Saturday, November 22, 2008
i have been so sick this last few days it's not even funny. woke up on wednesday morning feeling more uncomfortable than any recruit sleeping in bunk normally feels. decided to suck it in and bear with it cause it was the second last day. proceeded on with 6km route march which was only 3km in the end, which i completed in the back of a lorry anyway. still, the strenuous activity must have made it worse.
decided i couldnt take it anymore and went to the medical centre in the arvo. had a 38.7deg fever so they kept me in the sickbay. at 12am during their 4-hourly check, it was still around the same temperature. so they put me on drip and finished 2 bottles of fluid. didnt work and they started panicking. alas, i made my first ever trip to alexandra hospital by CIVIL DEFENCE AMBULANCE. lol it was quite exciting except i was too sick too soak up the experience!
last few days have been the same. cooped up at home, eating mostly tasteless, watery stuff, with no social life.
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YES! i have finally POP-ed!!! haha i feel like ben hur after he triumphed over julius caesar except i'm not quite sure if that actually happened. but yes, the last eleven weeks have finally come to a conclusion. on monday morning, i will get my posting which will determine what i do for the next 21 months of my life.
so it's been a terrific experience. it taught me alot about being optimistic, and always look at the brighter side of things. throughout the first few weeks when i felt like i was in hell, i silently counted the days till the weekend, and i also had awesome messages from people that kept me going. i also thought of
you, and though you are pretty far away, it's quite funny how it still cheered me up.
i made a number of friends, altho not many of them were fellow recruits. a few here and there i hope i will still keep in contact with. but making friends with the instructors was just as important. knowing when to show respect and when you can try your luck a little, probably gave me a good insight into working life in the future.
in all, an experience. i wouldnt say life-changing altho if i had gone to army or ERS it might have been. it wasn't always a nice experience, especially having to eat bread and planta on monday mornings. but it was an interesting one.
gab's top 5 moments of BRTC
1) the morning at breakfast when we saw bread and everyone groaned, before noticing the four trays of hot piping curry beside it, and the uncle dishing out chicken wing and drumstick. that morning, i literally ate a loaf of bread.
2) when encik thong tried to encourage lim to jump the ramp by doing it with him, before landing flat on his butt in front of everyone.
3) when my buddy hafiz and me sneakily unscrewed ikhsan's water bottle cap which was attached to his belt, before declaring our disbelief that he could reach the ceiling. he duly proved us wrong, spilling one litre of water in the process.
4) i wasn't there for this but when Cpl arif's voice gave way when he was giving commands during footdrill, apparently everyone including the PCs and instructors laughed till they cried. all whilst the recruits were still in file (and not meant to move).
5) at mandai training village, when hafiz searched high and low finding his gloves, even turning round in circles when i asked him to look AROUND. the gloves were safely deposited in the belt hood above his ass, just about the only place that one would not be able to see.
lights off, pyjamas on
2:23 PM
Sunday, November 09, 2008
i hate being ill. gone were the days where i used to be itching to fall sick so i could take an mc and skip school and just laze at home. nowadays, being sick is a real pain because it really gets quite uncomfortable. started falling ill in the middle of the week but around friday it became really full blown. woke up this morning feeling dreadful but thankfully with lots of fluid and medicine, i think i'll recover by tomorrow. altho i foresee myself not doing anything fruitful this weekend, having to just recuperate at home.
this week in camp passed reasonably well. we went to mandai training village on wednesday for shoring and tunneling exercises and the place was really derelict. i would probably piss my pants if i were to go there at night. had a firefighting test on friday which went pretty well, i think i'll pass that too.
so it's 9 more days to POP. quite crazy really, when you say 1 week 4 days left it already sounds like a short time. and when you say 9 days left, well that's even more crazy. i honestly hope i get some admin job, not really looking forward to becoming a medic. mainly because of the 7-8 week training course which will see me burn all the leave i have for 2008.
when the time comes, i'll look back on the last 11 weeks and probably write a meaningful piece. altho i should really be tired of writing articles thanks to cpt yusof.
on a more enlightening note, movie channels are finally up! been dying to re-subscribe to movie channels which mum and dad cancelled when i first went overseas cause nobody watched it anymore. but since i'm now back for good (or at least the next 2 years), we decided it would be worthwhile to get it. so far, i've already watched 3 movies in the last 24 hours haha.
gonna either watch
history boys on starmovies now or put on
jurassic park 3 on the laptop. gabriel out!
lights off, pyjamas on
12:37 AM
