Life's been quite a dream thanks to the twisted ankle.

You see, I slipped while on the ship last week and sprained my right ankle pretty badly. The evil M,,O at T,u.as Med.,ical Centre refused to put me on ATT C, very evidently due to the fact that he was late for lunch. And while I tried to empathise after realizing his predicament as an NSF Doctor dragged back from civilization into temporal conscription, he asserted all of his "investigations" on me and made an off-hand diagnosis, instead of doing any actual prodding, and that irritated me. The people on board were flabbergasted that I wasn't sent home immediately and insisted I leave to rest :)

I got a 4-day MC from Changi Hospital and in the following week, I was given off from Tuesday all the way til tommorow because I was still a walking signboard which read, "Injury Prone".

Today was a fantastic day because I got to go home after a routine bi-monthly skin checkup :) You see, my appointment was at 1045 AM and by the time I was at the pharmacy, it was 1130. I texted my in-charge, telling him I'll be on my way back to Tuas when I'm done collecting my meds.

Lo and Behold, I got a call telling me I don't have to report back and I have the rest of the day Off!

I Love Offs. I went to the supermarket to do a little grocery shopping, had frozen yoghurt and got a tire workout at Club Fitt. And no, the gym wasn't crowded!

Day 1 on R,S.S P.ungg,ol and I was almost late. Not a very good way to start my O,J!T. Fortunately, I wasn't alone and the instructor tasked to bring us on the ship failed to reach on the agreed-upon time too. Tu,a.s N.a,val B,as,e is situated near Joo Koon, right at the other end of our sunny island; This effectively means I'll be waking up at the ungodly time of 5 AM everyday... Not funny. Thankfully, the crew onboard today were sufficiently amiable. I pray they stay that way :) We were allowed to leave at 430 PM today, thank god! We've got a one-night sail coming up on Thursday, dies.

There was this lad who drove really fast
Well he barely eats, gosh he must
For how would he brake
This extremely thin Ape
The next thing I knew, he was in casts

I bet my less than sporadic updates on my blog has left many wondering where I've been. Well, I'm still serving Nation.al Serv.itude. I am currently a Na.val G.unner and I just graduated from my vocational course at the Ins.ti.tute of Mari.time Oper.ations and Syste.ms. I have been posted to a Min.e-Hu.nting Vessel and will be serving on the ship til my inevitable O.R.D in 2011. Yes, having breached my SAF Officership Contract... I've been damned with an extended ORD. Nonetheless, one must make do with one's fate, irregardless of how unforgiving circumstances are.

On a brighter note, I'll be watching Julie & Julia with Nurul tommorow, at Cathay. Cathay serves the best popcorn, so I can hardly wait.

Oh, and I'm currently on a 5 days Medical Leave, as you all might know from my last entry. I'm currently waiting for the latest episode of America's Next Top Model to be available on Youtube so I can mock Ms Tyra Banks and her ludicrous antics - so Fieerrrrccceeeeeee.

Yesterday, I removed 2 of my wisdom tooth. Needless to say, the process of getting them picked at, drilled and chipped was bordering on traumatic, but what really hurt was the administering of the anaesthetic. I felt, from the jab to the upper gums, an intense pain that I will not be forgetting anytime soon. Nonetheless, I got my 5 days worth of medical leave and am feeling pretty at ease right now.

I'm watching Coraline in 3D later tonight at Vivocity and I can't wait!!

When you attempt to blog but find difficulty in finding material to blog about, you know you've led a pretty vacuous week. Okay, ship firefighting might sound thrilling and extremely exciting, but it was not all that. Sometimes in camp, I think Im on the verge of a psychotic breakdown. But most of the time, I try to look and act sane.

There are so many things I want to write about but I rather not because I think they'd be unnecessary stifling. To say I'm at a low point of my life right now would be a gross understatement but I smile because it's easier than explaining why I'm sad. I want to be apathetic and to be able to, I think I'm going to need some time.

I've been a very good boy the past few weekends - staying home, coming home early, hardly yelling at the parents and all that. I was having a Magnum the other day and while pondering, I toyed around with the probability that perhaps National Service really does help you appreciate those around you better ... but not because you've developed in character from all the toil and physical slavery the friendly people at SAF have you put you through, nope. I assert this inane subjugation is the result of extreme mundanity and pointless regimentation. My days in Camp have been so boring that all forms of angst and desperation have been reduced to a rather pathetic form of transactional indifference.

