Clear!

So the defibrillating attempt was somewhat successful. I figured typing in something would get the job done.

I think this entry would be a far cry from what I expressed in the previous one. Sure, things are still tough, but I guess it only took a little time to warm up to the people around me. I've (thankfully) made many great friends in them, especially my 'buddy' as well as some others who, to no end, find joy in irritating me. Funny how such people can continue to do so, and at the same time be the people you find the easiest to approach. We'd been through some high-key events so far - the ten days I endured without a bath, the five days I stayed awake throughout - and they wouldn't have been at least bearable without company. Finishing one part of the course is definitely something to celebrate, but at the same time we are met with unfortunately premature departures, most to greener pastures. This is one thing that I've been proven wrong again and again, and gladfully so - that I doubted the bonds that form during this transitory period in my life, was a gross underestimation of what the experiences we go through can do to us. Of course, as I know it, there are many systems inherent that do much to impede and distort these experiences - the targets we have to meet, the KPIs we have to fulfill. But these are in the end transient only if we are able to see them so, and are nothing more but arbitrary benchmarks we don't have to force ourselves to live up to. Ahead, there are many seemingly insurmountable challenges, but as it is, I will have to look inward and gaze upward, and then it will be better-going, a constant lesson I've been taught this whole time.

Moving on away from soliloquoy, the night we were supposed to transmogrify into gentlemen mindful of our P's & Q's was, in all my expectations, uneventful and under the bridge. I guess many of them just weren't themselves, probably because they were in the presence of their dates and all. So it's a major cover-up, after all. That actually brings me to the fixation on image the entire system has. The things we are told to do, they sometimes frustrate me to no end, because I just can't figure out a logical reason to them. For the most part, they are only temporary measures to produce superficial results, and at the end of it all, the underlying problem still exists. Okay, I think it's a rant familiar to many in the country, so no further elaboration.

The time off so far has been great, having taken the time to pack off to Bintan and back, just relaxing and gastronomically exciting holiday there. The amount I ate was amazing even to myself; seems like my appetite has expanded quite a bit, probably because of all the physical activity and the overall longing for good food I always seem to possess. Also been out and about with some of them at the beach, where for some it was a good experience to share, and for yet others, it was a time for saying our goodbyes.