Oh yea, fishing.

After the Island got rid of me (pretty much for good), I had a "Kate, we have to go back to the Island" moment, and agreed to fishing on Ubin.

It was comparable to the real McCoy - it has lots of trees too - and saved for a NPCC camp (seriously? NPCC? where's the MP?) spoiling the atmosphere, it was as close as you can get to the Island, literally and figuratively, without getting arrested.

Life was good on faux island. Mosquitoes stinging, fishes not biting and after a long wait, rain was falling.

Like, really falling.

With lightning, thunder, crazy winds and currents that drag the fishing line with it, you know, the whole works. And we were reduced to hiding behind the pillars of the pavilion that we declared as our camp, to avoid the rain spray.

XJ was pensive throughout the storm; staring at the skies, twiggling the rod silently and staring at the sky some more. Very zen-like, if you were to ask me. Must be the fisherman in him.

Somehow, the rain just stopped: it was cats and dogs for a moment, and fluffy kittens and cuddly puppies in 5 seconds, and lo and behold it's the high-effing-tide.

First blood was to me. After waiting 4 hours for the first catch, you would have forgotten how to smile when taking a photo with your catch.

XJ: "Hey, you got a bite."
*pulls and reels*
Me: "Oh, it's a catfish. Now what?"

And in total, we caught not one fishy, not two fishy, but... wait for it... THREE fishy! 2 to me, 1 to XJ and Derek was nice to come by and watch. We threw all 3 back to the sea, alive and somewhat still kicking. Even so, it felt like Ubin owned us.

The coup de grace was a couple turning up at our spot, set up their equipment (which was better than our's) and reeled in 2 fishes on a single line, on their first cast. It was almost like the island telling us, "Eat that! Suckers!"

Having someone reeling in mega-fishes next to us was like getting trout-slapped. Not a nice feeling. So, we left. Duh.

A question that often pop up is, "are you a believer?", and the old regulars really, really, really like to ask that. Back in the days of AC, it would be referring to your choice of religion. Right now, it would mean whether you think NS is a waste of your time. You can't give an answer to that, it's the Catch-22 of conversations, and the ultimate way to extend a briefing.

A "no" would mean a long talk, which would end up with you saying yes. A "yes" would be met with a challenge that you sign on, which would mean a long talk, which would end up with you saying no. (A half-half would be the worst, I saw someone try that and don't ever do the same!) The loop ends when the old senior looks at the target with a pitying gaze and shakes his head.

On a rather unrelated note, I was posted to the air force a long time back. While my posting may seem to be a really cool vocation - I get to touch F-16s and don't have to trudge through the jungle - it's just blue collar work. Oil, sweat (and blood if you are unlucky) are part of the job. It didn't take me long to figure that I don't want to do anything similar for the rest of my life.

I came across Southern Ridges Trail when I was reading something and decided to go exploring it. I had plans for a while, but never put in into place, and what better time to do it than during block leave?

So I roped in Derek and Kok with me. They did their research beforehand so I just turned up and followed :P

It starts from West Coast McDonald, cutting through NUS, entering into Hort Park before reaching the nice looking bridges between Kent Ridge and Mount Faber. It conveniently ends at Vivocity, so it's a perfect trail if you're looking for comfort after a 3.5hr hike.

So yea, Mount Faber - conquered.

The Mount is so misleading. It's like I've conquered a mountain. Except this mountain is 100m above sea level and has fancy restaurants on the summit.

I went down to check out NUS-NTU AstroChallenge as a spectator, after 5 years as a competitor. Actually, I was there because I had nothing cheaper and better to do during my block leave. It's the longest 'holiday' I'm going to have for the next 2 years, and I'm not going to spend it stuck in my house.

I was expecting a top 3 performance from BP, and an appearance in the finals for ACJC. I'm not that demanding, you know.

In the end, NUSH was third, RGS was second. I thought it was a déjà vu moment, because RI don't usually get knocked out of top 3. But BP won, and I'm happy for them. As for ACJC, they made it to the finals, so that's some results to show for their work.

The day when you graduate from The Island was crazily fun and exhilarating. Excluding your platoon mates, it's difficult to find someone who felt exactly the same because everyone went through very different experiences on The Island (I'm smiling at you, Kok).

Being the medically unfit lot of us, we don't get a parade, and our parents don't get invited to see us (and hence no camera to photowhore). So we improvised by getting someone to bring a camera and we had our photos taken at where we got off the bus.

