being in the army has taught me 2 things. firstly, men are not necessarily horny creatures individually, but when 2 or 3+++ gather in the name of ANYTHING, hormones go flying and the dirty talk starts. secondly, i've found the reason why i serve NS.

i guess the first lesson isn't nearly as important as the second, but just to clear some doubts people might have about men being the horny, incorrigible creatures they are thought to be. when a man see's an attractive woman, his mind is prone to indulging in a great many carnal thoughts, his eyes wander, tracing the delicate lines of the female form before him. this combination soon leads to the surging of blood from one head to another, and the rest, as they say, is history. i can't deny this, but what then if an attractive woman is absent(can anyone say ARMY??)? all the above are suddenly made irrelevant. now, consider a group of men. even without the visual stimulation, all you really need is someone in the group who has a penchant for stirring up hot and heavy mental images in the heads of other men around him, and voila, you have yourself a chain reaction. each dirty thought feeds on the dirtiness of the thought preceeding it, and soon enough you have a group of cantankerous men openly discussing their favourite DIY techniques or the girl they'd each most like to 'do' (not forgetting how they 'do' her either), and this is actually a very enjoyable thing! we men don't necessarily have to be doing the 'doing', but the mere thought of 'doing' is enough to keep us happy through the night, because such talk is not only capable of breaking social walls, but it's also a form of motivation for your sick boys in camp.

so ladies, before you complain about how your significant other doesn't spend enough time with you, think, because it's not as if they don't want to spend time with you, it's just more enjoyable with the lads. as francine put it today "you (thomas) just don't get any (in the army)" well normally i'd counter (and i did) with something like "i can get some any ANYTIME i want!!". the truth is we (I) don't, and maybe that's why time out with the boys is preferable. it's like everyone's in the same club and there's a common understanding.

the second thing i learnt: why i serve ns.

this one's probably more intelligent.

i've only spent 3 weeks in the army, but i think i already understand why i put my life on the line, even if it's just training. i've done a lot of thinking wrt my life in general, and my days in NJC were probably the best. there was a lot more heartache than happiness, but even a rose has it's share of thorns. my experiences, the friends i made there, the opportunities i was given to push myself, those things i know i'll never find anywhere else. The music, the quirky friends and teachers, and of course the girls oh the girls. now i'd be the biggest liar in the world if i said they didn't mean a thing, but i think i can consider myself one heck of a lucky guy. im not really charming, im not even good looking, but i was blessed every step of the way with female friends who taught me different lessons in life, each lesson as important as the last. some left greater impressions than others (we did crazy things none of my guy friends would've done with me- not those kind of things!!- leaving me with a sense of liberation like never before ) and to these girls, i'd just like to say a big thank you for making such a big impact on my life. if or when you leave this sad, sad country, rest assured that you will be dearly missed by this army boy. far from advocating government policy and propaganda, i genuinely want to serve NS if it means i can protect my family, my friends, and the life i used to live with such carelessness, and if it means i can give someone else out there a chance of living the life i did. being in the army is like living in a state of suspended animation. all those you knew on the outside move on with their lives, while you're stuck at the same state for 2 whole years. you will inevitably lose part of the life you had, the friends, the promises, happiness and sadness, all in. those out there who disagree and argue that it's all about how hard you try to keep this part of yourself intact, i spit on you. ok i don't. 2 years isn't as short as you think. a lot happens in the 700 days or so. but i've got my reasons for serving NS, and until my 700 or so days are over, that's all im confident of clinging on to.

I've officially switched my Pink IC for my 11B Green Identification card, which means im more or less property of the SAF. The pace of army life has been slow, this being our honeymoon week and all. im not supposed to blog about anything here, but i'll just give you guys a few tasters before returning my mundane life in the army. sorry if anything get's dreary here - it's raining, im tired but i feel a post is necessary in case im confined and my freedom confiscated over the following weekends, after which i'll definitely not be in any mood to post anything about my life there.

but that's not exactly accurate, because i've actually enjoyed myself quite a bit save for one or two minor hiccups!

i've been appointed music/cheer ic which makes me responsible for leading the songs during our daily marches. Yes, considering we march almost ALL the time i'd say i have the most pressurizing job of them all, not to forget that i can't remember most of the lyrics, so usually it goes like this:

Platoon 1 is marching smartly, counter gives the poorly pronounced "lepp, lepp, lepp righh!!" rhythm for us to march in step, and i bellow away.

