Logicless Logic

a keen sense of smell.

It was a tranquil morning up on the mountains of Sapa, Vietnam. The largely natural beauty was left mostly untouched by the hands of modernisation, other than the tourism industry. Rays of sunlight peeked through the morning fog, and a cool(freezing to some) breeze ruffled the leaves and my hair. I took a deep breath of fresh air. Such a moment to enjoy.

The moment was then interrupted by an annoying vibrating sound. I look around before tracing it to my pocket. I had a text message. It said "Urgent. Need you to report for guard duty." About 4 hundreths of a second after the enjoyable moment, I had a foul mood to contend with. Which wasn't a millionth bad as what the person who decided to activate me for duty had to contend with.

An issue with reality.

I say this because at that point in time, my exact location was up on the mountains in a remote place in Northern Vietnam, about 2 hours bus ride from the train station, another 9 hours train ride back to Hanoi, 30 mins coach ride back to the hotel to pack my stuff before a 1 hour coach ride to the airport, which of course precedes the 3hour plane ride I need to even set foot on Singapore. And all this is not inclusive of waiting time, availability of tickets, train timings, plane timings etc. So I really did at that point in time, while seething in a steam marinade of unhappiness, wonder how that guy expected me to report to camp at 8am.

But I digress. My whole point is that guard duty does have a keen sense of smell for me in particular. Going overseas doesn't really seem to help in the slightest bit. In 2 years of my service, I have encountered various problems with guard duty too complicated and frustrating to mention again. Just understand that the feeling is probably less enjoyable than rubbing your scrotum back and forth on a cheese grater. I kid you not. I really wonder what it is that makes me so easily sniffed out. I probably need to take a shower.

justin.

posted by justin @ 10:44 PM