Saturday, April 01, 2006

April's Fool Day

It was a close shave. Had it not been for CPT Shane's spicy recommendation letter that arrived at the eleventh hour on Monday night, putting a stunning finishing touch to my scholarship package, I would have missed the deadline this Friday and all hopes of going overseas would have evaporated. And gone into the drains would be my future career as a researcher in A*star, the leading research conglomerate in Singapore. To say the least, I should extend my thanks to my father, who reminded me that the one miserable stamp affixed on the heavy envelope would not be enough for the post office, thus echoing my inexperience and negligence in application trivialities, and my sister who spent time amid her busy study schedule to assist me in printing the rec letter and mailing out the envelope. I really must count my blessings to be surrounded by such caring family members, superiors and friends.

The week in camp was considerably slack, highlighted only by the problematic 12 hours night shift in PLC, and the dreary hours of waiting in Stagmont Camp as the Step-Up for the TOC to push through. The rest of the time was devoted to reading, playing table tennis on the miniature make-shift table and running (attempts to gear up for long-distance runs). So, there goes the BPT and here comes APRIL, peppered with guard duties but nonetheless promising of offs and loads of free time for personal developments!

Book-outs were supposed to be hearty but stranded at the bus-stop in the rainy and blustery weather, looking on forlornly as buses after buses drove away without stopping with hordes of passengers, and tolerating to my disgust the smoke from cigarettes of inconsiderate people waiting at the bus-stop, I felt a sudden wave of sadness passing through my body and slowly debilitating me. I realised the reason behind my favouring Taxis and loathing buses. I longed to own a personal vehicle!

scribbled at 12:33 PM