Wow i have been seriously neglecting this blog. But after all, hardly anybody seems to come here except the irritating strangers spamming my chatbox. And there cant be a very interesting life when its army life. From now, things will just be a routine of not-very-interestingness. Yet it is not one which i would dread, and i suppose time in the long term would pass pretty quickly.
About twice a month, i would be stationed for 4 days 3 nights in the place i thought i would never go back to after BMT - Pulau tekong. But life at duty site is very much different from the hellish life if BMT. In time, as i get used to it, i might very well even enjoy that place.
There at duty site, the crew room consists of the pantry, sofas and a wide screen TV. the crew room, bunks, and the office are all in air-con comfort (which is probably the best part!) and the pantry has a stock of snacks, instant drinks, and cup noodles that we can help ourselves to anytime. The briefing room section of the office is turned into an entertainment venue once meetings adjourn; with a computer which is open for anyone to use. the internet knows no bounds. of course we have to take turns and deal with comp hoggers. After midnight or after everyone is done with their work for the day, the projector would be turned on to screen a marathon of movies through the whole night, from the massive collection of movie files on the computer. How they got all those movies... is something to be questioned.
Looks like late night movie marathons with friends would be no novelty by the time i ORD!
Before the movies start, or for those who arent into movies, they stay gathered around the TV and coffee table, watching shows while playing games. in such an informal setting, everyone's ranks are well hidden and we can get down to the same level. It could almost be like a house gathering, if not for our need to keep our guards up for the dreaded alarm going off any time - whereupon we would have to drop everything we are doing, and rush uphill to conduct the arming drill. It is the same reason why we cannot sleep in peace.
At night, the site uphill is totally void of artificial lightings. Even the miles of surrounding area is mostly covered in the darkness of forests, save for the BMT school 4 down the slope. being on one of the highest points in Tekong, standing up there i could see far across the island, over the forest canopies, across the seas and into the shores of Johor and Changi. The night lights along the shores make for a beautiful horizon.
In the dark of the night, when the clouds dissipate, the skies glimmer with stars, where whole constellations could be seen. (some guy pointed out to me the Scorpio constellation using reference to an itouch app.) Staring at them just leaves me lost and dazzled. Also one night, while waiting for the specialists to fix the radar, i saw from the top corner of my eye a bright moving light fly across the sky. At first thinking it was a helicopter, i looked up, and realised the light was not illuminating as a flying machine's floodlights would have been; and it was also flying at such great speed, it couldnt have been a plane. It was a shooting star - a really bright one! I stood in amazement as it flew across the sky for a good 2 seconds before being lost behind some clouds.
How could something several light years away travel across the space with such speed? The speed would have been billions of miles a second!The tekong as what i am concerned with now isnt anymore a place to be tortured as recruits, and neither are the forests a place of torturous holding out or jungle warfare training. The nature that surrounds are for me to enjoy God's creation, which i can never get enough of. And when i get back in the civilisation and modernisation of the accommodations, i have much a time to relax, release, and enjoy!
