My NPCC Journey

Below is a brief account of my 3 years, 4 months and 19 days
in ahsNPCC.
It isn't gonna end here though. You'll know why soon enough

During POP, many said they'd regretted and were unwilling
to go for NP trainings in the beginning. I however am different.
Honestly...

My first choice was Guides (seeing that my parents had wanted my to be in Brownies since i was 10) and second choice NP
Maybe it was SY & EL who persuaded me to go
They kinda made it sound awesome
Miss Teo also mentioned all the adventure-filled parts of the CCA
n yea, kor was in NP so why not?

Without much thought (unlike some who asked 3001 questions
like: will i get an A if i join? OR
is training tough? OR
is it true that u guys drill under the sun?)
come on. i was 13, had no brains of my own (was actually persuaded to go by those two whom i THOUGHT were my freinds. bleh)
So, yea, when i got it, and saw RaySeen n EL who also got it...
i wasn't feeling too bad. At least i had company

The first training proved to b fine
History Room. Lecture. Intro. "Lies"
haha, yes, we were all scammed into believing that being in the pioneer batch had SOOOO many advantages... Oh, were we wrong. @ that time, we had 21

As time went by, (with Prissy spitting @ EngKiat Sir)
(with EngKiat Sir being pissed by our
Argue, Bargain, Complain, Demand, JIALAT
behaviuor) JUNE training camp arrived.

Hafiz Sir, EngKiat Sir as well as 4 NCOs from Sengkang Sec,
some other instructors like Jerald Sir was present for the camp
Highlights basically were
1)us having our first encounter with
(now best friends) Mr. Prickly Heat.
2)waking up during the wee hours of the morning
for morning "pt". Sir was mad, pumping us 75 to begin with
then going on to -150 cos he "bu shuang" Ms Teo had to literally stop him
3)Outdoor cooking: spilling food n lighting up solid fuel
4)Bunk inspection (killer!!)
5)EKSir having fun match-making Rachel-Vincent and Leona-Jian Rong
haha those funny times.

EKSir came and left. Which brought the arrival of another batch of instructors
Namely: Xiu Min Ma'am, Jia Ying Ma'am, Liyana Ma'am, Pei Yi Ma'am & Mervyn Sir
The 21 of us changed drastically in terms of hard skills, discipline, getting accustomed to the new system in place, etc. etc.

We used to have self-trainings which were so USELESS (held by then "chairperson" EL) that i actually ponned a training, only to sit in class and slack
We used to organise things which normal Sec1s never even dreamt of taking part in. Eg. CCA Orientation

All this changed once they stepped in. Finally we had a proper system
Finally we didn't do all those things we hardly understood. Like come on, I was appointed Drill I/C when i'd only been in the CCA for 8 months? WTH u might say. I thought it was pretty cool at that time too. But now, i think i'd rather bao1 everything than give my sec1s a post which they themselves dont understand.

Time went by... the batch of 4 sec1s came. EL left (thank goodness. if not i would have) & Prissy quit. The 19 of us were really saddened by the fact that we only had 4 juniors, plus everyone kept commenting abt how crappy the situation was, n the threat of being "closed down" by Dr Boon was just so imminent. Ms Teo then gave us an ultimatum "to let live/to let go" basically either keep the Sec1s (which was at the time pretty selfish to them) or let them leave the CCA and we would not have a BATCH#2. We kept, obviously.

I was more and more enthusiastic in Sec2 being promoted to LCP. The Sec1s were also pretty good, showing some potential. But WeiTing & Vivien were always separate from Rachel & Yohana, which was quite a concern.

Camp in JUNE was fun, yet tough as we went through so much sh*t together. I was in Au Naturelle! There was this once, i rmb it was early in the morning, we got woken up for fire drill. But acc to JY Ma'am, we took so bloody long to wake up, the school alr burn down. (lol?) i was freaking tired (and i was holding my gp's flag). While JY Ma'am tok tok tok, XM Ma'am chionged from the back n stole my flag just like that. felt uber guilty that i got stolen n we had to pump like mad after. (even tho liyana ma'am was IC of our gp n quite lenient) The hike to and from EXPO was cool too, seeing that i carried ALL the waterbottles >< We were rewarded with ice-cold 7-up tho =) oh, sth bad happened here, another flag-stealing incident which led to Ray Seen crying. 0.
The campfire night performance was good (our group rocked!) n we had fun preparing for it too

blah blah blah, prepared for orientation. We did MD for the first time (kinda cool)
12 sec1s,relli happy. I took them mostly for drills and soon it was time for March Bonding Camp.

