Alright guys, first up I guess I really need to apologise about missing last week's post... Doubtless I must have caused you all no end of troubles and sleepless nights, wondering what fate could have befallen this poor soul. End fantasy. Reality: Barely anyone really reads this lol, much less notice. But for the few who are, sincerest apologies. Out of my own negligence (and laziness) I sort of forgot to post (lol). Not that there was anything important to post about I suppose, else I would have remembered... So this post will attempt to cover the events of the past 2 weeks. Sorry for the overload.

Ok, to the thing that's been pretty much haunting every other waking (and sleeping) moment... The stupid disruption. Ok, technically those guys currently in NS who got into NUS medicine should be granted disruption from their National Service to go study. It's been 2 weeks from my last post. And I'm still waiting. On NUS's side, they've done their part, sent our names to MINDEF (HQ) for them to process the disruption. Nothing's happened. Guess what you get when you call them? "We are still processing the disruptions. Please stfu and gtfo. We would like to remind you that disruption is not guaranteed. Thank you." Do you have any idea how much turmoil and stress it's causing everyone stuck in the fscking army, waiting for something to happen? An overwhelming sense of lethargy has taken me, and I'd assume everyone else who got into medicine. There is simply no motivation to go on with the training anymore (most of us are still trainees, in whatever specialisation). As if you would want to go through the shit anymore now that you know it's pointless, since you probably see the end of it, except you don't really know that you won't see the end because of their stupid disclaimer so you don't dare to just forget about the training altogether. Sorry if I lost you there. Pent up distress. Had to get it out.

Seriously though, the lethargy that has taken me is like a plague. Nothing's worse giving someone hope, and then delaying it indefinitely. And to top if off they even tell you there's a chance it won't happen at all. Don't you love that? Worst of all is simply their lack of transparency. In this respect I'm missing Australia more than ever. I miss the transparency of agencies and their dealings with the public. Over here it's all closed doors and hushed whispers, and the general public (me) look in vain from one department to another, distraught and finding no reprieve, for the public relations the people here are simply plain bastards (huge generalisation, but I don't really care at the moment).

Well the training itself for the first week was actually pretty rough, everyday outside with all the gear on (rifle, helmet, LBV (utility vest thing) (super uncomfortable/smelly/rash-causing/ you-name-it)). Not fun at all. The physical training here is pretty rough going as well, even though it's more a routine thing here than actual active physical training blocks timetabled in. The last week was a little better, not by much though. Mostly lectures, I suppose it was one of the most relaxed weeks this course will see. Physical training like runs and stuff carried on of course.

I have a few things to say about the lectures over here. I saw a week of lectures and got my hopes up. Perhaps this will bring me a little closer to civillisation. I was wrong. The lecturers largely can't teach. At all. What do you expect I suppose, their like elderly army personnel >.>. There's a maths emphasis on the lectures, and some basic grasp of maths is required I suppose to do the calculations for manual gunnery for mortars... (Nothing beyond sin/cos/tan/pythagoras use really). The sad thing is, all these people know is the procedure. Someone tried doing somthing another way, mathematically correct of course, and yielding the correct answer as well, but the lecturer was so adamant that it was wrong. No grasp of basics for the loss. Hell, they gave us a question that they said was actually wrong and couldn't be done, but only after me and a few others solved it with some (somewhat tedious) use of sine/cosine rules. The procedures are tedious, but that's about all. Nothing special.

Ok sorry for the short post, but David's been distracting me with updates on the next WoW expansion (WoTLK, for those curiuos please use the "for everything else" link), and really I'm out of time. Got to go shower and get ready to leave for camp yet again. Hopefully for one of the last, dare I hope, for the last time. I seem to be using the word "hopefully" far too much these days. Getting played by the stupid system does things to your foresight.

Ok, pray for me I suppose, next week still won't see the real tough training part start yet, but all the same I'm really claiming a quick disruption out of this place. Thanks, and I'll post again next week.

Cya.