ... not even when I blog.

After that test, which was around 4:40pm, the OC who drove us there and picked us up was innocently persuaded to allow us to stop by KFC to grab something to eat. He had to contemplate his decision to abide because by right, he wasn't allowed to do such a thing. But being angels as we always are, he said to us, "I'll safely assume you guys finished at 5:30pm. Be at the place I drop you guys off by 5:30pm. If you're not there on time, I will no wait!"

So with a big grin on our faces, we went to eat ... and it was good.

5th June, 2007 (Thursday)

My OC told me to report to the Co-ordination office at 9:15am for an OCT interview training.

Just to be brief, what happened in there was that we were briefed on how we were to conduct ourselves if we made it to the final OCT interview that following Monday (9th June). That interview, we would have to go to the Old PA to be interviewed by a bunch of other high ranking officers as well as a psychologist. I guess the psychologist was there to determine how 'true' we were in what we were saying. They told us that she would be looking out for our little body gestures to see if we were confident in whatever we were saying.

Anyway, in that morning interview at 9:15am, only four of us made it. The other two were eliminated because they didn't project themselves well in the first interview. So we were the final 4 left in the run for OCT.

Also during this interview training, we were told that by the end of the day, at 5pm, we would know the results for the psychological test. So that was it, the moment of truth was gonna come. I just had to wait. If I passed the psychological test, I would be in for the final interview on Monday. All I needed to see to was that I had to pass the psychological test.

That evening, around 5pm, we were at the parade square practicing for the POP. I knew that it was somewhere around 5pm because the sun had dropped to a certain angle and it was clear that dusk was coming soon.

Knowing that one of the guys in the OCT selection would get the SMS for the results, I went to him to ask if he had gotten the message.

As I approached, I heard him say to his squad mate, "The three of us got in." And they were giving each other this really shocked and happy look at the same time.

When I came up to ask them what the results were, they glanced at each other before inexpressibly telling me that I didn't make it.

In a state of utter shock, I backed away saying, "Oh ok." Flashing a thumbs up at them.

I went back with my group to form up for our POP rehearsal but there was no doubt that my mind was somewhere else. My mind had dropped into a state of free fall because I had so much faith that I would get through. My trust was in God and when I discovered I was out, I felt terrible!

So many people helped me go through, and so many people had belief that I was gonna go through. Everyone was 101% sure I was gonna surpass all obstacles to go through. Everyone had faith in me.

But! I stuffed up. I stuffed it up bad. People carried me so highly all the way only to allow myself to stuff up the only opportunity I had. And it was because of the psychological test that I did that I mucked it all up. It was awful. Those few minutes after receiving news, I blamed myself completely.

As soon as the rehearsal was over, I needed a few moments by myself. I really had to reflect on what had happened. Why God allowed me to get so caught up in something only to let me be disappointed. I pondered on whether there was a lesson to learn from all this. The only thing that could get me 'active' was to try to look on the positive side of things. So I thought about how everything had been an adventure and how I can benefit from this experience.

And so later that night, I promised the others I would go to the cafe for dinner because they had all been told that everyone who failed the first exam passed the re-test. So trying to hide the disappointment within, I agreed to celebrate with them.

On the way to the cafe, one of the officers instructed us to report for finger print taking. Not having much of a choice, we went, and we all lined up for our turn. As I was standing in line, I remained considerably silent and conservative. That remained till I realised my OC was calling for me as he wanted to speak to me.

It was clear that my OC wanted to tell me that I didn't get in. So before he had a chance to say anything, I immediately told him that I knew. I knew that I was out and I felt awful. Surprised that I knew, he asked how I found out.

After explaining the whole situation he goes, "Do you know why you were dropped?"

"I'm not sure but I think it is because of the psychological test we did. I think I failed that test"

"No, no. It wasn't. You're volunteering for NS now right?"

"Yeah. I'm still 17 now."

"Well, policy states that people Volunteering for Early Enlistment are not allegeable for the Officer course."

"What!? Really!? That's a relief! Because the whole time I thought I failed the test and it was all my fault. So many of you had so much confidence in me and I had to go and stuff it up. And to hear that, that's a relief!" From then on, I felt so much better. To know that it wasn't my fault that I had lost the position was such a great thing to hear.

"No, it wasn't your fault. It's ok. It's a bit sad that you got this far only to be told that you are not allegeable for the course. In a way it was a bit unfair because when I sent in your application for your nomination, they should have done the research to determine if you were allegeable."

"Yeah, it would have been a lot better if they did that. Cause after getting my hopes up, I was a lot more disappointed after getting this far. I felt really bad that I might have failed it myself."

"No, don't worry, it wasn't your fault. So what do you think about all this?"

"Well, it was nice to have so many people supporting me and I'll never forget it. And I guess it has been an adventure to have gotten this far. Thanks a lot sir."

"Well, you better go and break the news to your fellow squad mates, especially those concerned about you."

"Ok sir. Thank you."

With such a relief in my mind, I was able to enjoy the night in the cafe with my friends. Even though I didn't get in, at least it wasn't my fault that I wasn't able to reach the finals.

The night drove on as people offered their sympathies to me and I am grateful for it. To see that so many people believed in me was good enough for me. Not only did my whole squad support me 100%, but all the other officers involved as well, such as my OC, the OC of all the OCs and other high ranking officers. To learn that many people were also shocked to discover this policy was good in a way that I will never forget.

And what happened later that evening at the cafe would be one phone conversation from my OC I would never forget either.

To Be Continued ...

Eddie's Million Dollar Cook Off (Part 2)

2007-07-08T15:52:00.001+08:00

3rd June, 2007 (Tuesday)
For the first time in a long while, I was finally alone in the bunk. I had remained back as the others went for the POP drill at 8:30am, leaving me behind as I prepared myself for the interview set at 9am. Normally in the academy, there would be people everywhere. Hardly am I able to get away from the sight of people, yet alone the constant gibbering. So to finally be alone, for those few minutes, it was nice.

During that time, I was able to soothingly read my Bible without people yelling at each other. And as time approached, I got dressed.

I had absolutely no clue who else was in the run for the officer course. I merely assumed that there wouldn't be many and I was gonna have to compete with the best.

"I'm here to report for the OCT interview, sir."

"Ok, wait there."

Waiting in a little corner next to one of many desks filled with random office items, I hovered around a small area looking like a trainee who has no clue what awaits him.
After hovering for a minute or so, I was told to wait at room 37.

"Do you know where is it?"

"Yeah."

"It's just down the corridor to your left."

"Room 37 right?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you sir"

We had most of our classes at classroom 37, so I knew exactly where it was. But one thing strange was the fact that one classroom fits 40 people. And if I was not mistaken, the OCT selection should be minimal - not more than 10 at least. Nevertheless, I wandered across to the room and took a deep breath before knocking on the door. As I pulled down the handle, I was soon confronted with the assurance that no one was in the room as the door still remained locked.

'I'm early I guess. I'll just go to the toilet first.'

When I came back out, I tried again to see if anyone had entered as I was away, but no one had unlocked the door. So I stood outside the room, waiting.

waiting ..

waiting ...

waiting ....

waiting .....

'He did say room 37 ... right? ... yeah, I even asked him again. There can't be any other room 37s can there? ... nah, somethings not right.'

I was aware that if I left that room, I would be left to answer for my lateness if I were to return again, but it was better than standing there waiting for someone to come. Surely something was wrong.

"Sir, you said room 37 right?"

"Syndicate room 37."

"Syndicate? Where's that?"

"Just outside this door, make a left."

"OhhhHH!!!"

"Don't act so blur now, you're gonna become an OCT" another officer in the room commented. I responded with a somewhat embarrassed laugh as I quickly made my exit.

The room was literally next door down a narrow corridor. I had no idea that these rooms existed despite having some signs up above at the entrance of the corridor saying "Syndicate Rms 34-48".

I knocked on the door and pushed it open. No one was in the tiny interrogation room. The small air-conditioned room would be way better than standing outside in the humid air. So I proceeded on in.

There was a table with 4 chairs, one on each side. I went to sit on one of the chairs and as I did, I suddenly realised that if some officer walked in, I shouldn't be seen sitting down. So I decided that it would be appropriate if I stood up. Bouncing off the seat, I decided that the best position is to stand 'at ease' (senang diri) in front of the wall which faces the door.

So there I stood. Waiting... waiting... Not long after, I heard voices. Voices coming from the corridor.

'They sound like officer voices. Oh crap! Maybe I shouldn't be in the room! Argh! I can't get out! It's too late! The door handle is opening! Don't move! Ahh!!! I'm gonna die!!!' The door handle went down, and the door slid open and there at the other end were 5 other candidates.

"Oh ... phew! Why did you have to stand like that?" they asked me.

"This is how I stand ... naturally." I replied.

There were 6 of us going for the first OCT interview that day. Four from one squad, and another guy along with myself from 2 other squads.

That interview was to determine how well we could project ourselves and to see how much confidence we had in speaking. As Police Inspectors, we had to be able to present our ideas and other things like that; so we had to be able to at least talk to the four officers in that room.

The other five candidates found it a bit 'unnatural' for them but I was quite ok. They told me that I was perfectly fine. My interview with them was like any other conversation for me because of my exposure to other countries of different cultures. So talking in that room to four people about my life was a piece of cake basically.

However, I did stuff up one bit. I knew it was a mistake the moment I said it and I tried to cover up and try not to highlight what I had said.

What happened was, one of the officers asked me 'why do you think so many of your squad mates failed the exam?'

When he asked that, the truth came out which I should not have said and already had the intention before the interview to not say it if they asked me. Yet, it leaked out and I regret saying it cause it got my OC in trouble, so to speak.

"Well, most of them were sleeping in class but our OC tried. He tried to wake them up whenever they fell asleep but eventually, he gave up and said that this is your basic training. If you fail and recourse, it wouldn't be his problem because he's already played his part. It's up to you to play your part. But also, they don't study. If they had put in the effort to try to study in the barrack, I'm sure most of them would pass."

"So wait, your OC allows your friends to sleep in class?"

"Yeah well, he said that you should play your part to pay attention and study, and he will play his part to teach. But OC really did try his best. He tried to keep them awake but they wouldn't listen."

"I see ... mmm"

From that moment on, I knew I did the wrong thing. And that my OC was in trouble.

To Be Continued ...

Eddie's Million Dollar Cook Off (Part 1)

2007-07-07T06:55:00.001+08:00

I still can not believe what has happened.

The past two mornings, I have woken up not believing what has happened to me. In fact I still can't believe it has happened, which is why I just had to get off my bed this morning to blog about what has happened while I still can.

For me, everything has seem so unrealistic. For me, this has been my life. For me, this has been real. But for you guys, this is only a mere story about some kid in the Police serving his National Service.

So I ask, that this just this once - empathise with me. Imagine everything as if you were in my shoes as I say what I have to say in the next few paragraphs. And maybe you might realise how everything to me during the past week has just seemed so unreal.

I would like to thank God for taking me out of the officer course for the Police Inspector rank. It has revealed to me what a blind bat I have been during my 'run' for it. I was too caught up in the thinking that I would be the best among them all for all the things I have done in the past and in my basic training. I was so blind to see that there was so much love and support around me, I took it for granted. So when God took me out of the officer course, it was a good smack in the head as I dropped all my eggs in that one basket, leaving just one little egg in the basket whole.

Pride became humility. Arrogance became repentance. And my will became God's will.

It was wonderful that I took that smack in the head because I now realise what a fool I was basking in my own 'greatness' and 'glory' I had forgotten to see what was happening around and in me. So I have to thank God will all my heart because I was getting too carried away. I hope I have changed for the good.

So this is the story. Let truth and humility be told in everything I say from here. I only ask that you empathise with me as I tell the story of my final week in the Police Academy as a trainee. Praise God!

2nd July, 2007 (Monday)
This was the first day of the week. The first day of intensive POP training. Mentally, the realisation that we would be drilled in the grilling sun for hours was there. And true enough, it was bad.
The morning alone started after flag raising which would usually end around 0710hrs but that was bad already. The sun was there and we started to sweat.

Second became minutes, and minutes became hours. Eventually, somewhere in the 9th hour, I got a call from my OC to have me pass my OCT 'resume' for the pen-picture he has to put up. Basically on the form, I typed up a list of significant achievements and contributions, and key and concurrent roles appointed in school.

I separated myself from the squad and informed the officer in charge that I needed to give my OC something. He allowed my departure but requested that I make it fast, so I made a run for it.

Running out of the Parade Square, I ran all the way back to my coy which was some 100m run. When I got there, the room where all the keys were held was locked as the person in charge had left his post. By right, he was not allowed to do this.

So just to make sure that no one was really inside, I knocked on the door and tried to open the door but true enough, it was locked. Having no other choice, I ran back to the parade square, hoping that our bunk IC had the key to our bunk.

Fortunately for me, when I ran back there, they were still having their break so I could casually just run in and run out.

I got to my squad and asked if our bunk IC had the key but he didn't. It was in that room which was locked. My other squad mate immediately suggested that I use the clothes hanger on their window ledge to open the door. Not really having much time to contemplate the situation, I ran back to the coy.

I ran up to the bunk to see if I could retrieve the clothes hanger they asked me to use. To my gladness, I was able to find the hanger but I knew that the chances of me being able to pull down the door handle would be minute and time consuming. Nevertheless, I had to try cause I had no other choice.

As I was attempting to pull the handle down from the outside, I noticed that the room where the keys were kept was open.

Leaping off my thief-like position, I quickly replaced the clothes hanger and made a run for the room.

That night, after returning from a day of intensive POP drilling, I was exhausted to find tucked under my pillow a set of notes. I knew my OC would be giving me some materials to read about the Singapore Police Force Mission, so this was not much of a surprise. And neither was the duplicate copy of the pen-picture he had typed up for me. But after reading the pen-picture, I felt so 'decorated' because to see how my OC had raised me up so highly in that pen-picture was amazing. I have to admit that it felt good. Things that no one other than my close friends and family had said, but for someone who I have only known for only 3 months to say such things, it was great.

Also, on one side of one of the paper, I noticed that he had written,

Co-ordination office
Full-U @ 0900hrs

This was the interview he had told me about last week. The interview that get it all started. The interview where pride began to creep up.

To Be Continued ...

Daredevil

2007-06-30T09:41:00.000+08:00

The days of basic training are about end.

It seemed like only last week that I first walked into that academy as we were directed to some classroom to be stripped searched. But all that really happened 3 months ago. And now, we're left with only 5 more days till we have to vacate our barrack.

But during those 5 remaining days we have there, we will be practicing for our POP.

My dad warned me that we will have to train all day long for our POP and he was right. Yesterday, one of the FI who was conducting the POP drill said that starting from next week onward, we will have to train in the morning, after lunch and in the afternoon which may extend till evening. Just the thought of all that scares me because just the morning drill alone made me wet my entire polo-T shirt and some bits of my pants. Just imagine the drills after lunch in the hot sun, and may I mention that the hot season in Singapore has finally arrived. I'm gonna have arms as dark as armpit hairs and a brain as steamed as a cooked dim sum. That's because our attire throughout the POP practice drills will be the police peak cap, white polo-T, dark blue police pants and black-once-shiny-kiwi drill boots.

