this is such a slack week, finally i get to book out for more than a day at a time! groan but without 5BX and other healthful pursuits, and the deluge of chinese new year goodies that i'm going to be stuffing myself with, i daresay i'll just die of fatness when i book in again on friday morning. so far life in Safti has been good- the weeks are starting to fly by. we mainly did individual field craft (IFC) last week and the days just sped by, quite unlike the first couple of weeks when time just seemed to drag on and on. it's my 5th week now- to think that POP is in about a month's time! and we just took off our lanyards three weeks ago. man.

i guess it's an entirely different lifestyle here, but one that i find myself adapting to more and more as the days go by. anyway i'm the cadet platoon commander for this week (please ma'am... this week ONLY) and oh sheesh haha i have to be on my toes all the time and scream like anything just to get everyone down on time. military life is fascinating- there're many stories and many experiences which i've gone through, from our platoon owing our instructors 610 (!!!!!) pushups for 61 mistakes during area cleaning inspection (one mistake = 10 pushups) (as of now we've repaid 460 of them, only have 150 to return phew) to being tekan-ed by merciless PTIs during SOC training. it's one hell of an experience- while girls our ages are blowing their money on makeup, we're scrutinizing the $3.50 tag on green and black camouflage cream at the SAFTI giftshop and wondering if we can get a better deal elsewhere.

changing parade just before initiation ceremony- where we were awakened at 4am by seniors and made to change from long four to pt kit to vest and slacks in ridiculously short periods of time. and of course field pack inspection, which included us emptying our packs in 1min15sec and repacking them in the same amount of time. and of course the inclined chin-ups and pushups everyday before every meal- which i must say has resulted in all of us showing tremendous improvement.

life's good here. save for the fact that my helmet presses unceasingly around my skull and when we're in full battle order the ET stick on the right of my field pack drums out a jaunty rhythm on my head with every step i take during the route march. and i'm just waiting for the day i can don a beret. if i stay in army, hopefully, a khaki one.