"Of course I'm more mature now. Isn't that what happens when you grow older?"

- Avril Lavigne

Apparently not. Remember that Jodie Foster movie Anna and the King? One of her lines really got to me. "I have lived long enough to know that maturity does not neccessarily come with age."

How true. No, this is not an attack on Avril. But this is more about the sad state that some, and hopefully not most, of the people of my generation are in. Case in point? A guy i know, and so may you through previous posts. Mao mao.

Fine, so he's pissed me off this past week again, but really. If that guy doesn't wake up soon enough, he's going to be left far far behind by many of his peers. I mean, i've known him since enlistment. We were buddies since BMT all the way till FPC. If i had not requested for a change of sections, based on out pioneer levels, we would remain buddies. Sick. Ok, but having known him for such a length of time, his playful, cheeky and sometimes childish nature were quite cute, and a welcome respite from the training at times. But, as time wore on, you get to truly see the immature side of him revealed. Worst still, he's proud of it. It never came clearer than when we went to KL together.

I was darn surprised for the reason behind his trip. He said all he wanted to do was to get some car parts of something of that sort. This, after receiving advice that the parts there cost more than those found in Singapore. When i told him that if that was all he was there for, he would be wasting his money. His reply? I have lots of money and want to waste some. Cocky? Immature to me. This coming from a guy who blows his whole army stipends on a stupid toy race car. Worse, he gets parental sponsorship. Once there, all he thought of at first was his games, his computer gaming, and as usual, we got into an arguement. About what, i can't remember. But one thing i do remember was him saying that it was an impressive feat to be able to play network games at a LAN games shop for 12 hours straight. I can do it, can you? Impressive indeed. What a waste of your life. And now, when we're approaching ORD, most of us are planning for the life after. Those planning to go to Uni have either been accepted, or have applied, and are awaiting decisions. For the rest, it's about what to study next, where to study, getting the financing, stuff like that. Everyone is so future-oriented, but here is Mao mao. Not knowning what he wants to do, not having a care. He probably thinks that his parents can support him and his relatively pricey lifestyle for the rest of his life while he spends his life amusing himself. Sure, he's not all rotten to the core, and has changed for the better since we've started to hammer some sense into him. Lawrence and Chun have been doing that quite a lot i think, and it's working. But he's still way far behind the rest of the pack.

Potato's signed-on to guarantee his future for the next 4 years. Wei Lun has plans to start a business with Wei Ying. Yew Keng knows how tough it is to make a living, and knows that there's no point for him to further his studies when he doesn't want to and let his parents suffer a little longer. He's planning to start a hawker stall to immediately relieve some pressure off of his parents. Yew Chong has gotten into NTU's common engineering program, but he's aiming for higher. As for me? I've gotten into the UNSW Foundation Year Life Sciences program, with a view to doing a MBBS in University of Melbourne. And the last of the 85s, Mao Mao. Only God knows his future after ORD. Funny isn't it. Both of us buddies, the two extremes of the spectrum. I'm the most ambitous and he's the most carefree, more like heck care. What's worst is that i'm seeing signs of his character in my own brother. And my mum just said that she doesn't want the both of us to develop into two extremes. One a surgeon, and another struggling to make ends meet. Things like this do happen. I just hope that the two of them wake up in time, before it's too late.