Help.

There are things I could say about myself about what I've been doing in the police force but I really don't feel the need to promote myself in informing the whole world of what I've been accomplishing in there. I just wanna say that whatever I've done and whatever I've been able to achieve in excelling in whatever areas, I owe it all to God. Without His hand upon me in there, there wouldn't be a chance of me getting all these wonderful things and so I wanna thank Him for all the blessings I've received.

However,
There are some things I can note that you guys already know; like the great instructors that we got.

Our FI is the best in the academy because he even told us, he doesn't want to be strict because there are other people already treating us like robots, so he wants to have some leniency with us. He will close one or two eyes whenever it comes to some things because he acknowledges that we are all humans and that we need to have some 'luxury' items to keep up our morale.

Also, our OC is definitely the best OC around. At least I think so. He's a great man and I really admire him for his integrity and attitude towards things. We are his first squad and I hope he found some joy in taking us despite the little annoyances that we cause him at times. XP Well, of course I never create any problems for him XD

I mentioned this to my friend about our OC the other day as we were marching back from the classroom:

"You know, just looking at our OC, he isn't really all that much to look at. Just by judging his outer appearance, you'd think he was some scrawny little nerd with not much of a life. (haha, ok .. well, maybe I didn't use those words. But it's to help you guys visualise his build and appearance XP) But after getting to know him, he's so much more and a lot wiser than we think. He deserves so much respect for what he has done for the police force and the effort he has put in to get this far. He has a really strong character and I can see why his wife married him. It probably wasn't for the outer appearances but probably for the other great traits this man has."

Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol

2007-06-23T13:38:00.000+08:00

In 3 weeks, it will be over.

I believe our intake will Pass Out somewhere between the 10th to the 13th of July but I think it will be on the 12th. Until then, there are still things to be done.

One of which is the law exam which takes place this Tuesday. I can't say that I'm ready just yet. By running through some past exam papers, I find myself not scoring as well as I hope I should be at this point in time. So what am I doing here blogging? That's a good question. I guess I will have to try to keep this short so I can study.

Last Thursday, we had our Scenario Based Test and I'd say that I did pretty well overall. The role playing part was quite good. It was only the post-questions after that that got me down. The OC in charge asked us some questions regarding our actions during the SBT but somehow or rather, my mind was blank and blur. Maybe it was because of the pressure, but either way, when he asked me some questions, I had to try to convince him one way or another that I at least knew something about what he was trying to ask - although I was perfectly aware that what I was saying was not what he wanted. It's tricky. These law stuff can get really confusing and contradictory. Like for example, if someone committed an offence of indecent exposure, we as police officers are not allowed to arrest the person for it because we did not see the offence and we'd have to advice the complainant to lodge a Magistrate complainant to have the offender charged. However, if we do see the offence, we are allowed to arrest the offender. Get it? Simple right?

Well, kinda. During our 2nd SBT, that was the incident that we got and when we were waiting to get called in, we watched them act out the offence which was what made me confused. We watched them do it and then we were called in to control the situation. However, I was not sure if we witnessed the offence or if we were making our way to the scene as watched and so I was wondering if this was a case where we can arrest or not.

So when the OC in charged asked us whether we could arrest the offenders or not, I wasn't too sure. That was when I stood there like an idiotic 'police officer' not aware of his powers. It was humiliating.

Yeah, and there were other questions too but I won't go into it cause it's confusing.

So far, we've knocked down 4 assessed tests - SBT, PDT, Shooting and IPPT. In total, they are worth 43% of our overall marks.

By next week, we'll definitely finish the law exam, so there's another 40%. And I think we'll do our drill (5%) test too. Swimming (1%) and Police SOC (1%) should be next week as well. I'm opting to go for the Category A swimmers. The only difference between the Cat A and Cat B swimmers besides how we have to swim 200m is that Cat A swimmers have to tread water for at least 10 minutes. And of course, I could easily go for the Cat C swimmers, but seriously, how chicken would that be? I'm not that kinda person who would take the easy way out. Even if it's just 1%, I'd go straight for the highest. Even if it's worth 0%, I'd still go for Cat A. Why? Because in all things, I believe we should try our best - even if we fail at least we tried. Then and only then will we know that we got as far as we could. =)

Unsurprisingly, God is making a path for me to get into the Inspector course. The 'obstacles' of getting into the OCT (officer cadet trainee, if I'm not mistaken) course has been cleared. My Victorian certificate has been recognised by the Singaporean education system and now, I'm recognised as an A-Level student. This means that it's all up to me to perform now. All the admin work has been completed and now I have to prove myself that I am suitable for the officer course. I have to because my OC told me that they only accept 8 OCT each year for the job because most of them are actually absorbed from the army (OCS). But I believe I can do it. I know God will not leave the job undone. I will be allowed to go all the way with Him by side.

I just wanna thank all the people who have assured me that I will definitely get into the OCT course. It really means so much to hear that because even though I know God is with me, it's nice to hear people tell me that it will come to pass. It's really comforting to hear such encouraging words and it's because of that that I feel even more determined to push through. At first, people were telling me that it was impossible for me to get in and that there's no way I'd be able to even smell the first signs of getting in. But look now! So many people have now said otherwise and now I know I can go all the way! My friend even told me that our OC told him that I would get in for sure and that he would do everything that he can to see to it that I get in. Thank God and thank God for all these wonderful people. =D

Doom

2007-06-16T14:25:00.000+08:00

I just realised that I had failed to elaborate on something that I said I would do in my previous post. Not sure why but I guess I forgot. In any case, the scenario based test involves us trainee police officers to answer to any of the four given non-seizable cases dispatched to us.

But yes, what are 'non-seizable' cases? This is just one of the many technical terms that we trainees have to understand inside-out for the exam. So in short, non-seizable cases are cases where police officers are not allowed to arrest without a warrant. One example would be punching someone in the face, or voluntarily causing hurt. Without having personally witnessing the attack, we are not allowed to arrest without a warrant.

With that in mind, we as police officers have to understand the basic procedures as to what to do when situations like this arise. We have to attend to the case with full knowledge of what our powers of action are. I'd guess that this would be the hardest part.

To be perfectly honest, I too was a bit scared about this because it really is a lot harder than it seems. But after having a go with our OC last week, I feel much more confident and am ready to take on the case next week! I hope I can handle the case without any problems which I can't solve during those few minutes.

What's really interesting about this test is that it will all be held in the Academy's 'Training Village'. In there, there are 'avenues' which duplicate the outside world. We were told that there was an MRT train, a MacDonald's, a bank, and many more which I don't know if I can name here or not XP But after hearing all these things which are inside the Training Village, it was amazing as to where they could possibly hold all these under one roof without us knowing where it is. We started to wonder where the Village could possibly be, and so far, we've only pin pointed one large building which seems to be somewhat heavily guarded somewhere away from where we usually train.

I really can't wait to get in there. I just wanna see all these things under one roof! Oh! I just wanna scream like a little girl! XD lol hehe

For me, this week has been considerably fast.

Nothing too interesting has happened. I guess the only possible 'excitement that came out of this week was the fact that the new intake came strolling in last Tuesday; ultimately making us 'seniors'. They were the new 'Prep-course' intake. Basically, these are the bunch of fat/unfit/lazy people who failed or didn't go for their NAPFA test prior to enlistment. They have to do an extra month or two of training just to get fit again. So every morning, while we are having breakfast in the wee hours of the morning, we see these prep-course trainees running. I'm just glad I passed my NAPFA test when I had the chance.

But besides being able to witness a whole bunch of people go through what we went through during the first 10 days of confinement (and may I add they are still being confined now XD), nothing too significant to blog about occurred this past week.

So let me blog about something other than the academy.

My bro and I just came back from watching the new Fantastic Four movie and I have to say that it is so many times much more interesting than Shrek 3. I don't mean to upset anyone or anything if you liked Shrek 3, but personally, I found Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer a whole lot better with a much more interesting story line. I'll leave the analysis to whatever else website you may read but for me, I really enjoyed it. It was a good few bucks well spent.

So now for me, the next movie on the 'must watch' list is Transformers. With my oh-already-so-low-and-tight-budget, I think I have to try to cut back on the number of shows that I watch. But definitely, Transformers is a must see for me.

Spiderman

2007-06-10T16:51:00.000+08:00

Yes, I know .. the blog posts have not been coming. Even though I can probably come up with a hundred excuses as to why, I'll just say that I've been lazy.

With hardly any 'free time' when I come out, I guess this is what happens to less important things.

Anyway, I'll try to blog a little bit with whatever time and 'discipline' I have at this point in time.

For the last 3 weekends, my weekends have been burnt. Three weekends ago and this weekend, I had to play for church, so my Saturdays and Sundays were consumed from the practice. Not that I'm complaining about serving in church.
But something 'funny' happened three weekends ago when I went for practice.

Usually, the practice time is at 1:30pm on Saturday. So that Saturday, I went to church at 1:30pm as I thought it would normally be. But somehow, the notices that were 'sent' to me didn't reach me. I didn't get the SMS that was sent to me and I didn't get a chance to read my email because I was staying at my other auntie's place the night before and at her place, there isn't any internet. So I went there at 1:30pm only to find the door to the place locked. I first started to arouse suspicion when I walked into the compound, noticing that there weren't any familiar cars around, so I started to think about what I would do if there wasn't anyone around. True enough, I went up to the church and there wasn't anyone there.

Eventually, I discovered that the practice time had been moved to 4pm because they had an evening meeting so as to accommodate for the inconvenience of travelling, they moved it later to that time. Unfortunately for me, I didn't get to hear about this so I ended up going there way way too early. Two and a half hours too early to be precise.

Anyway, after much contemplation, I decided to head off to the nearest internet cafe I knew around the area which was like 40 minutes away.

Last weekend, we had the police day parade. I managed to gather 3 tickets from thin air for my family. On the actual day, I had to report into the academy's dojo hall at 8am. From there, we moved on to the stadium at 9am, getting there at 10am. There, we loitered around like little angels until we did our dry run which began at 10:30am. I'd say it went for an hour or two until we were fed at 12:30 - give or take.

After lunch, the food settled in, and we began to grow restless. Sitting on the floor the whole day waiting can be really boring; especially when you know that your performance will only last something like 2 minutes in total.

So we sat around, waited and waited and waited till 3pm when the 'fun' really began. The people were seated and we sat near one of the main entrances. It's funny how they held us behind these security 'tapes' as people walked by. We were like illegal refugees or something.

As we sat there, the parade began and to our pain and torture, we discovered that prior to the actual parade, the winner of the Singapore Idol would be singing. So ok, sure ... he is the winner, I'm sure he can't be that bad - seeing that I haven't heard the guy sing before, I guess we could give it a try.
But boy! Not only did he sing 1 song, he sang 3 songs! AhhhhHHH!!! But that wasn't the worse part. I just couldn't stand his singing or his choice of music! We sat there in pity for all those people seated in the stadium as they had to be 'exposed' to this torture. Good thing the prime minister or commissioner of police wasn't there yet =P

haha, ok ok ... I guess I'm being pretty harsh. But after having to sit around for hours, I guess you could give me that I was pretty tired and grouchy - and having a guy like that sing for what seemed like eternity, c'mon ... at least give me someone to blame it all on. lol

Well, 5 weeks till the end of the basic training. Approximately 3 more weeks till I Pass Out but strangely, we will have to return back for another 2 weeks to 'train'. I'm not sure why because our OC said that we will finish all our stuff before the Passing Out Parade (POP). So I'm not sure what in the world we'll be doing during these 2 weeks.

At the moment, we've finished two assessed tasks - Shooting and our IPPT.
Oh yeah, I didn't mention on this blog yet that I managed to get 97/100 for my shooting. Hehe, I guess I've got a hand in shooting revolvers =P

As for IPPT, we completed or thrid and final test and somehow, I managed to beat my 2.4km run time again. lol. I really wasn't aiming to beat it, but I did while trying to help my friend get the gold time for it. LoL. I don't think I need to mention what I got for it here. Just know I got Gold for my IPPT =)

So what's left? Plenty! XP From the top of my head, there's still the law exam (40%), scenario based test (SBT 20% - I'll explain more below), police defensive tactic (PDT 3% - which is like this week), swimming (1%), drill (1%), first aid (3%), police standard obstacle course (PSOC - 3%) and OC appraisal (5%).

The IPPT and shooting are both worth 10% each of my overall score during basic training.

By this time next week, I hope to be able to get another 3% knocked down from the PDT test which I don't think will be hard. Why? I can't say. XP

Fear Factor

2007-05-31T14:19:00.000+08:00

It's a holiday here today so I've got this opportunity to quickly update you guys on some stuff that has been happening.

Well, the parade's this Sunday and what happened was, yesterday, we were at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, showing our stuff to the Commissioner of Police. We did our bit and we did our best. The result came through and it turned out that we were approved but the Gurkha's weren't.

The reasons as to why the Gurkha's were removed, I do not know. They were really good though. Their movements were really smooth and there was one guy who was supposed to kick blocks of concrete and stuff. Maybe the Commissioner didn't think it was suitable that we show stuff like that to the public because this parade is supposed to show what police are trained to do. Kicking bricks to a million pieces - well, maybe that isn't something we should be showing the public as police officers.

Well, besides that, the thing is that we are gonna be confined this Friday night so we can train further. Quite frankly, I'm tired of all this and I can't wait for it to finish. Once this finishes, we're gonna focus on our studies and other stuff that we will have to pass - and I'm sure, it will go by really quickly. From next week onwards, we will have another 6 more weeks. 2 of which were 'extended' weeks. And from what I heard, there will be some weeks were it will be really slack because we would have finished all our stuff and there would be nothing much to do but maybe stuff like physical training. Pfft.

Speaking of physical action, I believe next week will be our final IPPT (physical test)which means after this, I won't have to do it any more!!! w00t! Not unless they force us to do it during my next posting.. grrrr. To be honest, the only test I hate doing is the 2.4km run. To fail this run means you fail the whole test. Argh. My last score for the run got me Gold for the test, so I think that should be sufficient and I don't think I will be forcing myself to run for Gold this time round. XD

Well, I'll just finish up with a story that happened to me yesterday while I was trying to book out of the academy.

I had packed my stuff and was heading for the ground floor when there, from where I stood, I saw half the squad marching off together. In a hurry, I rushed downstairs and when I did, my other friend, who was also wondering why they left without us, decided that we should catch up with them. So we marched off together trying to catch up with the squad to merge in.

As we approached them, we heard an instructor on the left shout out that they are to turn around. They turned around and marched towards us.

My friend started asking me, "What should we do?!"

I just said, "Keep going! Keep going!" So we marched passed them and soon after, we heard the instructor shout out that they are to turn around again. They turned around and soon, the command for them to stop marching came. My friend was so scared that we too were gonna get stopped so I was like, "Keep marching! Faster! Don't look behind! Go! Go! Go!"

As we marched on, we could hear the instructor ask, "Where is the rest of your squad?!" At the point in time, I was so sure they were gonna squeal on us because I heard something like the word "two". So I thought they were telling the instructor that we were running away.

Fortunately, they didn't and we were left marching with our hearts pounding onto our rip cage.