Me: A is for AIRBORNE! Them: A is for AIRBORNE!
Me: I is for IN THE SKY! Them: I is for IN THE SKY!
Me: R is for ROUGH AND TOUGH! Them: R is for ROUGH AND TOUGH
Me: B is for BORN TO FLY!! Them: B is for BORN TO FLY!!
Me: O is for ON THE GO! Them: O is for ON THE GO!
Me: R is for READY!! Them: R is for READY!!

Me: ............(long pause as i wonder what comes after R)


Me: A is for AIRBORNE!!!!

and so on so forth.

I've made a very important decision. "A SOCIETY WITHOUT VULGARITIES"
That means im not going to partake in the hourly recital of the words "FU*K, C.B.(chicken white in chinese), SMLJ (what the penis in hokkien) or any other profanities that i may deem vulgar at my own discretion :) Unless i consider it a necessity, of course. like i just wrote a cheer which kinda ended like this:

"...........................
they won't survive, they have no luck
and Bronco doesn't give a (empty silence)"

They say that in the army, it's a man's world and that warrants the use of profanities, threats which, if i may say so myself, tend to oversensationalize testicles, and a range of other colloquialisms (how do you spell that word!?!? does it even exist in that form??), but somehow im convinced that people like my commander XXX can earn the same amount of respect, or even more in some cases, without the use of profanities.

anyway, if i don't get confined for anything, i'll probably be out on friday because of the CNY break. must catch up with friends before they're all gone!

sorry for the haphazard post(then again they all seem to be this way)

till next time!

Swingle

it's 3 thirty in the morning, and i've decided to write about several things. first on my agenda is my FANTASTIC JAPAN TRIP!!!

i apologize for the lack of photos because 1) im too lazy to upload them and 2) it's 3 am in the morning. i'd talk about the skiing but who's really interested in that? no let's talk about the subtle differences i noticed between the japanese and us singaporeans.

the japanese (invaders of 1945 - let's just call them the Horde) vs Singaporeans (a young, thriving nation - for lack of a better name, Poreans)

now the first thing i noticed about the Horde is that they're awfully polite. So awfully polite that it almost makes me feel bad whenever they apologize, bow, apologize, smile, bow, apologize when I, ME, YOUR'S TRULY bumps into them. More about me bumping into people intentionally later. Poreans, on the other hand, never fail to spin around and gut you with their gaze followed by a standard repertoire of curses and tut tut's. you'd think that somewhere along the line of us getting invaded we'd learn to be a little more humble, a little more polite, a little more compromising in what seems to be an already callous society. but this is old news, i suppose Poreans were never known for their courtesy anyway.

the second thing i noticed is that the Horde are an impressively liberal people, which is very much in contrast to their cultured nature. By liberal, i mean they're just really open to sex. again maybe this is something i picked up because the three letter word is *almost* taboo in singapore and in japan they're actively engaging in sex in the toilet, sex on the bus/train, and the widespread proliferation of adult books, magazines and videos, and most people don't even react when a 10 year old kid starts flipping through the mags at the newstand and starts squirming in his pants. you'd think that a society let loose from the shackles of convention might soon fall to chaos, but the results are clearly far from what many of us might think it to be. i suppose to them it's just another industry, a business, a way of life. perhaps if Poreans caught on to this sex wouldn't be stifled and unconciously promoted as something worthwhile and risky to try with an unsuspecting member of the opposite sex. just perhaps.

Food servings are enormous and yet the horde remain about... equal in physical stature to us Poreans, who often get conned into paying exorbitant amounts of money for pittance on a plate and still sayhi to the fat man so very often. i don't get it. is it their diet? it's not as if they get any less fried or oily foods there.

well i can't really think of anything else right now, but i will in the next update. oh and i will definitely post some pictures of my trip! oh and more to come on my first clubbing experience at Chinablack! Happy new year, everyone!