I was part of the planning committee: LOG I/C tgt with Wenxin n Lijing. I wasnt expecting all that drama, but it did happen, n i think im thankful cos it relli taught me alot. Firstly, i learnt that SOMEONE's gotta do the dirty jobs. N being in the saikang position, i learnt to b more sensitive and aware of ppl ard me. Not carry on having fun while someone's tying up all the loose ends.

next was NCO-ship. Promoted to CPL then SGT, went thru an NCO crash-course after JY & XM left.

Interview was pretty fluent. Besides that one question which i couldnt answer. I think that was why the instructors & teachers doubted my ability to be a chairperson. Yeap, the "secret"'s out, i did wanna bcome AHNP's first head. It was my first choice for many reasons. The most important one: to increase AHNP's recognition. I had so MANY dreams and aspirations fo the unit. I wanted to have joint projects with other CCAs, i wanted to push the unit for UOPA silver, i wanted at least 18 juniors for our 4th and final batch. Too bad, i didnt get it. I was sour for quite awhile, not understanding why someone who didn't want it as badly as me, got it. However, recently i talked to Sir, and he gave me a reason i could not doubt. They believed my "interpersonal relationships would be strained if i got the post" that was true to a certain extent. But now, i honestly do not regret being chosen for Sec1 squad IC.

The 3rd batch was Sheena n my first squad. We had fun times tgt, nurturing the cadets, feeding them with hard skills, bonding with them. I learnt quite alot as well. I had feedback (fr the majority) that i was too strict. I shd smile more, b like sgt (then) sheena. It was definitely sad to leave them, and i felt relli touched when they planned a bdae surprise for me =) i still keep the cards n twine thing n a pic of the cookies ;) i <3 u gals to bits!

Orientation came again. N i was so dead keen on doing pds. It was my one n only chance to do it. I'm sorry if i did badly cos of my hurt wrist, i dunno y i couldnt get e spinning right. It was tiring but a gd experience as we bonded in times of bitter endurance and repitiveness. to NCC: i know we may not have been as GREAT as u guys (i do not deny this) neither do we use real rifles, but hey, at least b a bit more sensitive than plop ur butts down to watch us, point and laugh.

We got 12 sec1s again. I was not happy. Sad in fact, to the extent of crying. I wanted to reach our quota, i wanted to have more Sec1s than the other UGs. I still (up till now) do not know why the Sec1s join __ & __ instead. But trust me, I'll find out.

Im happy with our current sec1s as they're relli a funny lot. laggers or not, they never fail to amuse me. This year, i prob wasnt as hiong as sheena, but i noe they will still take my advice seriously. I cant wait for Os to be done so that i can train u gals again n see how u perform during the EOY camp. =) Keep the passion for NP n remember "YOU 12 ARE A SQUAD" Thanks for the card and the doggy tag. =D

I'll be back.

19th April. POP le.

POP was indeed emotional, as I’d expected. But the degree to which everyone was affected, that surprised me…I guess everyone should know by now how much I loved being in NPCC, being an NCO, being the Sec1 Squad IC, being a member of the Pioneer Batch.

To sum it all up, 19^th of April, Saturday,

0700 hours-Assembled at concourse in PT Kit (last time we’d be wearing it…)

0705 hours-Practised for individual dances

0730 hours-Danced as a squad

0800 hours-Rehearsed the march down and fancy drill sequence

0830 hours-Changed into FULL UNIFORM in the boys’ toilet (probably the first and last time we do that)

0900 hours-Parade begins, fancy drill was a success =) (entire video is with me if you want it!)

1000 hours-Cleaning up for NCC to start tekan-ing… and we took a tad bit longer than we shd have… thus, snowball effect occurred, everything was pushed back.

1149 hours-Delayed, but the farewell part of POP officially started at the AVT. Ms Poh=MRS YIP gave her opening speech and the sec1s then started with their performance—A dance and stomp and drill combi. It was relli cute/refreshing/entertaining/humorous. <3>

1201 hours-I gave my speech to the unit =’( ultimately causing me to tear up…as well as the sec3s. Anti-climax yi1 dian3 tho, bcos u guys kept chanting “pao pao cha”.

