One of the quirks, if not problem, about Singaporean social circles is how easily get-togethers default to the theme of food. Lunch with team colleagues on one day, dinner with friends another night, feast with family on the weekend. The list goes on.... and so does the weight. It continually perturbs me how the Great Singapore Eat-out is eventually going to bring in the slew of health problems that our parents' and grandparents' generations suffer. Sure, so the government has noted Singaporeans are working out more. Right. Or maybe, I am simply hanging out with all the wrong groups of people.
Such is the concern that leads me to encourage my circles to relook gatherings and events with a new perspective - activity. Physical ones.
I am not trying to get people to train and participate in Ironman, but surely some light work out to expend the calories instead of storing them like a camel is a good idea. Especially for us IT/development professionals who sit in the office all day channelling all the glucose and oxygen to our brain instead of our static muscles; and the only form of atheletic activity comes in the game of foosball.
So it was a dream come true when the local MVP administration team heeded our suggestion to skip the regular binge for once and make it a war game - paintball. Boy was I so glad to partake in this act of coloured violence. Having being routed to the Singapore Police Force after my BMT stint in the army, I never got to learn more about combat tactics. Not counting Counter-strike, paintball is probably the closest civillians can get for a slight taste of what real firearms combat entails. Especially when it comes to fitness and stamina. And not aiming with a mouse or console game controller.
It has been over 10 long years since I last ran down the 300-metre range with rifle, ammo, and SBO. Within the first five minutes of starting the paintball games, I quickly remembered the physical stress and fatigue we had to endure in the struggle to maintain control over our bodies; to remain in cover, avoid getting hit, while keeping the weapon steady with good aim. Granted, the face mask we were required to wear made breathing a pain, but we were not even dashing with speed; most of the time was spent crouching or proning around the obstacles and duck-walking around with care. And such are positions that are deceptively energy sapping.
Indeed civillian lifestyle and work has done us in. All of us suffering from aches the next day. Even more so for me after having received my first real-life head shot from Howard Lo. Orange "blood" from my head. Exhaustion. One needs to participate in such activities to get a brief understanding what soldiers must train hard for in order to win the fight, win the war, and most important, stay alive. In the IT field it is all about finding reusable components that can make our lives easier and more productive. Mistakes can usually be remedied and noted for future avoidance. In war, there is no substitute way to obtaining the fitness level needed to be an effective soldier and surviving. Mistakes can usually be committed once only, in blood.
Kudos to the professional soldiers who do all they can to ensure the survivability of the ones they protect.