Just booked out and though of catching ipman2 with my close brothers but in the end, the event failed to come into fruition after a couple of communication breakdown and incompatible schedules. So here i am, back to my cosy couch while surfing the boundless internet, after braving through yet another week of army life in camp, doing things that i thought were just regimental and perfunctory but yet have no purpose in times of war. Today is yet another epic example of such mundane army trainings when we were supposed to observe the proceedings of the live demolition range but yet, I was only proning (aka lying flat) under the scorching hot sun while opening my ears (ironically with my earplugs secured) to experience the deafening bang, and at the end of the day still clueless how the bangalore torperdo is fired or how great the explosion was. It was aptly summed up when one of my us commented that we could actually just watch a video to experience the sound of the explosion instead of getting down to the 'live range' only to witness the explosion but yet viewing nothing apart from observing the ecosystem of worms and ants residing in the bushes that i was proning at. And no thanks, i was relieved that i wasn't shortlisted as one of the privileged few to fire off these charges, for all i yearn is a safe and sound book out back home :) haha.

So this one i like one of the first 'outfield' activities during my stay in keat hong camp, or at least it does qualify as an outfield activity that involves settling down in non-sheltered terrains, being yelled at by commanders, and surviving under the torment of the blazing sun comparable to that of tekong. There will be many more to come after my 2 months of trade course, and i am totally not looking forward to life after this honeymoon period especially when I overheard that there will be outfield every fortnight... which equates to approximately having 2 field-camps per month. How crap can it be.

I named this post 'brotherhood' as i initially planned to talk about how life in camp become more endurable with good friends around. Yes, good friends not only include the gang of new mates that i meet during the past 3 weeks but also the good old brothers that i have in hwachong. One of them that is worthy of mention is Xiao Yi Ming- vantheman. I can still remember vividly an epic statement he made last week during the GPMG technical handling test, 'who in the right mind would have think that we will be doing all these same shit, in this same camp, 2 years later after our days in hwachong. Yes precisely, we landed up in this disastrous predicament together, not only during bmt but also in unit. That's life- a journey that is inherently unpredictable.

Thanks dude for your accompany during the trade course period and you definitely have made life so much more interesting in NS. Really appreciate your presence and will definitely treasure the times we talked cock and crap about anything under the sun. 1 month 1 week to go before i get my black beret and move on to the 3rd phase of NS at armour training institute (ATI). I will no doubt miss the place and friends i make over here when i leave.

Apparently, i realised i have been rambling about my NS life since the first post of this blog and have yet to mention anything about my other much more important plans in life such as university admissions and scholarship applications, especially with the recent spate of facebook updates and blog posts on the results of law and medicine school applications. It's not as if i am not concerned about all these, in fact i am seriously looking forward to life after the 2 years of obligated service, but just that things aren't really going according to plans as well. To the curios crowd, I am currently contemplating over Nanyang Business School (double degree) and NUS Business School Biz(acc), and pinning all my last hopes on the nanyang scholarship after several failed attempts at clinching a scholarship. I kind of screwed up my interview for NUS scholarship, which so unluckily happened to land one day after one week of doom and gloom in keat hong camp, and to NTU: please send me a date for the scholarship interview soon and i will assure you to that i will be in tip-top condition to present my best self.

Today's mother day and to my dear mum: THANKS SO much for the endless shower of love and care during this difficult period and this goes out to my dearest grandmother as well. Love you two and i believe i am independent enough to tackle this conundrum myself :) Don't Worry!