~JcZw

National Day again. I really got nothing much to write about, so permit me to let myself go and reminicise (or however you spell it) about 2002.

There are a lot of memories of NDP 2002, some of which can make me really laugh out loud, others which just let me snicker or smile to myself. The people that stood around me in the contingent... Aziyah of Bedok View, Hakeem from (I think) Pasir Ris Crec, both 1 year my senior, Pek Su Man of Junyuan whom I went with to NCO course later on. The girl on the right with the PVC shoes that made my effort seem like a waste (like duh). And of course, Wei Lun, competition team leader, joker, slacker, Number 1, fellow short squad member (then. Now he's overshot me). Ahaha! Such fun the two of us contributed to the surrounding people. I wonder where they all are now.

Is there an end to the memories I can amass? Here are a few of them:

Top of the list, on the way home from one session Sir Adrian told us to number off. And every SJer knows how particular he is about that. At his turn, Wei Lun, as normal, yelled "Seven!" Behind him, Xuan Cheng and I yelled "Eight!" at the same time. There was dead silence as probably every cadet and NCO waited for the scolding and the "semula" to descend upon us. Oblivous to this, Xuan Cheng and I glared at each other, then both bellowed at the top of our lungs "NINE!" The bus burst our laughing. Even Sir Adrian smiled. We got away with that alright... haha

On another occasion after the rehearsal, we were to return our bags containing our big NDP somberos. I had looped mine around my belt loop to prevent it from flapping while marching. However this time it had gotten hopelessly tangled with itself, my belt loop and my belt. Wei Lun and I watched with horror as they counted the flags while i tried to discreetly abeit frantically untangle mine. The officer's voice boomed "Who is the last one?!" Of course, I had to acknowledge or die. I chose to acknowledge. I watched him stifle his amusement as he said "I recommend you quickly untangle yourself, cadet". I got away with it again.

During one of the last few rehearsals, when we got our new gloves, before the parade Wei Lun stretched out his hand, retracted his fingers, and offered his empty glove to the girl next to me saying "all the best for later". The girl took the limp glove and promptly gave a scream. Heh... quite sadistic lar, but thats what happened.

I remember the parade commander's "Kaolan Ke-hormatan, Pandan Ke-ha-da-pan, Pan---dan!" always reminded me of someone about to asphyxiate from an asthma attack. The three of us, especially Xuan Cheng, took great pleasure in imitating him when we went back for normal CCA.

I remember the first time the F-16s went supersonic and flashed over the stadium following the Bomburst by the Skyhawks, it was like the end of the world had come. I never knew how I could stand at rigid attention without protecting my ears. And as they flew past, all of us stood that much straighter, looked more upward, saw the elegant fighters blasting past, afterburners aflame, smoke trailing from their exhaust ports, and sometimes their contrails flying from the wingtip hardpoints.

I remember once walking from HQ to the MRT station at Lavender, eating stuff we had bought from the shops around HQ. As we crossed the carpark, I skidded on my hollow heel and crashed into Xuan Cheng who was in the process of unwrapping a Mentos. The impact knocked the sweet from his hand and it landed neatly in front of Wei Lun, who promptly stepped on it and got it stuck in his hollow heel. I recall him hopping around on one foot, one hand to his heel, muttering unprintable stuff.

I remember after every session there was always extra KFC and gui ling gao to take home... hehe... The pizza, when it got to us, was invariably cold and stuck to the cardboard container. Thus although pizza was more "high class", we always prefered the KFC meal.

I recall the lines of bayonets glittering in the evening light as the soldiers of the SAF and SCDF, police, firemen, commandos, guards, armour, infantry, airforce, navy, presented arms to the incoming president, Prime Minister and so on.

Of course, there was the unpleasant stuff too. I remember once a little officer yelled right in my face while scolding the contingent. A combination of bad breath and sheer volume nearly rendered me comastose. I remember collapsing in the first rehearsal. Wei Lun and I hung on just long enough to finish the National Anthem before falling to our knees almost simultaneously trying to force the air back into our lungs.

If I could finish telling the reader the whole NDP story from start to finish, it'll take from.. well, April to August? 4 months? (How else could we have got 150 CIP hours? Thats 6 and a quarter days we spent on rehearsals) The NDP experience came at the cost of getting into double science. With so much time committed to rehearsals, I had little hope of getting in at all. Considering my maths was bad, its no wonder....

Yup. So thats it then

Happy Birthday Singapore =)