Life As a Stay-In HQ Personnel

"A great movie is very much like Life itself. No single great movie goes on to be a classic without having a few flaws here and there. Some shots may be crooked and there may be some plotholes. However, when you look it as a whole and not pinpoint individual scenes, you may find yourself looking at a complete film that has fulfilled its purpose." - Yi Peng, a fellow CABian friend

After a long and expensive weekend with my friends (that can be described as all that cooking, Subway, little birthday cakes and movie treats... Gosh), I haven't got any options but to stay in camp, so as to save of what's left in my wallet.

Okay, maybe I'm not really broke broke, but I do have plans for the future, you know.. I'm taking out $200 out of my salary every month, trying to save what little I have for a sustainable overseas education. I calculated, you see.. If I'm able, and I must, to squeeze out $200 for 24 months worth of salary, I would have 4,800 bucks at the end of my NS period.

It's not a very promising figure, I know. But I'm going to start a career to save up even more after I'm done with this lousy government job. And then I'll fly away to some other country, and learn the ropes of film-making. And I probably won't make it big till I'm 40. I am in for a long, tough winter, I suppose..

My family is going to support my dreams, but I do not wish for my ambitious plans to jeopardize my family financially and bankrupt the heck out of them. They've given me a life to live, and in the future, I want to continue it by my own means. I'm not one of those sons whose plan is to distance themselves from their parents, because his parents feel like it's his responsibility to pay back everything back to them. I'm just trying to lighten my family's burden. I don't know, maybe I feel like I'm causing everyone trouble...

Anyway, though I do not have much to do in camp, because technically I end work at 5:30PM every day, I have a lot of free time to myself to do the things that I want.

On Monday night, I went for a jog, while the other stay-in HQ friend accompanied me on his DMX stunt bike. And our journey took us from Changi Airbase West to SAF Ferry Terminal, where we made a pit stop and then to Changi Village. It was a damn good run, I swear. And I had another squadron run on Wednesday morning, which was about 3KM long. I was among the first 50 people (I think?) to finish the run. I am quite impressed with myself. One year ago, I would've have started crawling at the 1KM mark.

But the probably most rewarding thing about staying in is that you get to know more people.

After that good run on Monday night, I came back to the Pass Office and met this guy named Scott. Scott studied in Millennia Institute and was involved in a non-profit charity organization called CHOICE Family (Singapore). Right after I told him what my interests are, he immediately shot out a proposition if I am interested in doing some videos for the organization, because they would be heading to Cambodia, Phnom Pehn, to build a community centre for the villagers there.

I told him, I would love to jump right into it. And besides, I had just acquired a camera. It's a terrific chance for me to hone my skills! BUT, I can only leave if everything works out for me. Because it's applying leave for an overseas trip. You just can't drop everything and leave without some paperwork, you know... So we'll see how that goes. Renewing passports and making sure there's someone to cover my job post when I'm out of the country...

At one point in our conversation, Scott became wisely and said along the lines of "It is never about how much you know your contacts, but rather the breadth of your contacts." Because, you'll never know when these seemingly, random acquaintances will help you in a part of your life. For example, you may know someone who is a scientist and he or she's not very significant, but the person can provide you useful info to protect yourself from dangerous germs or things that.

I got to agree, he is right about that.

Then just yesterday, I was having dinner in the pantry room and my security trooper friend, whom I bonded with via our mutual interest for movies, came along. We talked at great length about Daft Punk's new album and films, of course, while we ate. Which led us to that quote at the start of this post.

I did thought about it before, but never did it came to me so clearly in the form that he spoke. And it makes so much sense to me.. As much as I judge movies, I don't find every good film filled with perfect moments, but it's when you put everything together, it is a perfectly, complete film with solid story-telling.

Two more weeks to go before the next pay comes... Well, at least I've got some cup noodles in camp. Yay~

Daft Punk Feat. Paul Williams - Touch
(Needs earphones to listen to this brilliant conceived/mixed song)