Is it ever acceptable to be a "Good Trier" without ever having the results to speak for your efforts? It's really a question of whether it's the process or the results that matter. Not too sure where I stand on that. Of course I'd like to be able to obtain both; impossibility of "obtaining" a process aside, and of course the process is important, but it sucks to not have an external validation of sorts.
And someone told me that he respected me today /excites hahaha how often does one hear that to the face XD
Well anyway, had a horrific 5-10 mins today, but other than that, I'll be fine. Managed to set a PB for the SOC today morning, and that despite having taken the IPPT the day before. Kinda makes me feel proud for not having taken the easy way out and excused myself (as the IPPT-takers were given the option to do) and instead making myself do it.
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Sometimes events that befall me are so ridiculous that I can't help laughing, despite suffering as a result of aforesaid events occurring. I feel like elaborating on the camera chase that played out over the past few days, so that's what I shall do:
I somehow found myself in charge of presenting a board game my platoon adapted (or rather ripped off) from an extant board game for an NE presentation. It's a really really really (I can't quite summon the relevant superlatives, so cut me some slack here) complex game which isn't quite suitable to be presented to large groups. So I found myself with a dilemma. Cause you see, encik had requested/demanded/ordered that we do up a game of some kind - influenced no doubt by the presentation of Charlie which had wrested the trophy from us the previous bactch - and to present it in a captivating manner, and moreover to complete it on a tight deadline. I realize I need to correct myself. I wasn't a dilemma I found myself with, but rather a steaming fresh pile of shit that had somehow landed itself squarely in my hands. Being who I am, I wasn't inclined to engage in shit-slinging and ended up trying to mold the shit into something comprehensible. This "plan" I had in mind involved taking pictures of various set-ups of cards and board for use in a mini-skit of sorts; not the most original of ideas, I'll readily admit.
Anyways, as I alluded to earlier, obtaining that camera was a bloody pain in the ass. (painful imagery, that) Seems like the whole of Bravo is armed with but a single camera, which happened to be drawn out by Platoon 3 just when I needed it. No problem, how long could they take, right?
Wrong. They held onto it for a day and a half before finally returning it to the company office. But. (There's always a but) But they removed the memory card; took it out of camp, in fact, to work upon their video during Wednesday's nights off. And that after repeated attempts to hurry them up. Bandied around the idea of passing the cards and boards to Ying Hui who was going home for him to take the required photographs but it was a no go, apparently cause my partners hadn't finished drawing some things. No matter, can always use the camera when I get back, right?
Wrong. Turns out the WO in charge of the camera took it with him/locked it up (I don't really know which) when he booked out at 5+, and they couldn't sign in the memory card without him being in camp, so on to Thursday, with the IC's promise that he'd return it ASAP. Okay, still one more day till Friday, a little squeezed for time, but still doable, right?
Wrong. They only managed to return the memory card after an arms drill which stretched till 10+, after which I went to the Coy office to look for the WO to borrow the camera. No such luck, he wasn't in. Went to check the store (he's in charge of it) and he wasn't there either. Spied a familiar form at the smoking corner so there I went, taking a deep breath before sallying forth. Mission accomplished (finally) right?
Wrong. Turns out I was one step too late; some of the commanders/higher-ups had taken the camera for a recce of our field camp site, they'd be back after lunch. So up to my bunk I went, fretting over the script which I wasn't sure how to resolve, not to mention the recruitment of my "actors". Down for lunch and back again, first thing I did was to go to the Coy office to borrow the camera. Asked 2IC; YES IT'S THERE, HALLELUJAH. Signed it out after the relevant paperwork and left after entrusting it to some of our OOC personnel to take the required pictures; we hadn't completed the day's activities, you see. Gao Ding! Right?
Wrong. The pictures weren't good enough, as I realized upon first glance, so I did it myself later on. FINALLY. But nope. SAF has a security policy, you see, we aren't allowed to insert/connect storage mediums to our SAF-issued laptops, so any data transfer from the camera to the computer had to be done using the 2ICs terminal. And yet by the time I realized that the pictures taken were inadequate and did the required retakes, 2IC had booked out for the day. Cursing the lack of initiative of the OOC personnel who'd spent practically the whole day in the Coy office with the 2IC, there was really nothing I could do Thursday night except fret endlessly over the whole episode, and ranting sporadically to the more sympathetic of my bunkmates, while sharing endless bouts of laughs at how bloody ridiculous the whole thing had become.
And by the time the photos were finally transferred over to the internal system, there was undoubtedly insufficient time to do up a passable presentation, as I had been planning to use the slides as a visual aid for the presentation. And thus, an onstage crucifixion (not spelt crucification, my bad).
On the whole, events weren't totally within my control (a gross understatement methinks) but I could probably have done alot more towards remedying the situation had I the foresight and been more assertive as a leader. Hope the negative ramifications aren't too much for me to handle.
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