!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> Past. Present. Future: March 2007

Past. Present. Future

Friday, March 30, 2007

army briefs

hello! its been a while lolz. so it feels strange blogging again. i had planned for an earlier post b4 my enlistment date reflecting abt how fruitful my 3 mths of freedom haf been, ah but i guess i’ll just fuck it n get down to business.

ok, army life is actually quite fun. seriously. it took me about 3 days to completely get used to it. as the days go by, ur bed gets cozier n cozier every morning, while everybody gets hornier n hornier. i'm lucky can click wif bunk mates too. sergeants r telling us dat next few wks r going to get realli tough (those who noe wad company i’m in wd understand why), but just bring it on man.

personally, army has realli been a very fruitful experience so far, n i prefer it to office life, for many reasons which i’m too lazy to list. as the lowest organism in the army, u realli get to cherish every single luxury, every single privilege u enjoy as a cv. n as a recruit, u’ll learn to treasure ur days in bmt.

oh by the way, i wd like to politely apologize if my quality of english falls or has already fallen. once u cut hair all become stupid already.

alvin ong dozed and watched the sawdust trampled night @ 3:20 PM 

Thursday, March 08, 2007

a place i called home

yesterday cycled to my old childhood home at blk 551. the holy infant jesus centre’s still there, though it looks cosier now. n dis statue of some nun is still there lolz, though i remembered dat she looked less dishevelled n less mouldy. otherwise, i think dat the whole complex is still one of the finest pieces of architecture in the area. its cosy, laid-back, n coupled wif all my memories of classes i had there, walking around the compound feels soothing n timeless. it just shows dat architects can be modern but yet still produce something dat exudes old-world charm. no one builds like dat these days.

playground’s still around though its been upgraded. no more sand and walls wif square coloured ceramic tiles to hid behind. badminton courts still there too. opposite, it seems econ minimart died. the photocopy cum photo-developing shop has disappeared, but gd old dah sing minimart survives looking n smelling the same.

i think the void deck seemed to haf shrunk. ok. tables and chairs where ah pecks sit to drink beer n play chess r still there. n i remember dat used to b wad i call mini lucky plaza in the mornings where maids will all sit around n talk about heaven earth n sky while waiting for the school buses to pick my primary schoolmates n me up. surprised to see the old hopscotch still there though. ah yes, n who can forget the ubiquitous “no soccer fine $100” signs pasted everywhere on the walls.

took the lift up to the 11th floor. walked the same corridor i did when i was a kid wif my mother holding my hand telling me we’re going to a new home. it seems neighbours have moved out also. first house on the left used to belong to old ahmad. he had plants dangling everywhere, which gave a very green n warm welcome to the corridor u passed everyday on ur way home. 4 units down, hai quan also moved out. remembered how i used to help his ah mah burn joss paper. didn’t noe its significance, but oh well, it looked fun! turning left n walking down the staircase to my old flat, i saw it looked different (obviously). door grilles have been replaced. there r a few amulets pasted above the door...n there’s a taoist censor hanging in front of it. i wonder who lives now behind those walls. hope they like the home they’re living in.

was also wondering if the leongs who lived facing us moved out. i used to talk nonsense n play games wif their kids thru our door grilles in the evening n 2 sets of parents had a hard time trying to get all of us to eat our dinner after dat.

altho a few pple haf moved out, n there were minor changes here n there, blk 551 had stayed the same way i remembered it to b. n i hope it stays dat way. it gives me a sense of rootness to an island dat always seem to tear down n rebuild stuff every couple years or so.

alvin ong dozed and watched the sawdust trampled night @ 4:36 PM 

Sunday, March 04, 2007

grades aren't eveything yes

post a level celebrations more or less over. while waiting for church at 1030, i was thinking of using dis half n hr or more to take stock of wad has just happened the past 2 or 3 days.

alrighty. top of the list. the a level results. i wd think dat i adopted a very laid back attitude toward receiving the results coz i was telling myself dat i wd accept any grade cambridge forced me to reconccile wif. on hindsight, i think i actually expected 3As n at least n A for gp. n when i walked down the atrium n saw the board which has the top scorers list, i actually half-expected to find my name on it. so when the got dat paper thingy from gilbert lee, it felt like a let down. not to mention dat he actually rubbed it in by saying he expected me to b a 4A student. but i guess wif the grades i got i can still get into nus archi. which is all dat matters actually. it is a single-minded goal albeit a very dangerous one. next to aceing my As or Os, i think i never ever wanted something so badly, in the academic sense. hope for the best, but meanwhile, i’m just relieved dat the As r finally n truly over.

last day at work was spent saying all the goodbyes n thank yous, including presenting my work to angelene n using dat one chance to sell megaman to my best ability. somehow it feels very fulfilling n in my heart i can say dat angelene is a very very good boss. at the same time, having my duties to dp lifted from me is a real burden lifted off me, n i’m finally, a free man once again.

post-results. went over to the art room to catch up wif the aep pple, or wads left of us, for the very last time, i think. after getting our certified true copies printed (by dat time it was fast approaching 5), joined the class guys for dinner n pool. lost my wallet on sat while at east coast cycling, thankfully onli thing of real worth inside is my ic, plus one sentimental thing i’ve kept inside since childhood. other than the ez-link card, driving registration card, n my art friend card, the rest is all trash. thankfully i took out all the name cards from my wallet dat morning or else realli heart pain. which means dis week i’ll b kept busy trying to get a new wallet up n running, n getting myself pysically n mentally prepared for army.

as for all other memories, i’ve come to a point where they’re something so special n private dat i’d rather keep them to myself.

alvin ong dozed and watched the sawdust trampled night @ 9:30 AM