But wait! That's not the end!

We kept marching on and made a turn towards the exit. Sometime as we were marching, my friend confirmed that the squad had continued marching, and that he told me that he was feeling really scared about running away like this. Things didn't help when we were trying to make our way out of the academy. There's this really long straight march to the end, and along this stretch are a lot of officers. So quite inevitably, an officer stopped us.

He then asked, "Where is your squad?"

I replied, "Up ahead sir" Yes, I knew it was a lie. But if I had told him, 'Oh sir, we were trying to catch up with them, but they were turned around, and now they are behind us,' I think we would have died.

Then he asked, "Why are the two of you marching alone?"

"Because our squad left without us."

"I don't think that's right." I didn't really understand what he meant by that, but that's what he said. Then he said, "Which squad are you from?"

When he said that, I quickly analysed the consequences of telling them the truth with a lie. If I told him we were from some other squad, I guess we could get away with it a lot easier because note that the squad was actually behind us marching. I ended up telling him the truth, "Squad 15 sir."

There was a moment of silence before he broke it and said, "Ok, you two should not be marching alone. Quick march. Go!"

Swiftly, we marched off, faster this time because there behind us was our squad coming towards the officer. Then my friend goes, "I'm so scared! Ah!" and beings to march really fast that it looked as though he was running.

I tell him, "Don't rush! Just march! March fast!"

He then says, "I'm so scared! I can't turn around! I can't turn around!" And what does he do? He turns around.

I then tell him, "Don't look behind! Just keep marching! Go!" During the final stretch, the adrenaline rush was so high I really can't remember the last time I got that scared! It was really crazy!

To retell the story again it seems like nothing, but to actually go through it, wow, that's a whole different thing. I don't know what they would do to us if they caught us XP

But good thing they didn't. So in the end, it's just another story about NS life and how you are to 'bluff' your way through for a much easier life. hehe

Wonder what other exciting encounters I'll have during these following few months!

Shrek

2007-05-27T15:48:00.000+08:00

Yeah well... the thing is, they've cancelled the Contingency techniques.

"By order of his royal highness, Mr Commander of TRACOM (Training Command), trainees shall no longer be performing the Contingency techniques during the Police Day Parade but rather the Gurkha's."

I say this with much disappointment because, yup, I managed to get into the Contingency group only to have it cancelled. Cancelled in the sense that trainees will not be doing it.

But despite my disappointment, I guess I could be happier in knowing that the Contingency techniques will be handled by a better group of trained people who will definitely do it a hundred times better than if we trainees had done it. I only hope that I will be able to watch them perform when they do it - provided I'm not backstage because of the lack of seats or something. Actually, I would be devastated if they held us backstage for the duration of the entire parade because I wouldn't be able to watch the events that will take place in the stadium. Let's just hope they give us some seats to sit and watch =D

On the whole, I'll say that I'd like to quit NS and just leave for Australia because I think I've had enough. The whole boring routine and mundane lifestyle - I can't stand. Not to mention all the pumping and running we have to do each day as a result of this 'life'.

Sadly, it's only been 7 weeks and I already feel like 'ORD-ing'. Actually, that's pretty pathetic because I have 22 months of service (not including my leave) and I've only completed 1 month and 3 weeks. So that leaves me with 20 months and 1 week left. Yay.

Well, I don't really have much of a choice. As male Singaporeans, we are forced to go through the same torture for 2 years to have this joy of 'memory'. Yes... I think I'd rather not have this memory. lol

Also, people have commented that I have once again, lost weight. My cheeks are a lot more defined and my body is much slimmer - irregardless of whatever 'packs' I may have XP

So today, I saw to it that I hopped onto a weighing machine and lo and behold, I had lost approximately 3kg. Currently, I weigh in at 67kg.

To be honest, I am sad I lost weight :P I like my 70kg status and would much rather remain at that weight. Why? I'm not too sure but to weigh a bit more and not look overweight at all is nice. Perhaps if people attempted to carry you, it would be much more difficult. I dunno. lol. Why bother trying to figure out how this mind works. Just accept it. It's just very 'specially' designed. hehe

Next weekend, it will be burnt. Burnt meaning I shall have no weekend because of the parade. Friday night we will be confined and I hope Saturday evening, they will release us before we return back in early Sunday morning.

In the mean time, I hope these short updates on my Police life is sufficient for you guys. It's really nothing much because I don't feel like blogging about what happens in there. Living it is enough, yet alone re-living it in my head to have it typed out. Yuck.

Anyway, for the first time in 7 weeks, I played for church again. It was good to touch the drum sticks again and I'm glad I haven't lost any of my new drumming techniques and now, I've learnt even more. In two weeks time, I will have to play again - so there goes another weekend XP

But it's all for God and that's all that matters!

Major Payne

2007-05-19T19:22:00.000+08:00

Nothing too much happened this week. Just lots and lots of news about how our days will be burnt due to the Police Parade thingy. How wonderful.

The parade itself is on the 3rd of June which means they have just 2 weeks to make sure we are all prepared and ready.

From what I understand, there will be 3 sections to the demonstration from our side. Our side being the Home Team Academy.
There's the Unarmed, T-Baton and Contingency displays.

Unarmed and T-Baton, all of us in the 'Team' will have to perform, but for the Contingency one, only a few selected 'Players' will be doing it. To be totally honest, I wanted to do the Contingency display but I guess I was a bit 'greedy' in the process XP
You see, there are several 'displays' in this section and when I watched people volunteer themselves for these displays that seemed rather unimpressive and 'unsatisfying', I continued to wait for one display that would impress the daylights out of me. That display came when the police officer had to do a T-Baton Power draw followed by a T-Baton arm lock then followed by the handcuffing of the assailant. I so wanted to do it but when they asked for 4 police officers to volunteer, I was beaten to the sign up sheet before I even had a chance to get up from where I was seated. And before I knew it, they had told us that that was all the Contingency moves they were gonna do. It was shattering because I actually wanted to do one, but I was too late.

Anyway, what's past is past. There's no changing what happened. All I can hope to do now, is to somehow convince the instructors that I capable of doing better than those guys in the Contingency group XP Then I'll be happy. haha

Besides that, not too much has been happening. Seriously, we wake up at 5:30am each morning, work work work till 9:30pm each night, by the time I crash into my bed, it's like 10pm and during that time, I try to gather myself before I go to bed.

It's pretty much very routine like but in the process, the fear that any instructors wandering the streets could stop us at any time and have us pumped.
Like there was this one time, it was sometime after 7pm - we were heading off to our dojo class for the parade thing, and as usual, our squad sucks so much that just 3 or 4 of them would choose that it would be a beautiful day to do whatever they wanted. So they would sloppily march as they would and at the same time, chit-chat and turn their heads to any direction they wished.
Wonderfully, we were spotted by one of the most lunatic instructors around - I believe he is also serving his NS as I will explain later below. He immediately shouted that our squad stop.

"Bahen-ti! Squad to your left on your palms down! ... Diamond Power Push-Up Change!"

"Chaaanngge!!!"

"Up!"

"1!"

"ZERO! Start from Zero! Up!"

"1!"

"ZERO! Start from Zero! Up!"

"1!"

"Up!"

"2!"

"Up!"

"3!"

We did so many that I lost count of how many we did because half way, he said "Gentleman! I don't want you to count anymore! But every time you go up, I want to hear a clap! Up!"

We went up but as we did, some blur guys decided to shout out "1!"

"NO COUNTING!!! I TOLD YOU ALREADY NOT TO COUNT! ONLY CLAP!! UP!"

*Clap*

"Up!"

*Clap*

"Up!"

*Clap*

At this time, many of us had already lost so much strength. Many of them could no longer leap off the ground. Only the few of us would actually continue. Shortly after, the instructor shouted for us to get back onto our feet.

"On your feets up! To your right on your palms down!"

By now, my entire face and arms were covered in large volumes of sweat as it was trickling down my forehead and off my peak cap visor like a leaky faucet. I decided that I would make a puddle with my sweat and 'aimed' to cover up any 'dry concrete' where my sweat had dropped already.

"Power Push Up Change!"

"Chhaaanngggee!!"

"Down!"

"1!"

"Down!"

"2!"

"Down!"

"3!"

"Down!"

"10!"

"Everyone on your feets up!" He began his lecture for why he stopped us and explained his actions for pumping us. As he was doing so, he caught one of our squad mates for smiling and boy was that one of the worse things to do at this time.

"Oi! You! What the are you smiling at!? Come here!" NB - Feel free to add any colourful language you wish into the blocks to simulate the 'excitement' of the academy =P

"What was so ing funny that you had to ing smile!? Huh!? Do you think this is a joke?! What do you think this is?! You thing this is so ing funny that you can smile and laugh to this!? er!"

"No sir, I was--"

"What do you take me for!? I am your ing instructor! Do you think I am an ing idiot!? What? You can't stop smiling is it?! Like you were born with that ing smile is it?!"

"Ya lah!"

"WHAT THE DID YOU SAY TO ME YOU ING IDIOT!!! YOU ING IDIOT! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME THAT WAY YOU ER! I AM NOT SOME NEWBIE! I WASN'T ING BORN YESTERDAY! I HAVE BEEN HERE FOR ONE ING YEAR!!!" When he said that, that was when I concluded that he was an NS man as well. It meant he has one more year of training left before he leaves. Yes!

Anyway, just to cut a very long and painful story short because it stimulates too many unpleasant memories, we were pumped even harder because of that guy, and the instructor actually forced him to call our "Down" for us.

After this experience, I thought we actually needed more instructors like him because he enforces good discipline for lazy trainees like that guy who smiled. To be honest, that guy who smiled is one of the guys who really can't be bothered marching with the rest of the squad so it's good that we got pumped because of him. Hope it affected him somehow.

But after what happened later that Thursday night with that instructor really made me think that that instructor is really one whacked up nut case.

On Wednesday onwards, I was battling a nasty flu. My nose was like another open faucet. Seriously, it was so annoying! So that Thursday night, I didn't feel strong enough to join the others in the Parade training, so I sat out. It just so happen that that instructor was there too.
I sat there, minding my own business, drinking my water bottle when that instructor suddenly stood a metre in front of me staring at me. I didn't realise he was staring at me until a few seconds later when I noticed that there was no one behind me. I looked at him in the eye and was in complete confusion because I had absolutely no idea what I had done 'wrong'. I wasn't slouching or stretching out my leg in any way. I was sitting perfectly normal on the floor with my legs crossed as all trainees should be seated. Staring at him for around 30 seconds or so, I tried to figure out why in the world he was looking at me!

It seemed like it would never end. Those two lunatic eyes staring at me, anything can happen. That was when he questioned me with the sniffing of his nose. I immediately broke out an 'Ooh!"

In case I am not clear enough, he wanted to know why I was sniffing for. At that time, I thought it was perfectly clear that I was not feeling well and had contracted some sort of a flu. But after thinking about it, I think he thought I missed home or was handling some sort of break up or something. Now to think about it, it was hilarious!

However, what made me deem him insane was when I saw him, for no reason whatsoever, show his middle finger to one of the trainees. Seriously, there has got to be a line of decency to other people. Despite being a rank higher than us, there should at least be some sort of respect for one another. I find him a disgrace when he does things like this.

Sure, he can pump us. Sure, he can swear at us. Sure, he can stare at me for some absurd reason, but to have such degrading respect for another human being - that I can't accept. It throws me off if there isn't a line of respect for someone else because if he can't respect his subordinates, then I can't imagine what it would be like to be his partner. I imagine it would be hell for her. If not in the beginning, then sometime down the road when they have gotten settled with one another. The poor thing.

At least we'll only face him for a maximum of 2 years. Phew.

Die Hard

2007-05-13T17:19:00.000+08:00

This will have to be a short one because I have little motivation to blog heaps this time round. The academy is getting really frustrating due to the intensive dojo training, so my morale is just barely there. Nevertheless, here's a quick update on some of the things I've been doing in the academy.

Just to continue on what I blogged about in my previous post, I have decided to drop my desire for the SOC to pursue my interest for the Police Inspector rank. I contemplated on how much I really wanted these two courses, and I've decided that the Inspector rank would mean so much more than SOC. In the end, I guess it would have to depend on whether God is willing for me to get it. It would definitely be wonderful if I can get it. Well, we'll just have to wait and see what happens after the basic training.

Speaking of basic training, we were informed that our basic training would be extended by another 2 weeks. The reason being because of the stupid Police Day Parade (PDP) intensive training sessions. Because of the PDP training sessions, they will interfere with most of the lecture times and thus, will need an extra 2 weeks to compensate for the periods lost. Argh.
This means instead of Passing Out on the 10th of July, 2007, we're gonna probably Pass Out on the 24th of July, 2007. I'm not complaining about the date but rather, I'm complaining about how we're being compensated for it - we're not. They aren't gonna give us some sort of bonus pay for anything like that for our extra effort. Now that's just annoying. XP

In other news, we had another IPPT test last Tuesday and this time, I managed to finally grab Gold this time round. Despite getting full marks the last time, I only achieved Silver because I didn't run the 2.4km run under the acquired time for 'Gold' which is 9.45mins. The last time, my time for the 2.4km run was 10.17mins but this time, I managed to get 9.19mins; nearly killing myself in the process.
I really don't wanna do the IPPT test anymore but I was told that we have to do it another 2 more times before the end of the basic training, which is irritating because I'm tired of doing it. I can't improve anymore besides increasing my IPPT results but it's pointless. I've got Gold and that's all that matters. Getting a faster 2.4km run time would be useless because I would still get 5 points. Also, if I failed it, I will have to stay back every friday evening for training. Argh!

haha, also, we had 2 more shooting frames last week. One thing to highlight about it was that I nearly shot myself in the leg during the 3rd frame. LoL
Here's what basically happen. Usually after shooting, we are supposed to take our finger out of the trigger guard and holster the revolver into our holster.
So basically, I was shooting one cycle and when I had finished shooting, I holstered my revolver and went down into a kneeling position to unload and reload. When I had reloaded the revolver, I holstered it back into my holster, but what I realised this time was that when I slipped it into my holster, I felt my index finger caught in between the trigger and the holster. Fortunately, I didn't apply sufficient force to pull the trigger back. At that instant, I quickly pulled my finger out between the trigger and the holster and had it holstered before anything else as dangerous as that happens. I got up and quickly thanked the Lord for protecting me from such a dangerous situation.
There were incidents where people have carelessly done this before but in their case, the trigger did go off, firing a bullet through their leg. That would have been really really painful. Hope I don't ever do that again. =S

Anyway, just to finish up, I failed to mention in my previous posts that I am the timer for my squad. For those who don't know what the timer does, he basically shouts out 'Left! Right! Left! Right!..." so that the entire squad can keep in time as we march. So yeah, it sounds ok but to have to shout everyday as loudly as I can (because I'm at the front of the squad), it can be quite strenuous on my throat if I don't use the correct techniques. If I don't, I would probably sound differently for that day. lol

This is it. Until next weekend. Hopefully I'll have more motivation to blog more next week. Keep me in your prayers; especially to keep me safe from any misfires =P hehe. Til then! ^^

Bedazzled

2007-05-05T17:47:00.000+08:00

If I compare my upcoming weeks with the time I had to work, I would be sad to say that the upcoming weeks are gonna be lots and lots of pain.

