The end of the beginning

OK, I know I've abandoned this place for quite a while, so I'm back to show you guys that the blog and I are still alive.

Well, immediately after my last post about the field camp was the sit-test, which honestly I failed terribly in. If there was one thing I learned from the experience, it was that I simply can't think straight when under the pressure of time constraint. Oh well, all in the past. After that we had a few slack high-key events like live firing and grenade throwing, followed by the 16km road march. The weather was absolutely terrible for the first 4km since we started at around 3pm; I'm pretty sure it was above 33 degrees celsius for the first hour. Thankfully, the heat subsided as evening rolled in and I managed to survive the entire way.

We're POP-ing in two weeks and I'm having mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, we get a full week of freedom and finally the green light to grow out our hair again (at least to a certain extent), but on the other hand I know that my NS journey has only just begun and I still have another 20 months or so to go. On top of that, there's whether I want to go to command school and even whether I can make it there in the first place. Until now my IPPT is still not up to standard, so I can pretty much prepare for a life of mindlessly running around and following orders. The thought of it all makes me want to slam my head repeatedly into the dead end of a future I have created for myself, but I guess I was never meant to excel in the army.

NEW INTERNETZ???

So apparently while I was gone a few new memes popped up. First, of course, is Rebecca Black and her so-bad-it's-funny single, Friday:



Which of course leads to stuff like this:

And this:

And also, the Dating Site Murderer meme, which I personally found hilarious the first time I saw it:

I miss being up to date with teh interwebs :(

More new music

And apparently Protest The Hero also released a new lyric video while i was gone, so here it is :D


Protest The Hero - The Reign of Unending Terror (Official Lyric Video) from Vagrant Records on Vimeo.

Digital Veil

So Digital Veil was released while I was in the forest doing my sit-test. LISTEN TO IT. I'm serious, it's freakin' amazing. Here are some samples:

Burned bright, burned out

So many things have happened the past week...

We started of with the notorious field camp. It was one of the most physically and mentally draining periods I've ever had to go through. Simple tasks like walking now take up a lot of energy since you're constantly wearing boots and trekking through uneven forest ground. Worst of all, unlike training at company line there is very little actual free time because you are constantly on at least medium alert to prevent your rifle from getting stunned (that's stolen by commanders for you non-NS speakers), not to mention the sentry duties that prevent you from getting a good night's rest. Sometimes, even though you think you know what to expect and you think you've gone in mentally prepared, things can still affect you deep inside. My weakness is others' suffering.

So field camp ended on Thursday, and I booked out on Friday afternoon, just in time to collect 'A' level results: C for econs. After all the hopes and expectations laid down on me by the school, I have to say that I have failed to meet their mark. Just like that, their secret weapon which they had been grooming since the start of last year had crashed and burned at the last moment, and hastily swept under the carpet. Just as well; I'd rather fade back into obscurity than have the school announce to everyone that I have failed. To be fair to myself, I didn't fail utterly: I very nearly achieved the seemingly impossible goal, but in life nobody looks for near-success. Truthfully, if you take away all external factors, I'm actually pretty satisfied with my results. Humanities have never been my forte, be it lit in secondary school or econs in JC. I hit an upswing during 'O' levels, and now I've hit a downswing for 'A' levels, and I'm completely alright with not being able to fluke my way through humanities subjects all the time. The problem is that although I'm satisfied with results, the DSTA scholarship board and the university application boards my not be as impressed. If I really lose this amazing opportunity that has been the culmination of months of effort and sheer good fortune, I'd truly be disappointed in myself. In any case, there's no use grousing now. The fact of the matter is that I just can't be well-rounded.

Despite all that, I regret nothing. It has been a great experience being able to take both H3 NTU Contemporary Physics and H3 MOE Mathematics, being able to gain a much deeper understanding of the daily routine which we learn in school. In any case, I doubt that the extra time freed up by sacrificing one of them would have been of much help to my econs. I burned bright, I burned out.

Gunslinger

Just thought that this is an appropriate song given my current situation. This song keeps me awake during sentry duty at 3am man.