It has been one hectic week after ICT. With the exception of the last two days of the week, where I had to leave early for lessons, it was pretty much 12 hour days everyday. We have a "ticket-count" going on daily as a rough gauge of performance, and lately, I've been "slipping down the charts". That's actually one reason why my latest module, centered on organisational behavior, really strikes a chord with my current predicament, especially when it came to the part about managers and work satisfaction. Words like "indifference", "dissonance" as well as "burnout" were especially relevant, though not entirely accurate.
As for why my "count is slipping", I think I am gradually getting bored with all the daily nuances I have to deal with. One question always seems to linger in my head. "THIS is what I'm getting paid for?" No doubt, I think I'm getting good money, but to be honest, I think I'm overpaid for what I do. I guess this may seem to be a somewhat strange area to be complaining about, but one hidden connotation of that is that I could be doing something that's more meaningful and gives me much more value. I want to feel proud to be paid to do work that generates value, both to me and the people around me. Sadly, this is just not happening where I am now.
I had the chance to talk to another colleague of mine when we were still in the office around 9pm one particular evening last week and he mentioned the exact same thing. If it weren't for the money, he would have left ages ago. Providing for both the family as well as housing doesn't make his decision easier. He was at a point in life where he could not afford any uncertainties that would throw his routine off-whack. That was when I told him that I'll put up with this for another year,at most. That's the limit of my threshold. At some point, I've got to bite the bullet and take the plunge. At least learning something new won't be as painful now when I've got no kids to feed.
Fun's over.
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The week at Tekong has ended and I'm missing it already. The week was both tiring and fun at the same time. Before I go more in depth on what we did over the week, here is a picture of our lodgings.
Its not too clear unfortunately, considering I took it with a cellphone cam. Anyway,these are longhouses and every platoon was allocated one. We did not have the luxury of real beds though, and had to make do with safari beds, which was kind of hard to fall asleep on, but not really a problem when you're dead tired.
The schedule on the island was interesting, it was the first time in my life that I did some serious mountain-biking, with rough roads and gear changes and stuff. Being able to do it with friends and in an environment that is relatively unspoilt by human intervention was an added bonus. Anyway, the bike cycling was just one of a few events organized by the battalion, we had movie screenings, navigation exercises and even a mini sports day, although the latter was just before we left for Tekong. The highlight of the Tekong trip however, was a survival demonstration course where the instructor(an indian ranger) showed us how to live off the land. The part that had some of our more compassionate soldiers grimacing was where he demonstrated how to kill animals with your hands. Almost all his methods involve decapitation and his unfortunate victims range from a quail to a hen. One of my friends even tried his hand at it when the ranger asked for volunteers. Thats one more quail headed for that big forest in the sky.
We did not have much to do at night though, after all the activities of the day had come to an end. There were movie screenings but I did not catch any of them,seeing it was held outdoors and I did not find the idea of being a human mosquito bait very inviting. Instead, all my nights were spent on this:
Seeing them all seated in company formation and their fullpacks all laid out neatly behind them really brings back memories. Although it has been more than 10 years since my POP, some things just stays the same. I can see the look in the eyes of many fresh-faced recruits and I guess mine was pretty much the same back then. It was an added surprise when we learnt that their school CO used to be my unit's CO back when we were still an active unit. Talk about coincidences. I wonder what would be his reaction if he were to see us now.
The schedule on the island was interesting, it was the first time in my life that I did some serious mountain-biking, with rough roads and gear changes and stuff. Being able to do it with friends and in an environment that is relatively unspoilt by human intervention was an added bonus. Anyway, the bike cycling was just one of a few events organized by the battalion, we had movie screenings, navigation exercises and even a mini sports day, although the latter was just before we left for Tekong. The highlight of the Tekong trip however, was a survival demonstration course where the instructor(an indian ranger) showed us how to live off the land. The part that had some of our more compassionate soldiers grimacing was where he demonstrated how to kill animals with your hands. Almost all his methods involve decapitation and his unfortunate victims range from a quail to a hen. One of my friends even tried his hand at it when the ranger asked for volunteers. Thats one more quail headed for that big forest in the sky.
We did not have much to do at night though, after all the activities of the day had come to an end. There were movie screenings but I did not catch any of them,seeing it was held outdoors and I did not find the idea of being a human mosquito bait very inviting. Instead, all my nights were spent on this:
Its a card game called "Citadels". The good part is up to 8 people can play and we were never short of willing parties. We have another card game called "Saboteur" that we alternate with this one to keep things fresh. I've really got to thank Justin for bring something so quaint into camp. I don't think I'll ever play something like this if not for him. Due to all the fun we're having, the week flew by before we knew it and soon, it was time to hop onto the ferry back to the mainland. We did catch a glimpse of some recruits practicing for their POP parade though.