On the 3rd of June, we will be involved in the Police National Parade (PDP) which means I will be missing out on church that Sunday and we will be experiencing a lot of turbulence in the PA from Monday till the end of the parade.

Basically, we will have to perform our Police Defensive Tactics (dojo) in front of a live audience of 7,000. That is the number our OC informed us on Friday. On top of which, he warned us that there would be a good number of foreign commissioners or something among the stands. Sounds fun.

But quite frankly, I'm looking forward to it. Not the training bit but the performance. I would love to be among the several hundred of us on the parade square performing. The only fear in mind is the embarrassment of moving wrongly during the course of the performance. I'm sure if that happens, it wouldn't be too hard to spot the mistake =S I just hope I will be confident and alert enough to prevent that from happening.

Anyway, when I said 'turbulence' above, it meant we will be having really tiring, really troublesome timetables from Monday till the end of this parade. Our intensive dojo training is scheduled every night from 7pm to 9:30pm, which means we will be 'on duty' from 6am till 9:30pm each night. Not to mention how we have to sleep by 10:30pm. So yeah, not too much fun if you ask me.

Also this week, we will have another 2 shooting frames where we will have another chance to rectify our scores.
For the shooting system, we are given 6 frames. All of which are live rounds. Your results are based on your results after the 6 rounds of 300 bullets (if I'm not wrong), totaling up to a score of 600 points, have been shot. The highest rank you could get is marksman, followed by 1st class then 2nd class. After which, any result below 2nd class will be considered as a failure. If you fail, you will be allowed a re-take. Then if you still fail to pass, you will have to re-course the entire course again to retrieve a minimum rank of 2nd class.

So far, I've only managed 70 points which means I am still a long way from getting marksman. If God is willing, I hope to get marksman to boost my chances of getting what is in-stored for me.

At this point in time, I am torn between two 'postings'. Despite how I mentioned in one of my previous posts about getting into the SOC, I learnt on Thursday that it is possible for a NS man to get the Inspector rank. In the police force, the Inspector ranks pretty high up there. Not as high as one of the senior officers, but high enough to be considered 'respected'.
Besides how I would love to have that high a rank, I am also interested in the salary behind it. Reason being is that when I go back to Australia, there will be many things I will need to buy and so with a nice attractive salary in the balance, I am really torn apart.

It's either SOC or Inspector.
SOC training is extremely difficult. That's how difficult I have pictured it to be. I have prepared myself mentally to expect one of the worse scenarios possible. One of which would be hearing the officers shouting outside to report now as I am in the toilet doing my business. Another one would be officers coming into our bunks in the middle of the night for an inspection or worse still, a PT session. My brother told me that he had to do that in OCS. They called them to fall in late at night to have them do a PT session followed by them getting fully dressed for combat. And if OCS is like that, I can't imagine SOC.
Another down side to this would be the ranking I could get. I believe the highest rank that NS men can get during the 2 years there is only Sargent. Before coming to Singapore, I had set my mind to get to the highest possible that I can achieve. If I do go down this path, I would have to set aside that goal and do what I can with the opportunities before me.

Having said all the negative points about SOC, let me just elaborate on the several positive points about SOC.
I know that when I come out of there, I will not only be strong physically but I will be strong mentally as well. That is something not many people can withstand and if I do manage to strengthen my mental endurance, I believe I would have an upper hand in many situations in life. But is going through all that training really worth it? That is the question.

Another reason that really got me interested was the uniform of the SOC officers. It is so freakin' cool! Besides the standard SOC body uniform which looks like one of those mechanics except coloured in dark purplish-black and boots which weigh up to 1kg each, it was the maroon beret that got me hooked. Apparently in wikipedia, it labelled the maroon beret in Singapore as 'Commandos', which suddenly got me really thinking. If the SOC's berets are maroon, and the Commando's berets are maroon ... that it would mean that SOC would be something like the Commando course!
lol.
One other reason why I want to join the SOC are the skills that they offer the trainees. They will teach us a whole bunch of things that many people will never get to learn and I don't know ... an offer like that, it's a bit hard to refuse. I won't go into too much detail about what they offer because I really just can't be bothered XP But that is something I am really considering about this.

As for Inspector, I'm interested in the course because of two main reasons - the salary and the rank. Another sub-point would be how it might be an office job. I would have thought that after excelling so much in all the categories, an Inspector would be outdoors doing something. Then again, it isn't the case. If that does happen to me, I might consider keeping fit at the side like going to the pool every now and then like I do now. I tend to swim every Saturday morning now just to keep fit.

Anyway, back to what I was saying, Inspector. The salary that they provide is the figure that I have been eying on since my bro told me his pay as an army officer. Money is a very important thing in this world and as a young person who is on the verge of starting a life, money is very crucial. Even as a christian, I still think the need for money to begin some sort of a life is very important. I need a car, I need to help my parents unburden the financial load, I need to start supporting myself in most areas, I need some pocket money for transporting necessities, and believe it or not, I need to save for a future family. And the list goes on.
Also, after working for 2 months, I realise how important holidays are. haha, yes yes. A mere two months is really nothing but I finally understand why people save up for holidays and if I start working too, I think I would love to go on a holiday and with this extra money coming in, it would definitely make life a whole lot easier.

As for the rank, I mentioned above that I wanted to reach as high as I could during my time here and I believe if I reach Inspector, that would mean a whole lot to my determination to achieve. I really dislike making goals or promises and not fulfilling it. Not fulfilling this would be just as bad because I had already set my mind on it. Actually, I wanted to join the army to become an officer because that was what my dad and brother did during their NS time. But after discovering I wouldn't be able to, I decided to just do my best and see how far I can get. So this was how I decided to 'achieve', and when I said achieve, I meant to achieve high. Retrieving the Inspector rank would really mean a lot to me.

However, despite my indecisiveness, it all comes down to one thing, and one thing alone - what God wants. There was a reason why I'm a Singaporean and there's a reason why I'm in the Police Academy at this point in time. So it all depends on what God wants for me. If He wants me to join SOC, so be it. If He allows me to get the Inspector rank, so be it. I really don't care. I just care about what God wants me to do there. Now that's gonna be interesting.

What might be even more interesting would be if one of the officers were to ask me straight to my face and say, "Son, you have been chosen. You now have two choices. Where would you like to go? SOC? or Inspector?"
If that happened, I would probably break down and cry.

Just My Luck

2007-04-29T16:22:00.000+08:00

Finally, I have something to blog about not related to the Police.

This took place last night when I was travelling to my auntie's house while I was on the bus. It was around 8:10pm and I was seated somewhat at front of the bus.

Anyway, what happened was this old man came in 10-15 minutes into the journey and sat down in front of me to my left. He sat about 2 metres at a diagonal direction - so I had a good view of him from my seat because I sat next to the aisle with my bag on the seat beside me.

I took note of this old man because when he came in, I noticed that he waved to somebody out the window, and I thought it was good to know that either he cared for someone to wave that person goodbye or that someone really cared for him enough to make he wanna wave to that person. It was touching to see that.

So we were all happily seated on the bus, minding our own business as I continued to glance out the window at the passing cars and scenery. It was just like any ordinary trip. Nothing out of the ordinary. It was something like routine for me. Hop on the bus, and sit on it for 40 minutes or so then go up to my auntie's place. That was pretty normal.

What wasn't normal is the incident I am about to tell you guys. In a way, I felt proud to be able to do something like this. Not just because I am a police officer now but rather because it's things like this that make this world a less stressful place to live in. There would have been consequences if I didn't do what I did on that bus.

This was what happened. After that old man sat on the bus for 15 minutes or so, he decided to alight. He, and this other guy across him (who was seated directly in front of me) alighted together with the other guy getting off first. When that other guy left, there was no body else in front of me which meant I was closest and probably the only person who witnessed what happened.
While the old man tapped his bus card onto the EZ Link Pad (technology reigns supreme here in Singapore. Everything is electronic :P), he must have somehow clipped his watch onto one of the metal railings as it fell off his hand. As I sat there and watched, I waited to see if the old man would bend down to pick it up, but unsurprisingly, he didn't. He simply proceeded through the doors and out of the bus.

So there I was - probably the only person who saw what happened was left with two decisions; sit there and ignore the watch as this old man continued with his life not knowing where he left his watch which he will probably never see again, or I could leap out of my seat, leaving my bag behind to return the watch to the old man.

Now the question is, what would any of us do. It would be so much easier to just leave his watch lying on the floor because it's not mine and I don't see why I should care about it. It really is as simple as that. When it actually happens in real life, that is most definitely the easiest most 'safest' thing to do. I mean after all, there are a whole bunch of other people on the bus too. One step out of your seat, and everyone will be watching you.

It really took me a lot of courage and dignity to do what I did because I jumped out of my seat and went for the watch. I mustered my strength to bend down to scoop up the watch, because remember my legs were still very sore, but what was really more important was returning this watch to the old man before it was too late. So I picked up the watch and as I did, I told the Indian bus driver to wait.
Actually, it was more something like this: "Wait wait wait!" In many South East Asian countries, people like to emphasise an action with use of three repetitive verbs. For example, 'Go go go', 'Eat eat eat', 'Sleep sleep sleep'. In this case, I had to 'cater' for the locals and also, with the short opportunity I had left to return the watch, those three words would have had to do. It would be a lot easier and faster if I said that than something grammatically correct like, "Could you please wait for me as I return this watch to that old man who has just left the bus?"
So yeah, you get the point.

Plus, I think the bus driver saw me pick up the watch and understood the situation because when I flew through the bus door, I began shouting out 'Uncle! Uncle!' But once again, unsurprisingly, he could not hear me. He only realised that I was trying to get his attention when I tapped him on the shoulder as I presented him with the watch saying in chinese, "This is yours". Right after I said that, I was struck with the realisation that my bag was left on the bus unprotected and the fear of the bus driver shutting the door and driving off. So I quickly took a very quick glance at the old man before I rushed back into the bus - not only to protect my belongings but also for the bus so that people on the bus can be held stationary no more.

When I walked back into the bus and into my seat, I felt really proud. I really did a good deed by returning this old man's watch and I felt good. If I had not returned his watch, the bus would have gone off back to the interchange and the bus driver would have placed the watch under lost and found. Sadly, I don't think the old man would have known he lost it on the bus because he could think he might have dropped it on the streets or some other place. Also, retrieving lost items on public transport might be a bit difficult and strenuous.

In all, it was great. I don't know who else on the bus saw what happened but that didn't really matter. I don't really care who saw it. All that I cared about was that the old man got his watch back while I could do something about it.

What's strange was that I sat at the front of the bus. On normal occasions, I would be seated somewhere in the middle or back of the bus. Hardly ever at the front when I'm by myself. Somehow, I was 'forced' to take that seat because that was the only available double seat on the bus from first glance at the front.
What's even more strange is that usually that bus is quite often a double decker bus. And most of the time, I would be seated upstairs. Whereas yesterday, it was a normal single decker bus.

What are the odds of something like that happening?

Collateral Damage

2007-04-28T10:54:00.000+08:00

Well, just to quickly update on the situation - me getting into STAR unit is completely out of my reach. The only possible way to get in is if I signed on after my NS training which is 99% not gonna happen. So right now, I am not aiming to get into STAR unit but I am still however, still aiming for the SOC. This time, the posting will probably be the Police Tactical Unit (PTU) instead of STAR.

On Wednesday, we had a SOC road show where the SOCs came down to our place to present to us the things they do in the force. There were a lot of interesting things that they showed but at the same time, I was a bit 'reserved' as well because one of the instructors told us that comparing the SOC camp and the police academy here, the people at the SOC camp would consider the academy a holiday resort. There will be a lot of swearing, cursing, shouting, yelling, the whole lot. That was the part that really got to me. That was the part that I really didn't want. I wanted everything else, but not that. So that's why I'm just a bit cautious now because I will have to prepare myself mentally if I do manage to get in.

One of the main 'requirements' that they suggested one should possess is mental resilience. Personally, I know that I have that. I know I can really force myself to push further which is why usually I'll be one step ahead of other people when it comes to physical challenges. During training, I have the determination to push myself to the limit. But then of course, I know my limitations.
On Wednesday and Thursday, they really had it at us. They were physically pushing us by making us do easily at least 100 push ups in one session. On Thursday, we had PT and our dojo lesson. During those two lessons, we were punished multiple times as we were forced to do all sorts of pushups. Two of which comes to mind; diamond power pushup and finger interlock pushup. Actually, we are not allowed to do finger interlock pushups because one of our instructors told us that it is dangerous. Reason being when we do it, our elbow is restricted from bending freely so it is really dangerous. Take note of this pushup.
As for the diamond power pushup, for those who don't know how it is done, basically you have your hands together forming a shape of a diamond with your thumbs and index fingers. And to do the 'power' part, you basically have to leap off the ground everytime you push up. But that's not it. The starting position is when your body is near the ground; in other words, when your arms are suspending your body as you approach the ground. Everytime we did one pushup, we would have to return to this starting position before they called out 'Go' again. This was one pushup I couldn't properly do. There was no way I had the strength to suspend my body with my arms so low to the ground with my hands in that position. That was the only pushup I followed the rest of the crowd as I laid on the ground on my hands.

So anyway, on Wednesday, they had us do at least 100 pushups and 160 Jumping Jacks because of one idiot's mistake. If someone were to move unnecessarily, they would shout out 'Everyone to your right/left palms down' and now, those few words are what I hate the most and should be treated with the utmost respect.
On that day, after having been 'pumped' to the extreme, they then told us, 'Ok everybody! Raise your arms to your shoulder level.' I never knew I could experience such fatigue before! My shoulders were extremely tired and heavy that I was barely able to raise it 90 degrees from my body. It was as if all my strength was drained out of me and I had to rely on self-will and fear of getting everyone else in trouble for my weakness.

"Now, we are gonna start from this end. Start with '1' and the person behind you '2' and the person behind '3' and so on. Continue all the way back and then the next row until the end." There were at least half a dozen squads, if not more. Note that in my squad, there are 40 of us, so yeah, do the maths.

"1! 2! 3! 4! 5! .... " It kept going till I shouted something like 86 or something. I really can't remember. The pain was too immense for me to realise what I was yelling.

"Raise your arms higher! If you guys don't raise it up, we will do more pumping!"
AhhhH!!!! I forced myself to hold it up there. I tensed up my face to endure the pain that was surging through my shoulder and across my arms. I think I was trembling to a certain extent because it was so painful.

I tried to hold it there but the pain was simply unbearable. My shoulders was so heavy. they were like gonna fall apart if I didn't do anything about it. They keep dropping down lower and lower till it was at a 45 degree angle.

"Ok everyone! Put your arms in front of you! But do not hold your hands!" In some small way, it helped a bit. Moving it into a different position soothed my shoulders a slight bit. However, the pain was still there. I held it there for as long as I could without letting my hands hold itself or allowing it to drop. By this time, the number was somewhere around 130.

