Wak Din, Wak Din...

I had pretty much nothing planned for today, till somewhere around noon I received a call from Hikmah asking me to go with her and some other cousins to the NDP Preview Show today. So of course I decided to go,it's not often you get to attend the NDP show, even if its *Simulated* (NDP inside joke). And whaddyaknow, someone menyebok decided to go for the NDP show too! ~O_o at Fizah~

So I dressed myself in a red Man Utd (Champions League Final edition!) jersey with a white Nike 3/4 track bottom, and left my house. And no Fizah, I ain't gonna wear pink just so to make it easier for you to spot me in the crowd eh. Tsk. And oh, Hikmah and Syuhaidah pulled out at the last-minute so I ended up going with just Kak Muni and her fiance.

I was in the green section of the seats, and it took the crowd some time to warm up and get going. The parade this time round particularly interests me, not only because now being in the army I'm more aware of drill and parade protocol, but also because the Parade Sergeant-Major this time around is none other than my ex-Officer Commanding at Delta Company (toot-toot tarik ke one-two!) when I was in SISPEC, Master Warrant Officer (MWO) Shamsuddin. In other words, Wak Din. So this is the result of all the times he went missing during our weekend trainings last year as a result of 'National Duty' as the Reserve Parade Sergeant-Major of NDP 07. And seeing my former instructors at SISPEC paying tribute to him in his video introduction made me laugh. DEFINITELY wayang-ing for the public. Haha NO WAY is he so fondly spoken of by those under him. I seem to remember my instructors shoot off a few choice words whenever we mention his name. I would know. I was from his company. Haha. Wak Din, Wak Din.

MWO Shamsuddin aka Wak Din

The Black Knights also deserve a mention. For the first time that I can recall, they not only performed the traditional *Bomb Burst* salute, but also performed aerobatics, and hearts almost came to a standstill when the 2 planes flew by each other. Good job Black Knights. Maybe they should show how the F-16 engages one another in a dogfight next? Hmmm.

Alas, that was abt the only interesting part of NDP for me personally, save maybe for the fireworks at the end. Once nightfall came, and the shows started, with all the floats and lighting, it was kind of a mentally trying time for me. I was never one to understand all these New-Age artsy-fartsy stuffs. I am after all, a military man. Even my cousin's fiance, who hails from Malaysia, ooh-ed and aah-ed in appreciation of everything on parade so far... until it came to the night shows. And then even he admitted it was 'torturous' having to sit through all the dances and such. Haha.

Overall, I think the NDP this year is gonna be a resounding success. Though I worry about the malfunctioning/missing transparent screen on which they projected the holographs (holographs?), plus several parts of the transparent screen also showed glitches. Also, I saw 2 amongst the flag party who weren't in the same 'Senang Diri' position as the rest, and also people marching out of time and 'Hentak Kaki-ing' out of sync. However, I believe all this will be sorted out.

And oh.

There were cheerleaders!!! =) =) =)