a momentuous week

celebration, celebration.
first, i achieved what i predicted for A levels, no more no less, in an emphatic fashion! 4 As and a GP A grade with 2 merits to end off the 2 years, concluding them well spent. secondly, i secured the ippt silver grade! hah, finally could do 8 pull ups and broke the duck for 2.4km with a 10.50min timing. thirdly, i survived the ultimate 24km route march! most imptly, the indomitable spirit was burning right within that saw me through this 24km filled with blisters and abrasions. who cares! I FINISHED IT! hah.

WELL DONE
YONG CHUEN!
WELL DONE!

Ok, so i shall recall the eventful day on 1st March 2006.
Results day came to me very much as the one and only few chances to go back to AJ with such a grand welcome and spectacle, so i was actually really looking forward to it. Of course, with that came the need to dress well, hah, obviously -.- Long b4 this day, i had already tot thru of what to wear, and settled on a white shirt and white pants. Settled! Jaguar booked out early morning at 8am from Tekong, and i made my way home anxiously, and also partly worried - i had to finish up the videos for Alvin and his OCIP ppt due for inspection by Ms Chan. Chop chop, the time ticked quickly as i soon made my way to AMK, late as usual, leaving home at 12.40 when i told the guys tomeet at 1245 haha. on the bus, i received this msg from ms chan telling me that she wun tell me anything, but she said congrates. that really gave me something more to hope for in the coming hour, but i kept it at bay as i rushed for time. ok, reached kfc super late, sometime around 110 to meet up with samuel, chunhong, qiyuan, kendrick, nicklaus and weikeong. as a nsf imperative, we kicked start our conversations peppered with those ns terms and told stories of camp. great feeling to see and chat with old friends and classmates again! had to rush down(what wk so proudly called 'double' even outside camp, hah) the kfc meals b4 we trodded down the familiar path to aj, bypassing the good old library. the hall was already packed by the time we came and had to squeeze through the back door right be4 those equally excited j1s awaiting to see us take our results. slowly, the anxiety set in, and the fear doubled. still trying to figure out what ms chan was aiming at, i began to lose hope slowly as the top few students' names were read out. 8 distinctions, 7 distinctions followed by 6. maybe ms chan's congratulations was meant just for gp, not as an overall statement. i began to start fearing for slightly worse results as the principal had to add on that aj did not do well, while i definitely did not even haf 6 distinctions. sighs, another results day without a chance to be called out proudly. anyways, then i started to queue for my results at the 06/04 booth manned by our PD tutor Mr Kho. As usual, as i took to the seat looking down on the floor, praying real hard, Mr Kho said "kao de bu chuo ma, yongchuen, mei wen ti de(did well, yongchuen, no problem one)" - something he said when i got b3 for my chinese. damn, i felt even worse now, until the slip flashed and i really punched the air for joy. A2, A,A,A,A,2,2. Beautiful! but again, it was super regretful that i had always to miss the chance to be on stage or be signalled as top few! crap, sec sch was also like that. yup, so after all the excitement, it was also great joy to see my classmates get back really good and outstanding results that they would have hoped for. good job 06/04! hah, hanged around in school for quite awhile, chat with teachers, helped ms chan with the video viewing but still could not fix it. and when me, qiyuan, weikeong set off for suntec to chill out, it was past 4pm. talk cock all the way until the cineplex where we decided to take a chance to sneak in for brokeback mountain. surprisingly the counter had no qualms in issuing us teh tix so we accepted it and went for early dinner at kenny rogers. good old ribs hah. super satisfying dinner to celebrate our achievements of 2 years. however, the only dampening shit was that when we went into the cinema, the usher had to stop ME, and only me! haha, i heck-ed since he stopped me, i called the other 2 fellas out and in the end after talking to the manager, he refunded our cash. determined not to waste the day anymore, we bought chips and drinks and chilled out at sky garden. haha, sad case for 3 no-gf dudes, but who cares :) it was memorable. and that's all that matters.

indefinitely, ippt silver was not an easy feat for me. 8 pull ups was quite a give-face from the sergeant as i did at least afew non standard ones, but who cares, he gave me 8, silver!! haha. equally proud about the 2.4 timing, fastest i ever clocked, though i believe this time i could have gone much faster. the rest of the stations were of not much concern at least.
2 days straight after ippt was the 24km route march. scary as it sounds, we spent the earlier half of the day seriously resting in our free time, and preparing for the tough half ahead. preparations ranged from wearing double socks, applying vaseline on the inner thighs and stuff for me. as we moved off at 4pm from the parade sq, it was done with a big bang, as jaguar was the leading compny, with our OC the overall supervising/conduction for School 1, a total of 5 companies doing the route march together. first 8 click was still manageable though the blisters started setting in in the left foot. we took the early dinner in the parade sq as the first 8 click was just to circle the camp compound 4 times -.- haha. ok, after dinner, the real deal began. forward we went for the 16click route. the night sky did not help much as manage times in the route march we had to go through really dark regions where keeping close to each other seemed a chore especially when the fieldpack, rifle is so much of a hassle and the tiring feel sets in. i began to start feeling really shagged for this next 8 click be4 we took a break for the night snack. weirdly, the sweat dripped profusely and i found it really tiring to keep up, while the blisters became worse on the left, and manifested on the right. by the 16km mark, i had to walk with both feets facing inwards and tilted slightly so as to avoid the blister areas. so far, luckily though, abrasion did not set in. break point at the 16km mark was bad, really bad as i had to kept motivating myself that i can still go on. 16-20km was the hardest. being partnered along side and infront/behind of people in the platoon that im not familiar with, i found it hard to cope with their pace, keep up, or being told off by them to close up and stuff like that. i lost motivation to give my best. struggling with all the shitload and stuff, i just kept looking down on the floor as the metres passed by. though feeling frustrated and poorly motivated, i just kept thinking of completing this 24km as i could even fight to get the silver ippt status, which means no way i cant complete this route march. i pressed on to the 20km mark where we took a rest - a rest which we were hit hard finally by our sergeants that we are not ending this 24km march with our best, our most concerted efforts. i woke up and was determined to finish it to the loudest possible bang. and i made it. haha, i found the best 'pusher', jonathan from my platoon to be behind me pushing me all the way with his aggressive voice and stamina. this time, i gave my best, my loudest in singing all the songs all the way back, partly taking my inspiration from jonathan who really gives his best for route marches. i never tot of giving up at all, and i clenched my fist all the way until we reached back to the same old parade sq where we sang our victory song and broke up for cool down. great great work.

what more can i say. i ended this week with 3 great great achievements, far too much more that i would ever tot i could achieve. everyone around me played a huge role, and it was in this week that i really found out people in my section who were worthy friends, and how to be a worthy friend back. it is not to be vocal, or help out that often to do stuff for the section, but more of thinking of their situation and give all ur best just for them. i gave mine during the last 4km of the route march, and they helped me to complete it. is that what they call brotherhood in the army? i have no objections.