[Tuesday, 04 July, 2006]
The day started with HLS run and this time was a fatal experience after the previous two runs. First was Andrew’s nuisance that I dashed down the slope instead of just slightly speeding up a bit; then Louis’s challenge distracted me until a black shirt old guy joined in the fun after we reached the roadside, I was kind of being blocked and thus unable to maintain my speed. I was behind the old man as we turned into Choa Chu Kang Park but he managed to overtake me after the water point. Even though he was covering just half of the distance that he could speed up more, he was really fast for his age. In the end, another guy overtook me after I was exhausted and I could only reach the final point at second position.
After that was the rest inside the office. I was so motivated that I should not be playing games anymore and that I should be concentrating on my work instead even with all the noises; I would either read up or at least update my diary whenever possible so that I could have better rest at night. However, I was lack of sleep and exhausted from the morning run that I dozed off for a while.
It was hell after that. Gilbert informed us of instructions from Shep that all the OT (Overtime) books were to be updated and submitted for checking. It was not simple as the format had to be amended to follow Gilbert’s design and thus it had to be redone. My effort for the previous book was wasted and that so many entries were already written. It stressed me so much over how to transfer the contents.
Before I could get started, things inside the office had to be packed. After the previous complaints from some quite big-farks the previous week, we had to prepare ourselves for the upcoming safety inspection. It was quite lame actually that all items on top of the cupboards had to be removed, cables had to be lay properly, water bottles had to be kept away from electrical applications and even the CPU casing had to be closed. I joined in to help with shifting of the half spoilt furniture and then throwing away of useless papers.
Suddenly, there was a call from Quek asking Yuqing and I to go over to find him. We were instructed to go out of camp to collect equipments. However, Yuqing did not have his uniform and thus Quek assigned Kwang Han with me instead. So, after another useless video screening, we took the Unimog to approach Nee Soon camp. The previous visits there carved the beautiful pictures in my mind until this time I witnessed some World War Two buildings on a different route. We waited for the store man to find the equipments and then left for his main office which was also shabby. Before we could leave, they asked us for the unit stamp which Quek did not prepare for us. We dragged on and finally were able to escape from the “war”.
I was curious about their E-mart and was quite tempted to get the new New Balance grey PT shoes; however, our 11Bs were at the guardhouse and that Kwang Han did not photocopy his bar code like me. I collected the 11Bs from the guardhouse and refused to return Kwang Han his one.
A wrestling started after we got back to the camp and Kwang Han took my camp pass. I took his and then Siu Hang joined in, and thus his one was confiscated by me as well. We created havoc inside the office and sweated as much as than the morning’s run. There were bruises on my right hand, especially near my watch area and an obvious scratch on my arm and a blue black near armpit. The game stopped as I saw the need to go down to replace Fredrick for he had to get his dinner for staying back duty.
By this time, Yuqing had already completed the headers of the OT book. There were still problems with the transferring of contents which was causing the stress within me. Then, Gilbert reminded me of the cover page as well. It was too late to do anything but to bring the book home to complete such that I would be able to make it on time to show Shep by the morning.
It was a restless journey home in my weariness caused by lack of sleep, physically disabled and most of all, the OT book. Right after I stepped out of TG Pagar MRT station, Sam called me to dine together as he was nearby. I called my home, hurried home and walked briskly towards the Maxwell food centre to meet him. The food was actually more expensive than usual food centre and just a small plate of Wan Tan noodle it cost three bucks. Sam was so blur that he took a long time to find his Hokkien noodles when there were at least three stalls selling that. He showed me to his dance class and I thought it was a small restaurant at first.
It was a terribly tiring day.