Wednesday, June 29, 2011
I always held the view that running is a fundamentally lonely sport, especially long-distance running. This is why I prefer to run alone because I feel that one's pace is best known and executed by himself/herself. There is hardly anyone else who will have the similar pace to provide you the companionship during the run. Besides, during running, one faces a battle not with others but with his/her own mind to push on towards the finishing line.
So that the view I held, until this morning.
It was another usual morning 5km run around Bedok Reservoir. To be more accurate, it was more like a jog because there was hardly anyone on the running track and I was not inclined to go full out in the morning.
Around the 2km mark, I passed by this guy who ran in the opposite direction. Before long, I heard him turn around and started to overtake me. Usually, I do not get overtaken while running in the morning, so the competitiveness in me spurred me to up my speed. As such, I was matching his pace, stride for stride, with the hope of overtaking him instead. Somehow, it felt exhilarating with the adrenaline rush pushing me faster and faster.
Finally, at the 3.5km mark, he slowed down. What he did next, though, surprised me pretty much. He turned towards me and said, "Thank you." For that split second, I was stunned (but my legs kept on running). Faced with this abrupt development, I could only manage a weak smile and raised my hand in acknowledgement while continuing my run, albeit at a slightly slower pace.
As I continued running, I thought about what just happened. Then, it dawned on me that he was trying to match my pace as much as I was trying to match his pace. It turns out that running with a partner is actually useful because it switches on your competitive mode and spurs you to run at a faster pace and not lose out to your partner.
Given that I managed to complete my run today faster than usual and the lessons accompanying it, I came up with an answer to the guy silently.
Thank you to you too.
shermon blogged @ 6:21 pm
0 comments
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Ok, I have to confess - I have been a bad boy who hasn't had a weekday dinner with his parents for quite a number of weeks already. Hence, this bad boy attempts to atone for his errorneous ways by scheduling Wednesday evening for dinner with his parents.
Then came an SMS + email + Facebook post that there is a meeting tomorrow afternoon. Attendance is compulsory. And it looks like a meeting that will drag till midnight.
Another one of life's curveball.
Sigh.
shermon blogged @ 7:08 pm
0 comments
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
In the last post, I reminisced about trainee life back in AFS and was then about to leave AFTC after working there for 1.5 years. I resolved to write a reflection of AFTC working life when I ORD in July 2010.
The reflection never came. On hindsight, perhaps it was good that I didn't do one because mere words couldn't possibly do adequate justice to the absolutely awesome time I spent in AFTC. Then again, one must never find excuses for sloth and I hereby admit that the predominant reason for the failure to write the reflection is due to procrastination on my part.
A year on, I have decided to start writing again. Why so? Firstly, it's holidays and lack of time is no longer a valid excuse. Second, writing in relatively long prose allows me to express my emotions to a degree that no Facebook update or Twitter tweet can afford me. Thirdly, I guess I am still longing, almost to a point of pining, for the (relatively) simple life that I led then. A great reminder of this was my former Command Chief Warrant Officer (CCWO) initiating a chat with me on Facebook. Our last talk before this was back in start July 2010. 10 months have passed but it certainly felt like I have lurched from one world to another.
Reflecting on the past Academic Year, I have found that I was not as happy as I was before. Something was missing in my life. It took me some time before I finally arrived at the answer - I was looking for a kind of friendship in university that I couldn't possibly get. As one person told me, it was unrealistic to harbour my expectation of friendship in university.
Some people asked me why I decided to sign on to the RSAF that time. Although there was an element of impulsiveness, I was unable to put a finger on the exact reason. Now, looking back, I can confidently say that I was impressed by the camaraderie, the bonds and the espirit de corps that existed in the uniformed services. Perhaps, it was an influence from my days in National Police Cadet Corps where I found most of my good friends. However, there is no denying that I relish the kind of friendships that I forged during BMT and OCS - the kind where I can expect someone to "watch my six" (i.e. watch my back) while I watch his too. There was implicit trust in each other. No questions were asked even in the most onerous of situations. We knew the meaning of leading by example. Never ask your friend to do what you won't do. When my friend decides to do a difficult task, I follow, no questions asked, because his actions are the best proof of his leadership and I trust him. It is that simple.
Now, it is difficult to make friends in university when a good part of your social circle are at best acquaintances. Although I forged some good friendships, something just feels missing - the kind of friendship that can demand my total faith and loyalty. Here, it does seem that 'friendship', if it is really friendship, is of a more reserved kind, where faith, loyalty and trust is dished out but with a certain portion still reserved within each individual. As for acquaintances, well the less said, the better.
Perhaps, as that guy said, I am asking for too much. Perhaps.
Maybe this Chinese sentence is all too accurate - 酒逢知己千杯少，话不投机半句多
shermon blogged @ 12:49 am
0 comments
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
550 Airport Road. A familiar address to me for the past 2 years.
I still remember my first day over there - "Wah, this place seems like a heaven." And it didn't disappoint. In most senses and purposes, it was pretty far from its intended purpose as a military school. Nevertheless, the memories I accumulated there possessed both quality and quantity. Throughout my time in the service, perhaps only Tekong provided memories of similar quality (but the quantity pales in comparison).
