Just as I expected, the Mayans did not put up much of a resistance. The primitive degenerates which made up their army were like puny little ants in the face of my marching armies; they are fated to be crushed into non-existence by my troops. With their defeat, North America has become my backyard.

Anyway, while I am in the midst of massacring the Mayans, I took the liberty to invade the Dutch as well. They too, fell to my empire smashing strength and as such, I now have control over the northern territories of New Granada, Guyana and Venezuela in South America. Soon enough, I will vanquish the remaining states in the region, namely the Portugese, Incans and some tiny native tribes, and establish my grand empire - the United States of America. When that happens, the CJ era shall begin...


You have only two choices; submission or annihilation.


=Back to reality=


My first week as an officer cadet trainee at the Home Team Academy was pretty good. I have sort of gotten over my trauma and accepted the fact that I will be staying in the police force. It is not that bad after all. We get around the same salary as our counterparts in OCS but our training is less taxing. Apparently, I am also very very fortunate to be chosen as an OCT at HTA; out of the 3000++ recruits in Tekong, only 40 are selected to become OCT. Calculate the probability and you will understand what I am talking about. Anyways, I will be training to become an Inspector to Police, a rank which is equivalent to that of a full Lieutenant.

Other than being my walk-out* day, today is also the Parent's Visiting Day. Our parents came today and witnessed the affixation of the Junior Term insignia (something like the first white bar in OCS) for us. We were also officially sworn in as cadets. I made a slight blunder during the affixation but lets not talk about it.

Basically, as an OCT, I am required to be well versed with our laws and must always have a high level of discipline because OCTs are responsible for keeping law and order in the Academy. We also get to raise the flag during morning assembly. Other than that, we are expected to be well rounded in our studies and our physical activities.

My Course Manager(equivalent to a PC) is Assistant Superintendent(ASP) Dominic and my Field Instructor(equivalent to a platoon sergeant-cum-sergeant major-cum-PTI) is Staff Sergeant Eddie Ng. My OC is Deputy Superintendent Julian Chen. My CO is Superintendent Syed Sagoff. My super big boss is the Commissioner of Police(equivalent to Chief of Army) Khoo Boon Hui. Well, the ruling echelon in the police is somewhat similar to the army. So far, all my commanders are nice people.

My batch seems to have everything cut short for us. Our BMT was shortened from 11 weeks to 9 weeks and now our OCT training is shortened from 9 months to 7 months... Also dunno whether we should count ourselves lucky or not.

I also found out, much to my surprise, that Kenneth is training as an armor recce in the camp just next to the Home Team Academy. We are separated only by a fence and some blocks between our camps. So close yet so far haha.
I heard some amazing feats about commandos today, regular commandos(that excludes you Al, but you still hve some of my respect,abit) to be exact and I can only say that my respect for them has increased yet again. If you want to know, come ask me.



Me and my senior Melvin Oh



One of the perks of an OCT... a huge cardboard! The top shelf is for our law text.



The middle shelves are for our clothes and accessories.



The compartment for hanging our shirts. You can see the size for yourselves. Even my own cardboard is not this big...



Drawers for our stuffs.



Our compulsory walk-out attire... its too formal in my opinion. Oh, by the way, the tie's from Goldlion.

*Walk-out = book-out in police terms.

The Aztec Empire has fallen to my armies like a stack of cards being blown away by a gust of wind. The only obstacle left to conquering the whole of North America is the accursed Mayan Empire. Any grand plans of the Mayans in the past has already been put off by the Aztecs and since I have already conquered the Aztecs... the Mayans shall be crushed as well. Mwahahahaha!

Nothing can stand in my way. Not even the Europeans. I shall unite the Americas under my glorious banner and upon accomplishing that magnum opus, the United States of America shall be formed. It will be a country so powerful that it will dominate the rest of the world for many years to come. There is no stopping us; you can only hope to contain us.

Bow before my mighty empire!

Checker checker checker.....

Huat ah!

