Endgame

Hahaha... That just about sums up the last 5 days of work. Frankly the smile on my face grew day by day. However, I stress that it wasn't an easy process. It was an even mix of slack and torture, but no points for guessing who had the last laugh, literally!

Before I dive straight into the endgame itself, just a brief of last week. On wed, I met Daryl, Andrew and Marianne for BS cum dinner @ Suntec city... I gave them a birthday cum ORD treat... Coffee was on the me! Next day morn, I met Cl for a refreshing swim @ Safra Tamp... Another opportunity to get a nice tan and exercise too... And not to forget, Fri night I met Sister Joel after so many months! He was gonna take his TP... Wow time really passed so fast! Last time we were still seeing green, now we're seeing blue (new) and pink (old)... We proceeded to Minds cafe for some fun games with his friends. In fact speaking of the mind, see if you can figure out the previous statement! Saturday came with me going back for choir pract again! How nice to sing again after a (rather) long break. Of course, to finish of the move, a birthday treat from me to my parents! Fondue @ Haagen Dazs! Yeah I'm really broke now...

Ok back to reality. So on Monday, an apprehensive me returned to the hill to see the view (pun intended)... Well nothing much has changed, except that there was no drill!!! Wow cool, thought I! Things seemed to be improving. Not so with the detail though. 4 hours but not what I was expecting. However, it was within the "legal limit" so I just kept quiet. At least there was time for a nice nap... After duly finishing my duties at 4pm, it was time for a quick bath and I was down at the resting area watching TV and talking to the uncles working there. They are nice ppl and we were having a nice little chat until I faced my first confrontation. Ironically, just before, we were talking about confrontations. Mr. Wong was talking about his experiences many eons ago... Something about letting them win because ultimately we'll get the coveted treasure which certain people are jealous about and will want to make life difficult because of the rose syrup C coloured item. (Note: If you can guess the rose syrup C item alone without any hints I say you're good!) And lo and behold, the most notorious of them all came up and said "What happens if I press the stand to button?"

Uh oh! Alarm bells started wailing in my head. But I coolly replied "Then I'll go up and change back." After all, I am not doing anything wrong. Is there any rule that you cannot be in civi until dismissal time? Of course not! I'm early and I'm just waiting for 5pm in my civi! What's wrong with that? Perhaps I was seen as too eager to go home (which I was by the way, who wouldn't?)... So I decided to disguise myself and didn't bring my bag for the remaining 4 days. Now I look like I'm not going home! Anyway, nothing happened, thank God. And so I left in a jiffy and went to Vivocity to get my Halo 3 tagger bag! And since I was there, I gotta try the Marche there right? I guess you could say it's a good way to cheer myself up. Reminds me of the good days as I ate their Rosti again... Well a bad thing replaced by a nice dinner. So advantage Calvin on monday!

Tuesday. No drills again! And the detail was damn good. I totally loved it! And James was around so I picked him up just outside the bus stop at the foot of the hill and sent him home. However he wanted to see some nice place @ Changi so I decided to give him a lift, I could use some sightseeing myself. So we had a nice fun trip down Changi road seeing the airplanes and of course the beach. Ironically, we ended up at the one place where I never expected myself to be. A carpark just nearby the ferry terminal of the Penguine Navy! The cursed ferry terminal that started the mess that took me 1 yr 10 mths to clear. Other than the eyesore which polluted the pristine waters, the sight of the low tide was picturesque. Pictures found on my facebook profile! Obviously a walkover to me that day! Advantage Calvin (again)...

Wednesday. Drills! OMG but luckily a few turns here and there, culminating with a comment that our drills are getting f***** (me:Roll eyes...) up... Whatever... 4 hrs again, not what I was expecting for... But I went up to the best canteen to clear credits and eat for the last time... A short detour (to escape the hawkish stares of the enemy) and we were back in (relatively) safe territory again... Left at 5... I would say a deuce for that day... The spoils were shared...

Thursday. Drills! Plus a red card for me! During the inspection, one of them asked when I polished my boots. But that wasn't the point. Immediately his gaze and attention shifted. Moustache. All the commotion just for a short and neat Moustache. When did I last shaved it? I lied, a few days back. So he insisted that I couldn't keep it since I shaved it recently; it must be a permanent thing, not temporary. I tried to plead my case with the others but to no avail... So I was forced to shave it. Now the moment of truth. I didn't shave it since June 06. So what does this tell you? To further add salt to the wound, breathe if you see higher ranking people with moustache. So what does this mean? Firstly, it means their purpose is to make my life difficult because of my impending change of status. Secondly, it means they are a biased bunch. Not surprising actually. Anyway, my original plan was to shave it after ORD... Unfortunately, my unshaven run didn't go the distance. It ended 5 days earlier! But thankfully the detail was favourable. I would say it was advantage to the enemy because they spoiled my unshaven plans! Damn! But at least I know now they failed the acid test! It's not about the rules, it's about the status. If you're of a higher status, the degree is high but before you get the ultimate promotion, the degree is low. Enough said... Advantage enemy.

Lastly, friday at last! Time seemed to crawl as the hours passed. In the morning, we had it real bad. When one of them uttered the endangered animal command, I thought we were going to make it though unscathed. Unfortunately, when I heard another exclaiming "that's all?", I knew it was that's it! Bring it on! And brought it on they did. 15 mins of mindless turning. 360 left, 360 right, 180 right et cetera... As for my friend and me, we had nothing to lose so we just played along with them. Even when they commented about the banging getting softer, we were unfazed. Despite the threats of 1 hour, we kept our cool. After all, how long could they drill us? 15 mins. That's how we found out. As we twirled round the dance floo- I mean the concrete pavement, the smile on my face grew more and more wider. Even they commented that the ORD personnel forgot how to do drill! Hell yeah man! I only know the 6 letters! So we played with them as they toyed with us. The Bible said, "If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic." (Luke 6:29). Indeed, we did not stop them from drilling us! We let them drill us more! As usual, 4 hrs that was a disappointment but the enemy let me off at 430! I was surprised. But I took it. Which meant a deuce today. Never again will I be subjected to mindless actions again! So all in all, it was a sweet & sour experience. I guess it's somewhat similar with the ying yang thingy. And all this without the trump cards yet! I guess I won't use them (hopefully)...