Sathia and his I-am-Command-Chief-Warrant introduction, the female MSG from TMS who looked a lot like the nightmare Plt 2IC from Delta Wing but her attitude was the exact opposite, C3 Wing and LTC John Chan with his What-Have-Yous, 23rd/27th WSO-of-awesomeness, morning water parade and reciting the 9 core values half-awake, the 5BX which were in fact just 5 Basic Stretching, the post-breakfast nap, the thrice-weekly parade, post-morning parade comms check, the need to send parade state when you are weekly IC (and therefore no post-breakfast nap), the almost weekly Wednesday nights out, the Friday 4.30pm bookout, the ability to escape wearing headdress as a cadet (it was a godsend) by avoiding the first floor, post-lunch nap in the pink classroom with lights off, wrats room where darkness, terror, fun and laughter can coexist, the high quality gym and dave-the-not-so-kilat-pti, ippt on wednesday mornings and the post-ippt bath (and occasional nap time), sports/downtools on wednesday afternoons, occasional night badminton, visits to the mess, almost free access to the canteen during free time (a privilege that most army cadets never get to enjoy more than once), cyberspace in library every lunch time and manning it after office hours till late for internet access, the cosy 2 man bunk with my favourite 933 on every night, the plotting every night time with James (purpose is Top Secret), the turn-outs we conduct for each other by lifting the person out of bed and drenching him in power and water, the late night talks in ben chong and elsley's room, the daily 9pm rush to watch Beach Ball Babes (or rather Dawn Yeo) in the recre room, the little whiteboard outside the toilet which notes down stuffs to be done, the scrubbing and cleaning for an area cleaning which lasted an average of 30secs per room, the underused pull-up bar at the bottom of the accomdation block, the daily Aviation Wing parade which will disturb a good morning nap and the Sunday book-ins by 2300hrs.
And that was just trainee life which were the first 6 months. Although the memories endure, the people have long moved on. Nevertheless, there are some things that do not change - the taxiway which one has to pass before getting there, the roundabout where one can try to pull a 1G turn, service 90 and 94-of-horrendous-frequencies, the familiar blue and grey structure etc. As my time there winds down, perhaps my memories of it will be slightly tinged with a bit of nostalgia and flattery as time passes.
I sure will miss it when it's time to leave. Maybe "for all about 2 hours" as Benja said.
shermon blogged @ 10:04 pm
0 comments
Saturday, May 15, 2010
今早，外头正下着大雨，是一个很适合睡觉的时刻。可是，我的收音机却忠心耿耿地在五点三十分自动扭开。要不是我今天必须早点起来上工，我可能会把那股声音当“耳边风”，完全置之不理。
今早，我反常地在半梦半醒中听着歌曲。听着听着，我忽然觉得为何那三首歌曲那么熟悉？经过一段时间的思考，我想起来了 - 这三首歌曲都在我曾看过的偶像剧播过。这时，电台又播了另一首偶像剧的歌。
那四首歌是：
我们没有在一起，刘若英 - 偷心大圣PS男
心愿便利贴，吴忠明，元若蓝 - 命中注定我爱你
我爱他，丁当 - 下一站，幸福
匿名的好友，杨丞琳 - 海派甜心
莫非这叫做“偶”然？
shermon blogged @ 2:22 pm
0 comments
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
It's been a long time since I last blogged. Around 4 months plus to be exact. The main reason for this absence is because of the (overwhelming) amount of time spent on Facebook and its highly-addictive status updates.
Come to think it, I have encountered numerous occasions on which what I wanted to put in the status update was too long. Granted, it is longer than the 140 characters that Twitter offers but so? That's scant comfort. It's just like we are forced to pick off the unnecessary parts and just distill into simple words so fit into that status update.
I must say that I discovered a latent love for writing. To be exact, the love for writing prose (certainly prose constitutes text of more than 140 characters). Other than being a rudimentary way of forcing myself to maintain a basic level of literary skills, I find the experience rather therapeutic. Writing long text allows me to express my feelings in a fuller context and in a way allows that pressure valve in me to release that much more pressure than a 140 character text would ever permit. There's no need to resort to summarising skills to prune and pare down the flowery language (a controller's bane but I shall go that at another time). Imagine reliving the agony of doing Summary during one's GP paper during A levels. That's why, personally, I always liked doing the AQ after Summary during GP because there's no arbitrary limit on the words that I can write. A liberation of sorts.
Nevertheless, in this world overloaded with information, our attention to each text has been divided into infinitesimally small periods and that calls for quick, concise chunks of text to bring your point(s) across. A necessity in today's reality but the loss of a fully-bloomed ecosystem of words to accompany the point is regrettable.
After all, the fats in meat are not necessary for our diet but they do taste good, don't they?
shermon blogged @ 10:38 pm
0 comments
Saturday, October 10, 2009
ah 12 nice songs lining up nicely on my playlist... what are the chances...
shermon blogged @ 11:32 pm
0 comments
ah 12 nice songs lining up nicely on my playlist... what are the chances...
