3sg

the boy had an exhausted look on his face. it was obvious, considering he had already ran 700m.

so he came up and put both his hands on the bar, then let his legs swing in the air. then he proceeded in reaching for the next bar.

he failed. he lost his grip, and came-a -tumbling to the ground. he went back and tried again.

"relax boy! just make sure you've got both hands on each bar before moving on. now go!"

"YES SERGEANT!" came the reply.

ah? i was taken aback for a while. but i came to realise this.

oh yes, i already AM a sergeant. i kinda forgot about it. haha but it was an interesting experience. ( by the way, the boy did manage to clear the monkey bars obstacle!)

probably most of you don't know, but i'm already a 3rd sgt! it's actually not a big deal, since i'm not a commissioned officer anyway. but to me it is! anyway, the thing is i've been posted back to bmtc. so basically my whole ns life will be spent away in pulau tekong. so i kinda had mixed reactions upon knowing i got posted back to bmtc.

but its cool with me. in fact, i like the feeling of not having to march around the camp, just anyhow walk around the whole place. oh and sometimes get greeted by the recruits. haha it does offer some little pleasures actually, but so far things have been ok.

enough of ns! talk about shopping! haha since when do guys ever talk about shopping? surprising ain't it? i dunno, i think the shopahoilc in me had been unleashed ever since r&r in taiwan. now i'm still having that r&r mindset, where i can do endless shopping! it doesn't help that now all the christmas sales are starting!

i nearly bought that creative zen neeon mp3 player at the sitex sale at the singapore expo. 1 gb mp3 for $279, i think it was quite a good offer. i nearly purchased it, but i decided against it last minute. but i still hav lots of things to buy. a watch, a pair of jeans, more shirts, a new bag...and the list goes on.

any girls want to help me out with my christmas shopping? shop shop shop, everyone wants to shop nowadays!

taiwan

ever had a pimple on your upper lip? i'm not sure if it's normal, but i have one on my upper lip right now. i find it a ridiculous place for a pimple to emerge. and it's painful, but the sight of it is hideous and rather disturbing. oh i didn't mention it last time round, i got stung by a bee last week, my 1st time ever! the idiot me got me after i took a swipe at it. errgh it stung me at my left wrist. almost immediately i took out the sting. initially no allergic reaction whatsoever, but now that whole area is itching like mad. it's now red after i kept scratching it. but it's already a week since i got stung by the bee. and my left knee is also in pain. i've got this niggling pain on my knee and it hurts sometimes even as i walk. haha my body is in a mess now, due to exertions during training. this pain in my knee is a result of yesterday's 22km run, which brings me to my next point.

yesterday i ran 22km. i remember after the 15km mark i swore to myself i wont ever run such a distance ever again. it was gruelling, and the pain in my legs kept shifting here and there. it's hard running such a distance on sandy, then rocky terrain which was so uneven. i finished with a timing of 2 hrs 20mins. not too bad i guess, considering i didnt drink throughout the run. but after the run i broke fast, because i knew i couldn't endure for the whole day. but after that i felt like shit. i mean. it's the first time ever i broke fast before the actual time. i think i could have actually endured the whole day and carry on fasting. i felt like shit yesterday, even now i still do. how do i put it? to me it's like there's no special sense of achievement by just running 22km and not carry on fasting. there's alot of pride involdved in doing so, and now because of that i don't feel the pride in being able to complete the run. fasting aside, i never thought i could ever run such a distance. now i know that i can, that is IF want to in the future. chances are as slim, or even slimmer than na'im. (haha sorry there bro, had to take a pick on you!)

anyway tomorrow i leave for taiwan! i'll fly off at around 1030pm, and reach back on the 12th of november next mont. oh well i don't feel so good actually about this whole taiwan thing. i don't know. it's all because of the uncertainties, and the fact that it is going to be tough. i'll probably try and fast for as many days as i can, since combat rations are never tasty anyway. never mind that. like one of my platoon mates said, - all we have there is each other. which is quite true. i suppose i'll try and have fun there. but since my handphone doesn't have autoroaming, no one will be able to contact me anyway, so wait till i'm back if there's anything for me to know! haha as if anyone messages me frequently here anyway!so if anything, pray for my safety and well-being in taiwan. till then, have a nice day all of you!

birthday

fucked up. i blogged for a whole hour than when i clicked e button to post the posting it disappeared and there goes all my work. what the fuck right. ya so here is my long-awaited posting. fucked up.

