Yes I've been very unmotivated with words. One part because I was sleeping so much under the influence of medication for the better half of last week, the other being there's so much things to unpack from the boxes. Lol. Yes, baggage no matter how you look at it.

This is what I meant.

 And these are the remaining books awaiting the book shelves. Lol.. 

 On a totally unrelated note, probably the nicest calamari I've eaten.

 

 And gin infused cucumber in the G&T concoction that is weirdly refreshing.

 And I think this is one of the oldest, and internationally featured block of flats in the TPY area. 

The room's done finally, all the kinks ironed out, cannot say the same for the house though. J is gonna be in such deep shit that I can't see how he's going to get out of. And I have absolutely no pity for him except to rub my hands in glee awaiting the drama. Who on earth will give you a hole of 57cm to fit a conventional built-in oven of width 60cm? Oh that's right, J. And boy did he give us 60cm alright, 60cm inclusive of the wooded edges. LMFAO, talk about having an arse for brain.

Earlier the month I was back for my final in-camp reservist training. It was by far the slackest, yet toughest one. Why the contradictory? Well, slackest because we didn't have anything physical to do; and toughest for having to will away the many hours of meaningless wait. Yeah it was so mental. The cohort actually ended theirs last year but thanks to us deferring once, we had to have ours one year later. The good thing is that it is all over.

There was actually a surreal feeling when it all ended. The realisation that we'll no longer be served the SAF 100 for ICT callups, no more IPPTs IPTs RTs or whatever, that all the stuff in our kit bag are officially obsolete, this annual paid two weeks holiday will never be again, the list can go on. The fact remains that we've done our part for the nation and we stood down.

This journey which began nearly a decade ago took me places that I'll never expect to find myself in(think, in the lush primary forests of Brunei with a GPS that don't work, rofl); met people from all walks of life each bringing with them their own unique experiences and skills; the memories and friendships forged through common suffering.

As we collected our watches and certificates, and my beret tucked safely back at where it belonged (between my mattress and bed); it was unspoken and somewhat poignant but deep inside everyone of us we knew that although this phase is over, it will never be, for friends you've made in Hendon are friends for life.

The many lasts; the last hurrah; or whatever you'll like to call it.

I can feel the onset of another cold, let hope this isn't as bad as that one in Niagara. Not really in a mood for words these few days, but I'm pretty sure it will flow in the next few.. Haha.

Photos for the previous post, and this. 

 

Drinks before ICT in process made it look so emo..

 

 All packed and ready to go, one last time. 

 Weather that greeted us upon in-process; 3 Coy upheld the ominous reputation as rain god.

 The ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME schedule. We are team B.

 

 Part 2

 

 So late that the sun rose and we're still in the field on Tekong.

 Some dead bodies from lying around; one of those many meaningless waits we had to endure.

 And in the bunk.

 You know shit is real when everyone's actually packing for it.

 Day and

 night.

 

 Looking like our neighbour up north. 

 Can't complain, about as good as night snack can get on the island.

Floored by 5 different types per pax.

 Oh man why didn't we MR with them last year.. 

And how we didn't like to do thing the easy way.

 

 By that I meant opening the padlock by conventional means of a key.

 Thankfully it was a lesser padlock, still it took 2 engineers to get it open. LMAO

 First of the few steamboats.

 And a belated 麻辣 birthday cake, NOT

 Oh well, that was the end of week 1 of ICT. The longer week was upon us after the surprise early break we had. No complaints there.

 The 3 days staycation at the foot of Bajau started with TL wondering if we are gonna survive this. Haha..

 

 And since there was no escaping fate, why not make ourselves comfy? Complete with lots of sunshine and safari beds, and truckloads of mosquitoes.

 And boy when a hot day is being understated. 

And since we are probably the only jokers that are still around over the holidays, what better way for the cookhouse to tekan us by serving us rations of the same color for three days, lunch and dinner everyday? 

 

 I dubbed this the SAF 清一色. No guessing I didn't actually eat a lot, not because we were really inactive just hiding from the sunshine. But more because I didn't want to shit in the field with 2 billion mosquitos waiting to start their buffet on places whereby the sun doesn't shine.

 Bonus night of rest whereby we were back in civilisation in the comfort of a training shed with fans and electrical points for charging the cellphones. #firstworldproblem evidently. And McDelivery is the saviour in any outfield.

 The next day, we indeed became buffet for the mozzies.

 

 The last meal we'll eat in the field.

 Raffles country club to end it all.

Last night in the field, in fatigues and boots.

 Another steamboat over the National Day weekend. Seemingly healthy pot of food. 

The last canteen breakfast

 Back in camp waiting for the post ICT survey. No guessing how we rated the Army's efficiency. So bad that we were actually still not the lowest survey gathered. Fuck, we lost. Rofl

The last look at the bunks.

 The last time having cookhouse food in the foreseeable future. And what better way to end it by having the usual coloured food; and the 十年不变 AWARD WINNING 豆干, dubbed the C4 block. Whereby it is hard on the outside yet harder and dry on the inside. *clap* Maintained the standard indeed.

At the end of it all, we stood strong, always.

 

Relieved of duty; Mindef Reserves; whatever you like to call it but not until 1st April 2014 actually officially. Haha. Whatever.

Half time

Met up with group 5 prior last Sat, belated and early birthday celebration for the two July babies. Bombshell of the night was dropped by ZH for having proposed and Rom-ed without us knowing, some kinda friend he is huh.. Haha. All the best bro, 结了婚就是不一样了.

Dinner with the neighbour and ice cream on Sunday, had the booking in blues.. Hahaha..

Almost created history by being the first group to immediately be inserted to the field hours after in-pro. Thankfully we didn't. Come the unearthly reveille hour the next day, the streak of unbelievable good luck began. We had to indicate our pairing on a list; and coincidentally pairs starting from me didn't have to be inserted early with the main body of troops. So thus began our half day break of naps and shower that we actually felt bad, simply because we didn't actually had anything to downhill the others were feeding bloodsuckers in the field.

So eventually we were in the forest of Tekong too and TL and I spent an eventful night getting to mow each other all over again, we were that bored. Not to mention having our sleep disrupted every 30min by ranger trainees coming to their navex checkpoint. Hahaha.

Spent the old part of 31st stuck on the island, delayed by nothing, before we arrived back in camp for booking out at 1500h. Subsequently got to know the a/c at home was dead. Tbh, I was rather pissed then. It wasn't how I wanted to spend the day, all I wanted was to get back to the new room and sleep the night away in the cold comfort. In the end... Never mind. It was, if not, the worse 31st ever.

Booked in just to book out the next day. All we had to do was wash two zodiac boats, and we were so over zealous in doing so that the WO had to tell us reasonably clean was enough. Rofl. Come back home to chill before heading back camp to sleep for the night. The ungodly role call going of 0600h meant that I didn't want to be driving back at 05ish. And oh hell the irony of us arriving at 09ish but only had work to do at 1800ish. So yes, we spent the day sleeping in the training shed. Rushed to wait once again.

This morning we were presented with the shocker that we can return to mainland! And my bunk won the lottery by being passed for having to return to Tekong tomorrow. The lucky streak continued and hence I'm lying somewhere on the floor in the room typing this. Purchased the new a/c unit before dinner just now, and hopefully it ns be installed next week.

The pc and Mac are not with me atm, so no pics yet again. The re-moving in is quite a chore and I don't even have a desk in my room yet. Oh well. 10 more days to the end of it all. Hanging in there..