What a way to end a otherwise uneventful week! Ok, aside from the very obvious CNY celebrations, and the mandatory/customary visiting, my week was really taking a rather bland and blah note.

So extracting my wisdom tooth and attending my ORD ceremony in camp (when I’m supposed to be resting) really made the week more enjoyable and memorable.

Yea. To those who had no idea, I extracted one of the two wisdom tooth that I have to remove on Thursday. And boy was I quite the bundle of nerves. I think toothaches are one of the most unbearable kinds of pain to endure. Fortunately the anaesthesia was pretty solid, and the dental surgeon seemed like he knew what he was doing. I won’t lie! The drilling was quite intense; and I was really tensed throughout the surgery. But it ended fairly quickly; in about half an hour? So all went well.

I think the worst part of the pain is over; and it certainly helps to have painkillers to tide you through the pain; in fact, the only thing bothering me now is the swelling.

Especially since it’s making my face look lobsided and utterly off skew!

It’s making me appreciate my regular not swollen face more. And it made me realise that having a puffed up face actually compromised my self esteem quite a bit! Much as we like to celebrate inner beauty and claim that it’s what inside that counts, our appearance still matters. And if not to everyone else, to us it probably means a lot. I can only hope the swelling goes down soon.

On a brighter note, with the ORD ceremony over, it’s one step closer to the end of my life as an NSF. I ought to write something to sum the past 1 year and 10 months up; but not now. How can you just pen down something like that without some thought?

Anyway, it was nice seeing everyone again at the ceremony; and the air and atmosphere certainly felt different than a year before when we were the ones to organise the ORD ceremony for our Seniors. It’s last than a month to go now! Wow.

Well, I had to write something in January to add January 2012 to my archives. Hahs. But yeah, January is coming to a close really soon, and February is on its way. How can I not pen down something at this juncture eh? 250212 beckons!

Before I dive straight into the obvious (ORD), I think it will be nice to talk about what happened over the past month or so.

So where do I begin?

Well, for one, all the major things left to do (army wise) is finally over and done. All the exercises, evaluation exercises, close combat training, conversion courses, live firing and what not, even the long dreaded move to the new bunks, we’ve come thus far people! We’ve come thus far!

You know, for the past 20 months or so, I’ve been looking forward to my liberation. And now that it’s so close, within reach and grasp, it feels strangely over rated. I’m not jumping with joy or overflowing with anticipation. In fact, there’s this looming dread that I’ll feel lost without a sense of purpose in my life post ORD; but I digress.

December saw me making a short trip to Malaysia with close friends, and it was a welcomed change of pace. It’s nice spending time with your army friends out of camp. But I crave a real holiday! One that puts me in the airport. Post ORD trip guys?!

And just like that, January marched forth, and it was back to getting our gears cranking and running again. But who was expecting January to be so busy and jammed packed with activities?! Heck, there’s still hell lot to do in February too. I certainly wasn’t expecting any of this when I pictured myself with just a month to go before ORDing. But Bravo will always be Bravo. Heh.

It was nice to meet up with old friends though, in the midst of the hustle and bustle. The 403 gang and the S01 guys; it felt so comfortable and so easy. It was great meeting up and catching up. Makes you think about what you’ll be doing in the months to come too. University, jobs, scholarships, school, life. And what’s a meet up void of talk of the good old days? The days in Nan Hua and NJ; teachers, friends. I’ll bet in a few more years, I’ll find myself seating in a coffee shop with my army buddies reminiscing our days in Bravo.

And how can I forget about my friends who are turning 21 left and right? The parties I’ve been too; we really are becoming grown ups; whether we like it or not and regardless of how we behave. We are all maturing. That in itself is both wildly exciting and disconcerting. I shudder to think when it’s my turn to turn 21. I still remember talking about the Big 2 like it was yesterday, and over here too with Miss Sunnyday. Do you remember? Time flies.

I think now that everything seem to be settling down, I see things with greater clarity. And as I reflect over the past year, I think the single most upsetting (ironically)for me, was and probably still is UCAS. Ironic how it has absolutely nothing to do with army despite all the hardships we have to go through huh?

Where do I start?

I guess the motive for my application was entirely for the wrong reasons to begin with. It wasn’t so much as wanting to study in the UK as it was not wanting to look back and regret not applying. And with a mindset like that, I suppose half the race was already lost. Not that I don’t crave being in a foreign country. But studying in a foreign country? I think I never did give it a serious thought. I suppose somewhere at the back of my head, I knew there’s probably little to no chance that I’ll find myself studying overseas. I certainly wasn’t going to be able to afford it; and it did not help one bit that I had a place in NUS. The desperation and desire that was present when I first applied to the Local Universities were patently missing this time round. I mean sure, I can appreciate the quality of teaching and environment in these foreign colleges that I’ve applied to, but somewhere down the line, I got more wrapped up with the idea of living alone, overseas, in a foreign land than actually wanting to study there. And I suppose that’s why I didn’t take my LNAT as seriously as I should have. I certainly wasn’t putting my game face on.

And this makes me sad. It’s almost like slapping yourself on the face. There ought to be a lesson to be learnt from it all. But I’ve yet to figure out what that might be.

So as I find myself in the last league of my race to ORD, here’s a toast; a toast to a wonderful year ahead, a year with excitement and fun, a year of accomplishments and success, a year of new friends and acquaintances.

Till next time.

So I was at SNSD’s concert last Friday. It was simply put, awesome! It would have been sweeter if I were the batch to have ORDed earlier this month, but either way, it was quite a splendid way to end the year! And I was glad I splurged a little to go for the concert. I’ll admit I was skeptical, but it was worth every last cent. The atmosphere, the cheers, the fan chants, the performances, the lightings, the songs, and the girls! It made my December that bit more magical…

I caught New Year’s Eve earlier Monday evening. And I was pleasantly surprised. It’s one of those movies with multiple storylines running concurrently with the movie, so I really wasn’t expecting much. But it was funny, cute, a bit predictable but enjoyable nonetheless. And what struck me the most in the movie was this story of a woman who came up with a list of resolutions and set out to accomplish every one of them before the turn of the new year.

I never believed in drafting a list of new year resolutions. For one, I probably wouldn’t commit, and another, I don’t fancy the feeling of being tied down. I guess I like doing things in the spur of the moment! Spontaneity.

But watching the movie, it made me think. Maybe it wouldn’t be all that bad coming up with a list of aspirations and goals. And the key is to keep them vague so that it’s flexible and open to interpretation.

I finally received the letter informing me of my ORD, and it seems what I have been looking forward to for the past 1 year and 8 months is finally within grasp.

And the eclipse last weekend made me realize that I’ll miss the army a little more than I’d expected. The quiet, cloudless and cool nights spent outfield on the water gazing at the moon. And the hours spent admiring the symmetry of the moon’s reflection on the water. The shimmering waves reflecting the moon rays. The evening’s draft against my face, how refreshing it feels.

And need I mention the friends I’ve made over the past year and a half. Spending close to 5 days a week with them, living, playing and working together…

How time flies.