Sher and I spent $25 yesterday to complete House of the Dead 4 at Marina Sqaure arcade yesterday. Woo. It was really a self-gratifying experience haha. The game itself was very fun and exciting. Of all the bosses, I like the final boss, The World, most. Not only does it looks cool and menacing, it also has an arsenal of deadly and stunning attacks. We wasted the most coins while battling him heh. My second favorite boss would be The Empress. Oh well, no point elaborating further. Go play the game to know what I am talking about.

I have finally finished building my USS Nimitz. Well, not quite finished. I am still left with painting the planes and attaching the signal sticks to the ship itself. I think I will do that next week.

Tomorrow morning, I will be reporting to my new vocation camp. Getting abit the excited now since I still havent found anyone that has the same vocation as me. Hope I will do well there.

Embarking on the journey to become a Checker. Whats a Checker you might ask. Try to think out of the box. And you will know what I am talking about...

Woke up in the morning.
Washed my face.
Ate a bun.
Turned on the com.
Checked my posting.
Got the shock of my lifetime.

In the whole of my life, I never ever dreamt that I would be posted to such a vocation. I was temporarily traumatised when I saw the results. It was not what I wanted. But neither was it what I abhorred. From what I gathered, its one of the most highly coveted vocation. Somewhat ironic? Oh well. Since its already a fact, I guess I can only accept it and see how things go. What is my vocation you might ask? Well. I don't want to publicize it. If you really want to know, come ask me personally.

I have been more or less stoning my afternoon away. Did helped to do some chores for mom though. My USS Nimitz is still uncompleted. I only have the weekend left. Dinner tonight was... ok. Nothing more.

The time was 4.00pm. The sky was grey and thick, dark clouds were accumulating in the sky. There was an occasional flash of lightning and roars of thunder could be heard. The sky was about to give way to the torrential rains. But that didn't stop me from going swimming.

My performance today was not very good. The last time I swam 20 laps, I took 25 minutes but I took 26 minutes to swim 20 laps today. I was practically chiong-ing all the way today so I was quite taken aback by my timing. I wonder what went wrong. Must be all the uncle swimming leisurely and blocking my way. Either that or the pool at Jalan Besar is larger than Toa Payoh's.

Sher called me while I was bathing at the pool's toilet and asked me to go eat at Novena. But my mom's cooking dinner. So I had to reject her. When I reached home, I wanted to continue with my shipbuilding but for some unexplainable reason, I just got glued in front of my computer(despite it being a lousy computer) and chatted my late afternoon away. I gossiped with Hui Xin about some J-pop stuff.

At 7pm, I had a quick dinner and rushed down to Shaw Plaza to catch my movie, "The Messenger", which starts at 8pm.

-TIMEOUT-
While I was about to comment about "The Messenger", Jamal had to come and tell me that Final Destination was on Channel 5. Not wanting to miss the show, I decide to Timeout for awhile and go watch the TV. But heck, it was like the last 10 minutes of the show left.
-TIMEOUT-

There were only about 15 people watching the movie. I thought I would get to enjoy the movie alone in the enitre cinema again. But I guess enjoying the movie alone in an entire row of seats isn't that bad either.

Sypnosis:
The Solomon family purchased a countryside barn where they intend to make a profit by growing sunflowers. Shortly after they settled in their new home, wierd things began to happen. Soon, Jessica Solomon, the only daughter in the family, heard and witness paranormal activities in her house. With some help from her baby brother, Ben Solomon(who for some reason, can see the ghosts), she managed to find out more about the ghosts haunting her house. The ending was quite unexpected. It sort of changed the genre of the movie to thriller instead. All in all, this show wasn't all that scary. The only scary parts would be the sound and visual effects, which is a must-have in every horror film. The plot itself is not really very horrifying.

After the show, I walked home and upon reaching home, I got stuck infront of the computer again. Its amazing how I would flock to my PC all the time, just as how flies flock to shit. Hmm...

