Its been such a long week and I'm really enjoying being home. Its gonna be another time of adjustments again as I'm posted to 3 Signals Battalion. My warrant Officer tells me its an active Battalion, which means the unit could be activated to go for an overseas exercise the moment we step into the premises. But I probably won't have to. We will most likely be taking part in the National Day Parade in August though.

But my posting isn't what is on my mind right now. I had my hopes raised and dropped back down into the hard ground in the space of two days. I just found out that I was in the top 5 on thursday and that I had a good chance of getting an award, one of the three bayonets, 1 golden and 2 silver. But when the rankings were announced today, I was holding my breath, figuratively, from the 36th all the way to the top ten. And my dreams of a first award in NS were shattered when I was announced as 4th in the platoon. 1 place shy of an award. I was kinda moody from the time I heard the news. But I guess I've got nothing to complain about. I did well. I didn't push myself VERY hard and I got 4th. You could say I was just cruising along. I wasn't even aiming for a top 10 placing in the first place so I shouldn't be upset at all.

This week was spent mostly sleeping, revising for the tests, having the tests, playing soccer and practicing my songs for the end-of-course celebration. I was also selected to be the spokesman for the platoon during the celebration. I had 3 consecutive nights out this week. And I found out that I've gotten my $200 bonus for my IPPT gold. So I'm pretty contented with whats happened this week. It started off rather well too with the soccer match with Riverlife ending 3-3 last sunday.

I forgot to bring my boots to the match so I was playing without studs and slipping all over the place. Riverlife were nowhere as good as the nepalese team that trashed us but it was still a challenging game. But I still found it surprising that I could control the team. Especially since I was playing as striker with Liwei. Plus the fact that we had only 10 men for the game. We had to borrow one player from riverlife. We started off with our usual game, flustered and panicky. But started to control the pace after awhile. I felt free to play my game because Dennis was making the tactical decisions that day and I was only looking out for technical improvements.

Our first goal came from a set-piece. Joel directed the freekick towards me and I directed my header towards the goal. Honestly, I didn't expect the ball to fall into the back of the net. 1-0 up.
I wanted to slow the game down after that but the rest of the players seemed to have that extra burst of energy so I didn't enforce it. Riverlife were becoming more aggressive because they couldn't deal with our pace. Or rather, Nathan's pace. And they brought him down in desperation inside the penalty area. Yellow Card! Nathan would have been clear on goal otherwise. So Joel steps up to take the penalty and I tell him to forget the power fearing that he would just blast it and miss it. So I said, "PLACE IT!"
Thats when he goes and places it low and with a lot of power. The trouble is, its straight at the keeper. Fortunately it was too strong to catch and Joel taps in the rebound. 2-0 up!!!

Halftime passes by quickly and we proceed to face a Riverlife side with a different style altogether. They exploited our leftback, Thomson's lack of pace as well as our lack of stamina, cut the deficit, equalised and took the lead in the space of about half an hour. Fortunately Jean F. managed to score a last minute goal from the left, just outside the penalty area. I'm just glad we scored as many as we did. Hopefully, we're playing with the right players in the right position. I think Joel and Gerald did especially well as central defender and keeper respectively. Our midfield was a little weak today. No one to help Dennis in the center of the field. Oh well... I think I'll be taking a break from soccer for awhile. Musn't tire myself out too much.