2008 - The Year of Disaster.

2008 was quite a bad year.
sigh.
=/

I haven't consolidated my resolutions for 2009, but I guess one of my posts next week would be on it.

For now, on the 1st day of 2009, I'm going to try to review this entire year - in 4 quarters.

1st Quarter - January to March 2008.

• Just fresh out of BMT, got my posting to go SAF Ammunition Command to learn explosives and ammunition - was ecstatic
• Met some really good friends there, and some strange characters. But was an enlightening experience
• There were people who gave nice memories like Staff Sin, Darryl(s) and Xavier
• MMI gave me a strange report on Glycosuria. Apparently they needed to do a thorough analysis of my case. - my pes status was put on hold for another 3 months
• 1 year. I think I can count with 1 hand how many of my relationships actually more then a year. I hope everything turns out right...
• Decided to try my luck in NTU and NUS. - Chose the absolutely wrong courses. Economics. Forgot that I wasn't just competing with Polytechnics. Had China mathematics gods to contend with.

2nd Quarter - April to June 2008

• Ice cold. Relationship seemed to break down dramatically during that period. Arguments started to drag into unreasonable anger and it lasted for a long time. Almost gave up.
• Got a job writing street reviews for POIT, a PLU magazine. Got a bit to spend. But nothing ever seemed like enough.
• Decided to permernantly revive my hardcore gym routine. First day - almost destroyed my back.
  
• Final examinations for SAFAC. Decided to go easy on myself. Explosives seemed like an interesting subject at first, but as we studied the intricacies, I realized it wasn't so fun after all. ~ Passed. With flying colors.
  
• Was given the papers to got to this hellhole called "Mandai West Camp". Vomited blood. Wanted to go Nee Soon. Almost killed myself.
• Finally got my Ammunition Tech skill badge. Was ecstatic. I am one of the sparse minority of army personnel who has a skill badge and yet has a rank of a private.
• Was dumped into the Ammo Dump. Fascinating place. Opened my eyes to stuff I never thought possible. But still concrete = Depression.
• MMI report flew back 1 day before I could permanently seal my SGT rank in. I was downgraded to Pes C.
• Unable to stay in, Non-Combat fit and exemption from Outfield made me get kick out of SAFAC forever. After all, who needs an ammunition spec who can't handle explosives?
• I was relocated to paradise, aka Stagmont Camp...
  

3rd Quarter - July to October 2008

• The closest thing to SAF paradise would probably be this. - Stagmont Camp.
  
• Life was good. I had just one room to myself, as long as I made sure that it was in order, everything would be good. - so I thought.
• I could stay out, had lunch whenever I wanted and being a server administrator, could watch the entire building with an everlasting eye.
• I had books to read too! An air-condition! After all, the place that I was in charge in was the E-Plaza, a place where trainees relax. I was the undisputed emperer of the E-Plaza.
• Slowly but surely, the seniors in my department started to ORD. No new people were filling in the gaps. Stress started to build. More responsibilities slowly piled upon the current team.
• Went to Malaysia with my dear. Almost got a heart attack when he fell into a drain. It was... super beautiful.
  

4th Quarter - October to December 2008

• Life became indistinguishable between work and living itself. Stress had became synonymous with life.
• AVA Department was being torn from the inside out. Superiors started going crazy as the leaderships among the department started changing hands.
• From 12 people in our Department, we were reduced to 8, then to 6, and now 5. We has multiple rooms to control and millions of things to do. - Due to the old generation, we could not rub the word "slack" from our department. It seemed like the default comment people made.
  
• Games in my department seemed like a distant, pleasant memory.
  
• As the previous IC became increasingly distant, I was arrowed to fill in the administrative gaps. - I became the IC in the end.
  
• I made some real, dangerous enemies, and not much friends. It was the curse of being a leader.
• Church activities were in its super peak period, and hundreds of things had to be done. Magazines, Carolling and plenty of band practices.
  
• I finally reach the highest scale of stress I ever recorded in my life.

I thought that the media was bad. That the politics that they play within the mass communication industry was bad.
But this is far, far worst.

Your boss would backstab you and your entire department without a second thought, just because they don't like you.
At least, outside, your treated like human beings.

Here, you're treated worst then dogs - at least dogs have food to eat and a loving master.

Here, you're thrown to the sharks, with no lifeline, no weapon, and covered with blood. You have no voice to scream because your voice box was ripped out - nobody will listen.

You have no escape, because you can't - simply put, you're in a tank with no ladder and no escape route.

Even if you never did anything wrong, your boss would just lie to his superior and the people around him so that the punishment he envisioned would go through.
We are unable to reason with any of the bosses, because they believe - through his lies, that my department has no credibility.

We are so far away from the HQ that nobody here's our cry.
We don't have anybody above a corporal rank that can voice out any injustice.

The only thing that they hear are complains from the instructors here because the instructors don't get what they want.
But does the HQ give us the power to solve the problems? No.

We tell the instructors the orders that the HQ gives us. The instructors are not happy with that orders. They send a complain letter to the bosses that we are the one that are not cooperating.

Is that our fault? Truly?

It is not in the slightest way our fault.

But do we have a voice? no.

We are being punished, scolded, criticized, mocked and mistreated without the hope of ever being able to state our case.









... .............






2008 is a year of severe ups and severe downs...
I hate 2008..


.........

sigh.

with things as bad as they are in 2008, how much worse can it be in 2009..
..but i've got a gut feeling that some people are going to prove me wrong...






*stares blankly*