expect the unexpected.

the theme for the 72k route march (or at least what they wanted us to think constantly) - was to expect the unexpected. well, there is so much you can NOT expect when you march that long a distance - because you know either way it's gonna be SHIT SHIT SHIT.

but telling a person right at the end of the 72km that he has another 10plus km to go was utter rage and exploding temper. followed by resignation that you can't die any further. thankfully that was only a trick.

if you don't get what i'm talking about never mind.

basically i think i'm done with all the summary exercises in signals. this is fricking crazy i guess i misunderstood the intensity of it when i thought virgo was the ultimate shit. the exercise, aptly named "spitfire" makes you want to vomit blood and well.., SPIT FIRE. burn the whole singapore down because it's too big.

i don't think i'll find singapore too small ever again. not with that shit amount on the back. i mean i obviously expected to complete the route march since many people have done it before, but the difficulty was insane and tougher than i thought.

now i'm nursing 1 million abrasions and 2 million blisters. PAIN MAN PAIN.

but i never felt better on a saturday night. let's just say that's the best part of army - the sense of accomplishment at the end. even paula radcliffe doesn't run fricking 72km. at least i don't think so. and ironmen can just SHUT THE HELL UP because they're not carrying anything.

dang i'm harping alot on this. i guess you can say i have a lot of pride after doing insane activities. certainly i'm not a great advocate of torturing yourself for pride but since you have no choice but to do it might as well feel the accomplishment. ahh..

anyway the route march got me thinking. partly because it was so goddamn long i could think of LOTS AND LOTS of stuff, and partly because some things i saw on the way to one million venues just got me reminiscing about certain things.

hey i mean last year this time mq and i were just opening our letters from mindef, informing us politely that enlistment act 93 of 1967 (thanks boon) had been activated and i was to enlist on 9 jan and mq on the 11th. we were excited to be soldiers then, which is more than i can say for now. hmm.

to cut straight to the point, it made me think how lightly we treated NS last year. it's like we all wanted to enlist for an easier life than studying - which i must say being a trainee in army is certainly less demanding than studying. but we didn't expect the unexpected, and hence we just wanted to rush into conscription. (ah i made a link with the title!)

looking at the current batch of j2s, do you suppose any of them would be thinking about their forthcoming enlistment? hell no. when we were j2s all we did was to concentrate on As. which probably was the right thing, but one can never underestimate preparation for the army.

if i were to turn back time i'll never take school for granted. and friends. and above all freedom. since you're going to miss it in a few months' time might as well abuse it now. i only thought of it a few weeks prior to enlisting and it was only after that i realised "man life sucks."

though i should say it's getting better now, much thankfully.

it was rather amusing to hear children comment that we were goddamn smelly as we walked past a certain primary school. HELLO you think we don't know? but at that point i think we were all too tired to be amused or insulted.

walking past the various places i visited as a civilian also brought back fond memories. it's like when i was on cck flyover a year ago i would never have thought i'd be back there heaving and puffing away in a green uniform. always expect the unexpected.

just that as the word "unexpected" suggests, you can't possibly expect it.

anyway besides the shagness and the reminiscence (?), i'm glad to say there's merely TEN weeks left to commissioning. hahaha i would love to write neatly and proudly "2LT" under rank next time. the wait is getting really intense now.

but i'll keep waiting. it's never too early to hope.

after all, hope is free.

navy seals ftw!~