~JcZw

Heh... so thick-skinned... I had only come out for one and a half weeks, trained a couple of teams a couple (or triple) of times, and still turned out at N-comp as a NC instructor (albeit one who had appeared only very very recently), or rather, a NC shoe-polisher cum walking wikipedia.

House visiting was quite fun heh. Frankly, I never knew that Squad 4 '08 was such a hyperactive batch until these few weeks (I probably knew subconsciously but I hadn't seen it myself haha)... Somehow Wanling and Adeline's dogs both made beelines for me. According to the owners, it was because I smelt of cat o_0 But did some shoe polishing, a lot of recruiting for senior comm heheh, and a lot remeniscicing (spelling's probably wrong) about our past competitions hoho.. Darn fun... I haven't had so much fun in St. John since sec. 4 haha (though I think it could be cos it was relative to army =D)

Having slept an average of 3 1/3 hours over the past three days, I SLEPT THROUGH MY ALARM for the first time since before army started!! Cycled to AHS kicking myself for doing so and arrived but a half hour before departure... Haha I think it was really sweet (what a weird word for a guy to use) of the division to write all the cards to the different teams.. Watched the usual controlled scramble to gel nursings' hair, change out and etc...

Still, there was a kinda funny feeling when I left the teams on the bus to go to church. How many times had I experienced, or watched people experience this moment of competition day? As Junwei-sir had described when I was in sec. 2, it was "off to the battlefield", departure from the AA, from the point of no return and all that cliche rot.. For one moment, I wished that I had a second shot at going for N-comp myself hahaha =Pp I only can remember Gina and Siew Min waved and Wang Miao tossed a seated salute with his left hand which I returned, but I think some of the NAs did too, out of the corner of my eye...

Rejoined the division just before 1 pm after church. Missed NC's categories (darn!), but watched AC pull off a very slick long case, which one of my FAC friends, who was part of the crowd, described as "one of the better ones, if not the best". MingLe was absolutely superb at taking over and controlling the situation after Keith went down haha...

Then it was fighting fatigue until the results came out (Bixia kept jabbing my knee and applying pressure to my peripheral nerves to keep me awake). Then the amazing occured.

I watched with exhiliaration as NC swept best footdrill (so my assessment that their drill was "not bad" turned out to be right!), best homenursing, best first aid, best leader (HuiLing pulled it off!!!) and overall champion.

It was no surprise when AC got best in long case, but my heart stopped when they ALSO won champion that my mouth went slack for a second before I could start cheering hehe.

Similarly, a third thrill of adrenaline sent a kinda shiver (a good kinda shiver) down my spine, when W. Li Ting got best leader for a second year running! Apparently girls aren't that good shoe polishers but are daaarrrrnnn good leaders haha (ok joking =Pp), and her team finally found their elusive National Competition Overall Champion too!

AA found itself in a similar situation to my team in '04. Best in footdrill and TOC (my team didn't even get best in TOC!), but not ranked among the top three. Yet, it was a credible performance and also one which they can be proud of too =)

4 paragraphs cannot do justice to the emotions and joys of watching my juniors dancing around hugging each other, some crying tears of happiness. For myself, this was something different - the ghosts of 2004 had gone and I watched Crystal happily exclaim her relief and contentment of the result, for the first time in three years, without feeling any pangs of regret or sadness (Later on, it was also the first time I could talk about 2004 to my juniors [AC and NC specifically] without any bitterness). We sang the school song (I sang a mix of the old and new ones) and expended our tiny repertoire of cheers haha...

Wei Lun called shortly after and we had a long long conversation about competitions, and all our memories, as well as a bit of army stuff haha.... But it was enough to blow my battery to half charge hoho... But his feelings were about the same as mine: Amazement, jubilation, congratulations and all

Also met many of my FAC friends.... Qiao Ping, Pearl Ning, Chee Hoe and JianLi notably at the N-comp. The second- and latter-mentioned both sent their congratulations to my cadets as well! (Very sporting of them!)

Had celebratory dinner in Bishan, talked to my juniors in turn, and then played Captains' Toilet Roll (that's captain's ball using a toilet roll). I'm a lousy catcher heh much to Adeline's disgust before pushing off with my juniors home via MRT

But I cannot stress how great today felt!

It was a great end to one of the happiest SJ weeks of my life! Like watching these once-again fully committed teams coming to school complete with casualties, first aid kits and an attitude of wanting to learn finally earning their just desserts.

It was a day of re-achieving a record three championships never attained since 1998.

It was a day of catharsis for myself, that AHS had finally reached back to where it should have been and always should be.

It was a day when I completely threw out any inkling of a decision to leave the division for good (so made since W. Li Ting's batch was the last one which had been under my direct command), and reconfirmed my decision to continue with St. John for at least one more year! Such has been the honour of training such outstanding juniors (true, they may have recovered late, but better late than never)

It was the end of a week where I had established new friendships with juniors I had never really talked to until one fine day, in the middle of social night, Yiyang had messaged me to recall me to AHSJAB =)

Watching Crystal and Y. Li Ting dancing around in happiness, Gina running around taking pictures, W Li Ting and team posing with their trophies, Kok Keng and team shaking their heads in amazement with smiles on their faces, the Squad 2s and 3s jumping up and down screaming their jubilation, everyone indulging in a good old game of Captains' Ball (or toilet roll)... It was a scenario I had always pictured having, but never witnessed in real life.

A person could never have hoped for a better group of friends, or a better birthday present from his division =))

Will put up pictures if any in the near future. But for now, cheerio and sweet dreams. And well done! AHSJAB!