When I walked into the Medical Centre after lunch on Monday, it was full of recruits. The sickbay was totally filled - 10 recruits were on beds, 4 on stretchers and 3 sitting down, and half were on drips (probably more were prescribed drips, but they didn't have enough drip stands). In all, I filed about 100 dockets and got 32 medical appointments to make that day. I wonder how long they'll be traumatised before we are swarmed again. Probably not before -we- get over our own trauma.

Ever since I put up signs on the Docu Room door urging it to be kept shut, it's been left open more. I swear people are leaving it open on purpose.

Our "Poor, suffering Local Third Sergeant" Tan Ban Xiong daily makes himself useful. While I was struggling to prepare 19 X-ray appointments, the self proclaimed "Master of Office" (sand Frontpage and Access) hit upothe idea of printing the envelopes, instead of stamping them and then writing on them. So not only is it faster, it is more legible. By acts such as these, he has shown that he richly deserves his (local) promotion!

HQ Company, 42SAR seems to be getting more and more regimental and generally a less pleasant place to live in. I dread my return, especially since I won't have much leave to clear after my planned visit to my sister and brother in law next month. Even though I am attached out, they are trying to stretch their evil tentacles across the Time-Space Continuum and grab onto me - last I heard, they were trying to get me to do 5BX at 5:25am daily, as well as RT on alternate days. If that dreadful scenario comes to pass, the benefits of being attached out will be lessened (and I won't even have the extra $50 as a sop to comfort me). Maybe, as a desperate ploy, I should try to cut my attachment short, and so pull them down for the Best Unit Competition.

The purpose of enforcing Regimentation and Discipline (R&D) is supposed to be that it makes people better soldiers. Oddly enough, R&D seems to apply less the higher someone's rank is (so much for being an example), but I digress. Now, a source in 41SAR, 42's brother unit, told me that they are as slack (or slacker than) 42/HQ used to be when I first came. They don't march, don't eat breakfast and wake up at 7am. Still, they are placed higher than 42SAR in the Best Unit Competition, and it seems their results for ATEC (the unit's final exam) are going to be quite good. Seems that R&D does absolutely nothing to improve a unit's performance or fighting ability, and just breeds resently and pent up anger, frustrating people and making them worse soldiers.

Oddly, since morning 5BX was instituted for RT personnel in 42, SOC RT has disappeared. Maybe the Powers That Be think that somehow, doing pushups helps you in SOC. The logic behind that is really warped.

I wonder what freaky material the SAF No 4 Uniform is made of. It's 50% Cotton and 50% Nylon, supposedly, but somehow it does not behave like either of those fabrics - even if it is less wet than, and sunned more than normal clothing, it smells more.

After the clerks wash the toilet, they spray Jasmine 3-in-1 air freshener ("with aromatherapy essential oils"). What dedication!


Perhaps the irritating of the current crop of popular Chinese Pop songs is by Jay Chou. What drew me to (or rather, repulsed me from) it was this woman in the background shrieking continually in vibrato, and Latin chanting at various points in the song. On asking some people, I found out that it was about some guy who loses his faith in Catholicism but still believes in God. Songs nowadays are getting really weird.

In a trailer for "First Touch", we see a pregnant Malay woman who is told by the doctor that if she has her child, she could go blind. She then refuses to abort the child, saying that "children are a blessing from God. If I abort the child, what sort of mother would I be?" (Looks like not all blessings are good). We then hear "Amazing Grace" (for a Muslim?) played in the background. Well done, Medicorp.

"True Love" is a game popular at present among some medics and drivers. At first, I thought it was a normal Japanese Dating Sim. But then, the Japanese are never normal, are they? One day someone excitedly told me that he had unlocked a new girl in the game - he brought a cat home, had some item, and the cat turned into a girl and had sex with him. Bah.

Channel 8 is holding auditions for some Supermodel contest, and the age range for entrants is 14-21. They're getting younger and younger these days.

I wonder what the fuss is about bar-top dancing, with many bars holding and contests to mark its legalisation. Listening to some passionate souls, you'd think Prohibition had just ended.

US soldiers in Iraq are airing their grievances over the Internet, and some even identify themselves. I wonder if anything has/will happen(ed) to them. I'm sure that there, as here, soldiers are warned against this kind of thing. Soldiers are supposed to seek redress through official channels, but when the highest level of appeal is Dubya, the very one who threw you into this war, I don't think the official channels are going to get you very far.

Why North Korea is so obsessed about getting a Non-Aggression Pact with the USA signed is puzzling. We all know that George Bush is not exactly scrupulous about honouring his treaty commitments, and neither is Kim Jong Il. Definitions are also hard to agree upon - Pyongyang is always going to try antics like racing patrol craft across the 38th Parallel, and then claim that it was a mistake, or that it was allowed for under the Pact. I suspect they know the pact will never be signed, so they're just stalling.


Quotes:

Recent research shows that people believe that Yun Nam is the most effective hair care centre and there are 8 times more Singaporeans who believe that Yun Nam is more poplular than its competitors (popular) (So their advertising campaign is good. So?)

[Me: 'Bob' is a very common name] So is 'cesspit'.

[On my scribbling on my weekly piece of paper] This is like the Islamic writing in the Koran

He needs his beauty sleep. [Me: It doesn't seem to be doing much good] *laughter* [Ban Xiong: One of these days, I'll smother you with my pillow] [Me: Who, me or Melvin?] [Ban Xiong: Both]

[On his rare cookhouse breakfast, including a Tau Sar Delight] Breakfast today was fucked up. How come the curry puff was sweet?

[On shitting on a squat toilet without a pipe] I must use water and my left hand. [Me: And the water comes from the toilet bowl?]

[On my filing 100 dockets] You finished filing all the dockets? [Me: Yeah, man. I finished them all last night] I'm so proud of you

[On not booking out to eat on a night off day] I want to save money. [Me: Then why do you always go to the canteen?] Shut up [Ed: Said person probably ended up eating instant noodles in the bunk, instead of cookhouse food].

[Email on being away] **** will overlook [Company Name] for this period of time (oversee)

[On me] He will go and hunt him, like he hunted the secondary school girls at NCC cover... He will step in front of the secondary school boy or girl and ask, "Excuse me..." (haunt, haunted, would)

[To me] There was this guy, when I was attached to AMS [Army Medical Services]. He went round taking pictures of secondary school girls zaogeng... He talks like you.