Friday, 27 June 2008
Sec 3 Cohort Camp @ OBS, Pulau UbinY
Many must be wondering where had I been to and what had happened to me as I was "missing". Oh well, I was away for yet another adventure and this time round at Ubin under the supervision of Outward Bound Singapore (OBS).
Do bear with me if this post is too wordy for you but really, too many things happened and I want to try as far as I can to note down every single detail. So...
*****
Day#1
Soon after flag raising in sch, the Sec 3s were on our way to Punggol Jetty to catch the OBS boat to OBS Ubin Camp 2. We finally arrived and got into our split groups and I was in Magellan. To my surprise, Si Yuan, Clarissa and Eileen were in the same group as well! (Gosh, is that fate? Why am I always with Clarissa?)
So basically, these were initially
the close ones: Clarissa, Si Yuan, Eileen, Edwin Peter
the known ones: Farhan (1), Faris, Ashraf, Gordon, Darren, Mark, YiSong, ZhangXin, Si Yan.
the unkown ones: Glen, Han Siong, Instructor Bernard, Instructor Bibiana.
Before lunch, we were with our groups, cheking out what's in our store and some ground rules and administration works.
And our duty list...
Day 1 i/c: Edwin Peter
Day 2 i/c: Gordon
Day 3 i/c: Chiaw Min
Day 4 i/c: Farhan
Food i/c: Faris
Store i/c: Ashraf
Bathing&Welfare i/c: Han Siong
Time-keeper: Eileen
Medical-kit i/c: Glen
In the afternoon, we had a low-element game of 'Trust Fall'. It was quite fun, really.
Bernard: Magellan, remember the drill. Magellan, are you ready?
Us: Magellan ready!!! Magellan Pull!
Person falling: Falling!
Us: Fall on!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Boom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Though I'd done this before during Youth Congress camp with group mates hands as the "landing mat" rather than having groundsheet with proper handles for 10 hands to hold in OBS, I realised that I was still afraid of the height and the nothing-at-your-back feeling, and I ended up bending my body.
We made Bernard did the fall too... and Bibiana signalled us from Bernard's back to wrap him up after his fall. So fun!!! So funny!!!
So up next was the belaying practice to prepare us for Day 2's high elements. Bernard was a little too stressed up about the safety rules and became quite unclear in his instructions, so he flared up all of a sudden but then apologised for his short temper. But I think it was ok lah~
As Bernard had something on, Bibi took over. She then thought us how to pitch our tents with the clove hitches half hitches and all those little little outdoor tips (guides rocks for this, it was common sense to us... hahahx... sry, should maintain humility xP). Then as most of them continued pitching the tents, Si Yuan, Clarissa, Faris and Me were busy cooking for our watch, all 16 of us. And we prepared hotdog rice, braised peanuts and our very own secret recipe: Chrysanthemum Tea!
In the midst of cooking, it somehow looked as if it would be pouring anytime, so Bibi told us to get the big blue plastic mat known as 'tup' to build an emergency shelter over our food. Since WE 3 VERY EXPERIENCED GIRL GUIDES were around (Mag's got to be glad and honoured about this man), Magellon was SO LUCKY that we were the only ones who knew how to build it up. (No lah, actually the Farhan and the few also very smart; they thought of using the tent pegs to hold the poles and twines to the ground.)
Then we realised that we were the only watch which was down at the outdoor sleeping area cooking and holding our "BOMB SHELTER" while the rest were under the concrete shelter having their dinner comfortably... (so what, Magalinis enjoyed ourselves =D)
After showering, we were supposed to start packing our trekking bags with clothing, food and equipments. I was made the 2nd food i/c to help Faris out 'cause food was very important and we didn't want to bring too much to add to the total weight or too little and someone would get hungry. And all of a sudden, there was a fire drill! That took up so much time that we only had 10 minutes left to pack before lights out -.-
*That night's sleep was the best out of the 3 nights.
Day #2
Bernard gave instructions for us to had breakfast and strike our tents before 7am, I thought our watch was the only 1 which had breakfast before our morning exercise. Anyway, we played many many games, did some warm up, had some 5-dunnowad work out, quite an intensive jog and a cool down. Shiok man! I loved it! I was perspiring like... just shiok lah.
After morning circle when we were given time to write in our little OBS journal and we signed in a Commitment Book if we agreed to commit to the regulations inside.
