Just The Wei I Am

Nothing really important... Just want to celebrlog (coinage: blogging in celebration!) and give myself a pat on the back cos i did well for my Psycholinguistics test!! I got 75/100 yeah!! Definitely in the top 10 of the class i think (approx 40-50 students)

I got 16/20 for the Metaphor and Discourse test. And for Understanding Irony, I got an A- for the presentation and B+ for Paper 1! All in all, these 3 modules each seem bound for at least B+, and hopefully A!

Sadly, I'm doing rather mediocre for the other 2 modules, Historical Variation in English and Sounds & Words. Hopefully I can get at least a B for each of them... Actually I feel quite bad about these 2 modules, cos I didn't put in my best. I decided that I didn't like them and went ahead to bochup them. If I score badly, I asked for it ... I should learn from Marcus's example: He didn't like his Econs module one bit, yet he has such a good attitude towards it ... Sense of excellence ... I need more of it .. =)

Anyhow, with God's grace, I should do fairly well this sem, seeing how I have been blessed in those 3 modules already. What's more, USP has revised the dismissal policy so that a CAP of less than 3.5 at the end of second year doesn't immediately mean I'll be kicked out ... still got chance!! Must get my Second Class!! =)

iMINDEF

Okay, some people might think I'm nuts but I'm going to say I liked army life. Now that I've ORDed for some time already (220802, i can never forget these 6 digits. Guys know what I mean) I kind of miss the life. Again people might think I'm crazy but I actually enjoy going back for reservist ... I've even briefly considered signing on, but in the end chose the path marked out for me, which is to come to university. Seems like an university education and a military career are like oil and water. Well, unless you're an officer. But I wasn't interested in being an officer ... I was considering signing on as a medic specialist, which would mean going to NYP for Nursing instead of NUS ...

So what attracts me to life in the army? (Especially considering that I'm not particularly fit. I was fitter while still in service, but I was still rather unfit by army standards.) It's a mystery to me too ... Let me throw up a few possible reasons:

1. I like the regimentation and discipline. Unit life (I need to write a glossary for the girls...) was obviously less regimented than BMT, but was still regimented. I think it was just right. You know, there are rules to follow and stuff, but much of it was sensible and practical. Hey, toilet-cleaning was a chore, but dirty toilets are disgusting lah!!

What's more, I'm a very undisciplined person, so a set of rules and routine is good for me. I woke up at 7am sharp everyday, 15min to lay in bed semi-awake, 15min to wash up and change, 10min to buy breakfast. 0740hr I will be in my office ... Nowadays, I don't wake at any fixed time, and sometimes even oversleep ... heck, I almost missed an exam once because of oversleeping, good thing I was only 15min late ...

2. It must be a boy thing - I like guns, weaponry, camping, stuff like that. Though I must admit, I never looked forward to those 4-days field exercises. Those were really siong lah!! We'll always be thinking about what we will do once we get out of the wilderness ... But for all its siongness, I still enjoyed those days. It's a sweet and sour thing, I guess. Many fond memories include the time our 3-tonner (a truck) almost flipped over during a muddy rainstorm. Then there was the time when we were ambushed by 'commandoes' and the entire company retreated, leaving behind the medical platoon to fend for ourselves! Hahaha... The night that we had to set up, tear down, set up, tear down our BCS. And that unforgetably blissful shower and lunch when we got back from that first Full Troop Exercise .... Yeah, it's all siong, but a certain appeal lies within ...

3. SAF as an organisation is highly self-sufficient, with many systems properly in place. Things just work. Generally speaking, it's a fairly well-oiled machine, so it's fairly enjoyable working in it. There's always somebody to do something.

Ya, so these must be some of the reasons why life in the army appeals to me ... Okay guys, you can shoot me now ...

Oh ya, the link above will bring you to this page full of videos ... quite interesting actually. Although everything sounds very euphemistic and seems propaganda-ish, I think there is a fair amount of realism depicted ... I think, girls, you should go take a look at what you've missed out on!! Haha ...

Well, I thought I'd blog today. Yes, it's been more than 3 weeks since I last blogged, and there has been happenings and all. I don't live that uninteresting a life, yo... Actually, this isn't the diary sort of blog, but more of the thoughts/opinions sort, but well, I do feel like putting some of the more significant events of the last few weeks down. In brief.

1. Exams
Okay, most of the time I wasn't blogging was during the exam period. No surprise, I'm sure. Well, the whole exam period seemed to last forever - rather agonizing, I thought. It wasn't an entirely pleasant experience, considering that I was rather ill-prepared for my papers. Yes, but at least I went through it with God's peace.

It wasn't all that bleak, of course. After all, I do have a rather positive outlook. Noteworthy is the fantastic fellowship that we brothers and sisters had during this period. Praying for each other before papers; the soups and "service" of those we finished early; the midnight suppers. Much of the time was spent in Science S16, in this seminar room we made our home. We managed to make the place pretty cosy and conducive for studying at the same time. Haha, and to finish the whole thing off, we had this overnight Warcraft session on the last night (most people had finished their papers)!!

2. Visit to NIE
After our exams, NTU/NIE has their turn, this week. Being the big extended family that we are, the NUS units went down to the lovely Nanyang Campus to bless our brothers and sisters there with encouragement, fellowship and food ... I heard NUS Pioneer even put up a short skit for the NTU people. West visited NIE. No skit, but we brought finger food, snacks and dessert. I already knew most of the people there, having served with them previously in other ministries, but also got to be acquainted with some new brothers and sisters in their group. The feeling that I got the whole time, and I'm sure the others would feel the same, was that the bonds we had were those of family, not friends. =)

The highlight of the visit for me was the chance to catch up with Peiqi. I haven't had the chance to chat with her for a long time and since she was rather free, I decided to stay behind when the rest of the West people were leaving. Hee, my house is just a bus away from NTU anyway ...

We had a good time, catching up with each other and also reminiscing about the days we spent in the SMU ministry. She's one of those people in church whom I feel I share a more special relationship with. It's not that we've known each other very long or very well, but that over time, we've developed some sort of mutual love and respect. We haven't spent much time together since we've both moved on from SMU, but the relationship has grown in the time since. This, through the warm greetings, the occasional encouragement, and perhaps most significantly, the shared knowledge that we were both part of something special and meaningful. Together. Unity can be such a powerful thing.

3. Kukup trip
Okay, I had wanted to blog this as well, but I want to go home now ... think I'll blog about this in another post ...