Me (winking beautifully), Jasper, Kok Pin, and Clement - some of the Mortar commanders
Just a recap on the things that happened these two weeks:

Most of last week, we've been moving towards the end of the current phase for the troopers, but as I've already mentioned, the phase is really boring and I refuse to talk about it. We had also been trying to select our permanent troopers for our Mortar platoon, but there were so many considerations, including the men other platoons wanted, administrative concerns, etc.

Last Thursday, we stayed up late (till 2am) to finalise the distribution of the men as well as prepare for this Monday's navigation exercise.

Last Friday was Support company's first cohesion as a whole. We had a few with commanders before, but they were usually small stuff like steamboat or organised event in the mess. This time, we brought all the troopers to Wave House, Sentosa. While waiting for our turn, we just played around at the beach - swimming, lariato-ing (it was mostly Jaryl, one of the Mortar commanders), and challenging one another to do lame stuff like asking two girls who were suntanning whether they could take a photo together. It rained halfway through the cohesion but we carried on. The "surfing" itself was pretty fun. I tried both the small and the big one, and I managed to last one second unsupported on the small one.

After the cohesion, we split up and the mortar commanders and the sergeant major went to eat at Carl's Junior. We ran into our men as well as Kok Pin, who separated with us earlier on to meet with his girlfriend. Sergeant major asked Kok Pin's girlfriend how old she thought he was, and she more or less guessed his age. After they left, he said he was heartbroken that she didn't guess a younger age. Funny guy.

I forgot what I did last Saturday, but seeing that I'm quite a boring person, I probably didn't do anything interesting.

Sunday, I did guard duty.

On Monday, tired and drained, Clement and I rushed to join our company's Navigation Exercise, and because we were so rushed and we missed the briefing and we didn't bother to think about what we needed, we went without our waterbag and ration. The good thing is, I've come to learn that the waterbag is unnecessary for now. Some of us didn't eat for the whole day, until we returned at night to 20+ packets of noodles which our dearest COS helped us to buy.

Anyway, about the exercise itself, most detachments had experienced interesting things, including climbing downhill so much that they could not go uphill, being shat on by a monkey, or giving up and sitting in the middle of the path, literally. In my detachment, Jasper did most of the navigating because he was clearer and our methods were very different, and I was a lazy fuck. For the night portion, we actually finished so early that we just sat somewhere to just chat. The troopers cooked maggie and it was a pretty chill session.

Aaand, of course, it rained halfway through, because it always rains during outfield. So we were wet and dirty. Strangely, it was liberating to go "fuck the raincoat" and let the rainwater do its thing.

Let's skip the rest of the week and jump to Friday.

Yesterday, we had our water obstacle practice, where we had to - duh - cross a water obstacle, also known as a river. It was quite fun, although I guess it won't be when we have to do it in the middle of a route march. I was the duty sergeant for the day, and it was more tiring than usual because our platoon was all over the place, with the people with medical statuses, people involved in redoing navigation exercise, people involved in the actual programme, people involved in guard duty, people with medical appointments, etc. Meh. I'm not exactly a very capable sergeant.

After booking out, my parents used my dad's expired contract to get me a new phone, which I'm grateful for, so now, I'm using Sony Experia Z5. I also began sharing a room with my brother now. I'd been sleeping on a mattress "temporarily" in my parents' room for years, something I'm not proud of.

Today, my poly friends and I met to celebrate Matin's birthday at Nando's. It was a simple day, just hanging out, getting judged for eating ilao ilao, revealing secrets, standing in circles (it's our thing) in the middle of nowhere, and talking about future plans. I guess many of them are going overseas for studies, but I'm not because I've decided that home is where my heart lies.

And for the next 30+ weeks, I'll be looking forward to home, and before I know it, this army thing will be over. As much as I hate it now, I'm pretty sure it will turn into sweet memories and funny conversations, like what happens all the time.

Labels: NS, things that happened