Monday, February 14, 2005

V-day

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i love Da Paulo's. Ok, well, not exactly LOVE it, but it makes cooking all the more easier. Today was V-day, and in our spirit of thriftiness, we decided not to contribute to the economy (coupled with the fact that our credit card bills were sky-high the last month) and chose to eat in. We had rented Shallow Hal the day before (despite the fact that it screened on channel 5 last night), but decided to go with Five as it was showing The Fugitive.

i finished the DB inspection early, and hence had time to pop by Holland V to pick up some pasta, pasta sauce, a chicken riscotti and salad from DP, as well as the Awfully Chocalate ice-cream from Dan which he forgot to bring to a party. The chicken was simple enough to reheat in the microwave, but the pasta needed REAL cooking. Boiling water, a tea-spoon of salt, and boil for a minute (though i tailored it to 2, after much hesitation and timing with my Nokia stopwatch). Simple enough not to screw up. Add in some dim lights, white wine, air-con from the bedroom-converted-to-dining-room at full blast, and an aroma-therapy burner with Lavender oil, and the stage was set for our very first candle-(cum TV)-light dinner. It wasn't too bad, though she took a little longer than i expected in coming home, hence the pasta was a little clumped, but still yummy. Still have some wine left though...

The DB inspection this afternoon was a good respite from the busy morning that i had. 4 straight hours of meeting with the boss and some of the Brigade MOs over the Medical Support Plan for this year's NDP. No joke. It had earlier been approved by SMO before going through our office, hence the boss wasn't really pleased, especially since most of the assets requested were from Army, and were pretty excessive, not to say the least. The boss also had a good time shooting out arrows as the meeting went along, many totally unrelated to my job scope. Sigh... times have changed indeed. My afternoon before starting the cooking was also marred by a call from one of the Majors, with another arrow which i don't think i should be doing. Or rather, i guess he's got no choice since he needs a doctor to get information about electrolyte imbalance in marathons, but there already IS a guidebook on this previously published by LIFE, hence the replication of work is in my opinion unnecessary. My gut feel is that the boss either is not aware of the existing publication and Maj R doesn't dare or didn't think to bring it up to his attention, or that the boss just wants to create work for his subordinates, which totally goes against the line of the old management. That's the problem with the SAF. It's a military organisation which is run in a way which over-emphasises on the fact that it IS a military organisation. Many of the commanders think they can get their way because of their rank, and this management style is unfortunately not quite effective in getting things done, especially with a whole bunch of youths who have been enlisted against their will. i try to defy the urge to use this reason to slack off, as i have a moral calling higher than the organisation or the nation, but sometimes it's hard.

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DB was just like what prison is portrayed in the media. Cold hard cells with metal bars, and a little corner for doing one's business. The security was tight as well, albeit run by NSFs. The inspection basically is a form of audit, to ensure that the inmates are in no way being mistreated or abused by the others, or by the soldiers looking over them. Wouldn't want a repeat of the Iraqi prison scandal hitting us now, would we?

We examined all 163 of them from the outside of the cells, walking past each cell and getting the inmates to strip and do the DB dance. Now, the DB dance is basically an improvised Macarena, where the inmates (as previously mentioned) strip to their birthday suits, stand with palms out, then in, then raise their hands up palms facing the examiner, at the same time sticking out their tongues, then turning around and lifting up one sole after the other for inspection. Each inmate can be inspected within a matter of seconds (if they dance correctly, that is), so it doesn't really take that long to complete the few accomodation blocks.

There were also some Jehovah Witnesses, who all go straight to DB anyway. They had to dance as well.

i guess that's it for now... later.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Yuhui said...

Throw the LIFE report in the Major's face and yell "Wake up your idea!"

February 15, 2005 at 8:59 AM  
Blogger J Schnorng said...

I've done the DB dance, and it's not fun. In fact, it's one of the most humiliating things I've ever done.

But then, that's another story for another time.

Regards,
J

April 26, 2005 at 2:01 AM  

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