ORD LOH!

Yeah! Its a no-brainer. I got my pink IC on the 5th, and officially left the army the day after.

And despite that, they still had time to give us one final surprise. A security breach had happened and it required us to all stay in camp for some checks. So we duly did, despite the fact that it was the eve of Chinese New Year, and we all had to be home rather soon. And despite the fact that the actual incident had happened many months before. Which added to our... frustration and anger. Why is why we are glad to be out of there.

Anyhow, so mnstr and I sat outside on the concrete pavement. To our platoonmates and other close friends, we shook hands and even hugged a few. I saw them as they boarded the bus to Jurong Point. I waved back.

And then it came.

The wave of emotions and feeling that makes your heart feel heavy. It's just.. difficult to put into words. Even as I looked back at the camp which I couldn't wait to get out of it, I still felt this sense of loss, that somehow I had left something behind even though my cupboard was already empty. What did I leave behind? The people. The people who made my NS experience, who defined it, who shared it with me. Without the wonderful bunch of people NS wouldn't be what it is. Yes, we might not be united, but at the very least we were together. And even more so, we became like a family - and even in a family, siblings do their own things. So I guess, a family is an apt term in more than one way.

And to remember the drama of getting the pink IC. haha. The last-day race to get all the important people's signatures, and to think that we almost couldn't get our pink ICs because we didn't do some survey thingy. haha

drama and saikang, all the way to the very end.

And even as I leave the army and having received a pink IC, it gives me a deep sense of joy - almost sacred, something that I can't express just by laughing. It's also like a sense of responsibility - that from here on, REAL life begins - the start of life that means that I now become fully, my own man, that the responsibility for my life is mine and mine alone, and no one else's. The buck ends here, for my own life.

Father, I thank You for bringing me through these 22 months of military training. You've brought me through every single moment, You have protected me, guided me and togethre, You have borne my burdens and saved me, forgiven me for all the unrighteousness and injustices that I have committed. You have, healed my hurts ,by grace, cleansed me from all my sins and my wrongdoings and through everything, You have been with me, and even blessed me so much!

Rejoice, Rejoice!

Thank You Lord!

Lord You have heard and answered my prayers. You have been faithful to me always - the grace, unmerited, undeserved, yet still You have given to me - because of Your love.

Lord I rededicate the rest of my life to You, knowing that hereon, as always, You will be with me. Thank You Lord!

Lord I pray for wisdom.

I want to seek You. I want to find You, and be near to You. I don't want to chase any other thing but You. I need You.

...

The farewells that we bade each other for now will not last long. We will almost see each other again, at our universities, along the road, as we meet again and again to reminisce for old time's sake.

We will see each other again. ORD is not the end, it is only the start of a beginning.

I'm feeling this burden of a mission, of something but not sure what.

Goodbye, halcyon days...

the last days of our youth unfolding and ended... from here on, its no more fun and games, no more unrestrained boyish fun. Its really something. We here in NS, supposed to believe that we have to be like grown, mature men, worthy of the weapon we wield, and for each other. yet we haven't had so much childish boyish fun since primary school! haha. and so these days have come to an end... no more innocence, all seriousness from here on...

Goodbye, halcyon days...