After another 100 people, the instructors shouted, "Everyone! Life your arms above your head!" People started to pull their arms up whereas there I was, still in that position without any strength to pull it up. So I allowed my arms to sling down and as it swinged back, I used the momentum to pull it up above my head. But somehow, my arms seem to wanna drop back down. I then had to lean backwards to allow my arms to tilt to the back as I locked my elbows into place. Now, not so much pain was on my shoulders but now, they were all on my abs.

By 250 something, they had lost count and that was when the instructors called out, "Enough! Since you cannot count properly, we shall start at 1 again!" Everyone moaned and groaned as the count began, "1! 2! 3! 4! 5!..." Somewhere through the midst of the counting, the instructor gave up hope and yelled out, "Squat Sadeya!" (not too sure about the spelling but meh) Basically, that means to stand in attention with your heels together and your arms on your sides. It was a taste of paradise. To be able to relax your arms like that, it was so wonderful.

"Now, I'm going to count to 100. When I do, I don't want to see any movements. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!"

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ... " He lost count around 33 when he talked with someone who approached him. He asked us what number he stopped at and we told him 33.

"Doesn't matter. I'll start again. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... " He could count again as many times for all I cared. Never had I wished someone would lose count when counting to 100 before. Every second was precious. Every second meant a chance to recover from any damage done to us.

When he finished counting, we were formed back into our squads again as we headed off for breakfast. At breakfast, everyone was dead. I could barely eat because I didn't have to strength to lift up my own spoon to feed myself. I had to fling the spoon into my mouth each time I took a bite.

On Thursday, it was the same. Just without the arm part. We were forced to do more pumping and that was when we did the diamond power pushup. By the time we started to do the diamond power pushup, I had no more strength to do it anymore. I was tired and had very little strength left in my arms. Everytime we went down, I would take a few seconds of rest on the ground.

Also, we had to do Jumping Jacks too. We did in total 160 Jumping Jacks. We started with 20 first. Then 50. Then 40. Then 30. Then 20 again. Everytime we finished doing them, he would start by saying "Jumping Jacks". That was when I would cry inside because he would ask us to do another obscene number of Jumping Jacks in our weakened state. And to finish up the PT session, we did 4 counts of 20 normal pushups. Which is basically doing normal push ups but stopping half way each time.

That afternoon, we had dojo. There we were punished because basically of us didn't practice the moves. I knew the moves but I didn't practice either. But unlike my other friends, I actually knew what to do when the instructor would shout out a command. Anyway, we were punished because of that and had to do all sorts of push ups; including the finger interlock one. That was probably what happened to me the next day.

When I woke up yesterday, Friday, I couldn't bend my right arm. This meant I couldn't do any push ups because I couldn't go down. It didn't help when we had PT that morning. And quite inevitably, we had to go right palms down. When they shouted that, I was the only person standing in the crowd and the instructor looked at me. He asked me why I was still standing and I explained to him that I couldn't bend my arm but I could do everything else. He then asked me why I didn't report to him when he asked if people were not feeling well. Then I told him that I could do everything else again. Then he goes, 'but isn't push ups included in everything else?' Actually, just thinking about it, I did mention that I said I could do everything else which excluded push ups, so I don't think I was wrong.

Anyway, he just told me to do squats and asked me if I knew what it was. I told him I knew how to do it and showed it to him.

In all, I had to do 100 squats during that session because we kept getting punished for one idiot's mistake.

Later he goes, "ok! We shall now do Infinity counts of 4 of Jumping Jacks. Does anyone have a problem with that?"

"No sir!"

"Infinity counts of 4, exercise begin! 1! ... 2! ... 3! ... ... 54! ... Last count and still! You! Oi! You! You want to be lazy is it? You don't want to lift your arms all the way up is it? Ok. Fine. Everyone but you to your right palms down! ... Take a look! Because of him, all of you shall do 50 push ups." This meant I had to do 100 squats! I focused my sight on one dot in front of me to focus myself to be ready for the 100 squats. It was just a way for me to focus without getting distracted or thoughts of quitting. I was getting ready. Despite all the beating I took already on my legs, I was ready.

"Everyone on your feets up!" I think the guy managed to give a sound explanation to his doing which is why we avoided those push ups/squats. Phew.

"Ok! Now, we will do it again. infinity counts of 4 of Jumping Jacks. Ready! Exercise begin! 1! ... 2! ... 3! ... "

By the time we reached 100 he goes, "C'mon guys! Another 50! Go go!" At this stage, some people were dropping out. They would stop for a moment and come back in as soon as they were ready. One of my friends said that he felt his calf muscle pull on him and he still continued to jump. The instructors later asked him why he continued and my friend said that he thought he could continue. The instructor gave him a good scolding because if anything were to happen to us, they would be in deep trouble. Extremely deep trouble.

After the 150 Jumping Jacks, we had to run the parade square 5 times following the instructor ahead. The instructor had a load of fun running in all sorts of directions. It was like those games where the snake gets longer and longer and you had to get the 'dot' on the screen except this time, the snake was 6 squads long with roughly 30-40 people in each squad.

So yeah, after all that squatting, jumping and running, you could say that my legs took a beating. A very bad beating. This morning when I woke up, I could barely stand. My arms were still sore and my legs, well, you get the point.

Just before I finish up, I will say this. On Wednesday in the afternoon, we had our first live shooting frame. There are 6 shooting frames and to get marksman, we have to get 80% or above. So anyway, on Wednesday we did our shooting and I'll just say I was so very nervous. My heart was beating hard and I could feel my hands shaking.
During our dry practice, I was fine. But like our instructor told us, we will tense up and shake because we're too tensed up. Just breathe in deep and relax.

So anyway, I was the last 'detail' to go in. Oh yeah, FYI, I am serial number 40. Meaning I am the youngest. That means I am always the last to do things in the squad. But I like the saying in the bible, "First will be last and last will be first." In this case, I like the concept of this saying XP hehehe
Anyhow, when it was my turn, I took note of the safety precautions and tried to be as calm as I could. I holstered my revolver and stood ready.

"Detail, watch your front!" That was when we had to hold the gun in the holster and have the other hand on our belt.

"1 round fire!" I pulled the revolver up and aimed. As I slowly pulled the trigger back, I heard the gunshots of my other friends and that was when my heart pumped harder! My hand began to shake and I thought I would never fire at the target 9m away. In the midst of all my shaking, I fired my first bullet and it shook me awake. The recoil was interesting. I knew there would be recoil, so to experience it for the first time was cool. I think the next time I grab hold of that revolver, I will be more ready.

Anyway, at the end of the first cycle, ie. 5 rounds, they brought the target up close for us to have a look at the damage we had done. I looked at my target and noticed only 4 hits. This indicates that I had missed one shot. Not too important. One miss is not too bad.
Then the targets went back 9metres again. We shot another 4 cycles at it but this time, 5 rounds at one command. That is, when the instructor said 'fire', we would shoot all 5 bullets in our cylinder.

After the 5th cycle, we reloaded our revolver again as they brought the target out 25m. The concept was the same. We aimed, we fire. After that cycle, they asked us to reload once more and fire at the target from our kneeling position. I fired the bullets and that was it.
The targets came towards us and we had a look at the culprit who was decimated. My target looked really nice. All my bullets struck the heart region. My bullets hardly flew upwards or downwards which was good cause you are meant to aim for the chest.
We brought our targets out and counted the bullets that hit the 'In' region. I noticed this cluster of bullets together so I asked one of the instructors how to count the number of bullets that hit that area. He showed me how to count the bullets and decided that he would count for me. He counted the bullets and said '35 in'. In case you haven't realised, there were 7 cycles where 1 cycle consists of 5 rounds. If you do the maths, that's 35 bullets in total which meant I got them all in.

Quite honestly, I didn't know how in the world I got them all in. I was shaking like crazy and I was sure I missed a whole lot. This was my first time I shot a gun with real bullets so there was no way I had prior experience to this. This was truly God's work in my trembling hands. There was no way I could have done anything like this by myself. So it was great.

SWAT

2007-04-22T17:41:00.000+08:00

So what is SOC? What is Special Operations Command? And why have I added them in the list of abbreviations?

Well, it's something I want to aim for. The training is tough and the fitness level required is high. This gives me something high to aim for. If God is willing, and if I am able to perform, I will be so happy if I get in. They'll probably torture us like animals, but hey, after 2 years, and when I look back at this experience, I think it would be so cool!

Anyway, the best description that describes the SOC posting is in wikipedia. Feel free to have a look to get an idea of what I am aiming for.

In the SOC posting, I am hoping, just hoping, that there might be a chance that I can be posted into the STAR unit. Basically, the STAR unit is equivalent to a SWAT team. I reckon getting into something like that would be so interesting! Plus, imagine how amazing fit and muscular I'll be if I do ;) hehe

So far, the only 'support' I have in having the slightest chance of getting in is from wikipedia. They said that "TRACOM trainees", ie. me, can get enlisted into this posting. Whereas everyone else whom I have talked to has said otherwise. So I don't who I should believe. Oh, by everyone else, I mean people like relatives, fellow trainees, etc. Not Senior Officers who I should actually be asking.

Well, if it is God's will for me to get it, I will get it without a doubt. But if I don't, I am more than happy to do something else less strenuous, and hopefully, less stressful. However, it would be interesting if I could get into the SOC group. Let's just see how far I am allowed to go with my NS trainee status.

I'll be back on Friday night and hopefully we won't be confined this week for anything stupid.

Police Academy 3: Back In Training

2007-04-21T16:26:00.000+08:00

The enlistment day was quite possibly the longest day of the whole 10 days. Just like any other 'first days', the enlistment day was really long.

It started off when we, the parents and the child (in this case, my auntie followed me), were separated when entering the academy. I went off and followed the directions of the officers on the side. The first room they sent us to was a room where they asked us to strip our clothes to our underwear where they looked for 'something'. One of which could have been tattoos. As police officers, we were told that we were allowed here was because we didn't have any tattoos. So they could have been looking out for that too. haha, I'll tell you guys something my friend in my bunk told me later when we got acquainted. I found it so hilarious!

He told me that when he got into that room, he thought he had to strip down naked because his brother who was in Civil Defence had to do that. So he happily went in there with no other enlistees in the room and stripped down naked. The officer in charge swore at him and told him that he didn't want to see any 'extra goods' and asked him to get dressed. Now imagine my friend being an indian/malay.

After that, they sent us to different classrooms where we would sign a health declaration form. From there, we proceeded to the auditorium and were briefed about the oath taking we would be taking to declare that we were now police officers.

They sent us to this hall called the Harmony Hall where we took our oath in front of all the parents, relatives, girlfriends and I quote, "whatever gay friends" who were there. When that finished, we had lunch with our relatives and right after lunch, we went our separate ways. I headed back into the auditorium as instructed and continued with whatever enlistment procedures they had.

We were separated into squads. Maximum number in a squad being 40. Our squad was at its maximum. I'd say that my squad consists of half chinese and half malay which is a good balance. There, we were introduced to our FI. He led us to our barracks and we were showed to our rooms. We left our stuff there and were given raincoats in case it rained at any time while we went out. In this case, it rained that afternoon, and were told to wear it.

After putting it on, we were brought to the barber shop where we had to pay $2 to have our heads shaved. Not completely shaved, but short enough for all of us to be the same. Just as we all finished, we walked back together to our barracks where we were allowed to wash up before being taught some basic marching drills and stance. All of which are in malay so it was strange for me at first.

We then went for dinner which was quite ok for me. I didn't mind the food because generally, I'm not too fussy about food. Straight after dinner, we went to the senior coy (company) to have our size measured for our uniform.

When we got back, we were told how to do right and left palms down. Then, when we learnt, we did 20 left palms down and 20 right palms down in front of our FI. You could hear many people crying and moaning to reach the 40 mark. I endured the pain and pushed on till we did the 40 push ups. It's not a number which I would do on a daily basis but now that we have to do it, I will train myself to push 40 at one go. Once I get better.

That night, when I was trying to get in an early night, we had a late night gathering at 9:45pm. I wasn't too awake at that time because I was sleeping soundly when we were told to gather. So the first few minutes in that meeting, I was kinda blur.

End of the Enlistment Day

Day 1 - 11/4
I woke up at 5:10am that day. Washed up and went for breakfast. After breakfast, we learnt more drills. The drills I found hard because we had to do some things which we don't normally do everyday.

After that, we went to the drill shed where we collected our uniforms. They gave us everything from the drill boots to the peak cap; along with all the other miscellaneous items like shoe polish brush, one hanger, powder, and others. We went back and tried on our things like they told us to - just to make sure that there's nothing wrong with it. Here's a story I can tell you guys.
Just when we were trying out our things, I happen to change into the Physical Training (PT) kit. After wearing the kit for a few minutes, we heard some shouting down outside. One officer was calling us to fallout now. He was shouting at us, indicating that we had 2 minutes to change into our PT kit and fall out now. I was already in my PT kit but I was wearing my own footwear.
In the midst of all the panic and chaos, I decided to just run downstairs with my own footwear which looked kinda silly. When I got downstairs, someone ran in my opposite direction saying "need the PT shoes!" Deciding that everyone was already in big trouble, I ran back in the opposite direction to change my shoes. I got into the room where there was a lot of chaos. I pulled out the pair of socks they gave and ripped open the wrapping. I yanked my footwear off and slipped on the black socks. Then, I fling open the shoe box and forced on the new shoes. Quickly tying it, I ran back down where everyone was in a push up position. I joined in with the crowd and remained in that position. Later, the old malay officer who was shouting ordered us up and started to shout some more. He pulled out different people for their uniform infringements and began his lecture. He also pulled everyone with different footwear so I was so glad I changed. In the end, he dismissed us into our rooms, telling us that he was just testing or quickness. Too much stress for me.

Our OC later conducted a briefing for all of us and there we found our serial numbers. The number works according to age, so I am number 40.

We had lunch and then exchanged whatever clothing which needed to be changed. After that, we were told that we were allowed to rest till dinner. We had dinner and then learnt more drills from our fellow squad mates.

End of Day 1

The first two days were the more interesting days in the academy. The remaining days there were spent in desperate desire to survive through alive and to get out for some medicine. I went to see the doctor on the Monday and she had prescribed some lozenges and cough medicine but I strongly believe that my sickness was more powerful than the medicine prescribed.

For the remaining few days left, I struggled through the day and squinched at every PT lesson. If I was feeling well, I'll be glad that there was a PT lesson. But when one is sick, any physical activity can be extra difficult. So I wanted to avoid as many PT lessons as possible. Fortunately, I managed through without fainting, so I wasn't too bad.

The friends I've made don't seem so bad. Sure at times there are some who can be irritating, but there are also some jokers in the camp. I think throughout the 40 of us, I would be one of the few fit ones. There are at least a hand full of us who are pretty fit, so I'll have competition.

Oh yeah! We also had our IPPT test on the 2nd last day (Thursday). Out of the 40 of us, only 11 of us passed the test, so the rest had to stay for an extra 2 hours on the final day. hehe
Anyway, here were my scores for the test.

Sit ups - 51 rep
Stand broad jump - 255cm
Shuttle run - 9.3 secs
Chin ups - 12 rep
2.4km run - 10.17 mins

I have improved quite a bit in this test and I'm quite pleased. What's amazing is that I did all this while I was sick so I wonder how I will do if I wasn't sick. I reckon I might get a better 2.4km run time. Also, after the chin ups, I found myself a bit tired and had to push myself to get the 12.