In a few more hours, I will know where I will get posted to for the next phase of my National Service. Come to think of it, my block leave is ending soon. Time really flies. How I wish it can fly faster so that my NS will be over like now. Oh well.

OK. Did some shopping today. Still trying to find a nice and affordable belt.

Went to shop around Orchard with Choony, Chalk and Kenn.

1. Went to Borders to find Chalk's book. Chalk found his book but cant afford to buy it. I saw some aerospace books but I can't afford them as well. Thought of buying a world atlas but oh well.

2. Next, I wanted to get a new pair of shoes. A pair of slip-ons actually. Went to Isetan to search for it. Didn't find the shoes I want. But found this revolutionary underwear by Calvin Klein instead. Tried to convince Kenn to buy it but failed to. Bought one piece of sushi at the supermarket. Saw Justin there as well.

3. Went to Pacific Plaza next. Saw a pair of slip-ons. But its too hip for me in my opinion. Especially when more and more people thinks I am 24 years old. Found out that Kenn's sister was attending lessons at the Yoga school there. And discovered that David Gunn's friend owns a salon there as well. Kenn is so knowledgeable. Thot that Chalk is finally going to buy something when he enters the Fossil watch shop and asked the attendant to show him a watch on display. Turns out that his just looking only..

4. Walked to Far East Plaza next to continue the hunt for my shoe. Found one that I think is nice. But I feel that it might still be too hip for me. I look 24 remember? But heck. It cost $39 only. So I went and bought it. Kenn also tested on a pair at the shop. Suddenly as he tested his pair of shoe, two shoes on that rack(approximately 2 metres away from him) dropped onto the floor. I asked him what happened and he claimed that his psychic. Okk. Anyways, I tried to convince him to get the pink skull design but needless to say, I failed.

5. Traversed to the basement of FEP to eat Long John's Silver.

6. Travelled to Lucky Plaza to get a new phone for myself; at the cost of ninety Sing dollars. Bought the Nokia 1110i. A simple and basic phone. Good enough for me to use in the army for the next one year and 8 months. Sometimes, I just feel that I spend money without thinking. But heck, its an attribute imbued into me since my birth. I can only hope to minimize it in the future with rationality. But I doubt I can do away with it altogether. Saw Wayne at the handphone shop which I bought my phone. He also came to look for a camera-less phone. Aha too bad I just came out from Tekong while your journey has just begun haha...

7. Sneaked into the House of Condoms shop to take a look. But let me get this clear, it was Chalk that suggests that we go in the first place since we never been in before. Saw a lot of interesting stuff. Condoms for $1? hmm. When we came out, I was frantically looking around to ensure that no one I know is passing by. Just in case... but hey I look 24!

8. Marched to Paragon next and for some wierd reason that only he knows, Choony decided to explore the place from top first then to bottom. So we took the escalator to the top floor and then started to descend floor by floor. Saw the revolutionary underwear again in the CK shop there. Some belts caught my attention but the price tags drenched my determination(whatever that means.) But hey, its Armani Exchange, what can I say? Passed by Prime Ribs and heard Kenn said it was a place where you can eat if you want to get bankrupt. Following that statement, he said that he has just eaten there yesterday... Went to the basement and saw StarBucks. Thought I might see someone there but nope. We entered this shop called Canele(pronounced Ker - neh - lee) to have some high tea. I ordered some Citrus cake and a pot of Monkey King tea. Seriously. No joke. Its Monkey King tea. The cake was nice. Abit sweet though but still bearable. As for the tea, it taste like monkey... nah it taste like jasmine tea. The four of us ordered different cakes so we "traded" with each other. All the cakes were very nice. But I like Chalk's most. Can't remember the name but I know that its long in shape. The ambience of the cafe is very soothing and nice. And the waitresses are very friendly. One of them asked us whether we just finished BMT or what and Chalk answered her truthfully. If I am answering, I will just tell her "Eh no missus, we just released from Changi Prison this morning. Now come here to catch up with the times." Hey, its a place I will be returning to again. If I am not mistaken, I think the Canele was featured on your blog as well. I spent $15 altogether. Sinful but desirable.