We were then given some (really some, like 20 minutes) to pack and then we were off for high elements. Magellan was so lucky to get the elementary rock wall to climb. So that was my challenge for myself. It didn't seem too tough to climb because I'M A VERY EXPERIENCED GIRL GUIDE but it deceived me =( I climbed till only half of where I had expected to reach.
Anyway, after lunch, we continued to seize whatever time we had to continue packing until it was time to line our bags up and head to the jetty. Whatever for? It was time for kayaking!!!! We learnt how to kayak (it was a recap for me and some others), we tested our PFDs-personal floatation device, practice capsizing, learnt the T-rescue, learnt the Wet-exit and due to time constraints, we missed out 1 more and set off shore for Jelutong.
Peter and I helped everyone else out to the water then we left (last kayak in other words). Surprisingly, we always end up amongst the front few. He's the best kayaking partner dude! However, JasminePoh and another guy (both from another watch: Marco Polo) had trouble coordinating and was always a distance away from the rest of us. So the instructors on the motor-boat had Peter to change with the guy, which mean Peter wasn't my partner anymore! =( But I was glad to help to speed up the journey or we would be waiting for them all the time. Our 2 kayaks were always on track, somewhere in the middle. Midway, the currents were choppy and it started to drizzle, but that did not hinder us to strive on despite how tiring it was. This journey was super duper uper enjoyable and I loved it too! We took about an hour (which didn't even felt like that long at all).
The unloading of our backpacks and water from the motor-boat was fun too. Marco Polo and Magellan formed a human chain and we just kept passing and shouting the watch that item belonged to. This was so army style lah (Bernard was an officer mah), but it's very efficient.
It was quite dark already and that was a bad sign because it'd be more difficult to pitch our tents and cook in the dark. So we quickly dispatched ourselves. Cooks (us) prepared curry chicken noodles, sambal ikan and Day 1's uncooked food. It was seriously very very very difficult to cook in the dark even though there was the cooking fire as a source of light. The tent pitchers took more than twice the time needed to pitch 4 tents rather than the expected 5.
We couldn't bathe there and the public toilet was about 200 metres away from the campsite. So we changed out of our wet attire into clean, dry clothes, then headed back for debrief and further instructions. The instructors told us that there would be night duty as it's a public area (which means people cab strole in to grab our stuff) and there were stray dogs (they bite anything). The 4 watches : Marco Polo, Livingstone, _______ and Magellan circulated the timing and Gordon managed to negotiate for us to get the last 3 slots. So Mag's girls did the 4.30am-5am slot.
Lucky for that man, or I'd die in the 4-men tent. The 6 of us were sqweezing inside and they didn't want to un-zip the netting, fearing that they'd get stung by mosquitoes and I let Si Yuan had more space to I was the one at the corner, suffocating. After duty, we got back and I just slept with the tent opened, my upper torso in the tent and the lower out of the tent.
*The worst night of the 3.
Day #3
We had to strike out tents and pack our stuff by 7am, but we dragged till 7.35am. Then all 4 watches headed to the basketball court near the Ubin Village. We had morning games and morning circle there. Then we started off our treeking expedition with Ashraf and Farhan as our navigators (which means Day 3 i/c can rest >.<).
The first game was to get a small stone and only with the right hand, throw the stone to the person on the right in our own watches. Only with 3 consecutive successful throws without any stones dropped then could we head off to the next checkpoint. At every checkpoint, we would have a game. We successfully got through the first 2 checkpoints quite easily with the game of "ascending life-jacket" game and the "turn over a new leaf" game as the first and second respectively.
The third checkpoint was very challenging. Not only was is very far away from the second one, it was also very high up... at the highest point of Ubin! It was so very pretty, I mean mesmerizing!!! We could see the quarry, the hills the tree... nothing can ever beat the beauty of mother nature! We were given the luxury to had our lunch right there, yes, the only watch to enjoy the scenery while enjoying our quick lunch.
The fourth checkpoint was yet another tough one. It was so off that we had to walk deep into the bushy area where people did their business (I could smell it even having a blocked nose) and almost into a swamp. That was the BONUS CHECK POINT! I think if you're from another watch, your won't understand this. According to our insturctor, because we were ahead of the time, we could get a dip in the swamp!!! Yes, the beautiful swamp! No others get this except us! Plus a 10-minutes swim inside! No salted water! Clear Blue water! Not opened to the public except under supervision by OBS instructor! SCREAM!!! AWESOME MAN!!! And we camwhored inside (Instructor Bernard's cam-phone)!!!
.jpg)
So, all freshened up, we walked another long long way to find our last checkpoint and another long long way back to Camp 2!!!