my birthday passed like any other day. as for those who are as ignorant as ever, it was on 7th september. i do;t expect everyone to really make note of it, so i don't really bother much about it myself. but thanks anyway to those who wished me well and actually remembered. even to elsie, who wished me 8 days after my birthday passed. well it doesn't really matter, because to me it's the thought that counts ultimately. at least they remembered.

so last weekend the girls from my class had some sort of a combined mini-celebration for me, fabian and jerome, since he three of us were all born in september. had dinner at some turkish restaurant at far east plaza, where most of them didn't really like the food they served. then we walked all the way to plaza singapura and had ice cream and some cakes. overall it was ok, though i would say it was a muted affair due to the lack of people attending. well at least there was some celebration. i remember last year clearly, what i was doing. i was mugging history in school with irma, despite it being my birthday. heck, every year my birthday comes and goes but that aint the same for a lvls right?

the same goes for hari raya. i'll spending hari raya in taiwan because of the training schedule. this will be more sucky. i mean, it just sucks to go into forests and become a fighting patrol in a foreign land during hari raya. i can't imagine the feeling. i mean, i remember again from last year that i was studying maths with hasan at cck communtiy club on the 2nd day of hari raya. but surely this is incomparable to what i'll go through soon. but the same thing applies, every year my birthday comes and goes, so does hari raya. every single year of my lifeboth my birthday and hari raya will appear somewhere in the calendar and i will get to celebrate in in the years to come. ah, it's sad being a soldier, spending precious time in a foreign land. but heck, i guess that's just part and parcel of NS, something that i've come to terms with i guess.

so there, nothing much has happened as of late. i actually can't wait for 2005 to end, because this year kinda sucked for me, and this year has passed so fast without anything remarkable or outstanding for me to take note of. oh well, gotta go now, till then, hav a gd day!

p.s: stop irritating me with your words and your self-glorifying character. when will you ever realise that it is simply your presence, if not your character, that simply makes people despise you or even avoid you? i can't believe such a person could ever even exist.

yo

caught the england-wales match yesterday. i think it was more of a footbore than it was a football match. so drab, and only 1 goal was scored. pathetic, i say. i can't believe i travlled all the way to chijmes just to catch a boring game. should have jus stayed home and caught dude where's my car instead(damn i totally forgot it was being screened last night on channel 5!)

am very tired now. guess it's the exertions that has taken it's toll on me. add to that my lack of sleep and my inability to sleep when i need it the most. irritating. anyways i just got my dark green beret last thursday. it's hard to wear a beret and look good in it, because one has to keep adjusting here and there. one can end up looking like a cook(or rather, a cock) or even a sailor! haha that's actually because the beret isn't seasoned yet, hence it still feels rather stiff all around.

oh well, today i'm gonna blog on a topic that's surely close to all of us - friends. but nothing positive about it. it's all gonna be negative i guess.i dunno, it's juat this thing about friends has always triggered trains of thoughts in my mind for a very long time. i've always wondered alot on friendships and such stuffs. maybe what i want to say here may not correspond with what you guys believe in, but well, everyone has different views on various matters.

firstly, one thing that has bothered me is the issue of best friends. first and foremost, i don't believe in such a thing called 'best friend'. i have never had a best friend before, not because no one wants to be, mind you, but because it's just so hard to have a friend who is really gonna be your 'best friend'. seriously. i think alot of people have best friends, but do they really qualify as the 'best friend' that i'm referring to here?

best friends share the same interests,passion, mindsets attitude etc. they like each other's presence and hence hang around rather often. but i believe best friends are forever, not just through our secondary school life and that's it, end of the best friendship. best friends will go through changes, i mean who doesn't change over time, but surely they change together and still remain intact as they go through such changes. or even when best friends go seperate ways when they go on to different schools, surely they will still remain close and in contact, and still do the things they used to do. and they will still remain as best friends even as they grow up, as they get married and have children, and as they grow older, into their twilight years, one thing is for sure - that they will still enjoy each other's companionship because it makes them a better person.

hence therein lies the problem. is there assurance that best friends are for forever? what usually happens is this, that once best friends leave school and go on to newer pastures, usually they break contact and their best friendship is buried forever. the cycle goes on as an individual moves on to newer pastures, as he/she loses a best friends and makes another, thnen loses that best friend and makes another and so on. i find it absurd to have an 'ex-best friend', or rather 'ex-best friends', honestly.