Anyway, I will be going back into the academy tomorrow night and I will be back Friday night again. Provided I don't get confined for anything.

Police Story

2007-04-20T21:28:00.000+08:00

Throughout the whole 10 day (11 including the enlistment day) 'experience', I can sum up the entire confinement period in two words: Enjoyment and Torture.

When I was there, the first half was really great for me. I really enjoyed everything. The exercise, the discipline, the food, the drills, the rooms, everything. I really enjoyed it. Actually, I found myself to be pretty fit when I went in. Surprisingly, I found myself running with great ease. Running was no problem at this point. So everything was really great for me.

That was, until I got sick. After day 4, I found this irritation in my throat. On day 5, which was a Saturday, I discovered that I was developing a sore throat that I knew would worsen as days pass. Quite inevitably, I got worse and from then on, I was sick with a severe sore throat. As we approached the final few days of the confinement, I developed a bad cough. Even now, I still have that cough.

So yeah, once I got sick, that was it. The enjoyment stopped and the torture began. I really had to dig whatever strength I had in me to perform; and boy was it difficult. I struggled to breathe because every step caused my heart to pump extra hard. So quite basically, I struggled and forced myself to survive through the final half of the confinement period.

A lot of what I say here regarding the PA will be very selective because firstly, there was this oath that we all took that binds us legally to this Act which disables us to disclose certain information. However, what I share on this blog should be just as interesting =) I hope.

Also, I don't think I should publicly say things about my bunk/squad mates XP Simply because I know they will sooner or later find this blog and if I start saying things about them here, haha, I think I will get it from them when I go back in. XP hehehe

Anyway, in the next blog entry, I will run through very briefly what we did throughout the 10 days. Or at least try to. In the mean time, let me just talk about some random stuff about the PA.

It has been an interesting 10 days. We all had to learn malay commands for the entire squad to follow and also at times, we went through very interesting experiences (that I am sure we will still experience during the next 3 months) as a squad. 'Interesting experiences' being being punished for certain 'wrong doings' of some people. Usually Field Instructors (FI) will punish either that a guy alone or sometimes the entire squad for that guy's wrong doing. There was this one time when my friend couldn't coordinate his left and right steps to the timer's timing and as a result, the rest of the squad had to go right palms down (descriptions below; but basically, it's just waiting in a push up position) as he struggled to coordinate his left and right legs together; even with his own timing. We were all left there enduring the pain until several minutes later when he finally figured it out.

I really want to thank God for being with me. Despite getting sick for half the confinement, I am really grateful for God being with me because He really did play a big part in selecting the instructors.

Somehow or rather, we managed to get the best (being the nicest, kindest, doesn't like to punish us) instructors around. Here are the instructors that we have as a squad.

FI - FIs are supposed to be mean and strict in discipline because they are training the squad to be fit. So they really impose a lot of strictness and discipline on us trainees, which often results in punishments. However, somehow we got the nicest FI around. He is really kind, and even though there are certain 'limits' as to how far we can go, he is generally a pretty nice guy. Just by looking at him, you can tell that he's really nice.

Officer in Charge (OC) - Ok, OCs are supposed to take care of us with stuff like medical appointments, general paper work (like bank account numbers, donation forms - yes, they forced us to donate ><") but mainly to teach us law and other miscellaneous topics like general conduct, etc. At first, when I saw our OC, I thought he was really firm and strict, but after seeing him the second time, he was actually the complete opposite. He is really flexible, easy going and quite easy to approach. Of course he demands a good sense of discipline and for that, we want to respect him for that.

Dojo Instructor - Our dojo instructor is a female!!! w00t! haha, she has hair down to the top of her shoulders but with her sides have been shaved. Her face is aslo a bit plump. So try to imagine that. At first glance, she seemed really strict. Espcially when she started talking to the squads - she sounded scary ={ But then, when she took our group, comparing her to the other male instructors, she is way better because she's a girl and she's nice XD Girls are nice. That's what I think. ^^

Range Instructor - They are supposed to teach us about using firearms - more so the revolver. And wow, comparing our really kind, really nice, really 'don't want to punish us severely' instructor (eg. "Ok, if you do anything against what I told you, you will have to do 10 push ups. And if you do it again, you'll have to do 15." ^^) to other instructors, I really have to thank God for giving us the best instructors around.

And I think that's all the instructors we have for now.

Just to finish off so I can go rest before I wake up at 5am tomorrow, I'll just type up some of the terms used in the PA.

FI - Field Instructors

OC - Officer in Charge

IC - In-Charge. We have a Squad IC (squad leader), a Comm IC (Communications), Bunk ICs (there are 4 bunks so 4 Bunk ICs; I will elaborate more in the next post), a Classroom IC and a Mess IC (Food coordinator).

NPC - Neighbourhood Police Centre

PCG - Police Coast Guard

SOC - Special Operations Command

Right/Left Palms Down: Clapping your hands first before dropping to a 45 degree angle to the right/left in a push up position with your buttocks in the air.

I really can't think of anymore at the moment but if I do, I will mention them in the next post. Also, I'll try to elaborate more on some of the stuff as time goes on. In the mean time, it's time to rest for me.

If you guys want to ask anything about my 'adventure' feel free to comment your questions! =D

Life Is Beautiful

2007-04-09T13:49:00.000+08:00

The final day of freedom. The last time I shall be deemed 'free' for the next two years.

I am quite capable of just leaving the country any time today because I am not bound to the Singaporean government just yet.

People ask me what am I gonna do before I go in and my standard responses are usually, "Relax", "Have a life" and "Sleep". Three things which will probably be taken from me from tomorrow onwards.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I don't know what to expect. All that I've been hearing since I came here was about how the army life is and how you will be treated with very little respect or something.
But now that I'm in the Police Academy, I don't know what to expect. Are we gonna be treated like maggots? Or will we be respected with high honours for being law enforcers?

In the army, they will force you to do things you normally wouldn't do - for one, you will have to run 10kms. Normally, I wouldn't do anything like that. But I'm not sure whether they will ask us to run that much in the academy or not. I mean, do we really need to run 10kms in Singapore? Singapore is so small. Just take a car and drive. If we did a 10km driving marathon, sure, I'll love to. Or better still! A 10km car chase down Singapore! WhooO!

In the army, they have to march from one point to another. In the police, we still have to do march. Why? I really don't know. What is the point in marching if we aren't gonna 'march' in a group to catch criminals. Perhaps this exercise is for discipline? I really don't know.

In the army, they have to do exercises that would usually involve carrying casualities. With these casualities, they have to run back some good distance. Like my dad told us he had to do a raid at night as they carried the casualities back 10km while running with all their equipments. He said that was one of the hardest exercises he ever did. Not too sure what we have to do in the Police involving casualities. Maybe just call for the ambulance and perform CPR?

In the army, everyone usually goes into the lecture hall to sleep because they're too tired. My bro did and I believe my dad did as well. If I sleep in the lecture hall, I think I will miss out on a lot of notes because half our training is studying. ><" It's like back to school for me. I think I'll have to try to pay attention this time. XP

In the army, they sing songs when they march together. My brother recorded all the army songs for me just so it would be easier for me when I went into the army. Only problem was that I wouldn't be going into the army. I would have appreciated the lyrics for the marching songs but I don't know if they will do it in the PA. Some of the marching songs are pretty funny. Maybe if my brother was happy to share, he will post them in his blog.

Tim was talking to me the other day about this police thing, and he said that as the day approaches, I will start to feel the affects of anxiety of the police life. At this point, I am still pretty happy and sad to be going in. But I also have to admit that the anxiety is starting to build. Not much, but it is building.
Just to imagine a completely different life style, where I have to 'do' things. Unlike when I was working, I actually have to know what I am doing here. And this time, I wanna try. I wanna try to be the best. I have to try.

There were talks about how the Police force is for all the 'not needed' ones, or the 'young ones' or I don't know what. I don't know whether that is true or not. But to think about my age, I don't know if there will be people around my age or will they all be older than me again; just like when I was in school where everyone in the year level is one year older than me. But then again, I really have no problem hanging out with the older people. I find it easier to 'communicate' with them than with younger ones. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I'll have to wait till tomorrow and all of you will have to wait till the 21st! hehehe! I will try my best to try to blog on the 21st. It might be a mighty long blog post, so please be patient. But I promise to blog when I get out from the first confinement. I will try to blog on whatever I can blog about without breaking too many laws. lol

When I was younger, like 9 or 10, I remember thinking about how it would be like in the army. I thought about camping out in my tent in the middle of the night with the bright moon shining through the entrance of the tent and into my eyes. I remember how everything would be quiet and how I would be in one of those camouflage clothes with my rifle next to me as I slept in case the 'enemy' attacked.
Funny story that. My dad told us stories about how you have to sleep with your rifle and treat it like a woman because if you lose your rifle, you will have to serve punishment for 7 years. They would take your rifle from you in the middle of the night if you're not careful, so I had that picture in my head as I thought about the army life.
Then, I pictured myself buff and strikingly handsome at 18, but I better not go into too much detail because there could be disappointment. lol

It's strange how things turn out. When you think you have something completely planned out for your life, God has something different. I would never have thought I would get into the police force. It was something I definitely did not think about doing. Not until I found out that that would be where I was gonna be enlisted to.
A lot of people envy how I managed to get into the Police Force and I'm really happy that I did. It is something I really cherish now because the intensity of the training shouldn't be so extreme. I just say that it's a blessing from God. A blessing to an unasked prayer. LoL! Just like the DVD player I got. Still liking the DVD player.

haha! I'll tell you guys something I did with the DVD player. I'm pretty sure this is totally illegal but hey! I'm in the police force. As far as you guys know, I didn't say this.

[Disclaimer: Everything said beyond this point is not so much the opposite of untrue but the opposite of that and it is most definitely not correct when said that it was not said by Boaz Ang]

Here in Singapore, I discovered that there was such a thing called "DVD Region Codes". Basically, different countries/regions have different region codes from 1 to 8. For example, the DVD Region Code for the US is 1 and Australia is 4.

So basically, the Americans will watch region code DVD number 1 in their region code DVD player number 1. And that way, it prevents certain countries from watching shows with different release dates or if they have certain restrictions on the DVDs.

Anyway, the Frasier DVDs I have are of Australian DVD codes, ie. 4. Whereas with Singapore, the region code is 3. Which meant the DVD player I got was a number 3 region code.

That night, I discovered that there existed a thing called Region Codes. It was devastating to discover I couldn't watch my Frasier episodes.

That was, until I found them hacks. ^^ hehehe, I managed to find this site where they had all sorts of hacking methods to change the region codes and what I've learnt, is that region code '0' allows you to play all the region codes. So I've set the DVD player at '0' so we can watch both the Singaporean DVDs and the Australian. hehehe So smart. XP

[/disclaimer]

Well, this is it. The end of the road for a while.

The next blog entry will be when I return. Hopefully dated on the 21st April, 2007. Hopefully still alive and sane.

New adventures and stories to tell in days to come! For now, any emails or messages will be appreciated! ^^ Email me for my contact if you want to reach me in the academy before the end of this day and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible.

Till next time guys! Keep me in your prayers! =D

Cheers mate!

Boaz

See Spot Run

2007-04-08T23:23:00.000+08:00

I've inserted a music file, Nella Fantasia, into my blog on the column to the right. It's sung by Il Divo. I first heard them sing when they did the theme song for the World Cup 2006 when they sang 'Times Of Our Lives' with Toni Baxton. After that, I was pretty much hooked into their singing style and from then on, I tried to retreive as many songs done by them as possible.

But this one. This one song sung by them has caught me. I don't really care if you guys hate this song or don't really care much for it, because I love it. It's up there as one of my favourites. Very few songs that I listen to really makes me wanna listen to it over and over again and still make me wanna listen to it some more without me getting sick of it. I could picture myself driving some deserted road for a couple of hours listening to this music looping over and over again and still enjoy every minute of it. hahaha, yeah, I could. But I don't wanna get sick of this song so I won't. Must listen in moderation! =D

I looked up the translation for the lyrics and even though I don't really like what they're saying, I still like it only because of the melody and the singing. The Italian words sound nice, but when translated, it sounds gay. So I'd just stick to the Italian version and try not to think about what they're saying. hehe

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the song too because I do. I've chosen not to auto-play it when you guys come on because it can get annoying when somebody else's music start playing when you go into their website. So I'll leave it to you guys. Just click the play button and have a good listen. Terribly sorry for those on dial up. If you wait a while, you could allow it to load then play it at one go. Believe me, if you don't mind classical music with 'proper singing', it's worth the wait XP

Well, I've decided to blog again because after tomorrow, I won't be blogging for a good 10 days so here I am again, blogging. About what? I dunno. Let's see what we can squeeze out of this big head of mine.

Today was the last Sunday I would play for the church band in a while. I've decided to take a few months break from the band because I need the break to 'recuperate'. So in the mean time, I'm just gonna focus on the police and recover whenever I come out during the weekends. Sounds like a good plan to me.

I also went swimming today after returning back from a long day at church and going out. Usually if I have to play for Sunday, I'll have to get up at 6:30am and get ready to leave the house by 7:15am or so because I have to go outside to have breakfast. So by the time I came back today, it was 6:30pm. From there, I went straight to the pool. But it was a mistake.

Firstly, there were too many people there. At 6:45pm, I thought many people would have gone home to have dinner or something. It was a fatal mistake because there were at least a few hundred people running around the entire complex and at least fifty people in the competition pool. I definitely couldn't swim properly because there were too many people in one lane! I couldn't be bothered anyway. Been a long day. So I just did several laps. I tried out more freestyle laps and more butterfly laps. Then after that, I attempted to tread water because my friend in church told me that he had to do that in the Academy for thirty minutes or so. Not too sure if they still do it now, but they probably will.

I can't seem to float on water anymore! I don't know why!!! Is it because I'm too heavy now? Does any body know how? Please tell me!!! It will be extremely useful for me! Thanks!
I just ended up slipping on my goggles (not too sure if I can wear them if they ask us to do it) as I bounced up and down the pool. I did that for a 15 minutes and figured I could go on forever, so if they asked us to do it with our goggles, I could do it. If they asked us to do it without goggles, it might be a bit harder.

Anyway, the second reason why it was a bad idea to go swimming was because my mouth was still 'sore'. The ripped skin in my mouth only ripped some more. When I jumped into the pool, it stung. Not to mention how flithy the pool is by now with all the people going in and out. I couldn't see the end of the pool because it was too 'cloudy'. ><" Yuck. But that wasn't he worse part. The worse part happened when I came out of the pool and went to dry myself off with my towel. I rubbed my head as usual. But what happened this time, was that when I accidentally rubbed my nose upwards, there was this amazing pain that surged through my body from torn skin in the mouth. I was so scared that I had torn it further. I'm still not sure if it's torn further but I'd rather not know. I just want it to heal quickly! ={ Also, for the first time in a very long while, I played some computer games at a LAN shop this afternoon after church with some church friends. I think I'm not so much a computer game player of a guy. I only like certain games and usually, I play in moderation because if I like it, I want it to last for a long time without me getting sick of it. But usually, I don't play much computer games.

