One and a half years on...

Haha. Can't believe i'm actually doing this but ya... one and a half years on and my life has changed dramatically! and even that's an understatement. reading my old posts made me feel so naive for thinking NS was just another phase of my life to pass.. ITS NOT. its HELL! but ya, not allowed to really say that but to enlighten you further on my realization of this, here's a brief update on my life the past 18 months..

July 2008: Get note from Singapore Sailing that I was gonna go to 4.7 worlds in Croatia!!!!!

August 2008: Immediately upon my last prelim exam, I flew via Singapore to Croatia for worlds. needless to say, it was an excellent experience. the beaming sun. the crystal-clear waters. the refreshing breezes. the hot babes. the immense culture of the adriatic coast. and the food, oh, hmmm. the food... there was this one day where we took our power boat round to the other end of the island we're on, parked our boat near shore, jumped into the lukewarm waters and swam to shore before indulging ourselves in a Mediterranean feast whilst drying ourselves off.. the view then was amazing and my only regret was the lack of any image capturing devices :(  but moving on, croatia was amazing in more than one way, for example it was the first world class event where i didn't completely screw up. after finishing 182nd in spain (2003) and 125th in switzerland (2005), i actually came close to winning! haha but it was not meant to be and i guess i was and am still pumped about getting the silver medal...

September-Decmeber 2008: 3 months of intense (ok maybe not really) studying for my HSC (A level equivalent for all you singaporeans out there and a month of waiting for results), i was pretty complacent in the sense i spent almost half my time playing PS2 as a way to "de-stress" as my mom would angrily testify to.. eventually the 2 subjects i studied hardest for (english and math ext 2) turned out pretty well (89 and 92 respectively) whereas the subjects i thought i would ace didn't (89-physics, 87-chemistry) and the rest were alrite 99 for math ext 1 and 90 for modern history. my parents were pretty disappointed that i didn't get the all rounders award (>90 in 5 subjects or more) and ended up with a 98.65 UAI (rank equivalent to top 1.35% in state :) ) which according to my parents were "not up to the potential of what could've been 99". but its fine with me...

November 2008/December 2008/January 2009: On the sailing scene, things really started to pick up after the exams, I began training almost everyday and running alot (which i absolutely detest) and it yielded pretty alrite results. 4th in brisbane, 2nd in sydney, 10th at nationals and 2nd at youths. i was relatively happy with it as well as the constant assurance that my enlistment could be deferred to allow me to participate in the ISAF Youth worlds in Brazil that very july. the pinnacle event of my year and my youth... 

March 2009: After 2 weeks of intense physical and on-water training for youth worlds i gained the confidence i needed to actually head into youth worlds with optimism and confidence. however, it was not meant to be as the singapore govt booted me back to army to enlist on april 15. d-day in my opinion.

April 14 2009: sobbing and crying my hearts out (joking).. i lamented the lack of family support as well as the impending outcome of the following day, fortunately sheena's birthday was the same day and my problems were solved by a gathering cum celebration we had.

April 15 2009: i enlisted. the 2 (or 1 word) i detest the most and till this very day. bmtc wasn't that bad although the first 2 weeks felt like 6 months, everyday was long tiresome and outright miserable. if it wasn't for the "angels" or "garang soldiers" that shared this misery with me (Raven Coy Platoon 3!!!) life would have been unbearable. downright horrible...

(part 2 to be continued after i finish my army-related (sigh!) errands...