I am thinking of learning the Japanese Language. And if I become proficient enough, I'll fly to Japan, find a hot Japanese and live happy days with Green Tea and Deep fried Katsus.

You know, there are so many things I can't wait to do after I am released from national servitude. I'd want to go to Japan. I'd want to learn how to scuba dive. I'll learn the guitar and I want to learn a new language. And during those times in between, I'd lie on the sprawling greens at the Botanical Garden, with a nice little book, iced tea, iPod on shuffle and enjoy occasionally getting lost in sweet reverie. But nevertheless, there is still a term of a year ++ that has yet to be served so I need to stop planning forward because it makes time crawl painfully slow.

To pass time, Ive been downning books like B52 shots on Labour Day. And yes, the days seem to come to a close much faster when you're spending almost every vacant minute with the likes of literary geniuses such as Ms. Picoult, Mr. Murakami, Mr. Gaiman and Mr. Patterson.

And the Breeze at my Balcony still provides me comfort. He lets me know, still, that this isn't eternity.

Days seem to pass at the rate of an eternity. Months though, seem fleetingly quick. Im living on the top floor of my accommodation block and I have the most perfect view of the sea. I cannot get enough of the breeze that's forever there, waiting to carress my face everytime I come to sit by the balcony. I immerse myself in the comfort it brings me. This impermanence seems forever, but it will end, it tells me.

This view from the balcony and the breeze that takes me into his perpetual, sweet embrace; They remind me of that One Fine Day that will come, when I'll be able to fly again. And in dim silence and under darkened skies, I whispered for God's speed.

Come Monday, I'll be reporting to my new unit at Changi Naval Base. No more accursed, overcharged taxi rides to Jurong nor late bookouts on Saturdays. I'll be attending the Naval Combat System Specialist Course at IMOS and apparently, specialising in Navigation & Detection. Let's hope things will not get too tedious and irritating in there.

I caught Drag Me to Hell yesterday and fuck, it was crazy scary. Insanely funny too, though - A rather unusual feedback to a horror movie, no? But when you see a half-blind old lady appearing out of nowhere, attempting to bite the protagonist, but failing to because her fake dentures keep falling out and other lame stuff like that ... it is hard not to go, "what the fuck?". But of course, the deafening sound effects kept me on the edge of my seat. I didn't have popcorn though, which was something I totally regret. It is so important to always have popcorn during a movie. It authenticates the whole look-im-in-a-cinema-looking-fab-and-watching-a-movie experience, don't you think so?

Can't wait for Katie and Amanda to touch down!

And I think I've got a kickass layout. Zac Efron, nonetheless ;)

It has been an awfully long time since I've written a decent entry, if any at all. So long in fact that I'd assume many would possess the notion that I have abandoned this quaint little journal of mine. But abandoned I have not and after a series of events that have occured, I am now probably at a more decent position to update more regularly.

Even at this juncture where I've got approximately a year or more to go to ORD, I think National Service has been quite a journey. A slow climb with countless steep deeps along the way.

Last week I made a pretty significant decision. A decision which I only settled upon after perpetually questioning myself on its viability and logic. And while I was busy juggling between going ahead or just pushing on, I realized it really didnt matter if everyone thought the decision I was going to make then was something foolish or senseless. The truth is, foolishness or how senseless something is, it's all pretty subjective, no? I have to do what I know is right for me and not continue pushing on for something I see as completely insignificant in almost any perspective I choose to take.

I have chosen my path. So wherever it takes me, I'm gonna find a beautiful place to get lost in.

Long time since I updated here. Loadsa stuff have happened, but in a gist, the ship came alongside Singapore last, last Saturday after 6 weeks. Nothing feels like home and I'm glad I am finally back in Singapore. I was on a 4-days leave from Thurs til Sunday morning.

That's essentially all I'm allowed to update about. Oh, and I just firmed KCL yesterday. That's pretty much all.

A proper entry soon, I promise. :)

It has been awfully long since I've updated anything about myself. Life's been crazy. Disheartening at times, exhausting every other second. Following the next coming Saturday, I'll be away for 6 weeks, braving the roaring seas.

If there is one thing that has been ingrained in me since the past few weeks in MIDS Wing, it'd be the fact that I miss family a whole lot.

It's 12:54 A.M, approximately an hour into year 2009 and I guess this would be, probably, the most apt time to reflect on the past year.

If I had to describe year 2008, I'd say it was one hell of a roller coaster ride. Year 2008, to me, was filled with plunges and climbs, and most importantly, sudden steers and complete breaks.