1204 hours-Sheena and LiJing were next to do their speeches…(I have the vids too…!) The Sec2s dance followed their speeches… basically hiphop with a twist. haha, ur chicken dance was hilarious. JO! u rawked =p (ditto, I’ve got it on tape J)

Wenxin,Rachel and Megan gave their speeches which contained much recount =p and yea, after that people started weeping like mad… =(

1243 hours-Sec3s gave their “performance” which was like “Guess the Sec4” followed by a short dedication with pics for that sec4 =) it was really sweet and I wanna thank them for the effort they put into the ppt. (this will be like… thanks #1)

1315 hours-Sec4s dedication video. =’( this was when everyone was bawling… like literally. I wanna thank the sec1s for being so sweet during their “interview” n lagging which relli made me =). And secondly, the Sec2s, I’ll always miss those times with you… Last but no least. The Sec3s once again. U gals deserve 308238750201applauses bcos the video was awesome. Minus the little (insignificant) technical faults, the effort u gals put in really touched me. <3s heart ="))

LUNCH TIME = a lot of food… which we couldn’t finish but it was great just knowing the whole unit was together eating as one… it was the last time, I’m sure of it now.

1400 or so hours-The Sec4s started performing…First with Indian Dance by Sheena, Megan, Lisa, Lijing & Jian Qiong =p (this was basically hilarious.) then came our (Leona, Rachel, Ngik Hiong & I) Umbrella Dance =D haha, by the comments, it was enjoyable? Bimbo, I know, but hey, that’s whats so great about it right!? haha.. nice time rehearsing and it turned out quite well =) Next was the 2 pairs (Michell&Jolene, JiaMin&Val) who did their rendition of a ballroom genre dance. cute laa. =p Finally, the stars of the afternoon, hiphop gals. Wenxin,YanLing,WanLing & Rayseen. I really liked their solo choreography! and yes, the heavy breathing part from StepUp2.

1420 hours-Squad’s combined performance—“16 ways to use/wear the NCO tee”. This was just humorous =D hope some peeps have pics. hahah

1430 hours-I guess this was when Leona gave her really emotional speech. It wasn’t the “qi fen” or anything, seeing that we were in the midst of Primary School kids playing badminton and in view of anyone who would care to look. No, it was plain emotion and feelings for AHNP. She was choked with tears…Literally. And sheena had to do abit of the speech for her. =( Leona then gave out her flowers because she had an anology that flowers represented our squad-though it won’t last forever, “zi4 shao3 wo3 men2 you2 guo4 can4 lan4 de4 shi2 ke2” sobsobs. RaySeen gave a recount which supposedly was “short and summarised”. Sad to hear all those past memories but hey, “What’s bitter to endure is sweet to remember”. Next up was Michelle, this time, we moved into the less obvious area of the concourse. It was still as emotional and Weiting had to run to the toilet several times to get us toilet paper... Finally, Jia Min came up to give her not-very-emo speech. Yea, but when she ended, the sec4s all stood up n hugged her, n that was the ultimate. Tears streamed down her face. And ours as well…

We sang our unit songs for Sir, Ma’am n Ma’am. Which made the most resilient weep as well. “If We Hold on Together” and “Xi Shui Chang Liu”. Even the juniors started to cry.

The final, most emotional part of the entire POP was when Sir & Ma’am gave their speeches. Mam’s speech touched me because I felt kinda regretful that I assumed she was ever-so-sian when it came to trainings. Little did I know, she’d look forward to Fridays BECAUSE of training with us. =( and she, who’d been trying not to tear up this whole time, actually broke her record by crying on her 6^th and final POP. Not to mention her last year (10^th year) in NPCC. 0.0 right? It was just so so so so so sad to see that she was actually unwilling to leave. And that ultimately made sir cry too. Throughout, they had kept their “smiles” and all but after “jian1 qiang3 you4 cool de4 ma’am ku1 le4, Sir ye3 yi4 qi3 ku1. I felt relli bad when he spoke cos he said he blamed himself for the state of our squad. Meaning, the fact that we’d quarrelled a week before the POP, he took responsibility… I don’t know why, but it made me feel so guilty. He was sorry he didn’t spend enough time with us, Ma’am was regretting the fact that she hadn’t pass on all her knowledge of NP to us. =(

So we cried, and cried.