that's why i simply refuse to classify anyone as a 'best friend'. why? because they never last. because it's really hard to maintain close contact, what more meeting up regularly, whaen best friends go to seperate schools i once had a good and close friend who proclaimed herself as 'my best friend'(she said - yusri, i'm your best friend) and that was back in my secondary school days. and now? my handphone number isn't even stored in her handphone, although i know she did have it once. well maybe she lost her handphone, but if she's really the 'best friend' i was once supposed to have, then why didn't she bother finding my number back? in fact till now i find it hard to believe she actually self-proclaimed herself as my best friend. because i knew it would be so hard just to keep contact after we left for different schools at the end of secondary four.

even when i'm not referring to best friends, even the normal friends are had to keep contact with. a friend once said to me - i have forgotten friends and i have been a forgotten friend. it makes me wonder who is really at fault here. the one who was forgotten may have actually be the one who has forgotten, and vice versa. it's really hard to define. i'm seriously not sure whether i have forgotten friends before, but i know i have been a forgotten friend. a few times i think. suddenly i would get close to someone for some reason, and then the next moment he/she is never there for me anymore. i suppose time changes, and people change as well. it's sad and regrettable when such things happen, but i suppose in the future there are many more friends for me to befriend.

As we go on
We remember
All the times we
Had together
And as our lives change
Come Whatever
We will still be
Friends Forever

im sure you all know this song. but the message the that the song brings across is surely non-evident to me. at least, from what i've seen, noticed and experienced for myself. maybe you people might beg to differ. like i've said, each to his own.

nothing

i don't know why i feel like blogging today. weird. i've just completed reading some of my friend's blogs. interesting, the things that they write about. reading up on the things that happen in their lives. many just don't realise how lucky they are to still be able to mug, to read books, to stay in libraries till they close for the day, to be able to go out and all this. wait till they come in my shoes, then they'll be glad they are having problems solving funny integration sums or tackling some tough gp questions.

but reading other peaople's blogs presents some sort of a reminder to my past. if not, then it becmes somw sort of a harbinger form me. if not, then it represents on what i'm missing out. the blog entries depicting life in universities kinda make me feel envious more than anything. i'm missing out on so much. urrgh. it's like people are having fun in universties. i know i know, 1st week already and there's tons of work. but hey, i think it's quite exciting starting out in a new school, new environment all this.

and the past. some blogs talk about mugging for the exams, how stressed they are trying to complete their workload that never seems to end. haha, i've good great memories of 2004. the mugging and all. come to think of it, was quite fun mugging away with friends. i suppose i asked nearly everyone who is close to me to come join me at woodlands library to mug away. damn funny.

woodlands library became my second home. almost every weekend was spent there, and during the study break almost every day was spent there as well. i still remember, me waiting at e front gate by 1130hrs just to get be able to get the chance to rush for good seats for me and my friends. haha let me recall the people with whom i've mugged with - fabian, jerome, hasan, naim, shariffah, sahibah, farah, irma, adrian, juli, haekal...and the list goes on, for i can't recall everyone. but ya, it's like iv'e nearly asked everyone around me to mug with me. weirdo.

but i mugged the most with hasan. i suppose he's the smartest of the lot(with due respect to the rest of course). furthermore, he's the only bugger who's willing to sacrifice time with me just to mug. and we really mug like 5-6 hours at 1 shot. and not only at woodlands library - i remember we mugged at this mcdonalds at raffles place, the ar-raudhah mosque library, jurong east library, cck community club mcdonalds. i was nuts over mugging.

but it's fun, i assure you. it's like a time to study, yet get to know your friends more. you actually learn more by studying in groups, and at least there's a companion for you to engage with if you are bored. ah such a ptiy i don't have to do it anymore.

memories are nice to dwell on. sometimes i just sit down and think about all the things that i've done in the years gone by. it's nice if i could relive them once again. haha i think you all think i'm nuts for saying mugging is fun. well, each to his own.

gonna get ready to go out and do some shopping! i need a new belt! and priobably some tops to go along with it. gd day then!

corporal!

