Surprises from a routine schedule

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Christmas isn't christmas till it happens in your heart

It's really annoying as you take a walk outside your house and suddenly thought of a pretty fantastic blog entry that you must write down in your blog, only to come back and sit down infront of your com with your mind all blank!! Grr...this must stop.

Well now, if it isn't christmas time now; well if you find the blog title familiar u can check out the dec2006 entries...I'm somehow emotionally attached to that song.

It's surprising how ridiculously time flies, especially for the year of 2007. Other years seems so much longer, this one just ZOOOmmmm....man it's bye bye '07 hello '08!! and the Olympics!! Yeah right like I'm ever a fan of it.

Probablly because I'm just wanting the days to go by quickly, as that would spell the nearing of my ord. But life isn't THAT bad now...to think I could enjoy a extra long holiday after coming home from thailand on the 18th of dec, all the way to 2jan 08. Hurray.

Sitting here in a cosy room, thinking of something to write, I'm suddenly reminded of what sister Yi-Tinn, or yi tinn jie, said to me while I was still being discipled under her wings. "Where ever you go, be it school or country or anything else, just remember that God put you there for a reason." I was quite puzzled by her words when I first heard them but quickly understood it's meaning and truth after awhile later.

The reason why I ended up in TJ rather then RJ or VJ which was what I wanted to became much more appreciated then before; same goes for why I am in Guards and not ocs or sispec.

If I'd gone to RJ/VJ, I'd never had known friends such as Josh, Nicole, Amanda, Amorn, Victor, Ais, Bballer Chia and my funky class with some funky teachers. heh heh not to mention dawn and amanda+ais' drama ppl. Never would I have experienced such a powerful crush...like literally "crushed"..on a girl who's smile lights up orchard road (seen the lightings yet? they're beautiful aren't they?), although I've already promise myself to give it up for the sake of retaining my sainity and for my own good.

Also, never would I have been this close to God if it weren't for the TJ student venture, where I feel God has place me to lead; it being a stepping stone towards something greater. Well, I hoped I did things well, I did tried, even though my eyes were close for a the 1st year or so...

As for Guards? Well I have a confession to make..while I was in bmt I did prayed and asked God that if I were to be accepted into ocs (officer cadet school), I would wanna be a Guards officer. Yes, I can sense the immense horrors on your face, especially on your face Josh..if u ever start reading my blog again. Oh and another deep dark hidden secret? I prayed that I'll sign on if I get into ocs and manage to commission as an officer. Yes, I hadn't known better, luckily I told myself to only consider after being in a unit, which brought me out from the dark side. Well, with regards to the former point, my prayers where answered in some sort of way; currently for the last exercise I held appointment as vehicle commander for one lightstrike. So yeah praise the Lord he answered my prayers...just that in a different way.

So why? Why not ocs why not sispec? I realise, as a normal insignifican't soldier, that you are the lowest amongst all, which is the same as what Jesus was....a baby in a manger plus a servent to his discipiles, neat huh? A humbling experience no doubt but you learn much...like how to treat others now that you've experienced first hand how's it like to be at the bottom, pray that it'll help in my future endeavours...wait i'm sure it will.

Freak all this army talks all but a chase after the wind...gets really stale and I'm bored. But then again what else could I talk about? Sadly the ass-eh-eff's my life now..at least for 2 years.

So tune in to the next episode of Days of My life, this is

JT signing off

reflected by Juls @ 1:43 am

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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

From something to nothing

Wow this blog has been through the ice age man , last entry was in 18 august. Ah crap. Looks like it's been disused for a long time, oh well time to rev up things again...3 weeks later sadly.

Here I am now, standing infront of the airport "free internet" service computer, waiting for the time to come when i've to board the plane bound for bangkok; it's not that bad actually, i intend to enjoy the SQ flight before being inserted into the jungle.

Well u've guessed it, I'll be spending my next 22days in the thai jungles feeding mozzies and all. Yup, the Guardsmen are going there to train.

Don't bother with the title though, it's kinda random.

well with only 2.30 mins left on the comp i intend to say to all my love ones..josh, nicole, wh and whoever frequents this blog (+dawn +bro etc) that i love u all and promise to come back alive.

