Back from the GLOOM...
26th April 2008, Saturday
It's a quiet Saturday after when the sun wasn't shining too brightly while the pace on the street ain't as hectic... Nothing in the back of my head just as I like it as I tried to recuperate and make up lost time from that 2 weeks in Kao-hisung, Taiwan after my ICT.
It was a good 12 days without internet access with merely a ridiculously long loading span for ESPN Soccernet while using a public internet PC on the ship which utilizes VESAT or satellite system made me give up after the header bar even failed to load at all.
Devoid of the latest news and the inability to check mail which at this juncture of my life became more like a spam collecting point; I just got on with whatever life there had to offer whether I like it or not...
The missus sacrificed her sleep to come pick me up from the airport at the wee hours of 3 am as the logistics department from my unit kept stressing to us that it was near impossible to arrange for chartered flight with more humanly traveling hours.
We had only a mere hour or so to cuddle and made our presence felt before she was off to yet one of her Kuala Lumpur expeditions.
A few measly hours for 2 weeks for us to be together but at this stage we always felt one another is closeby anytime anywhere....
Sleep took a back seat for myself after my father-in-laws woke me up after 4 hours of really falling into slumber but I am still feeling fresh perhaps because of not wanting to waste much of the next 60 hours or so before going back to work...
So a quick glance and post-mortem of the reservist period:
Cons (perhaps too many to list)
1. Despite a drastic improvement of that human slums we had to endure the year before, the bedding condition and near-Arctic condition make sleeping comfortably throughout the night almost impossible.
2. The active personnel still is a pain in the ass especially a couple of Warrant Officers which one of the fellow watch-keeper aptly put it, "The Twin Flies (the insect that relentlessly buzzing around you with your effort to keep them away in vain).
3. Hard to stay positive for the first week at least as seconds felt like years and even time spent on liberty (free to roam the Kao-hisung streets) seem irrelevant
4. The difficulty to stay regimental. I am not a soldier, a mindset you should know by now and I am not one to take unreasonable orders easy. The regulars kept expecting us to provide them solutions when they were the experts; some even hoping we would step in as convenient scapegoats to safeguard their careers. And of course, I always felt doing domestic chores like clearing gashes of cleaning toilets are a tough pill to swallow especially when it would get mess up moments later
5. There were 9 of us recalled for this exercise, a fold more than what we had last year but I wasn't too comfortable with the new faces who a big bulk made of smokers again wo tend to form a cohesive clique. There was one particular chap by the name of Sng who looked like a balding, mustached Ah Beng still stuck in their 1990 hey days was a making crass remarks and his blunt nature irritated most of us by the end of the trip.
Pros
1, One less mission which mean things are on a more relaxed pace.
2. Found this nice Western restaurant cum pub which we made a point to go to whenever we were liberated to go out for a good meal or some hearty drinks...Also where most of my money was exhausted on and a place to meet up some warm and hospitable local people.
Overall didn't enjoy it as much as many who treated it like a summer holiday with massive shopping and lugging at the end of it...
It was a niggling obligation we had to fulfil and I am now 3 down from the total of 7 with 10 years left to go...and I am sure I would be called up for more of such long overseas ICTs but with the good mix of people and more accustomization and better mentality, I would just toil it through, maybe even April 2009, a thought which my wife and myself dread upon but not as much now....
It's a quiet Saturday after when the sun wasn't shining too brightly while the pace on the street ain't as hectic... Nothing in the back of my head just as I like it as I tried to recuperate and make up lost time from that 2 weeks in Kao-hisung, Taiwan after my ICT.
It was a good 12 days without internet access with merely a ridiculously long loading span for ESPN Soccernet while using a public internet PC on the ship which utilizes VESAT or satellite system made me give up after the header bar even failed to load at all.
Devoid of the latest news and the inability to check mail which at this juncture of my life became more like a spam collecting point; I just got on with whatever life there had to offer whether I like it or not...
The missus sacrificed her sleep to come pick me up from the airport at the wee hours of 3 am as the logistics department from my unit kept stressing to us that it was near impossible to arrange for chartered flight with more humanly traveling hours.
We had only a mere hour or so to cuddle and made our presence felt before she was off to yet one of her Kuala Lumpur expeditions.
A few measly hours for 2 weeks for us to be together but at this stage we always felt one another is closeby anytime anywhere....
Sleep took a back seat for myself after my father-in-laws woke me up after 4 hours of really falling into slumber but I am still feeling fresh perhaps because of not wanting to waste much of the next 60 hours or so before going back to work...
So a quick glance and post-mortem of the reservist period:
Cons (perhaps too many to list)
1. Despite a drastic improvement of that human slums we had to endure the year before, the bedding condition and near-Arctic condition make sleeping comfortably throughout the night almost impossible.
2. The active personnel still is a pain in the ass especially a couple of Warrant Officers which one of the fellow watch-keeper aptly put it, "The Twin Flies (the insect that relentlessly buzzing around you with your effort to keep them away in vain).
3. Hard to stay positive for the first week at least as seconds felt like years and even time spent on liberty (free to roam the Kao-hisung streets) seem irrelevant
4. The difficulty to stay regimental. I am not a soldier, a mindset you should know by now and I am not one to take unreasonable orders easy. The regulars kept expecting us to provide them solutions when they were the experts; some even hoping we would step in as convenient scapegoats to safeguard their careers. And of course, I always felt doing domestic chores like clearing gashes of cleaning toilets are a tough pill to swallow especially when it would get mess up moments later
5. There were 9 of us recalled for this exercise, a fold more than what we had last year but I wasn't too comfortable with the new faces who a big bulk made of smokers again wo tend to form a cohesive clique. There was one particular chap by the name of Sng who looked like a balding, mustached Ah Beng still stuck in their 1990 hey days was a making crass remarks and his blunt nature irritated most of us by the end of the trip.
Pros
1, One less mission which mean things are on a more relaxed pace.
2. Found this nice Western restaurant cum pub which we made a point to go to whenever we were liberated to go out for a good meal or some hearty drinks...Also where most of my money was exhausted on and a place to meet up some warm and hospitable local people.
Overall didn't enjoy it as much as many who treated it like a summer holiday with massive shopping and lugging at the end of it...
It was a niggling obligation we had to fulfil and I am now 3 down from the total of 7 with 10 years left to go...and I am sure I would be called up for more of such long overseas ICTs but with the good mix of people and more accustomization and better mentality, I would just toil it through, maybe even April 2009, a thought which my wife and myself dread upon but not as much now....
Japanese word of the day: 無感覚 (Numb) You just gotta stay numb at times while during the ordeal
Labels: Rant
posted by Kei at
1:24 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home