ok so now i'm officially corporal yusri. finally, there's a rank on my army uniform! haha actually, corporal isn't any big deal. wait till i become a sergeant, thn that's the big deal. well actually, not really. but never mind. oh i had to march 32km on friday night through the wee hours of the morning till around 6.30am. 32km! is no joke, i can tell you that! that's at least 6 km longer than the width of singapore at its longest. such an arduos and impossible task, but i did it! haha...oops i'll stop this bragging now.

so yeah, i'm going to the advanced section leader course, still in pulau tekong, in sispec. damn. but i suppose i've no choice. in maybe around 11 weeks time then i'll pass out as a 3rd sergeant! hopefully i will make it then. ah, it's been such a tiring week. i'm glad i have a break of around 4 days to recover and recuperate. time for me to enjoy myself and spend with myself. and to also sort things out about myself, and catch up on things that i've missed out. like football.

i totally have no idea what's going on in the epl now. actually i do, but it's so skimpy. well, now i do know quite a bit. that's why oon saturday evening (despite the exertions caused by the 32km route march), i decided to follow fabian and jj go chjimes and catch the chelsea-spurs match. my first tme catching a live game outside of my home! haha, i sound pathetic. well, the match was kinda dull after mido's sending-off. but i guess it was an interesting experience for me. chjimes is an interesting place, and quite peaceful at that. just sitting down peacefully and drinking my root beer float(which tasted abit weird) in an open air cafe. what a nice moment to savour. i shall try and make time for such occassions in the future. it's really well worth it.

the biggest news to rock newreaders this month? i say it's e israeli pullout from its occupied territories in gaza. it's really something big, i tell you. haha maybe alot of you guys dunno hell what i'm talking about. well, get a life you all, and go read up! this is your beloved earth anyway, and its really worth your time at least finding out what the hell's happening around you. and there's so many other things happening. the debacle over iraq, north korea, iran, EU and many others. sometimes i wonder why such things happen.

i realised this - that whatever happens today is directly caused by what happened in the days gone by. seriously, history is one of the most, if not the most, important and enriching subject there is around. and from this i realised, that to me, the 2 most important subjects that are around that everyone should have deep passion from it are history, and science.

for history, i have explained why it is important. but why science? to me history and science are bourne out of the same essence - why things happen? why does this and not that happen? science explains why things happen, like history, although their scopes are different. why can we walk? why do we eat? why can i see each other, while some people can't see? science explains it all. science is the answer to the simplest of things. like history, science works the same way - it's all about asking questions, and finding the evidence and the resources to find the answer to all.

don't you agree? i mean who cares about romeo and juliet? (pardon my biasedness against literature, it's because i really hate literature). many answers can easily be provided by science or history. people like to accuse me of being 'some history freak', but hey - at least i know the reason for things. at least i know the israeli pullout from gaza is a very significant event in 2005. and many don't even know where gaza is, or even what it is. it's sad. many rather live in denial, in their own absurd world of skateboards, of mesh caps, of tapered pants, of stupid-looking hair, of male pink clothes etc

i suppose you all realise just how biased yusri can be.

why things happen today

ah, i just booked out this morning. and i am to book in later in the evening. this sucks. depsite me passing out from this course this coming weekend (and also promoted to the rank of corporal!), life has been sucky. in fact, this last week will the most suckiest of all. oh well, i guess i gotta endure through it all.

definition of weird : something unexpected, unusual, bizarre

really? hmm...you might be wondering why i am discussing about the definition of the word weird. simple: its just weird too ( and i thought weird was spelt as wierd, which is wrong!). actually, it's just that i've seen too many wierd things and heard alot of wierd things about people and happenings. not that i've never come across such things my whole life with an alarmingly high frequency. it's just that now then i've actually thought about this term itself.

weird: something that is unorthodox, and defies the rational thinking of a perfectly normal mind

i suppose that's my own definition. but i must stress the point, that it's not like i'm not a weirdo myself. i sure am, in one way or another. the difference is how weird one can get. but there are very troubling things that occupy my mind sometimes. like yesterday, for example. i just found it weird that my live firing was to be carried out right beside ntu. i found that rather weird. it's like this, a school, wrong, a university, adjacent to a live firing area? isn't that weird? i mean c'mon man, i can't imagine going to school when there's like a live firing jus opposite to it. and the entrance to the school is so, forested. it's like entering the road to the singapore zoo. i guess the surroundings plays an important role in developing someone. no offence but, i guess that's why i somehow view ntu students differently apart from nus and smu students.

