brand new colony
Its that time of the year again. Everyone's all going about doing their reflections on the year past and resolutions for the new one. As if they had any intention of keeping them in the first place. But then 2005's been a pretty eventful year for me so I just feel like going with the crowd and doing the cliched thing this time.
I suppose I might say I've probably sat on a plane more times this year than in all the years of my lifetime combined. Lets see. First ride was on a C-130 that I didn't even have the privilege of landing in. But that jump was significant because it came right after my horror jump previously. I had been making my way out the door of a frikkin Fokker 50 when I got hit by the blasts of air outside. They call it the slipstream or windshear or something. But whatever it was was enough to knock me off my feet and slam me into the side of the aircraft door, leaving me stuck with my upper torso inside the plane, my lower body dangling outside in the 125 knot wind and me in a semi-conscious state, barely able to comprehend what was going on. The jumpmaster literally kicked me out the door. Good thing he did too. According to him, if I'd been a little less lucky that day it would've taken a helluva lot of thread to sew me back together. I was scared shitless by that event and was actually considering coming up with some nonsense to escape the jump in January this year. But I'm glad I went ahead with it and managed to overcome the fear somewhat. It was a far from perfect jump though. I think I screwed up my exit posture and managed to get myself drifting to God knows where, landing just behind some parked C-130s with a frikkin long walk and one helluva pissed off jumpmaster to face.
The next few flights were nowhere as exciting but the fact that I could make them served to emphasise a very significant event. ORD LO!!!!!!!!!! Down to Chiang Mai, Thailand to visit and bless the Lahu village that my church had adopted and then to Hong Kong for a wonderful and well deserved holiday with the rest of the guys. And finally the recent trip to Turkey! Ok so maybe its not more than I've ever sat, but its the most number of countries I've been to in a single year. Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Turkey...and Thailand again in a few days time!! Woo!
The first four months of this year seemed to crawl by like a sloth with narcoleptic tendencies. I still remember griping to someone while doing guard duty about how this the days seem to give new meaning to 'drag-ass'. The wait for ORD is perhaps the longest wait a Singaporean male will ever accomplish. Army sucks. Big time. Everytime I start remembering donning my no.1 uniform for the ORD parade or putting on the red beret for the first time, I also start remembering myself having to clear a huge rubbish pile and scrub the floor on the my frikkin ORD date. My CSM wouldn't sign the release forms unless we did one last area cleaning for a place that someone else had messed up and not bothered to take responsibility for.
The months after that though seem to have passed in a flash. Going to the NUS Arts Faculty has been one of the best decisions I've made in recent years and the semester seems to have dashed by like a shopaholic to a sale. For once going to school has lost the aura of being a chore and become something that I actually find myself looking forward to lots of times. Ok I'll admit it. I'm a geek. But I'm a happy geek so who gives a shit. Think I'd better stop rambling. I could go on and on. Its been a good year. And so far the next one's not looking too bad either.
I suppose I might say I've probably sat on a plane more times this year than in all the years of my lifetime combined. Lets see. First ride was on a C-130 that I didn't even have the privilege of landing in. But that jump was significant because it came right after my horror jump previously. I had been making my way out the door of a frikkin Fokker 50 when I got hit by the blasts of air outside. They call it the slipstream or windshear or something. But whatever it was was enough to knock me off my feet and slam me into the side of the aircraft door, leaving me stuck with my upper torso inside the plane, my lower body dangling outside in the 125 knot wind and me in a semi-conscious state, barely able to comprehend what was going on. The jumpmaster literally kicked me out the door. Good thing he did too. According to him, if I'd been a little less lucky that day it would've taken a helluva lot of thread to sew me back together. I was scared shitless by that event and was actually considering coming up with some nonsense to escape the jump in January this year. But I'm glad I went ahead with it and managed to overcome the fear somewhat. It was a far from perfect jump though. I think I screwed up my exit posture and managed to get myself drifting to God knows where, landing just behind some parked C-130s with a frikkin long walk and one helluva pissed off jumpmaster to face.
The next few flights were nowhere as exciting but the fact that I could make them served to emphasise a very significant event. ORD LO!!!!!!!!!! Down to Chiang Mai, Thailand to visit and bless the Lahu village that my church had adopted and then to Hong Kong for a wonderful and well deserved holiday with the rest of the guys. And finally the recent trip to Turkey! Ok so maybe its not more than I've ever sat, but its the most number of countries I've been to in a single year. Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Turkey...and Thailand again in a few days time!! Woo!
The first four months of this year seemed to crawl by like a sloth with narcoleptic tendencies. I still remember griping to someone while doing guard duty about how this the days seem to give new meaning to 'drag-ass'. The wait for ORD is perhaps the longest wait a Singaporean male will ever accomplish. Army sucks. Big time. Everytime I start remembering donning my no.1 uniform for the ORD parade or putting on the red beret for the first time, I also start remembering myself having to clear a huge rubbish pile and scrub the floor on the my frikkin ORD date. My CSM wouldn't sign the release forms unless we did one last area cleaning for a place that someone else had messed up and not bothered to take responsibility for.
The months after that though seem to have passed in a flash. Going to the NUS Arts Faculty has been one of the best decisions I've made in recent years and the semester seems to have dashed by like a shopaholic to a sale. For once going to school has lost the aura of being a chore and become something that I actually find myself looking forward to lots of times. Ok I'll admit it. I'm a geek. But I'm a happy geek so who gives a shit. Think I'd better stop rambling. I could go on and on. Its been a good year. And so far the next one's not looking too bad either.
posted by isaac! at 1:18 AM
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