Seeing them all seated in company formation and their fullpacks all laid out neatly behind them really brings back memories. Although it has been more than 10 years since my POP, some things just stays the same. I can see the look in the eyes of many fresh-faced recruits and I guess mine was pretty much the same back then. It was an added surprise when we learnt that their school CO used to be my unit's CO back when we were still an active unit. Talk about coincidences. I wonder what would be his reaction if he were to see us now.
Booking in.
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Well, although the week has been entirely uneventful, it was the most enjoyable time I've had in a long time. No work, no stress and no worries. The past few days incamp has been quite a leisure trip. The only activity I had to do was some gunnery simulation exercise; which wasn't really much of an exercise, considering everything's held indoors in an air-conditioned environment. Over the last few days, I've come to "re-realize" the common reservist ethos present in everyone of us and they can be summarized below.
- We can sleep anywhere. As long as there's nothing going on, auto hibernation comes on.
- We are perpetually hungry.
- Going for meals is a group activity. Always.
- It is perfectly acceptable to wait more than an hour for food at the canteen.
- It is perfectly acceptable for someone to walk out of a toilet buck naked.
- The other companies are always doing lesser.
- The other companies are always having it better.
- There can not be no cards.
- Coins. Can't do without them.
- Tonight got nights off?
In any case, tomorrow the entire unit is going to Tekong island. Apparently this is going to be a R&R trip so we were told to bring stuff to entertain ourselves. Well, its only 4 days. I just hope I can clear as much of my required reading as possible during this period of time. This is about the last period of inactivity I can have before work once again rears its ugly head and absconds with whatever free time I have left available.
Live from base camp
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Its rare that I can make an entry in the middle of the day, but then again, time has never been an ally of mine when it comes to free time. I guess time spent in the army changes perspectives quite a bit. Today is the 4th day of my military reservist training and its been literally a holiday camp so far. Unlike the previous one last year, where it was hectic getgo from day one, I had tons of free time. There were so many periods of inactivity that I'm really struggling to find things to do when we aren't training. In any case, I'm not complaining, its a good break from the hectic busybee life that I am so used to.
Anyway, I'm off to Tekong next week. Apparently, this incamp is sort of like a "reward" for the last one that we had to go through, so the whole battalion is going for some sort of an "offsite" retreat at the island. The schedule seems to suggest that all that's lined up for us over there are recreational activities such as bike riding, paintball, bbq etc. To be honest, I would rather prefer to just stay in the camp and just chill. I'm just not into activities like these so I guess I'll probably need to bring some things to entertain myself. Or I can just sleep all day, which would be a real waste of the copious amount of free time that I have on my hands. Well, I'll see how it goes.
Anyway, I'm off to Tekong next week. Apparently, this incamp is sort of like a "reward" for the last one that we had to go through, so the whole battalion is going for some sort of an "offsite" retreat at the island. The schedule seems to suggest that all that's lined up for us over there are recreational activities such as bike riding, paintball, bbq etc. To be honest, I would rather prefer to just stay in the camp and just chill. I'm just not into activities like these so I guess I'll probably need to bring some things to entertain myself. Or I can just sleep all day, which would be a real waste of the copious amount of free time that I have on my hands. Well, I'll see how it goes.
ICT looming
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It has been more than a month since my last post. More specifically, I haven't been in the mood for any updates ever since I came back from my Canada and New York trip. Albeit physically exhausting, I found the trip really therapeutic. Why? I'm not too sure myself. Perhaps walking alone by myself for long periods of time gave me the much needed serenity that I have been craving. Its kind of ironic that this happened in one of the busiest cities in the world. Anyway, New York is definitely a place I'll go back to again, only this time, I'll make sure to go back in warmer weather. There are still so many things and places I have yet to explore.
Anyway,part of the reason why there had been no updates is that the last few weeks have been filled with the same mundane humdrum. Going to work early, listening to demanding people, leaving late. I've been so busy with work that I haven't had time for anything else. Things are looking to be pretty much how they were last year, which can't be a good sign. In any case, I've heard that 3 more of my colleagues are leaving. I have not ventured to ask why, but I guess there comes a time when you've just about had all you can take. Its the courage to call it quits that I wholeheartedly applaud. I might do just that one of these days, when push really comes to shove. Now if I only knew where was my boiling point....
