Christmas Wishlist

I Declare Myself "Mister Player" tank from New Urban Male, SGD$69.90 before discount. 20% storewide discount on weekends. 20% havianas/flip-flops on all days for SAFRSA card member. Buy any 3 items and get 4th item free on all days for SAFRA card member.

I only want this particular design!! =)



Braziliano Praia "Beetle" series, SGD$49.90 from New Urban Male. Any decent colours. Pink, for instance, is indecent. 20% storewide discount on weekends. 20% havianas/flip-flops on all days for SAFRA card member. Buy any 3 items and get 4th item free on all days for SAFRA card member.

Take note, I only want the "Beetle" series for only this series won't separate my big toe from the rest of the toes. Look carefully at the above pictures and you will realise. Please, NO OTHER SERIES that separate my big toe from the rest is allowed! =)



Armani Exchange Logo Belt. US$48.00 from the online U.S. store, should be around SGD$129 from local outlets. I couldn't find pictures of my most preferred white logo belt that I saw at the Ngee Ann City's outlet, but I think I can make do with this. =) Of course, I would still LOVE to own that white logo belt from AX. =)

Thank you! *Hugz*

Not Straight Enough

Almost a year in this organisation, the way signed-on military personnel does things still never fail to amuse me.

Like during a recent exhibition of our equipments to some foreign VIP, we had to place our equipments in such a manner that it aligns with the brick tiles on the parade square.

With that comes repeated pushing of the 4-tonne equipment (manually, of course!) under the scorching mid-morning sun, while wearing the military-issued helmet (that won't serve the purpose of protecting you from any head injuries anyways since the act of pushing the equipment will not, within my imagination and knowledge, cause any form of head injuries) which makes your head feels as if it is steaming xiao long baos for Ding Tai Fung restaurant.

Then you get agitated and volatile, and will starting hating the nation for making you endure such shit.

Then you make yourself promise that you will never, EVER help to defend this nation when Malaysia finally decides to commence their military attack instead of just initiating another verbal warfare.

Then, you will realise that this foreign VIP won't be so intellectually-challenged as to notice and comment how our equipments are not aligned according to the tessellations (I need to google this word to check its spelling!).

After all, this is a display of our military capabilities (or the lack of it) and not some "Who Is The Most Anal Person?" contest.

And you realise how unnecessary the alignment was and how ridiculous our high-ranking officials are as to insist on the alignment.

And then you are amused, once more.

To give or to receive, that is the question

It's almost December -- the month of festivities (albeit commercialised), the month of celebrations, the month of sharing and giving.

Perhaps retailers were the ones who came up with that last description for December to boost their sales. It may be just a ploy, but I am willing to believe in the idea of giving during this festive season.

After all, life is not all about receiving. You need to give. You need to learn to give. You can't forever be on the receiving end.

You cannot see the act of giving as a subtraction of your own personal wealth. That's far too myopic. The act of giving goes far beyond the satisfaction of one's material comforts; the act includes the "feel-good" factor that only can be derived when you share, the act itself is a form of socialising -- by making others happy, you are already connecting with others, bridging any gaps that may exist, leaving a better impression of yourself in others. The act is more than just "helping" others; you will eventually "help" yourselves as kindness will come back you.

It's like karma. Cause-and-effect. What goes around comes around. However you want to see it as.

You give, people will remember your givings and they will give back to you.

They will. Stop all your pessimistic and sceptical views of human nature. Because no matter how fucked-up human nature already is, there's one thing that's good -- most of us believe in cause-and-effect, we will give back to you when you give something to us.

I'm not expecting you to give beyond your financial capabilities. For example, I really that grey leather Calvin Klein bag, but I wouldn't expect to receive that for Christmas or for my upcoming birthday, because that bag costs a whopping SGD$599.00 without discount, and because I know that price tag is far beyond what my friends can afford.

BUT, things are a little different if you have had a windfall, when the money that you've gained is not through the means of your own hard work, not through sweating and toiling, not through accummulating lactic acid in every single muscles of your body.

You are expected to treat. To give. To share.

It's not a rule. It's a custom.

It's not wrong not to give. It's not written black-and-white under local laws that the reluctance of sharing a windfall with others is a chargable offence. But it's a custom.

Like if you just won $20 from all ofyour other three opponenets in a mahjong game, you are expected to treat. It's not stated in any mahjong rule book, but it's not a rule.

It's a custom.

Going against this social norm is like defiance. Like disrupting the harmony and the perfectly-balanced Yin and Yang that normal people have scrupulously built and maintained since time immemorial.

And it tels us a lot about one's character.

Selfish? Maybe, but not quite there yet. Money-minded? Certainly, but neither do we have the rights to blame him for that. Because it's not a rule to treat the rest using your winnings from the game. It's MERELY a custom. Greedy? Perhaps, but not to that full extent too.