Goodnight and take care all,
Love JT

reflected by Juls @ 7:11 pm

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Saturday, August 18, 2007

It's sharing time

Some personal verses that helped kept me through the past 7 weeks of my Guards course

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe." philippians 2:14-15

Apparently when I first came in every single one of these people I met in there were unceaseingly complaining. I just kept quiet like a good boy. ^^v

Well i think there was only one...can't really rmb the rest.

Oh well Goodnight

reflected by Juls @ 12:43 pm

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Saturday, August 11, 2007

The tag, the beret and the collar pin

indeed, they all carry with them the symbol of the elite status of a guardsman, and from hence forth I'll be wearing them, with pride embedded on each one of these accessories. Or as I was told by the Chief of Guards officer when he slapped the tag on me and presented the beret.

Weeee...hurray for company best

Before enlistment I thought nothing was impossible, that I could achieve multitudes and miles and easily plus surely pave my way towards becoming an officer just like my old man. Well, all's changed after enlistment. You encounter limitations..your own limits..limits which determines how much pressure you can take and how much energy you can expand in carrying out the activities/trainings/missions for the day.

Back in bmt I realised these fast and quickly collapse once it became harder and harder to push on, or rather the mental capacity was not there. My most detested sentence was when others start shouting "mind over body...mind over body." Jealousy?? maybe. Maybe that's the reason why I was rejected from command school *shrugs*

However, back here in guards, my performance was rather surprising..to me at least. Even at the peak of fatigue i could still achieve my personal best records; 10.20min for 2.4km run, 8.49min for soc, 17 chin-ups, completing 2km coastal swim without inflating my lifejacket, 10km endurance run in 51.45min...requirment's 1 hour, do lots of other crazy stuffs and still live to tell about it.

Your performance is govern by your limitations, courage and determination is when you exceed these limits.

Many a times during the hundreds of jumping-jacks, flutter-kicks, push-ups and many other crazy stuffs we do like SOCs...I kept telling myself that I'm reaching my limits very soon, that probably anymore of those I'd just collapse and die right there and then...but I never did. I never gave up...Thank God.
My mind grew stronger...tougher...I was impressed by the determination I had in completing the tasks ahead. Never experienced that before, or at the least in bmt.

In the words of my co, "a Guardsman never gives up, a Guardsman never leaves a fellow man behind, a Guardsman is always ready for anything that happens...come 1 min everything on and take up ur stretcher...we're going for a walk." And off we go for a never ending fast march around the vicinity of the camp, even though it was after the guards challenge, in full battle order mind you. [tweaked some things here and there to protect my blog]

Well..my only prayer now is that I'd never grow complacent and continue to strive to be even better at all the things I do. Even to be better then my PC....well that's what he wants me to do, so i'll literally be company's best..better than the commanders =P well well that's gonna take alot of work.

It really reminds me of my old school's motto, "the best is yet to be". It's not like what people like amorn or caryn would say, "oh, so that means your not the best la". Well, in a way as there are still others out there who are better then you without a doubt. But I see it as...being better even though you're the best. Looking in the context of my situation..it means though now I'm better then my fellow peers, I now strive to be better then the commanders, overtake them. It's like upgrading the league you're playing in; once you top the south zone tournament you upgrade to interschool tournament where you compete for the national title, and if you're that zai the national sports council will decide to take you under their wings and you train in the national team to compete with other countries.
All in all it's a forward movement...you continue to be better and better like a runner does, continuously working to break his limitations.
Likewise as a soldier, we activate limitbreaks and start slashing enemies into pulps....ok that was lame.

The line that ends off every victory speech or just any other speech back in acsi, "to God be the glory, the best is yet to be..."

Goodnight

reflected by Juls @ 1:57 am

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Sunday, July 29, 2007

The Guards Creed

We, are Guardsman warriors
Resolute in loyalty
Steadfast in Commitment
We fight for our Country
Our Home
And our Family
Land Warriors from Air and Sea
Unfailing in Toughness
Valiant in our Actions
We destroy all foes who challenge our mission
We are Elite Warriors
With daring initiative
We rule the day
And we rule the night
Always Ready,
Ready to Strike!