Basically that was why we took more than 7 hours to trek that journey of more than 8km and my feet was hurting though walking was my hobby. My track shoes were torn apart on the first day so I had to walk in my half-booties-half-dunnowad cheapo shoes I bought in China which had soles less than 1cm thick and base area small than the bottom of my feet, plus I wasn't wearing sock at all.
This was yet another great accomplishment!
After some rest, we unloaded our stuff and prepare for a culinery competition. (phs phs... actually Mag's cheated abit, we had those who didn't want to do the food to pitch the tents first... shhhh........) The given judging critirial were creativity, taste, teamwork and cleanliness of the cooking area. We decided to focus more on the first 2.
Since Bernard liked to tell us moral stories that had always got to do with either Ah Seng, Ah Huat or Ahmad, we came up with the Ah Huat Noodles (curry chicken noodles: canned curry chicken + maggi noodles and a bit of the MSG inside), Ahmad Soup (cambell's soup with wheat crackers crumps and bread strips as garnishing) and Ah Seng Tea ( chrysanthemum tea in an apple: boiled secret recipe tea placed in the apples which we cut a big hole to hold the tea as a cup. it kinduf gave some sweetness and fragrance too!).
They ultimate winner was everyone but we knew in our hearts that if they did not emphasize on everyone being winners, ours would stand out more because all our food was edible, mouth watering, displayed creatively and we were the only watch which provided 4 servings for each of the judges.
That night, we cleared up, tried to clean the store and put everything back in place as much as possible and turned in, all collapsing anytime. Instructions wa s very clear that we had to wake up the next day at 5am, strike the tents, bring everything back to the store, wash up and meet Bernard at 6.
Day #4
It wasn't really a rise and shine. We were all late!!! Bernard came to our tents to wake us all up! So malu lah. It was already 6.05am! So we quickly got out of our tents, lifted them and carried them down to our store and spread them out for cleaning later. After regulating for the girls to wash up first while the guys pack the store then a switch after that, we had a short morning activity. The girls were leading Bernard not to have us run since the night before.
So after playing 1 game,
Bernard: Ok, Magellon, line in 2 rows, we're going to go for a run.
Girls: Huh? What?! Don't run can? Can we just jog?
Me to guys: Hey, let us stand in the front or else y'all will just sprint.
Bernard: Ok, never mind, just jog on the spot first. We're going to jog 3 rounds.
Girls: What?!
Me: Around the parade square?
Bernard: Ok, Jog on the spot. Now jog and turn 1 round.
All: LoL... *jog and turn*
Bernard: Turn another round. ... ... ... ... ... Turn 1 more round. ... ... ok, now y'all need to cool down?
All: Of course not *smiles on faces*
And we spent the rest of the morning packing the store and cleaning and everything. Some other watches went for the Jetty Jump but, so what, we had fun trying to get things back into our store. We did trading and found things. Oh, since we always found tent pegs during area cleaning, we replaced them with our lost ones and traded those too. Moral of the story... you're in advantage if you work harder.
Once the store was done after a few hours (we lost 1 jack-knife, so that's 40cents each Magalini, not so bad) it was time for area cleaning. We were in charge of the toilets. The guys we wondering how to clear the pile of dung in their loo. We girls were luckier. Our toilet was the not so dirty one and we took only 2 minutes to clean it! So we got back to the gathering point and started singing and cheering and dancing till I realised that my voice was gradually turning coarse.
When everyone's back and we've all got our valuables, Bernard had us to put down our bags under the shelter where all the watches were to gather, then brought us to the beach for morning circle as the other shady areas were taken. Bernard and Bibi apologised for having to take us to such a place but I didn't understand what's so bad about it... we had the best view of the appealing sea view by the beach. Anyway, Bernard got us to pick a stone which we felt represented us best then had us to stand in a row facing the sea. And he told us a story. He knew we'd tease him if he were to name the characters Ah Seng, Ah Huat or Ahmad. And the story goes:
Long, long, long time ago, in the southern part of China, there live this person called Steven and Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob was very good at building houses. Woah, he houses arh never fall before 1, can last very very very long. So Steven hired Uncle Bob to build houses for him.
Uncle Bob worked for Steven for a very long time. So 1 fine day, he decided that he wanted to rest. He was about 80 years old already, so he needed to rest. He told Steven that he had to take a break.