Because we cannot fault him. It's neither a rule nor a law.

It's JUST custom.

For such person, he shouldn't be expecting anything from me Santa this Christmas, because he hasn't been good.

"But, Santa! I HAVE been good. I've never squandered a single penny from my parents' wealth! I have scrimped and saved all my money! I collect unwanted things from others to re-use! I've saved a lot of money! I AM a good boy this year!"

"My dear boy, haven't you understand? Life isn't about receiving. You need to learn how to give, how to share. I am merely giving you a taste of your own medicine. So, no pressies for you this Christmas. Now, fuck off."

The act of giving transcends the balance in material well-being. It's about making friends, strengthening bonds and most importantly, it should be about making people happy without expecting any gains in return.

Being stingy and selfish won't get you anywhere. No one would be willing to lend you a helping hand should you need one in future, because people will always remember what a miser you were previously, so there won't be any motivation for them to help you.

Plus, how are you going to get yourself attached if you continue to be so money-minded? If you were to insist on going Dutch for every single meal, movie or taxi ride, your relationship won't last. Such act is just not gentlemanly.

The act of being too overly-concerned with money is just an example of failed moral education in general.

You have failed as a human being.

P.S. Even though I think you guys still cannot afford it, but I still hope for that grey leather Calvin Klein bag for Christmas. =) Alternatively, that white Armani Exchange leather belt, with a huge rectangular buckle which has "AX" on it, is also ideal. $139 before discount. 30% storewide sale at Armani Exchange now. $97 after discount.

Pawns

The thing about being a man for your National Service is that you need to learn how to be a pawn. A disposable, dispensable piece of tool that only has temporal value. No matter how great were your scholastic achievements back in JC and secondary school, you need to adapt.

And you need to adapt real quickly. Because in the military world, which functions in a completely different manner from the normal outside world, rank is king, regardless of one's capabilities. The environment is so detached from normality that if an NSF fails to learn to respect that custom, they will find themselves engulfed by unfairness and grievances, which they would desprately try to get out of or to change.

It's not that by adapting to the military's way of doing things will immune you from being engulfed by unfairness and grievances. It's just that if you can adapt, you can take things easy.

Then you save yourself from any inferiority complex.

Men are like paper utensils. There are loads of us. The women in Singapore mass-produced us. We are everywhere, disposable, easily replacable. Hence, do not expect to be treated with much dignity. Get used to it. You are merely a tool to help those officers to achieve what they want: allow them to command you around to meet their promotion criteria, help them do loads of saigang so that your unit can be awarded the Best Unit, help them with all the paperwork and stores maintenance so that there will be no findings during any audit.

At the end of the day, who gets the benefit? It's not you. no medallions, no trophies, no certificates, no cash incentives, no days off (okay, if you are lucky you do get a couple, but that's about it), no quicker promotion, no further promotion.

Nothing. We get nothing. The big boss up there will get all the credit. He will be promoted. He shall be praised. He may get a pay raise.

All you get at the end of the day are repeated denials of your privileges, the removal of your dignity and basic human rights by being ordered to have your dinner outside the platoon office while seated along the corridor and nothing close to a word of "Thanks".

that's the life of being a man. Get used to it. We are merely pawns for the officers.

I Can't Count

Saturday was embarrassing.

Well, not for me, at least. Our squadron had a recall and was activated. We had to return to camp as part of this Operational Readiness Assessment (ORA).

The embarrassing moment came in the afternoon just before the assessment began proper. The entire squadron had to fall in so that our strength can be taken. However, it was appalling to see how our high-ranking officers fumbled at strength-accounting, right in front of the assessors.

They just make primary 1 arithmetic looks like rocket science.

It's just a matter of simple addition and subtraction. Yet, they took nearly an hour to account for our strength of about 140.

How difficult can it be to count 140 people?

They just simply embarrassed themselves, not only in front of the assessors, but also in front of their own men as well. They just simply reaffirm most of our sceptical views that the high-ranking officers are not as capable, efficient and competent as they seemed/are supposed to be -- a view that we have ever since we enlist.

It was such a disgrace. How can I feel proud to be part of this squadron?

How can I even be proud of serving my nation?

Why is that there wherever we go, we still get screwed-up officers? Why can't for once I see a unit that has all its officers living up to the image that the entire Singapore has envisioned?

How can I even trust our own defence force when they cannot even accomplish a simple task of calculation?

It's probably not an isolated case. Just ask around and you will hear amazing stories of astonishing officers who have done appalling things.

Fucked-up officers are everywhere.

As what one of our 1st Sergeant had said, "Give me your Major rank. I can count for you." Indeed, this 1st sergeant is probably one of the most competent army personnel I've ever seen. And he's only an ITE graduate.

What happened to our officers who are university graduates?

It's disheartening.