Overall, I don't really 'enjoy' strategic type games where you have to think or build your land or something like that. Also, Role Playing Games are games that I tolerate. Usually these kinda games have a bit of action/fighting in it, so I quite enjoy that part where they're a lot of violence. But if it was just a game that involved lots of talking and lots of blabbing, I don't think I would choose to play that game on a daily basis - not unless it's a really good and interesting game.

However, the type of games I usually choose to play are those immediate action, immediate violence, immediate chaos type of games. Simply because it's awesome to cause all that chaos happen in a matter of seconds. Games that involve shooting and stuff - I like. I'm not saying I'm any good at it. As a matter of fact, I think I'm down right crap at 'em. But I don't care. As long as it's enjoyable, I like it. Even if it means having to die every single round, I don't mind. It's fun.

But on top of this, I prefer soccer video games. Especially if I'm given time to learn the game. Once I'm given that time, I believe I can be deadly. I remember back in Australia there was this one stage where I would score as many as 3 or 4 goals in one match against the World Class opponent. The only difference between computer players and human players is that computer players are so predictable. After a while, you can predict what they're gonna do. So after playing the computer for a while, you can tell when they're gonna tackle, and when the keeper is gonna be exposed.

But when you start playing with a human player, you think you can predict their movements, but the truth is, there is more 'indecisiveness' with the human players, and you can't seem to tell where or what they wanna do. Which is why it's a bit frustrating at times because you'd lose the ball from some silly mistake. Grrr.

Also, computer players don't come sliding from behind for a tackle.

Night At The Museum

2007-04-07T20:34:00.000+08:00

A couple more blog entries before I go in. Three at most.

Firstly, it me tell you guys what happened to my mouth just a few days ago.

A few nights back, when I was brushing my teeth before I went crashing into my bed, this happened.
I was happily brushing away like I normally do, ie. away from the sink. I usually brush away from the sink because I can't stand just .... standing there brushing. I prefer to sit or do something at the same time. I believe my desire to train myself to brush away from the sink began one night when I told my auntie that I disliked brushing in front of the sink because I don't like to stand for those few minutes, brushing. It was boring. So I began to develop this 'skill', so to speak, to keep all the foam in my mouth while brushing my teeth at the same time. And a very lovely skill it is too. So now, I can wander away from the sink to sit and watch some show or to go pack my bag or even chat online.

hehe, anyway, there I was one innocent night, brushing away. That very innocent night turned into something I wished hadn't happen because it was so much more costly than I thought. I was brushing away when my toothbrush accidentally slipped out of my mouth and as it did, it went back into my mouth with quite a bit of force. So much force in fact, I felt a bit of pain on the top part of my mouth; as in the part between the lip and the front teeth. I thought I had just smacked my gum and would become swollen in a few hours.

However, that was not the case.

I only realised just yesterday that it was more than that. The gum didn't swell up but something else happened. What I had actually 'smacked' that night was actually the little bit of the 'skin' (I dunno what's the technical name of this) in your mouth that holds the upper lip and the upper gums together. I smacked against it hard enough to rip it apart, so now, it's completely ripped. It's quite painful and annoying actually. I've forced myself to limit my upper lips' freedom. I don't want to rip it any further which is why I'm trying to keep it closed if not needed. Which means people! Don't make me laugh on MSN! Please don't! Save me the pain and be boring when you talk to me. Please! Be! Boring! hahahahaha

Well, that was interesting wasn't it? I would have posted a picture of it all ripped up and stuff, but it could get messy. Plus, I don't wanna freak out the little kids reading this. hehe

There's this mixed 'excitement' about going into the PA; both the good and the bad. Both of which cancels each other out. In all honesty, I really don't know what I'm doing. Seriously. I'm just gonna go in, all blur and self-conscious that I am gonna stand out from the Malay crowd (unless I tan myself a bit more to fit in), and listen to what I 'should' and 'should not' do. But at this stage in time, I am seriously feeling no excitement what so ever. Simply because I am overwhelmed by how there are both good and bad points about going in. Here are some of the main reasons.

Good -

Time is simply moving too slowly now. Going in will definitely speed things up because that's what I came here for.

I need to get out of this mundane routine. Not very pleasurable or purposeful, so this will give me some sort of direction to persevere for something.

I will get paid! Whoo!

Bad -

They will torture me - both physically and mentally. After being out of school for 4-5 months, this is gonna hurt.

No more freedom. I will most certainly be restricted to an allocated time where I will be 'set free'; this is the time where I can go back and 'recover'. After which, it is back to the same old torture.

It's a long journey so it will seem like this journey is taking forever at first.

My relatives are telling me that I "can't get far" in this police thing. That during my two years here, they won't give me a good designation on the force. They're saying that I won't be as well decorated as those army personnel. Maybe it's because they watch too many shows. LoL

No one in my family, on both sides, has been in the police force before so how would they know? That's what I think. No one in our family has an insight into the police force so I don't see how they can be so sure of this.

But what I'm sure of is that I'm going in and I'm going to try to get as far as I can with whatever abilities God has given to me as I try my best. Then, wherever they post me, I can know that this was as far as I could go with the abilities I have and there's nothing I can do about it. At least this was as far as I could go and I won't have to wonder about what I 'could have' gotten if I had tried harder. Afterall, I know that God is in control and wherever they post me is where God wants me to be. What do I have to be afraid of? So let's see where this roller coaster ride takes me.

Also, for those who have been asking, you can 'reach me' in the academy via SMS at any time. Just email me and I will give you my contact if you want. It'll be nice to hear from you guys during this time. And of course, if you don't wanna waste your phone credit on me, just drop me an email and I'll try to get to it. I don't know how long I'll be sane inside there so every message will be much appreciated! Thanks guys!

Alrighty! For all those non-soccer readers out there, I suggest you just leave or scroll down to the comment section now. Everything I say from here till the end of the blog is all about soccer. WhoO!! Go me! In for the ratings I am! LoL

Let's talk the UEFA Champions League.

Even though I'm gonna be in the academy during the 2nd leg of the quarter finals, I'm pretty sure Liverpool will go through. A 3-0 thumping for PSV; no way can they come back. Not at Anfield at least. Many journalist have described the return leg as 'practically impossible' for PSV because scoring at least 3 goals in Anfield doesn't come once in a blue moon. The last time they took a beating like that was when Arsenal knocked us out of the Carling Cup Quarter Finals back in January with a 6-3 victory. 6 goals against Liverpool at Anfield is a complete shocker. I can't remember the last time that happened (if it's happened before). Definitely very rare for something like that to happen. But that was the last time Liverpool lost to a 3 goal difference.

But Arsenal is a very good team. Arsene Wenger is an awesome coach so it's not really all that embarrassing to lose like that, even though losing 6-3 at home is pretty embarrassing as is. Now, if we lost to another smaller team like Sunderland, 6-3. Oh dear, now that is extremely embarrassing. But let's not talk about that cause it won't happen. lol

The point is, PSV is pretty much out of this competition because at Anfield for the return leg, there is pretty much no hope of them coming back from this. They still have to play 90 more minutes but I'm sure Liverpool can pull it off.

As for the other teams, I think Bayern Munch will by pass AC Milan into the next round.

Man Utd will beat Roma with a comfortable victory.

Chelsea might lose the next round because Valencia play at home for the return leg and with the away goal advantage to Val, I think Chelsea will be out of this. I do hope so anyway.

And of course, Liverpool will sweep PSV away without much irritation.

So my predictions for the Semi-Finals:

Bayern Munch V Man Utd

Liverpool V Valencia

I really wanna see Liverpool go all the way. If they get through the Semi-finals, I think Rafael Benitez will go nuts and place all his best players with the most perfect tactic on field just to capture the trophy for the 2nd time in three years. I hope they can do it.

Also, a very mouthwatering final with Man Utd and Liverpool would probably be one of the greatest match in soccer history because both teams are peaking really well now. Well, Man Utd peaked back during sometime mid-season, but they're still pretty dominant now. And to imagine two great teams with a full squad fit to play at one of the biggest competitions in sport entertainment. That would be awesome! WhooO! I don't wanna go into the academy that night! XP

haha, I'll probably be punished severely for 7 years or something if I did that. haha, see you guys in 2014 if that match happens!

The Karate Kid

2007-04-06T15:12:00.000+08:00

This is gonna be a quick one because I don't have much time. In fact as many of you have noticed, I haven't had much time to blog at all. With my dad here and everything, everything else 'minor' has been put aside. And that is where the blog is classified in. Minor XD

Firstly, I'll just say that the picture posted in the previous blog entry is in fact an actual photograph. I retreived it from the WWE website under WreslteMania 23. I was completely shocked and surprised that it was possible to break a steel ladder like that. Jeff Hardy, the one on the guy, jumps from another ladder set up in the ring and lands onto the guy on the ladder, Edge, as it breaks on impact. Awesome stuff. Sadly, I didn't watch it happen. =( But you can see the story with all the pictures from the WrestleMania23 pictures.

I went swimming with Melissa on Thursday and boy is she good. She is quick and strong. Just comparing myself to her, I still have a long way to go. Also, if she comes online commenting saying stuff like, "Nah man. Not really. Blah blah blah." Don't believe her. She's freaky. XP And I don't say that very often.
Oh, silly me. Who is Melissa? haha, for the many of you who don't know, she is Amoz's Primary School lover--, I mean... errrr, Primary School crus--, oh dang. That came out all wrong. Lemme try to focus. Focus Boaz! Focus!
What I meant to say was that she was Amoz's Primary School girlfrien--. ><" Hmmm, that doesn't sound right. XP hehehehehehe

I'm just kiddin'! haha, don't kill me Melissa or Amoz! XP Melissa is Amoz's Primary School classmate back before we left Singapore in '96. So yeah.

Oh dear. They're gonna kill me big time. XP *runs*

Anyway! It was nice having someone else there. I mean to not swim alone and to have someone push me to swim harder, it was nice. It was to my advantage and seeing that Melissa is a good swimmer, I had to force myself to keep up with her as she flew ahead. I didn't want her to overlap me so I had to try to follow her the best I can. hehehe

Besides that, this is my last weekend that I will be playing for church in a while. Even if I have time out of the academy, I'm not sure if I will take up the opportunity to play because I need a bit of time-out. Maybe in a while, I will think differently about it but for now, I need a break. It'll do me some good I reckon.

So I've been here for around 4 months now and I think it'll be nice to just have a little bit of a think of the things that have happened since coming here.

But firstly, lemme say a little bit about what I 'wished' had happened before I came here. Back in Australia, just weeks prior to my arrival here, I wished to have gone into the army in January. Which was why I left Australia in December - to have a chance of getting in in January.

However, it was not to be. There was an extremely slim chance of that happening so the other 'alternative' happened. I was placed for enlistment in March.

So during that time, I managed to do quite a number of things.

Now, I'm trying not to do the same list thing that I did a month back. So lemme try to do it this way.

Coming here, I've managed to pick up swimming and push myself to do 50 laps.

I got my first full-time job as an admin. That was really suckie and I don't wish to do it ever again.

I started playing for the new church here and in the process, I managed to pick up a lot of new skills on the drums.

I was given a lot of opportunities to finally catch up on a bit of English Premier League action live on TV! How cool is that!?! Sucks in Australia because back there, they don't broadcast EPL, they show AFL. ><" I mean, c'mon. Who wants to watch that stuff? Boooo! And please, don't get me started on cricket! hehe Someone's gonna attack me for saying that. XP

What else.. ermm. I was able to brush up on my clarinet and I reckon that's going on really well. I'm able to play a lot more notes now because I have, well let's just say, a lot more 'air power'. This allows me to reach those higher notes and other funny fingering notes with better ease.

I've also started something else which I will not broadcast over my blog. But just know that I've started to learn something else too. Maybe if you ask me in person, I will tell you. Maybe. If I think I should. XP
I went on two holiday trips with my mum and managed to spend a lot more time with our dad while he was here for those 3 days.

And most importantly, I managed to stay on MSN for hours waiting to terrorise my 'friends' as they came online. I like to call them 'friends'. Not too sure what they call me now. Probably something along the lines of 'stalker' or 'annoy-er' or 'avoid at all costs'.
Well, it was somewhat pleasurable; until they decided they had to attention their annual English-Speech classes with Antonio Banderas. I'm sure after all that terrorising, anyone would prefer an annual English-Speech class with Antonio Banderas over a friendly conversation with little o'le me. ={

In any case, just know that I will be gone on the 10th of April. Gone! See if you wish for me to come back then! Maybe then will you realise what you took for granted! Hmph!

haha, I'm just kiddin'. But seriously though. I will be gone on the 10th for 10 days. It will be an exciting 10 days because it'll be a whole different 'playing field'. Everything will be different and everyone will be in chaos. Imagine all these boys, screaming their heads off crying out, "Mother! Mother! I want to go home!" Just as I did back when I was here. Oh yes. And how amazing will it be when you see a whole stretch of 'men' crying out for their mother. We are truly manly man aren't we? I know I am. =X

The Parent Trap

2007-04-02T19:04:00.000+08:00

If you are feeling bored/adventurous/curious/naive/nothing, have a look at my friends on youtube.com. They did a short clip of a lightsaber fight in their backyard and I reckon it's pretty cool. No idea how they did it though. lol Nevertheless, awesome stuff. Link

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Don't you just hate the times when you jump into the pool, and you realise that it is warmer than usual, and on top of which, it tastes saltier than what you are normally accustomed to. It really doesn't help when the little girl in the lane next to you with her father is so busy giggling away about you don't wanna know what.

That was my first impression when I jumped into the pool today.

When I sat at the edge of the pool at 4:30pm today, I was pleased to realise that the pool was really nice and warm. I only had to splash the pool water on myself a few times before jumping right in. The only thing I found funny about the water was that it tasted somewhat saltier than usual. That was when I starting thinking about what the little girl could have done!!! ><" ahhhH!

But just like going into a toilet where someone had just taken a dump; you get used to the 'surroundings' eventually. lol The only difference with this example is that I am actually 'touching' whatever 'unwanted substances' there could have been in the pool. Whereas in the toilet, you just smel--, we'll, you get the point.

Strangely, even though I went swimming at 4:30pm today, with the dark clouds clearly blocking out a portion of the sky, I still got darker from swimming! I was so confident I wouldn't get darker this time round because the sun looked so harmless behind those dark clouds. Even while I was in the water, I didn't think I would get darker because there was hardly as sun shining onto the pool floor.

Obviously from my much darker complexion, I was wrong. I fear that if I keep this up, I don't think you could tell me apart from an average Malay guy. Perhaps, I might fit into the Police Force quite nicely! Then again, the tan will probably fade away after a few weeks. hehe

Anyway, my dad is coming to Singapore tomorrow evening so it'll be nice to see him again. It's a bit weird though.

Firstly, I've managed to go without my parents for 3 months before my mum came back to pamper us. It was all nice and everything, till she was about to go. Suddenly I wished I could be pampered like a spoilt brat all over again because it was great! Then, after she left, I managed to find my feet again and now, everything is back to the way it was.