I graduated from Polytechnic with a diploma with sufficiently sturdy results. I got into a local law school and I got to travel to Sydney and Melbourne during the break between Poly and National Service. I underwent Basic Military Training at Mohawk Company, BMTC School 2 and I did things I never thought I'd survive doing: Field Camps, Camp Crafts, Latrines in the Wilderness, Sleeping in the Rain, Eating with Mud - I did it all and I survived.

I was offered and accepted a contract which would steer me away from a vision I've crafted for myself since Freshmen year at TP: I signed on to be a Naval Combat Officer. In the long run, I hope this sudden deviation would not keep me away from what I still hope to do, but merely postpone it so as to allow me to first achieve certain things I'd like to get done before eventually settling behind a desk.

I was granted entrace in OCS and was enlisted into Delta Wing. The past week and this ending week have been tough. Not physically, but mentally. I've thought of giving up so many times but I managed to hold on because I do not believe in giving up, not at this moment, not before I've throughly been trampled upon.

In 2009, I say Come What May. To the 9 months to come before I commission, to the late nights I will burn as a Navy Officer Trainee, to every minute and second I should be spending with my family and friends instead of staying in at SAFTI, bring it.

Look what my friend, Kevin, gave me as an advanced Christmas gift:

NRIC: S88-----D Name: LIEW WEI LOONG

Comd SAF BMTC wishes you all the best in your future posting.

Your Posting Order is listed below:

1. You are posted to OCS (MIDS WING).
2. Your vocation is NVL OFFR (TRAINEE).
3. Your are to report to: SAFTI Military Institute, Warrior's Hall.
Reporting Date/Time: 22/12/2008 at 0700 to 0800 hrs.

5 days since POP and life has been a dream. Unfortunately, the days seem to pass unbelievably fast and I'm trying so hard to hold on to each one and live them out as wisely as I can. 3 months of deprivation from Retail Therapy saw me spending quite a lot at DFS, with Geraldine on Thursday. I bought 2 Ralph Lauren Polos, a Burberry Top and a pair of black jeans from Levi's (because the whole $50 discount upon trade-in was too reasonable to resist). Yesterday was spent meeting up Katie and Amanda and we had pretty good, though severely overpriced, Fusion Thai food at HortPark's KHA.

It was awesome catching up with all 3 of them and I've missed them so much since they left. Having them back and around is definitely what I need to charge up before my posting to whatever unit SAF is sending me too.

I'm supposed to go down to the SA.F Careers Centre tommorow because apparently, the kind people over at the N.avy are giving me a pay rise and I'm required to sign a new contract with the amended pay :) This is all fine and good IF I eventually get posted to the N.avy.

Yesterday happened. Despite what had seemed to be an endless business of book-ins, pumpings, nights in the bunk, food at the cookhouse, outfields and physical activities, the perpetual 3 months were finally up. Strangely though, despite how long everything seemed, it felt like only yesterday the whole bunch of us, 04/08 batch of Mohawk Recruits just enlisted; Some of us not knowing what to expect at all, others already expecting what they have been told to expect.

The 'Rite of Passage' every soldier has to undergo before he gets promoted from a Recruit to a Private, is the relatively gruelling 24 km route march around Pulau Tekong. Now if you think the march's a walk in the park, I'll have you realise the terrain on the island isn't exactly foot-friendly. A transaction I'll probably never forget took place at our final 1 km mark: A good buddy of mine from section 1 was marching beside me and both of us, being weighed down by our field packs and rifles and all, were totally concentrated on covering that final km. Unexpectedly, he turned to me, took my hand in his, got our palms hooked and said, "We're already at the final lap. We can do it, just a little bit more to go. Let's all finish this together."

And finish we did.

There was something about the Passing Out Parade which meant a lot to all of us. It was more than just having our loved ones sitting there and looking at how we've grown or what've learnt or how perfect we can march. To me, the P.O.P marked the finality of BMT. It marked accomplishment and having survived what many men before us have survived. It signified the completion of a phase almost every Singaporean men had to go through.

Most importantly, throwing those caps in the air meant having conquered numerous obstacles, whether physical or mental, and personal fears you never thought you could conquer. I'll never forget attempting to stay awake during mundane lessons, surviving exhausting IFC hands-on practicals out under the sun, tolerating pore-clogging camo on your face while you sweat, doing whatever you had to do when nature called, near a tree or bush, and so much more.

Would I do BMT again? Not even if you offered me a million dollars.
But will I trade those 3 months for anything else in the world? I'll probably say No.