Beginning the previous day with an early reveille, I thought I should turn in that very night in order to pay off some of the sleep deprivation debts I had accumulated for last semester.

I didn’t expect that I will get unusually excited and spend at least two full hours tossing and turning. I shouldn’t be eager for vacation attachment this time round; especially not when I can only expect four VA officers to be back.

Then, atypically strange, we were greeted by cheerful faces from senior specialists (think malicious if you are cynical) when we entered the gates and the offices at our holding unit. We also met a newly commissioned officer Perry, who again have to remind me of my old age; he’s only 20, for Christ’s sake.

I thought he was a blessing in disguise, because the four of us would be miserably bored facing the four walls (oh yes, walls, I’ll get to that) and a tiny window with a view of the air conditioner duct. I bet he’s relieved and beamed with glee when he first met us; having us will mean an end to his two month of lonesome experience on Happy Hill.

Speaking of walls which I promised earlier, we’re not entitled to our familiar Lecture Room 3, not anymore which we presumably took it for granted for the previous attachments. Perhaps it’s the complacency, Mas Selamat saboed us.

So instead, we (yes! all the five of us) were cramped into that no more than 3 by 3 square metres abdicated office. I couldn’t believe that I’m in the risk of developing claustrophobia within the next three months! And to think I’m gonna see the shrink due to my impeding fits of depression, this will surely expedite the visit.

On a serious note, we were then expected to attend a seminar presented by an NUS Business School professor on Balanced Score Card, try google it and you probably get various hits on this diagnostic tool which the civil service (SAF inclusive) may decide it to be the next cure for its acclaimed inefficiency.

Eugene got the worst hit, because he was appointed emcee for the event; ridiculous I will say, first day with no prior notification; not even a phone call or a slight hint.

The event is arguably interesting. Unlike to many, I find parts of the framework to be really enlightening and may actually be the missing piece to eradicate the undesirable traits of the SAF once and for all (absolutely non politically correct, I meant every word). For the rest, it’s just another lecture conducted by a doctor who is passionate about what he knows. We’ll see in due time if SAF is walking the talk about putting this into good practice on top of the truckload of implementations they already had but not at all performing.

In summary, I thought we could have more time to run, at least jump start my faded interest of training up my miserably distorted body shape; the event ended at six, we were even delayed by three minutes because the flag had to descend.

I thought I could get myself another pair of pants, at least to have more breathing space for my bulging belly and to wake the idea that I could still fit into that 28″ waist line; I’m 30″ now and my e-mart credits aren’t activated.

I thought I could at least do some reading and get updated with any unread emails; I couldn’t bother to check if my account is reinstated, besides, we didn’t have time remember? We had a workshop.

The day started with a boom and ended with so much hype. Phew.