Sorao Miagete

Finally time to post new entries on this blog!

Life away from assignments and deadlines sure felt good! For once the mind is not occupied by things to be done. A holiday can never be called a holiday unless the mind gets a good rest.

This week also marked the unofficial start of my holidays. I haven’t made much plans yet. Just wanted to complete my marathon first and see how things go. Come to think of it, time really flies. It didn’t feel that long ago that I was still living the days of sleeping in the bunk and playing lan at Gann Boon’s lan shop.

Those were the good old days man.

I proclaim to have pretty good driving skills in real life, but in that stupid SAF computer game called “flashpoint resistance”, no one dared to long pang in my rover. Why? I always ram into a tree or tried to cheong straight into the enemy in a valiant effort to run them down. In the end I either ran down MY OWN TEAMMATES running in the same direction or gave my friends a lift to the afterworlds. Anyone, ANYONE, who took a ride in my land rover will end up with a computer screen bathed in red, and then their character will become a little bird after a few minutes.

After while my friends devised an effective way to handle the (would be wasted) vehicular resources under my atrocious driving. To prevent wastage of scarce vehicles in the game, they would climb up onboard beside me and blast their rifles off in my direction. After that another guy would take over the wheels and continue with the game, while I became a little bird. Ok lah, at least they still bothered to expend 01 x magazine worth of rounds on me. At least I am not worth a one bullet kill.

My fortunes did not become better when I became the passenger. Perhaps used to that bad habit of shooting the GREAT driver, they would BLAST THEIR RIFLES off in my direction the moment I hopped on board. Driver or not, my fate with the rover is closely tied to a little bird in the sky.

I don’t blame them. My gaming skills are right in the pits. All I could contribute to the game was to pick up an anti-tank weapon and fire a missile in the direction of my friends’ rover. The explosion that followed was simply beautiful.

Unfortunately my destructive influence in the games I participated earned me unwanted reputation, and thanks to that reputation I was almost ousted from the lan shop by Gann Boon and friends. Fortunately, one magical word I learnt from the malay driver saved the day.

Tolong.

Finally they relented and allowed me to stay in the lan shop till my last days in camp. Thanks guys. You simply rock.

There were many other unforgettable moments back in those days. I had better write the following one down before I forget it in future.

The day I spent up on the mountain with sergeant (NS) Sammy and Tan Yeat Cheong.

Ok lah, maybe I was exaggerating. The knoll was only 100+ metres high so it was strictly not a mountain. I don’t think my flat on the 30th storey is higher than bukit timah, so that knoll we were on that day was at least 30th storey high.

We were supposed to provide surveillance to an axis which a convoy of enemy tanks would most likely take. To sidetrack, we were THE enemy during that exercise. The convoy of tanks were the SAF, the good guys. So in order to provide reliable spying service on that axis, we had to be in position by the night before. But since it was too dark and dangerous to climb up the knoll at night,

We just slept through the night at the foot of knoll.

At 0600, we were up and alive. Daylight kicks in pretty early at that time of the year in Queensland. First light came on a daily average at 0530 hours. By 0630, we were up on the top.

What a sight it was up there!

A clear blue sky blanketed the land as far as the horizons allowed. Apart from the range of mountains to our north (called the Polygon Range), there was nothing to obstruct the endless piece of sky above us. Compared to Singapore where buildings always blocked out parts of the sky,

What I was seeing then must have come from the heavens.

Immediately I felt happier. The fresh air, serenity, and space up there were so beautiful and yet precious. Mai tu liao. Chop chop spread out the ground sheet and lie down to admire the scenery.

There were different shades of blue. The lighter shades were closer to the horizon where the sun was rising. What captivated me were the darker shades that loomed right above.
They seemed to hint at the endless space beyond it.

The infiniteness of the universe. The insignificance of man.

Nature is so vast, so impressive, so beautiful, and yet so mysterious. Admiring nature never failed to make me and my problems feel so insignificant.

Just stop Tan Yeat Cheong from spoiling the ambience with his 101 facts about the penis.

As my gaze got absorbed into the surreal shades of blue, many good old memories and songs returned.

Hitotsu ai wo ushinau tabi
Whenever I fall out of love

Mi ni utsuru subete monokuro ni mieru
Everything I see turns monochrome

Futari yoku itta sutajium no shiai
We often used to go see the games at the stadium

Taisetsu na hi sae mou dou demo yoku natte iru
But the good old days mean nothing to me anymore

Daisuki na mono wa tatoe anata ga inakute mo
Even after you have gone, I still want to tell the world

Daisuki da tte iitai no ni
What is it that I truly love

Sorao miagete
Looking up to the sky

Namida koborenai you ni
I try holding back my tears

Kaze ni yureru furaggu iro azayaka na kinou
Flags were moving in the wind and things seemed brighter yesterday

Sorao miagete
Looking up to the sky

Yoku yume wo katatta ne
We used to talk about our dreams

Donna mubou na yume mo kanaisou na ki ga shita
No matter how far out of reach they seemed, dreams could come true

Ano kagayaki uso ja nai to itte yo
Tell me that fire in your eyes is not a lie.