9. Chalk departed us to attend his friend's grandfather's wake after the high tea. He is a very nice friend in my opinion. Kenn Choony and me went to Taka's Kinokuniya to browse around since we do not know where else we can go. After browsing through world maps, atlases, comics, aerospace books and game guides, I said goodbye to the duo and headed home.

Back at home, I finally got myself down to assembling my USS Nimitz model. And I have made good progress. All thats left for me to do is to paste the decals onto the deck. But that alone will take quite some time. Hope I can finish it before this week ends....

Lost.

Thats the best word to represent my mood now.
I have no idea what I can do! Or rather I don't know what I want to do.

I cannot play my computer games because of the apathetic state which my computer is in now.
I cannot play my PS2 because my brother is hogging. And even if I do get the console out of his room, I have no TV to attach it to. Moms hogging the living room TV to herself.
I have this partially finished assembled model of the USS Nimitz but I just can't seem to gear myself up to finish it.
I want to get a PSP or a DS but I don't know which to get. Its always like that. I get one item and I will regret not buying the other item and vice versa. Unfortunately, I am not rich enough to afford both. So its best I buy none of them. But still I want to get a PSP or a DS.
I want to go out. But also dunno where I can go to. Its either movies or swimming or running.

I am practically stoning my life away everyday.
My life is so disorganized at the moment. I need to do something about it.

I have made some very bad decisions lately. Must start learning to think even more rationally from now onwards.

Went to watch "Music and Lyrics" with my best cousin. Awww its such a romantic and heartwarming show. And the soundtrack definitely rocks!

ALl right. thats all for today. ha.

Alright.

Its been a while since I blogged. The good thing about getting into army is that you will learn to prioritize your time and in the process, you will really see wats important to you. Since I only get to book out during weekends for at most 48 hours(and minimum 36 hours), I really need to plan how to spend my time well. Unlike in the past, where I have almost every week to myself, I can no longer afford to waste my time now. In the past I see my family everyday so I take them for granted. But now, I only get to see them once every week, so gradually, I began to realise how important they are to me.

Army life has been good so far. I am really glad to be in Bronco. However, all this is gonna end in one and a half weeks time when I POP out of Tekong. That aside, something has just ended for me yesterday; my JC education.

Yesterday was the release date for the A levels results and I will just say I did moderately well for it. When I went back to school yesterday afternoon, I saw my chinese sensei 陈老师. She was a nice teacher. We had a very brief moment of chat before she went towards the bus stop while I went into the school building. I guess that might be the last time I will be seeing her. Inside the school, I went to our Performing Arts Center where my principal Brother Paul gave a talk. As usual, students with outstanding results were commended. After that, I left the PAC and I would not expect to enter it again. I saw all my friends. They all looked so different. Elleen especially. Maria even more. Even my form teacher had a new hairstyle. After collection of our results, we went to talk to some of our former teachers. I talked to Mrs Chuah and Mrs Tai and discovered that Mrs Tai's daughter got 8 distinctions for her A levels; 4 As for her subjects and 3 distinctions for her 3 S papers and A1 for GP. I guess this would be considered exceedingly outstanding. But well, shes from RJ after all. I didn't get the chance to talk to Ms. Lim. Guess I won't ever get to see her again.

I sat down with my class in the school canteen and reminisce for perhaps the last time. Some would be going back to their home countries, some would be going overseas to further their studies, some would be working while some, like me, would be serving NS. At this stage of our life, each of us would be busy doing our own stuff. We would all be moving in different paths in life. It might be a long long time before we can have a gathering again.

The sound of the lesson bell ringing... ah, it feels so familiar.

Finally, I left the school and headed for home, never turning back to look at it again. This would probably be my last time leaving CJC for I could not think of any more reason for me to enter CJC again and leave it once more.

*POP = Passing Out Parade