In any case, all office-weary activities have now taken a backseat. I'm on leave now and starting next week, will be on my annual two week military pilgrimage. Unlike most of my contemporaries, I eagerly look forward to this time of year. Its a time where thinking is relegated to the lowest echelon possible on the hierarchy of daily affairs. Its a time where I can literally just do nothing constructive all day and still not feel a wee bit unsatisfied with how the day went out. In short, its like a paid-for resort holiday. The only downside is the physical activities that accompany said holiday. I just hope we don't get too much of that.
Anyway,part of the reason why there had been no updates is that the last few weeks have been filled with the same mundane humdrum. Going to work early, listening to demanding people, leaving late. I've been so busy with work that I haven't had time for anything else. Things are looking to be pretty much how they were last year, which can't be a good sign. In any case, I've heard that 3 more of my colleagues are leaving. I have not ventured to ask why, but I guess there comes a time when you've just about had all you can take. Its the courage to call it quits that I wholeheartedly applaud. I might do just that one of these days, when push really comes to shove. Now if I only knew where was my boiling point....
In any case, all office-weary activities have now taken a backseat. I'm on leave now and starting next week, will be on my annual two week military pilgrimage. Unlike most of my contemporaries, I eagerly look forward to this time of year. Its a time where thinking is relegated to the lowest echelon possible on the hierarchy of daily affairs. Its a time where I can literally just do nothing constructive all day and still not feel a wee bit unsatisfied with how the day went out. In short, its like a paid-for resort holiday. The only downside is the physical activities that accompany said holiday. I just hope we don't get too much of that.
New York, New York
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Took the overnight Greyhound from Montreal to New York City last night. This was another first for me and I was looking forward to the people who I'll be making the journey with. There weren't too many, but they were all from different walks of life. There was a French couple who seemed to be going to NYC for holidays, there were a few black guys going back to NYC, and there was some young Canadian lady making the trip down for business. I did not talk to them much, just idle conversations now and then. It was interesting though. Anyway, same questions for me once the bus reached the US border. Where I live, where I work, what am I doing here, etc. I thought it was just me, seeing I was foreign, but it seems everyone on the bus had to answer the same(mostly) set of questions. I asked the bus driver and he remarked that this was unusual, normally, going across the border is quite a speedy affair. I guess it might be because we were the only bus around at that time(~2am) so I guess Homeland Security decided to make an example out of us.~shrugs~
In any case, the journey was rather uneventful, after about 7 hours or so, we finally sighted New York City. I must admit, upon disembarking, I was immediately engulfed in a whirlwind of activity. Our bus journey ends at the Port Authority Station, but for many New Yorkers, this is the start of theirs, and at around 730am in the morning, it was soon to be the start of rush hour. The fact that it was a massive complex did not help me much at all. Even with a map, it took a while to get out of the building and get my bearings right. Once I did, I realized that New York was a city that's laid out very methodically. Every street, every avenue; its all numbered very orderly and intuitively, which is more than what I can say for many cities,even my own.
For me, it was not too difficult to navigate once I got the hang of it. "Vertically" was the avenues while "horizontally" was the streets. In other words, they function like a grid pattern to identify any location, For instance, Times Square is at 7th Avenue off 42nd Street. So all I had to do was go "down" the map to "42" once I found "7th". I walked to a few places, the Empire State building, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central,etc. It was quite awe-inspiring to me, with all the humongous buildings and all, only problem I had was with the wind. For some reason, although the temperature was(only) about -1degrees celsius, it felt a lot colder than Montreal due to the stronger winds, which was ironic because being in a city, I would have thought the tall buildings would have served as an effective barrier.
In any case, I got quite tired walking around the midtown area, no thanks in part to the sleepless night I had to endure on the Greyhound, so by around 4pm, I found a hostel to rest my feet. Thats where I am typing these now. I guess I won't be going out in the night, but I should be going out bright and early tomorrow. Got to check out the financial district as well as what everyone should see when they come to New York City; the Statue of Liberty. After that, I should just be in time to catch the Greyhound back to Berri-Uqam station in Montreal. For now, my feet are sore and I'm exhausted. I'll probably be turning in soon.
Here's to the last night in New York!
Flying.
