Mixed feelings.

Come to think about it, maybe NS is not that bad after all. I have been studying all my life (ok, since 5 years old) and there is hardly anytime to stop. Life has been moving so rapidly in this city. Study 2 months, 1 week break, study 2 months, 1 month break, study 2 months, 1 week break, study 2 months, 2 months break. In between mugging like mad, doing exams and having little holidays, hanging out with friends. But we always go back to studying. And it's always like this every single year for the past 12 years. There has to be something more exciting than this! Can it be one day that studying is my 'break' instead?

Somehow this is a great opportunity to break that cycle, even if only for 2 years, and after that I'm going to continue that cycle again in university (I hope) Maybe it is time to add some adventure to my life. Maybe it is time to grow up. Maybe it is time to observe the world we live in. Maybe it is time to change our thinking. Maybe it is time to become men instead of boys. Put down my books for a small fraction of my life, and observe this wonderful world, not having to think about meeting academic expectations anymore.

That's a relief. And welcome to a world of irony. A world where we learn the art of killing only to pray that we will never have to use it. A world where bravery is shown through human weakness. A chance to experience how soldiers really feel, or at least our closest experience yet apart from watching 'Saving Private Ryan'. A world where academic qualifications and petty philosophies fade in comparison to the vastness of things set upon us, and pretty much nothing else matters except those which are really important to you. To carry that rifle and feel your adrenaline pumping like no flipping of millions of pages of books can give. This is where you realise it. We need to be in unfamiliar territory to realise the familiar things. I hope this does not sound like the Gahmen's National Service propaganda :)

So NS, I hope for good memories. Now, it's back to my mugging for A levels.