weird isn't it? here's something even weirder. imagine some guy walks up to you and wants to borrow a pen from you, but it's plain obvious you are using it. hence you tell guy," sorry man, but i'm using it now, could you borrow it from someone else?" yet the guy persists, and continues to pester you even though you've said over and over again you can't lend it to him. but the guy continues to annoy you. and finally he comes up with a solution - "can i like borrow your pen, then you go and borrow another pen from some one else?"

kudos to this guy for such an ingenious solution even i can't dream up such a solution myself. trust me, it really happened. i wonder why are there such people in this world. why must there be people who just cannot follow the rational train of thoughts, and must stand out through such preposterous ways, and end up getting maligned and ostracised by the people around them. so who is to be blamed here? it's all too ridiculous to me.

so why? why do such things happen? is it because of the rebellious nature of such people? is it because they just don't see the point in being mainstream, hence they rebel against the mainstream? a friend of mine once told that last time in his secondary school, there was this guy who wasn't gay but acted very girlishly and in a gay manner almost all of the time in school. but i shall spare you the vivid details of his acts. the reason? apparently this bugger just wants to piss people off. even such people exist. weird isn't it?

what's up with this people man? get a life, i say to you all. even my mundane and much derided life isn't as abnormal and as ludicrous as you all.

feeling like shit

ah, i feel like shit now. having flu and sore throat, and coughs with phlegm too. ah i must have contracted it from one of my bunkmates. errghh the feeling is really like shit. it kinda weakens me, and i've lost my voice. i went out with jj just now,and halfway through our conversation, my voice kinda faded off slowly and in the end i realised my voice had turned hoarse. i was actually struggling to talk,and walking around made me feel slightly breathless. damn this flu!

anyway actually i was supposed to go cycling at east coast. ah but one by one all of my friends pulled out last min, for some reason or another. what a pity. i haven't cycled since early thisyear. so last minture i just met up with jj 4 a while,jus to catch up on each other's lives. oh and i got a new handphone along the way too. the nokia 6101, the one with a clamshell design. it has an antenna though, but i figured it would be wierd without the antenna. anyway i think it looks stylish to me. so heck all those 3G handphones with their bluetooth and their symbian thingy. hell, what's a symbian anyway? errgh, im so ashamed of myself for being so outdated in such knowledge.

and yeah, it's official. i've gained weight. an extra 2.6kg, to be exact. 67.6kg is my weight now. urrgh, i'm turning fatter, not muscular. no wonder my army uniforms now feel tighter. wow i better watch out now. if i gain even more weight, i might overshoot my healthy BMI range. now that's funny. last time i was too skinny,and i felt kinda thin. now i'm supposed to believe that im actually fat? hell no man, i don't wanna be fat! i think its because of my huge appetite that has increased since enlistment. i get hungry easily nowadays. sigh. i did want to gain weight, but not this much!

oh well. heck! gonna turn in now and try drive this irritatingly annoying flu n sore throat away! gd day!

the revolutionary fire in me

ah! my first ever posting on this new blog address of mine. why change blogs,you may ask? oh well, i somehow got sick of my old blog and my style and way of blogging on my old blog. worst is, i can't be talking about my NS life all the way on my blog right? so i've decided to include my own thoughts on several matters as and when i think it is worth noting down.

so presto! this is what my new blog will represent. a change. a revamp. or rather, a revolution. i might be exaggerating, but hey, things certainly must change around here. change must always take place, even though it cannot always be for the better. but this shall definitely signal a new change for me i guess.

apparently i've changed, in the physical sense. no thanks to NS, of course. mum says i look meatier. based on facts, that is so very true. after BMT i put on 4kg to 65.1kg. now? i'm quite sure i'm heavier, by at least 2kg. clare commented that i look taller. that, i think is also true. i myself do feel slightly taller,but by how much? i'm not sure.

and apparently, according to and old schoolmate i ran into last week, i look more 'groomed'. groomed? haha what a word! really! apparently i look so much different from 2 years ago. haha! that's good to know. i suppose i can seek comfort in the knowledge that my dressing sense has somewhat improved?

groomed - an interesting term to use. haha i suppose i shall take that positively! oh well e national day parade is starting soon! time to gaze at the military hardware that the SAF possesses and admire at how the marching contigent marches and turns with military precision! after that? time to book in, and resume the work that i now embrace - that is defending the motherland.

happy 40th birthday Singapore!

oh and do remember to tag yea!