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Reflections

Hehe really couldn't think anymore dat nite so I went to sleep. Then these couple of days I reached home too late. Continue.

Nonetheless the course itself was enjoyable at the very least. I liked my bunk. Every morning I could see the lavender sky and the lush green canopy. My buddy Woo haha is my best buddy ever. Wonder how he could put up with me when I still bothered him all the time haha. Still remember dat he likes First of May by bee gees, kept singing it. Timothy, tsze han, chuanliang, woo and me. A cohesive bunch. On most nites off I would be out with guanhong and the rest. Once we were juz so brazen becos it was toward the end of the course and dat guanhong came up with the idea of buying food back to our bunks and having a feast there since we didn't have enough time to eat at newton. There was stingray, hokkien mee... Haha in the end we got caught but sgt liow was nice enough to let us off with a mere scolding. Dat was how nice our sgts were! At nite I liked to sneak off to the others' bunk and talk cock with them. These soul-baring sessions lasted until midnite sometimes. I miss chatting with Ivan. And also guanhong.

My most embarrassing moment was also sometime toward the end of the course. I was sleeping rather soundly on the floor juz beside my bed. Before I drifted off to sleep, I remembered ppl playing chinese chess, the entire bunk being quite abuzz with activity while we were waiting for last parade. When I woke up, I was completely in a daze. The lights were not on, and there was someone calling my name. It took me a few seconds to register dat I was alone in the bunk while everybody had gone downstairs for last parade. Panic! Then who was calling my name? Timo. Standing outside the bunk, he was trying to wake me up.. damn it my bunk locked me inside without realising dat I was sleeping on the floor. I was still half-awake only, so when Timo asked me to go out I asked him for the key. Haha I was inside the bunk, so I didn't need the key to get out wat. Oh my. I juz dashed out to the lift lobby with my water bottle after dat. The lift door opened and there was the entire platoon laughing, waiting to hear my explanation. I didn't think twice and juz honestly told the CSI dat I was sleeping on the floor. He was about to give me an extra duty but sgt tan helped me and I got away again. Relief.

Throughout the course I was struggling with my astar and nus applications. I was successful with astar and Law but not with medicine. Philip Yeo was a dynamic person. But he didn't give me a hard time compared to wat others got from him. I was still undecided over my 2nd choice, so I juz put Law. I didn't prepare at all for the interview. On dat day, surprisingly, it went quite well and the 2 interviewers appeared quite impressed. Didn't think much of it. I met hong han who also applied Law. The essay test was much later in the afternoon and we had nothing to do meanwhile, so we tried all the shuttle bus routes. Toured PGP for the 1st time. Amazing wat boredom can cause ppl to do lolz. Then finally I took the essay test. The question itself was intimidating enough. I was quite sure I stared at the paper for a long time before writing crap. Hey I wasn't interested in doing Law anyway. My medicine interview was worse. Quite sure I screwed it up. As it turned out I got into Law but not medicine. Disappointment.. Timo wanted astar badly but he got medicine instead. For me it was the other way round. Still another chance.. appeal.

The nite we booked in after nite off we shared our disappointment. And for the rest of the course this matter was weighing heavily on my mind all the time. Before I slept I would stare at the ceiling and lament silently. Listening to chuanliang's SHE cd was the only source of comfort. That was when I really appreciated their songs.. (haha not their voices) becos they're so cheerful. This long course eventually ended.. we skipped fieldcamp haha so lucky. I was posted to 1st guards with teck nam.. double agony. My time there was brief. Learnt how to draw blood, read MO's presciptions, dispensing medication, paces, check equipment, do ecg.. Wasn't too bad. The ppl were ok, save for the HQ guards MO. Our training was tough but effective. 3 sprints of 800m, 40 pushups, 20 squats, and 100 counts of 8 jumping jacks. Then to the gym. All these every alternate day.. Was it 3 or 4 weeks? Then I finally got news of my appeal. I went home dat day and confirmed it by checking the email. Euphoria! Immediately msg Ivan. Dat fella juz checked his email anyway and it turned out dat he also got in! Woohooo! Was so happy for him. Also msg Timo who called to congratulate me. Relief... dat nite I slept well.

It was only until late July dat Ivan, Andrew and I managed to disrupt. The rest of the months seemed to have juz flown past. Back to studying after 10 months. The transition was abrupt; the experience, bitter-sweet. There have been upsets and disappointments but those were minor la.. Hmm I'm quite alone becos firstly we missed medicamp and secondly only st and shermin are with me.. but I'm glad dat I have my good frens in medicine to count on.

Body Worlds

Went to Body Worlds on Sunday with Ivan, ht and hl. Magnificent piece of work there.. It turned out to be fun.. probably becos we learned the anatomy before so we could appreciate it better. We viewed every single exhibit and tried to recall the structures. Hey muz make the 18 bucks well-spent money wat. Though we commented aloud like we knew a lot.. hehe. There was this exhibit of someone with Situs Inversus. When I was staring at the cadaver with the liver on the rite instead of the left it still didn't occur to me dat something was wrong, until I read the explanations. Haha one thing I muz mention.. there was one particular male cadaver with large penis and balls.. Oh my. I'm sure at least twice the normal size. Also this disturbing exhibit of a woman with a foetus still inside her womb. I think we walked 3 hours or so. Time well-spent.

Xmas greetings

So far I received cards from sy, keith and andy. And I juz received an sms from weiyang. Good chap.. muz make an effort to meet up with him cos it has been 2 and a half years since we last met. Dat andy.. told him not to send this year but he still did anyway. Its quite amazing dat he's the only primary school friend who's been sending me a card every year. I think I will be sending out cny cards instead cos it's too late.

posted by Alvin @ 10:54 PM |