Bcos we would never be sitting together in a circle again,

we would never cry like we did again,

we would never run together at the field as a squad again,

we would never do PDS again,

we would never complain about the scorching sun at the parade square again,

we would never march down from the hill again,

we would never peg our own selves and call out in pain again

and most of all,

we would never have Friday Trainings ever again.

Poem to the unit. [[Unforgettable Times]]

The times we share are very dear
With joy, smiles and full of cheer
As I leave, though tears will fall
I’ll remember the 46 of us all

I once said: “NP heals and never fails”
Its true, I’ve tried it before
‘cos every time you’re hurting, and you can’t smile anymore
NP will always be there to pick you up after the fall

To the juniors I’d like to say:
Don’t wait for the four years to slip away
Jia You and lead the way
Ask not what AHNP can do for you
But what you can do

Finally, a thank you to all the teachers
Instructors, past or present
Thank you fellow pioneers
And thank you dear juniors

Without all of you, I wouldn’t be who I am today.

love, (staff) Ashley

P.S:: That's it. We've popped

Inter-Unit competition JOURNEYtotheEAST!

*whispers:hi!*
i have officially no voice.
ashley cant talk. arrrrrgggghhh
i can't do my favourite thing! how?
how how how?

I think i exerted my vocals too much on Friday
BUT it was all worth it =)
firsly, cos i gave my sec1s (form stationSIX)
an opportunity to be station masters
(basically they briefed the particpants about the game)
n secondly, it was a real success! =D

kudos to Megan, Rachel and all station masters
for making this inaugural inter-unit competition a
blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cadets from the 9 schools:
Bedok View
Bedok Green
Chai Chee
Bukit Panjang Govt. High
Loyang
Hougang
Greendale
Ngee Ann &
Temasek
arrived pretty off scedule. thus the entire competition
was somehow delayed

However, besides that the weather was superb,
the cadets were mostly enthu
n i think nth much cropped up. =)
my station was yes, abit boring..
but i guess on the whole it was good (=
met a few peeps from other schs
like zhengjie from temasek
and kaijie from bedok view
and leon + weijie from bedok green

the prize presentation @ AVT was hilarious
AHS couldnt stop cheering
& my ma'am said this "if i didn't noe u all
i would think u all only know one cheer--
3cheers." hahahah.
so we did kemama @ the end =p



SMARWLL! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 6HEARTS for the
six lovely ppl in SMARWLL! =D

Down with illness =(

*sneeze*

*sniff*

*cough*

*sigh*

*rubs nose*

okay. now all you gotta do
is to repeat the sequence above. N u got what i've got
OH! add in a fever, sore throat, aching joints
& a nose that leaks like a broken tap

argh. i feel so weak. couldnt stop
ZZZ-ing on Mon
(skipped school after Bio SPA
to visit the doc & get some rest)
Tue was slightly better
fever died off, but the flu n running nose came
Wed (today)
i feel the same as tues. ><

The doc said i had FL_____gitis
i couldnt make out wad he said
and its too cheem for me anyways
So i just gracefully accepted my medicine
(cough syrup =D, paracetemol = panadol,
lozenges =) and some gargle thing)

I'm really sorry if its viral and
im passing it around to people
like YK? or SC? or benjamin?
maybe even my dear ...
SORRY! bu shi gu yi de

Was chatting online with Jean just now
She told me to pass on a message
to mommy. about her baptism cert...
The convo stopped there.
What should i say?
Are you okay?
wouldn't that imply that she isnt?
So i just. went for the safest question.
cliched even. But anything to break the ice.
She was my cousin for goodness sake!
So i asked: How are you?
she took forever to reply.
"ok ok ah.."
i put on a fake mask,
just like everyone else does.
"good good (smiley face)"
and added
"I'll be praying for u!"
indeed i will.
But it didnt seem to take away those tears
not of sadness
or remorse
or guilt
but of fear.
Could i possibly chipper "don't worry! =D
everything will be A-ok!" ?
no.
i couldnt.
how do u say that to someone
who'll be undergoing
something which could determine her fate?
i left it at that. and
She replied "thanks dear"



the cousins =) missing Adwin & the England gang

the big (incomplete) family <3 x 1000

Me, Michelle, Jean

kor & i

"blood is thicker than water"