The old SAF 7 core values have became obsolete; a thing of the past, and is now replaced by this patriotic but awefully garang guards creed. If you've no idea what I'm talking about it just basically means I'll be shouting those lines up there before any H2O parade, and meals. Weird huh? welcome to Singapore.

5 weeks passes by like a feather afloat in the wind, slowly but surely moving somewhere...somewhere I hope. Intensity is their immense forte whilst turn out's their favourite pass time. Nevertheless, what can't kill you just makes you stronger...and crazier by the seconds. Life still goes on despite all of those stuff going on anyway. Maybe one day I'll just learn to appreciate my civilian days.

I can't write much about guards and what I do...I love my blog and I do intend to keep it.

One and a half more weeks till I pass out as a full fledge guardsman, donning the coverted "sandbag" on my head (the khaki beret) and the Guards tab on my left arm. Looks kinda cool I might say.

Looking forward to better days ahead...may God be my guiding light.

Goodnight

reflected by Juls @ 10:06 pm

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Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Rain Drops

Pitter-patter spitter-spatter
Rain drops Rain drops they fall from the sky
Washes away the dullness of the air
Splatter-splatter splash splash
I hear people scramble for desperate cover
Dodgeing the droplets like an action figure
Shh...tap tap...pause....
I see them through the curtain of water
Standing
Unsheltered
Soaked....but not drenched (there's meaning behind this word)
Cold....but not shivering
Warmed by an immediate embrace,
their hearts beckon for one another.
The leaves rustle and rocks crackle
Sealed
with a kiss
was that instant
romance

Isn't the rain rather wonderful? It produces many different feelings on various different occasions. For some it's dreadful as it means the choice of activities are now restricted to indoors; whilst for some it spells catergory 1 weather which means THERE'S NO SENSELESS TRAINING!! WOHOO!!! Umm..sorry my bad, I promise I will not to go into anymore army talks in this entry. ^^v

However, one thing I feel still remains constant; that slightly mystical and unpredictable nature of rain is what contributes to it's acclaimed romantic characteristic.
Yes, don't you think a stroll in the rain with someone special side by side is rather romantic? With or without an umbrella. A kiss or two under light showers would have painted the perfect picture for Michael Angelo's skilled hands to work on.

Cliche isn't it?

Here's a story inspired by real life experiences, fiction or not I'll leave it to the readers to guess.

"What?! Emerald? that's ridiculous! I mean...do u really think I like some girl who is like 4 years older then me? I mean..of all people man You believe in that kinda gossip? Oh man....."

That was just a snipet....no time to write the story now....esp when i'm gonna train for a khaki beret

reflected by Juls @ 12:22 am

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Sunday, June 10, 2007

And so the countdown begins

Indeed, 2 months have pass very quickly, though as usual when you're going through the pain it does seems like forever.

In exactly 3 days, I'd be saying goodbye to that ever-green island. Yes...POP!!! Weeee!!
Only to await with nerve-wrecking anxiousness the fate that lies before us. Storeman, driver, clerk are unfortunately something we'll just dream about. The options on the various vocations are endless but ironically it's not for us to choose. Sigh.

I wish to set Armee aside for awhile and dwell on other things, like poetry or songs, gossips and idle chatter (well i know gossiping's wrong but it's kinda fun to listen to). I'd like to do a little bit of drawing or sculpturing but never really set my mind on them.
Well anything but armee that's for sure, need a break man...

Haven't been talking to any of my girl friends lately, I mean right now I've entered the stage where when 2 guys start a conversation the topic is horrificly obvious. I'll let you guess what that is. Ladies on the other hand...have more interesting thing to talk about, unless u talk to a woman who signed on in the army.

My idle chatter right here's getting seemingly boring, guess I've really nothing of much interest to talk about as my mind's a blank. No purpose no objective no personality....man Julian you better buck up in your writing.

This is soon-to-be private JT signing off
Goodnight

reflected by Juls @ 4:37 pm

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