Mj, Zhao-Yi, Ms Gamar, me and Cx (left to right)
This month, I saw a happier possibility of the near future. A phase of my NS life, in which I was in Artillery Institute, was over, and I moved on to unit, where I would be for the remaining of my time in service. It's a good place with people I think I like. The only sad part is that my buddy didn't get into the same unit as me.

Before I get into 'describe how lucky I am' mode, let me just stop myself because I do realise how annoying or saddening it gets to people who don't really want to hear it. I'm just going to express that I'm really grateful to be posted here. So far.

So... As usual, a list of things that happened throughout the whole month (not in chronological order):

1. Had steamboat dunch with some secondary school friends
Basically, that's that. Man Kit, Hwee Hong, Natalie, one of Man Kit's friends, and I had steamboat in Man Kit's house in one of the days. We got to meet his dog and its head is too huge for its body.

2. Celebrated Jt's birthday
Because when you're in a clique with a lot of people and when you celebrate everyone's birthday, it is impractical to make each celebration a surprise or whatever.  As such, Jt's birthday was a simple affair. Had sushi, a variety of mini cakes, and just hung out. We also watched Mad Max and visited Ru Wen at work.

3. Graduated from Artillery Institute
The end of every phase in the army is always a good thing. In BMT, I was really happy; There wasn't even a hint of sadness. In SCS, I was glad, and I knew I wouldn't miss anyone, not because they suck but because I didn't manage to get close to anyone there. Graduation from AI was a little sad because, somehow, I managed to make more friends and forged closer bonds and all that. But, of course, it was a really happy thing.

We've been through some shit in this course, including lots of fast-paced yet mind-numbing lessons, lots of under-the-sun training, and a very dramatic field camp involving people fainting and a lot of people shouting and many people having heat exhaustion and a lot of morale-breaking lectures and most people going man-mode (= a term we use in army to mean: stop caring about others, and just become an individualist, usually when we are really tired). The field camp was a pretty shitty experience, so you can imagine how good it had felt after it ended, when we had unofficially completed our course and did nothing for the entire week.

4. Got into a unit and went straight into lull period
In non-army terms, lull period means a period of time when we would do nothing. Here, we got the first tastes of the perks of being a sergeant, unlike in SCS, where we only got to try out the sai kang part of being one.

5. Celebrated Mothers' Day
The previous times I had brought gifts for my mum, they were really simple and sometimes meaningless things like a Rilakkuma soft box or decorations. This time, I decided to buy her a pair of sports shoes to encourage her to go out for a jog or something. I'm glad she appreciated it. We also went to have dinner with my relatives and grandmother at the usual tze char stall.

6. Visited our poly lecturers
Met up with Mj and Cx some time to visit our lecturers back in SP! The three of us managed to be free and surprised the lecturers. Got to meet up with Chee Teng, Stella, Esman, and Gamar. It's interesting how, after going through perspective-changing experiences, we return to see them because they're the same people but we interact differently now. Apparently Chee Teng passes by my camp on the way home all the time, Stella still keeps some markings that my previous classmates did on her office door to indicate their height, Esman is no longer publishing books for DTVMers because it is too taxing, and Gamar is doing a video about 'critiques' for the school or something.

Ms Gamar happened to have invited Zhao Yi over to do the interview, and then we suddenly popped in. It was great catchup. Now, poly days seem so distant, though when I said "this used to be our school", Ms Gamar didn't hesitate to answer, "This is still your school, and it always will be. And you all will always be my students."

That's right. And no matter what we go through in life, we'll never be rid of where we used to be, because our footprints are part of us too.

Labels: things that happened