Important Milestone(s)

Well, as lame as you might have thought, got married to someone and gave birth to your first baby would be any woman's important milestones. As for me, other than those two, having gone to OBS is one of the important milestones in my life.

It was in 2001, when I received my very first job offer. One of the pre-requisite (I shall say) was to go for a Standard Course in OBS for 25 days. Wow! I had zero idea about OBS at that time. All I could relate it to was BTN (I had gone twice before then), which I thought was quite really really really boring. All we did in BTN was march, jog, seminar, boring team activites, kuliah Subuh (no offense, but I hated it) and more boring activities including the kembara.

It turned out that the course in OBS was totally different from BTN! No boring seminars at all, no marching, and most importantly no kuliah Subuh. Haha, say whatever you want to say, but I am telling the truth. But we had to do morning run everyday. I didn't mention that I hate running too, did I?

On the very first day, we had to turn our belongings (wallets, telephone and any other form of entertainment including paperbacks!) to the administrator. Can you imagine life without money, without telephone?
Lesson learned : we should never ever reveal every single thing that we possess to anyone that we do not know. We should never ever be so dumb honest.

Okay, there was something even worse than that. Our hostel was actually located several meters (I could say 80m, maybe) from the ground level. We had to climb hundreds of steps to get there everyday! Can you imagine, I brought a BIG wheeled luggage at that time (25 days, you do the math), and had to bring that up??!! Boo hoo!
Lesson learned : Errr, be fit (??)

We were divided into 6 groups - I love my friends (most of them are Sabahans) to bits except the RMC kiddos. I am sorry but I have to tell that the RMC kiddos in my group were like perasan bagus and not to mention sexually deprived (kesian...)! There was 1 kid who dared to ask me to kiss him?!! Who did he think he was? Bluergh! Words can never describe my feelings at that time. It was a mixed feelings of disgust, and sexually harassed, and, and... disturbed.
Lesson learned : Don't be too nice to people, heh ;)

Well that's kinda minor incident although I can still remember the scene until now (but I don't think I remember that kid's name :P). What's more important or rather significant was the Hot Seat game. It was a game where you'd be seated on a chair, surrounded by your group mates and they would take turns to share their observations on you with you and the others. I was labeled as sombong and malas. Well, sombong I could accept, but malas... hmmm, some people must learn the difference between prioritizing (to choose what job you should do first and do the petty things later) and the big M (where you would just don't do anything at all). I knew why they ever had the idea of telling me that I was malas - because I told them so!!! You see, on the very first day, we had this suai kenal session where you were supposed to tell your friends your weakness(es). I told them I was lazy because I was lazy to think of my weaknesses at that time. Hah!!
Lesson learned : People won't know what your weaknesses are unless you tell them. And once they know, they'll use it against you. I may sound bitter, but that's the reality.

And from OBS too, I learned to appreciate food. I used to be so picky when it came to food. When I was studying, I was thin. I was too thin that every time I met my relatives, my uncles and aunties would say "Kurusnya!!! Susah sangat ke belajar?" Haha, very funny. I was the pickiest brat in my Uni days, I know. When I joined the OBS course, I didn't have any choice but to eat whatever they offered on the table. I felt like macam siot je mula-mula tu, okay? I knew my friends felt meluat looking at me. Huhu. But after days in the OBS, after having to spend 3D2N (or was it 2D1N?) in the jungle doing solo camping (solo camping y'all!!), I started to appreciate everything. I mean everything.
Lesson learned : "The world does not revolve around me"

Being away and isolated from the world for 25 consecutive days had made me stronger both emotionally and physically. I didn't have anybody else to turn to except for my friends and of course, myself. That's why I love my OBS friends to bits and pieces. We would repeat the same old time OBS jokes whenever we meet up (without fail!). I had gained precious experience from the course. That's why it is one of my important milestones. I would definitely recommend the 25-day standard course to anyone.