Looking at the photo again, calling it 'exhilarating' would be a slight understatement. There was a weeny bit of sadness, because we won't be playing Risk or chess in our bunks anymore. We do miss the times we get to slack, and how we would spend it talking cock. That's life for you, I guess.

Prelude: I'm binded by the Official Secrets Act, but it covers only official info and not my thoughts and feelings so I suppose I'm fine with writing and blogging this confinement period to get me through. If there is any problems, please inform me.

I'm writing this on the back of a piece of paper of things-to-pack, 'cos I didn't pack any other pieces of paper. It will be something like the Prison Diaries by Jeffrey Archer, except that's it is about army and much less detailed.

Oh yea, my bad for being slow in posting, I kept forgetting about this.

24 Apr: Day 1 - Goodbye World
2225: First day was just depressing. I'm guessing it is missing my hair, family and freedom all rolled into one that turned me off. Kok witnessed my hair being shaved. I saw XJ when I went over to his school for dinner. Both of us were pretty surprised 'cos we weren't expecting to see each other.

25 Apr: Day 2 - Back To School
2359: Everything is so regimental, but it's already 29mins past bedtime. I was talking to my section mates all the way during free time, got to know the people who I will be sleeping in the same room for the next 7 weeks. Oh damn, someone is shouting lights out.

26 Apr: Day 3 - Is This The Real Life?
1400: Free time till 1600. Awesome. Just saw HuaiCe, he's staying in the block opposite mine. Regimental life suck.
1530: Sergeant just gave us a army journal book to write in. I'm sticking to this piece of paper. Writing on that book makes it as though my writing is an idea from army. It's not.
2030: Free time till lights out at 2230. 13 days to book out day.

27 Apr: Day 4 - The Food is Okay la
2230: No admin time. Tmr there's a survey regarding food in the canteen. Some auntie came over to psycho us into giving it the best grade. No attempt was made to hide her intent. Her company is probably paid bonuses based on the survey.

28 Apr: Day 5 - I Have TWO Guns Now
2154: 24mins after lights out. Couldn't sleep again. Writing on my bed by torchlight. Received our rifle in a rather tribal-like ceremony this morning while it was still dark. I saw Sagittarius and the core part of the Milky Way while we were sitting down there before the ceremony. Confirmed it with my bunkmate who's into Astronomy too. It's a pretty awesome sight. The rating for the sky here is right between mainland SG and Mersing. Tmr is IPPT and it will be the most strenous day yet.

29 Apr: Day 6 - We're Sitting Here and Talking Cock
2200: Free time since 1600. I thought my 2.4km timing was bad, by there's a lot who have worse timings.
P.S. 7 people in my platoon passed IPPT. I'm one of the 7 :D

30 Apr: Day 7 - I'm Getting Fat
2225: More free time. My platoon is so bored, we're voluntarily doing more rifle drills to perfect it. It is actually rather fun. Anyway, I'm not judging my BMT period based on confinement period. Oh, and my platoon haven't been 'tekan' yet.

1 May: Day 8 - Countdown Begins!
2225: Nothing much to write about, except 7 days left to booking out!

2-5 May: Day 9-12 - One of My Guns Went Live
5 May, 2220: Went for live shooting at the range for 4 days. Almost no time to write during this period. Sergeants were very tense, because there are some idiots who don't seem to understand safety procedures. Anyway, I'm now a bobo both in CS and in real life.
The entire afternoon of day 3, and whole day of day 4 was free for me; other platoons shooting for day 3, and reshooting for bobo for day 4. The officer showed us a movie on the evening of Day 4. For 2 hours I felt like I was back in SG, watching a show in a theatre. It felt good.

6 May: Day 13 - Alert!
2225: We had our first ever stand by area. Found out we're booking out at 1615 on the 8th while our OC was scolding us (he was threatening to delay it). Everyone was in awesome mood after the scolding.

7 May: Day 14 - I'm High
Tomorrow is a book out day
Book out book out
Tomorrow is a book out day
Book out book out day hey!

8 May: Day 14 - BOOK OUT
Mega spring cleaning today. Turned the bunk upside down, mopped the floor, wiped the top of the fan and everything. Book out day was awesome. Everyone was high. Woo!

It's my turn to report to Tekong. In 729 days, I'm going to be a free man. I think I'll do a countdown thingy on the sidebar after I survive the 2 weeks confinement.

That's all for now, so long.

Click for clearer version

I saw this on Sunday papers, and I took out my pen and did some Math. It's like the fun-based Math homework you once did when you were in lower primary.

Answer: [PAIGEFOXISBADATMATH]

It was as wide as my palm.