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The last week has been really hectic, but thank goodness that is now all behind me. I'm on leave starting from yesterday till after the Chinese new year! Work has been piling up and it's probably an apt time for me to take a break. Had an arrangement to go visit my sister in Montreal, and so off I went. I mentioned before that I have never left the continent so this was understandably an exciting prospect for me. I had to take 3 connecting flights just to get to Montreal as a faster flight will cost me about close to 3 times more, a marginal utility that I cannot make sense of, even if I wanted to.
The trip started ok enough, the first leg to Hongkong was uneventful, three hours on the plane, watched one Harry Potter movie and before I knew it, I was already there. The second flight was the killer for me; a 14hour nightmare from Hongkong to Chicago. To top it off, I had a window seat; while that was good for viewing the clouds, it was tough to go to the washroom. I only went to the loo twice during the whole flight. And being in economy, it was tough getting to sleep. The seats were cramped, there were lights from this other guy thats beside me, etc. Suffice to say, I was extremely glad when the plane landed.
Just when I thought I was just an hour away from Montreal, I had to hear that my flight has been cancelled due to a snowstorm in Chicago. So instead of a 5hour odd wait at O'Hare International Airport, I had to wait a whopping 9 hours for the next connecting flight to Montreal-Trudeau. Since it was snowing rather heavily, there wasn't much I can do outside the airport, which was too bad considering there wasn't much I can do in the airport as well. In the end, I just grabbed a bite to eat and tried to find a nice cosy spot to catch some rest before boarding time.
The flight to Montreal was uneventful. I boarded, I snored, and then I was there. Makes me wonder why didn't the airline schedule a flight directly from Hongkong instead. Anyway, it was already close to 2am local time when I landed, and suffice to say, Montreal-Trudeau is a very "sleepy" airport, sort of like the antithesis of Changi. ALL the shops within the airport were closed! There wasn't even a single one that was opened 24 hours. Getting through customs however, was a breeze, quite unlike the US customs, which asked loads of questions and even required me to take off my boots.0_0
Anyway, I was intrigued by the cab meter on taking the cab to my sister's place. You cannot believe the rate these babies move. I had though the meters on Taiwan cabs were ridiculous but Montreal taxis really takes the cake. A 15 minute trip through deserted midtown(it is after all, 2am) costed me 41CAD.O_O. Suffice to say this is probably the first and last time I am hailing one of these off the road. Anyway, now that I've all settled in, the local time here is about 420am. I plan to be up early tomorrow, so I'll probably be turning in soon. Can't wait for tomorrow!
The trip started ok enough, the first leg to Hongkong was uneventful, three hours on the plane, watched one Harry Potter movie and before I knew it, I was already there. The second flight was the killer for me; a 14hour nightmare from Hongkong to Chicago. To top it off, I had a window seat; while that was good for viewing the clouds, it was tough to go to the washroom. I only went to the loo twice during the whole flight. And being in economy, it was tough getting to sleep. The seats were cramped, there were lights from this other guy thats beside me, etc. Suffice to say, I was extremely glad when the plane landed.
Just when I thought I was just an hour away from Montreal, I had to hear that my flight has been cancelled due to a snowstorm in Chicago. So instead of a 5hour odd wait at O'Hare International Airport, I had to wait a whopping 9 hours for the next connecting flight to Montreal-Trudeau. Since it was snowing rather heavily, there wasn't much I can do outside the airport, which was too bad considering there wasn't much I can do in the airport as well. In the end, I just grabbed a bite to eat and tried to find a nice cosy spot to catch some rest before boarding time.
The flight to Montreal was uneventful. I boarded, I snored, and then I was there. Makes me wonder why didn't the airline schedule a flight directly from Hongkong instead. Anyway, it was already close to 2am local time when I landed, and suffice to say, Montreal-Trudeau is a very "sleepy" airport, sort of like the antithesis of Changi. ALL the shops within the airport were closed! There wasn't even a single one that was opened 24 hours. Getting through customs however, was a breeze, quite unlike the US customs, which asked loads of questions and even required me to take off my boots.0_0
Anyway, I was intrigued by the cab meter on taking the cab to my sister's place. You cannot believe the rate these babies move. I had though the meters on Taiwan cabs were ridiculous but Montreal taxis really takes the cake. A 15 minute trip through deserted midtown(it is after all, 2am) costed me 41CAD.O_O. Suffice to say this is probably the first and last time I am hailing one of these off the road. Anyway, now that I've all settled in, the local time here is about 420am. I plan to be up early tomorrow, so I'll probably be turning in soon. Can't wait for tomorrow!
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