singzeon.

15 February 2015:

I P P T

We were assembled at the training shed near the ELISS centre, formed up in our details. This was necessary because the new 3-station IPPT had push-ups, which required assistants. Therefore every detail of 16 would be spilt into 8-8, where 8 do push-ups first and the other 8 assisted.

Whilst waiting, a large black crow swooped down onto a tiny mynah (?). Pretty soon the mynah was dead. It landed on the floor opposite the training shed. The crow started plucking its feathers and began pecking at it to eat.

Comments started to develop. 'How gruesome!' 'This isn't right!' 'Birds eat birds?!'

I hastened to label them as 'ignorant', but then realised that I couldn't blame them. It wasn't their fault, since most probably didn't take bio. And even those that did, what we were taught in bio was that 'birds eat worms'.

Therefore, many would still be surprised at such scenes. However, nature isn't that pretty. People aren't kidding when they say it's a dog-eat-dog world out there. By out there they mean whatever natural habitat there is.

Too often we view rose-tinted glimpses of nature and imagine that to be the norm, to be what things actually are. Few, myself included, get to see the real beauty of nature. Of course, some wouldn't call it beauty once they see it.

To those who still don't believe in evolution and/or survival of the fittest, the nice thing about it is that such processes continue to take place whether or not people believe in it. Sort of like gravity.

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure people are going to accuse me once they see the phrase 'survival of the fittest'. Probably something like, 'oh, so this guy is going to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals'. But no, that's a fallacy. Survival of the fittest doesn't mean that you have to necessarily put others down, at least amongst humans, to succeed. Since the fittest survive, how about helping others be fit as well?

IPPT was conducted in the late afternoon; before that we had two hours of admin time which I spent unwisely by surfing the net. I tried to nap when it was too late, and woke up feeling very groggy. As such I told YK that I wouldn't do my best this IPPT.

But somehow during the push-ups and sit-ups, seeing my improvement made me slightly more motivated. It was all up to the run now. The 2.4 km run consisted 3 rounds around the grey track. I was pressured to at least maintain my previous timing or even improve.

Thankfully, I did the latter. My timing improved by half a minute, and I broke the <11:00 barrier. Surprisingly, I didn't feel as exhausted as previous runs, in which I really felt like I would collapse. Till today I still don't know how I did it.

Perhaps this was a sign of my increased stamina. If so, then I am very happy as this means my efforts of the past few weeks have paid off. Nowadays when running cadence run, I am able to keep up the (albeit slow) pace and sing loudly.

I don't know when the next IPPT is, but I would again hope that my run timing would again improve. The only thing I'm afraid now is the disappointment if it doesn't. 期望越高，失望越大。

IPPT ended late, especially since there was a problem with the machine at the end. By the time we went back to company line, it was 1730. The instruction from Sgt V was to fall-in by 1755. During the 25m, we had to shower, change and pack our book-out items.

I supposed this was a 'pressing situation'. And indeed, I started to see the true colours of some people. They started to show their true selfish selves. Even before we were dismissed, these people started to inch towards our bags, which were all placed together.

They took their own bags and left the minute we were free to move. Usually, the unwritten 'procedure' would be that people nearer to the bags would simply take a few at once, especially for the section. Others would simply make their way up.

People had a give-and-take attitude towards this approach; generally the people helping to take would be different so no one ended up taking for others always. Yet on that day, those people couldn't care less about others.

They only bothered about their bags, their own bags. Actually I had expected it from most of them, since previously they had already shown their selfish sides. However, I was rather disappointed  to see a 'newcomer', and that he was from my section.

Of course, as a realist I understand that it is impossible for a whole platoon to be unselfish. There will always be such people. As such I am only thankful to the large unselfish majority. To the selfish few, karma will strike; or maybe you're terribly blessed.

I could go on, but enough is enough. Disclaimer no. 2 would be that I am of course selfish at times too, but since entering army I honestly try to help out whenever possible. Occasionally I don't due to laziness (not malice), which I know isn't exactly excusable. But I try.

TTFN.