we reported at the learnin' resource centre on monday mornin' and i was thrilled.. cos the place used to be my playground.. with the manpower office right beside the centre.. that corner of the station building was like castle greyskull for me and the guys back then.. boy the memories kept comin' back when i entered the centre.. when i got there and as expected the centre was not properly taken care of.. mind-bogglin' games like labyrinth.. alcatraz etc had missing pieces.. some of the armchairs were broken.. the comfortable yellow sofa had stains on it (i believe i might be responsible for that in '02.. haha).. and the self-help books on the shelves were as good as paperweights collectin' dust.. and speakin' of the shelves.. there were a number of ring files on them.. and i smiled in disbelief..
back in '02/ early '03 during the later part of my n.s tenure.. the division was totally engaged in achievin' a 'people developer standard' accolade awarded by spring singapore or we simply call it as p.d.s.. and keepin' it short basically if awarded.. the division would be recognized as a peoples' organization that has a flawless human resource management and a structured training system in place (on paper of cos)..
so commander created a secretariat to handle this project and i was the first n.s guy selected to be in the team.. the secretariat was headed by a p.d manager who was also the c.o of wlds npc.. mr. adrian quek.. who was actually a freakin' nice boss and although occasionally arrogant and demandin'.. he appreciated his n.s guys' hard work and commitment.. and acknowledged them.. at first i thought he was the arsehole but the real arsehole was actually the p.d secretary.. whom i had the dishonour and displeasure to work with for a whole year and the arse's a regular.. me and the guys would nickname arse as 'he who shall not be named'.. haha.. so this p.d sec guy and myself were given the challengin' responsibility to drive and disseminate p.d.s across the division and achievin' it in the span of a year.. god i have so many stories abt this arse but maybe i'll blog them in later posts or something..
and what comes with a project this massive?.. paperwork.. lots and lots of paperwork.. hundreds of drafts.. countless minutes.. refined processes.. heavy documentation.. endless vettin'.. before we could get the end-products.. and there they are.. those ring files.. they are the p.d.s biblical files.. still sittin' on the shelves in the centre.. exactly where i had left them 6 years ago.. they were my babies.. i (actually a couple of others too except for arse) practically bled.. sweat and almost died creatin' and documentin' them.. but i had no regrets.. the p.d.s journey was actually the best days of my n.s life..
went for shooting test and got marksman.. scored 96.. i couldn't believe it either.. my best score to date.. $200 in the bag already..
but failed ippt.. that i can believe.. haha.. and u better believe when i say i saw a couple of ex-tru guys trainin' in camp at h.t.a.. especially rayhan who was havin' his marchin' drill.. haha.. left right left! left right left!.. luckily he wasn't carryin' a revolver at that time or he might just shoot me when i was smilin' at him cheekily..
and like any other reservist cycles i had before.. it was like a holiday camp.. for two days we had a 3-hr lunch break.. cool rite?.. and what can a group of nearly-30 year olds do at noon?.. we went to the arcade of cos.. at gek poh in jurong west..we served the net and i was ecstatic when they still had the very first version of virtua striker.. with each token still cost 50 cents.. i was again addicted with the game i practically hogged to play in '98.. '99.. '00..
that's the thing about reservist cycles like this.. it's great to be back in familiar and uncomplicated territory.. why life can't be this simple anymore?.. for me just the basics would do..
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