Cheap Solutions To An Expensive Problem

I just discovered a change in me. No it is not puberty and yes, I am still bloody stuck in army. So what could it be? I guess it is the poems that have been coming up lately in which every single one of them is a true representation of my feelings now and then. "The Next Eternity" marks the end of my pursuit for something that I shouldn't be even pursuing in the first place. It originated when I heard the song by Jeff Chang and I felt it was worth penning down as the lyrics touched me deeply. The latest is just about a dream that I have quite often in camp while the weird one in between about the RIGHT girl is just a wild wacky thought of mine. It sure feels good to be able to confide and express feelings this way when inspirations run thick and fast through my mind. I'm sure more will be coming up in this space as I spend each passing day in camp.

This weekend has been a different one though as I got the "exclusive" privilege of spending Saturday night out at the Padang, enjoying the clear night view and the starry night. But it was rather unfortunate as I clearly did not remember opting to go for such an activity. Its kind of like those e-mails where they claim that you have won a prize as you have signed up for something which you don't remember in the first place. And like always, just as we classify these e-mails as spam, that star-gazing activity was similar in a way, very frustrating, irritating and useless to the person having to deal with it. From the way that I have described it, you probably would have guessed that such a nonsensical activity have got something to do with the army, and you probably would have been right. It was the Sheares Bridge Run held in conjunction with the army half-marathon. Judging the amount of work needed to be done just to hold a half marathon, I really cannot bear to imagine the things needed to do if they decided to hold a full marathon. They would probably start preparations for next year's event once the current one finishes.

I guess the reason that "Sheares Bridge Run" was more emphasised than "army half-marathon" was mainly because most of the competitive runners (particularly those who ran well and actually won top prizes) were in fact, not from the army. Well, I suppose they had to link the term "army half-marathon" together with it in order to get free labour to help out with the preparations and the proceedings. Cheap move no doubt but hey, we've got nothing to do in the army as well. This may prove to be the solution to a current problem we are facing now, whether to build a casino here or not.

While the masses are busy debating the pros and cons of a casino here or how it may damage people's life and family, I thought of a brilliant solution that could increase the revenue of our country if the proposed idea of a casino came through. Instead of hiring people to man the casino, they could actually use people from the army, seeing that we really don't have anything much to do anyway. It is a cheap source of labour after all and there surely would not be a shortage of manpower since it is bloody compulsory. Guys having to serve would, for the first time, actually enjoy themselves and keep busy. What way to better serve our nation than to help improve our revenue. Seeing that the only enemies clear and present to us are the extremists and terrorists, we could invite them in for a little wager or two and let them have a good time. And if we get lucky ourselves, they may get so addicted that the so-called "harmful and ruining" effects due to an overdose of gambling may take effect on their lives and eventually destroy their family, which is the terrorist networks. Well if that fails, they may just find us a pleasant little country after all and leave us alone after collecting their winnings, since it is better to make another friend rather than an enemy.