But now, my dad is coming. I don't know what to expect really. Not too sure what will happen during that time but I will try to make the best of it. My mum told me to just enjoy whatever time I have with him and my bro because it won't be like this for very long. It won't be long till we all start moving out and the family won't be so 'exclusive' anymore. There will be other people, other families, other girls in our lives.

Just looking into the future, I see that the next upcoming family reunion will be in 2009 when I return from Singapore to Australia again. Actually, from the look of things, our family hasn't really been a 'whole' family for a very long time since Amoz left. The whole complete family setting with the 5 of us all together hasn't happened for a very long time. As a matter of fact, it didn't happen many times in the past. Maybe it's because we took that for granted and now we realise that without one member of the family, things just isn't the same. There is someone missing. There is an empty chair in the living room. There is an empty void in our conversations.

"You never realise what you've got till you lose it."

I think this quote fits perfectly into this situation. Without one person in the family, the 'family' just isn't complete. There's something missing. Just looking at the things which are happening, our family is currently split into two. One side being where the 'home' has moved to, and the other side being where national duties applies. Our parents and our little sister are in Australia with my brother and myself in our homeland serving our National Service. Two 'homes', one family. It won't be long till we make it one home again! Yay! Till that day, we will just have to do what we have to do to have time fly. Just so long as it doesn't 'skip past us', I think it should be fine.

It's funny how you look back upon all the adventures that took place as a family and you laugh at how everything was so annoying and 'uncomfortable' back then. But when you look at it now, it really was a wonderful time. A time which doesn't happen all too often. Not something we all scream to do all the time, but enjoyable. lol

The last trip that we took as a family was when we went to the Grampians in Victoria back in 2004. Our dad was so adventurous to take us all the way from Melbourne to the Grampians in our very tiny, very squishy, very 'intimate' Hyundai Getz. Imagine that. All 5 of us, squished into that puny car. Driving on the road for 4/6 hours? Not too sure, can't remember anymore. All I know is that it seemed like eternity in there. It wasn't any better when we had to have our pillows on our laps because there wasn't any more room in our trunk. So we were all very very 'compacted'. Good thing it only went for 2 days before begging to return back home. We weren't in a very good mood because everyone was complaining, so I don't think my dad really had much of a choice. Not unless he wanted a riot in his hands. Still, it was nice to see that we managed to pull through together.

But would I do it again? NO! No no no! Please no! I would rather stay home alone, without any one else around where I would have to do all the housework alone than to go on a trip like that again! Not without me driving that is. hehe

Anyway, family is family. Whether you hate them, or you hate them even more, you have to love them. Because like it or not, they are your family and there's nothing you can do about it.
As wacky as they get, they will always be apart of your life. A part of your memory. A part of you. So just enjoy it now before you realise what you've just lost.

Just to add this in and to make sure this doesn't end on an all-too-serious note, yesterday after church we went to watch Mr Bean the movie. It was a pretty funny movie. A good movie for a good laugh. If you haven't seen it, and are planning to watch it, I'll tell you this. Don't expect too much from this movie. Just go in, and have a good time watching it. Just enjoy whatever funny moments come along and have a great time. Once again, don't think too highly of it. You'll spoil it.

Also, go with friends. As many as possible. For this movie, it's great to go and watch the show with your friends (better the ones who haven't seen it yet) because there are many funny and silly moments, if you watched it by yourself, you probably won't be as 'entertained'.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I needed the laugh because things have gotten too serious as of late, so it was good. Go have fun when you watch it too! ^^

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Something I'll add here because I feel like it.

Do you guys think this is possible?

A steel ladder breaking in half under the impact of another guy leaping from the ring.
Is it real? Or is it just a gimmick that I found on the internet?

Pink Panther

2007-04-01T22:14:00.000+08:00

It's so wonderful to hear people tell me that I am growing.

It's either 'you look fit', 'you've got a nice build with broad shoulders', 'are you in the army?', or something long these lines.
Now, I don't mean to brag or anything. As a matter of fact, that's the last thing I wanna do right now. To brag.

What I wanna say is that I have this thinking before swimming or working out each time. What I'd tell myself each time is that 'every bit counts'. Every training session or every exercising session will add up to the eventual result. It just takes time and patience (haha, for the person who told me 'patience' to me just recently, I find it funny how this relates to what you told me. LoL!). A very simple example of this illustration is the some-what common saying, "every drop of water counts".

It's very true. When it comes down to muscle building, playing an instrument, revising a subject, or something as simple as building a Great Wall of China - every little bit counts. It's all about looking at things as a big picture. A painter needs every little detail from the smallest of colour paint to make a portrait grand and spectacular. Great effort has to be put in to those smallest details to make a portrait very beautiful. Not so much the large portions of the picture. Which is why putting in effort into the most difficult 'training' sessions are the most crucial. It will play a big part of the overall picture at the end of the story.

And this is the kind of mindset I have whenever I embark on my journey to learn or gain new things.

Since coming to Singapore, I've started doing so many new things and because I have, I am very determined to make sure I make it to the very end. But I am not saying that it is easy. Actually, it's quite the opposite. It is so frikkin' hard at times. So hard in fact I start questioning my decision to start in the first place. But usually, that is never enough to topple me over from completing the 'session'. I am usually determined to finish the work because I know it will benefit me at the end.

Which is why I was so happy to hear that people could notice the sudden growth in my build. It really encourages me to pursue even more and reach the goal I had set for myself. I really do hope that once I go into the Police Academy, I will be able to maintain this growth. If not in the pool, then hopefully in the Home Academy Gym. Hopefully.

Anyway, with all this talk about body building aside, I'll retell a conversation that happened while I was catching a ride with a church friend during a ride back to a MRT station last Friday night.

The scene was set such that he was at the driver seat, I was at the front, with the wife and several kids (being his kid and two nieces) behind. The kids were screaming/singing away at a CD he had put into his car MP3.
Anyway, while we were going back, I had a friendly conversation with the guy in front. Now, I find that you can strike up a very interesting conversation with any Singaporean male by asking them whether they did their NS or not. And after they say 'Of course!', I begin talking to them by firing some other questions like, 'What did you do in the army?', 'Do you still do re-service?' etc. just to keep the conversation going.
Well, I was talking with this guy, and we talked about some really interesting stuff. He told me how he did his BMT for 3 months like any usual army recruit, but later got posted to play for the Singapore NS Rugby team; as his NS for Singapore. And judging from his large 'round' build, I'd say he was telling the truth. I don't think I would be able to take him down. At least I don't think so.

But just to cut a long conversation short, what I thought was the highlight of the conversation was when I asked him this.

Boaz: So did you study overseas?
Man: No. I didn't.
Boaz: Oh? So you were in Singapore during most of your life? (I was gonna say 'So you were in Singapore for all your life?' but I dunno, it might have sounded harsh at the time=S)
Man: Yeah.
Boaz: Wow, because I can't really hear that Singaporean accent from you. You know, the singlish I usually hear from most Singaporeans. Are you sure you didn't go overseas?
Man: ha ha, well, I think it's because I'm talking to you. You've got that accent, so I have to do it as well.
Boaz: hahahahahahaha!!!
[Everyone starts laughing]

Wife: You should hear his Chinese!
Man: *Starts to mumble very broken chinese*
Boaz: hahahahahahaha!!!

I mean I knew people do that. I know that people will alter their accent or slang just to cater for some foreigner, and I do find it funny because when I hear my relatives do it, I can so easily tell that they are just faking it. I won't name names because there are more relatives reading my blog than I'd like to count. (If you are my relative, and you think you know all the relatives that read my blog, try again. Personally, I'd rather not know how many of my relatives read my blog, but I know that there are quite a few.) hehehe

But what was so significant about this incident was that this was the first time someone altered their accent/slang for me! I mean, I was all honoured and everything that my accent still hasn't changed (and I hope it doesn't), but it's strange. It's never happened before so I kinda found it quite funny that someone would do that for me. lol

Strangely though, it's made me think that I am somewhat 'a foreigner' in this homeland of mine. Why, just the other week while I was taking a cab to church, the taxi driver talked to me in Chinese when I sat down and not long after, he asked me if I was from some other country. I told him that I was Singaporean and I had returned to do my NS. He then admitted that my Chinese was 'funny'. Not the humorous 'haha' funny, but the 'huh? I don't understand your Chinese well' funny.

I guess this isn't too good for me because I should be learning my 'roots' that is the Chinese within me along with the dialect that comes with it. But then again, I'm not too sure if any of what I just said made any sense so I really have to learn to correct my grammar in English first!

The funny thing about my Chinese as it is, is that sometimes, I can hear myself going out of tune, or I can't get that certain tune with that Chinese character and I know it's wrong. It's just that I just can't seem to hit that certain tune which can be embarrassing when you're talking with a hawker stall lady and she's just looking at you strangely.

In case I didn't mention this in my blog before, there will be a lot of Malays in the PA. So this means, not only will the commands be in Malay, but also there will be a lot of Malay words flying all over the place which will probably mean I will be picking up some of them for my own personal use. =D

Also! I only have just over a week of freedom left! I will be going in on the 10th of April at 8:30am. The 'introduction' for the first day will go for 4 hours and then straight after that, I will be confined for 10 days. During that time, you guys can cry and weep passionately for me. Afterwards, when I come out, we can all rejoice and cheer in acknowledgement that Boaz is free once again. Then, we will all go out for some delicious mouth watering grilled fish. Yum! And when the bill comes, anyone is free to foot the bill for me. Yes, I don't know what I did to deserve such generosity.

Anyhow, I'll just leave you guys with these two pictures of my auntie's dog, Spunky. He was sleeping one very innocent day till I came along with my camera. ;)

If you still don't see why I took the picture for, it was because he was sleeping in a very funny position. I came out of the shower that afternoon and I was so surprised to see him sleeping like this; with his back legs pushing up against the wall. lol, funny dog.

The Marine

2007-03-28T11:28:00.000+08:00

I feel like a super tank now.

Kat even said it. I'm like a freak.
My mum said I should go join some Frequet Flyers Club but for swimming for all the 'mileage' I get in the pool.
I said to Kat that I'm hardcore now. That I'm the brother of Superman. Or his son. Or something like that.

The thing is, swimming has made me stronger. Back in Australia, everytime I did the swimming carnival, I would start crying for air and a break everytime I pass the half way mark in the pool while attempting to swim breaststroke or backstroke. If I did freestyle back then, I would sink and drown somewhere past the one quarter mark. Good thing I didn't do it.
But now, I am amazingly fitter and stronger. I enjoy swimming because it's like gliding through another medium without having to cry under the pressure of your own weight. You see, that's what I realised about running while I was swimming in the pool! When I run, all my 70 odd kg is pressing itself down onto my foot and ankle. And every step is just another step of pain and agony. Whereas with swimming, all the weight is distributed in the water and I don't even feel the weight of my own body. My entire body is suspended in the water which makes everything all nice and better.

Anyway, if you're wondering why I'm making a big deal out of this again, I'm just so excited about myself. I've grown stronger so fast, and I'm just proud of what I've accomplished. These are my recordings for the number of laps I do in total, the number of laps I do without stopping, and the time taken to do them. The recordings are for the highest number during that month.

Wow, just looking at that, there is such a big improvement from February to March. I didn't realise I managed to improve like that in such a short period of time. Wonder if I can push myself a bit more... It'll be nice if I can.

But I fear that when I go into the Police, my statistics will drop dramatically and I won't be able to maintain this increase in number of laps. Of course I am aware that there will come a point where I won't be able to increase the number of laps anymore, but it's so sad to see me stop soon after improving so much.

Anyway, one thing's for sure. All this swimming has definintely made me stronger. I know I've said it like three times already, but I'm just shocked about it myself. I wonder how strong I've grown. Never tried exerting my strength on anything for a while, so I don't know. I think the opportunity will come when I'm in the Police Academy. Hopefully I'll surprise myself with whatever new abilities I have acquired. But then again, it might be the opposite. I could be disappointed with my puny strength when I'm comparing with others on the force. I guess we'll just have to wait and see then.

In the mean time, my back is killing me! I got a bit of sun burn on my back because I was swimming breaststroke most of the time and I think because I didn't stop during my 24 lap swim, that the sun got the best of me. Even though it's nice and dark now, it's nice and hot and prickly too. Yikes!

Anyway, in case you're wondering what I look like now, this is the most recent picture of me after swimming and tanning so much in the pool. As most of you can tell, I've changed a lot since the last time, and I owe it all to the swimming.

Damn I look good!

Those biceps, the chest, the face. Wow. I never knew I could look like that.
I've grown so much I've even joined the WWE and have been enlisted into the ECW roster where I've become the EWC Champion under the alias 'Bobby Lashley'. See how much you can accomplish in just 4 months!? Every night, I would fly back from the US and come back to sleep in Singapore before flying back to the US for another title defense. I'm so cool. And to imagine I can swim in between my hectic roster. I don't know how I'm gonna juggle my Police job and my wrestling career. Wow. I rock!

No no, those were all lies. That's obviously not me at all. For one, I can't even do that face. At least I don't think I can. My jaw would hurt after a few minutes of that. But it'll be nice if I had that body; but I think many people will protest against me in getting that kinda body. I think.

Which reminds me! Why is it that many girls don't like guys with tanky bodies? I don't see the problem. They claim to say that it's too 'scary'. Like yeah. That's up with that? It's like muscles. Everyone's got them. I don't see it being scary - I mean afterall, we can use it to protect you! How are we supposed to protect you girls if we don't have any muscles? Terrible! Also lemme add that girls with bulky muscles is a no go zone. No offence to girls with large muscles, but I dislike the sight of it because I don't think they go with girls. Men are supposed to have bulky muscles, not girls. It's like girls with boobs. You don't wanna see guys with man-boobs because it's just a no go zone. Simple. ><" Yuck. Anyway!

In the same way, if you don't like the idea of us getting our muscles, it's like us not allowing girls to have boobs; which may I add would be terrible. But let's not talk too much about that XP If you take away the muscle factor, what are we? The muscles are what defines us. Well, I know it does to me at least. It shows the manly side of who we are.

Of course, yeah, I'm not talking about building muscles to the point where it is simply sticking out everywhere like those bodybuilders-Mr. Universe kinda guys. They've over did it. Now that's scary and disgusting. But I'm referring to more a wrestler's body figure. I don't think they've over done it and I reckon they have a very nice muscular build (In a good sense people! In a good sense!).

Now, just looking at WWE's John Cena, I don't think he's over done it at all. As a matter of fact, he was a bodybuilder and I reckon he's got a very nice build. Not too crazy. Now is that really so scary and horrific, ladies? Wouldn't it be nice to touch those very slimy, very slippery, very large biceps that he has there? Mmmmm, biceps ...

LoL, ok, I'll stop. ahaha, but what's so bad about muscles anyway? I think it's a beautiful creation that God has created along with many great and wonderful things. Would it be bad if I was determined to get that body shape? I wouldn't mind it at all but there are so many protests against it, I really have to ask! Seriously, if there aren't any objections, I really wanna try to get it! But not unless there are a lot of objections. ><"

hehe, let's see how many ladies respond to this! XP