Steven couldn't bear to let him go, but he knew that Uncle Bob was very tired already. So he asked Uncle Bob to build 1 last house for him. Thinking that ... aiya, my last day already still want me to build a house, I just anyhow build lah... so anyone could tell that that house was definitely not build by Uncle Bob because the standard was too low, but he just couldn't be bothered to put his heart into it.
When he was done with the house, Steven thanked Uncle Bob for working for him for so many years. And with his gratitude, he gave Uncle Bob that very last house he built on his own.
In life, we all have 2 wolves living in our soul, a big bad wolf and a good wolf. For everything you do, you can choose to feed the good wolf or the bad wolf. You are here to learn something and I am here to help you. I cannot change your character and your personality. So now, you've taken a stone that best represents you. Forget all about the bad you have done bring back all the learning points. You can choose to let go or you can choose to keep them in you. Once you've thought about it, throw your stone into the sea, and learnt from those mistakes.
Well, I tried to hold back my tears, but the emotions ran over me. Probably I still cannot let go of the lowest point of my life, it's probably still traumatising me. I quickly got myself back to normal before everyone made a big woohaa about it.
By the end of the 4D3N camp,
the close ones were : Clarissa, Si Yuan, Eileen, Peter, Farhan, Faris, Gordon, Ashraf, Si Yan
and
the known ones were : Instructor Bernard, Instructor Bibiana, Zhang Xin, Yi Song, Darren, Mark, Han Siong, Glen
Friendship ties were made and be it Magellan, Magelini or Mag's, Ah Seng, Ah Huat and Ahmad will forever stay in our hearts because
it takes 1 minute to meet a stranger,
it takes 1 hour for us to be friends,
it take 1 day for us to know each other,
but it takes a lifetime to forget our friendship.
Do bear with me if this post is too wordy for you but really, too many things happened and I want to try as far as I can to note down every single detail. So...
*****
Day#1
Soon after flag raising in sch, the Sec 3s were on our way to Punggol Jetty to catch the OBS boat to OBS Ubin Camp 2. We finally arrived and got into our split groups and I was in Magellan. To my surprise, Si Yuan, Clarissa and Eileen were in the same group as well! (Gosh, is that fate? Why am I always with Clarissa?)
So basically, these were initially
the close ones: Clarissa, Si Yuan, Eileen, Edwin Peter
the known ones: Farhan (1), Faris, Ashraf, Gordon, Darren, Mark, YiSong, ZhangXin, Si Yan.
the unkown ones: Glen, Han Siong, Instructor Bernard, Instructor Bibiana.
Before lunch, we were with our groups, cheking out what's in our store and some ground rules and administration works.
And our duty list...
Day 1 i/c: Edwin Peter
Day 2 i/c: Gordon
Day 3 i/c: Chiaw Min
Day 4 i/c: Farhan
Food i/c: Faris
Store i/c: Ashraf
Bathing&Welfare i/c: Han Siong
Time-keeper: Eileen
Medical-kit i/c: Glen
In the afternoon, we had a low-element game of 'Trust Fall'. It was quite fun, really.
Bernard: Magellan, remember the drill. Magellan, are you ready?
Us: Magellan ready!!! Magellan Pull!
Person falling: Falling!
Us: Fall on!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Boom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Though I'd done this before during Youth Congress camp with group mates hands as the "landing mat" rather than having groundsheet with proper handles for 10 hands to hold in OBS, I realised that I was still afraid of the height and the nothing-at-your-back feeling, and I ended up bending my body.
We made Bernard did the fall too... and Bibiana signalled us from Bernard's back to wrap him up after his fall. So fun!!! So funny!!!
So up next was the belaying practice to prepare us for Day 2's high elements. Bernard was a little too stressed up about the safety rules and became quite unclear in his instructions, so he flared up all of a sudden but then apologised for his short temper. But I think it was ok lah~
As Bernard had something on, Bibi took over. She then thought us how to pitch our tents with the clove hitches half hitches and all those little little outdoor tips (guides rocks for this, it was common sense to us... hahahx... sry, should maintain humility xP). Then as most of them continued pitching the tents, Si Yuan, Clarissa, Faris and Me were busy cooking for our watch, all 16 of us. And we prepared hotdog rice, braised peanuts and our very own secret recipe: Chrysanthemum Tea!
In the midst of cooking, it somehow looked as if it would be pouring anytime, so Bibi told us to get the big blue plastic mat known as 'tup' to build an emergency shelter over our food. Since WE 3 VERY EXPERIENCED GIRL GUIDES were around (Mag's got to be glad and honoured about this man), Magellon was SO LUCKY that we were the only ones who knew how to build it up. (No lah, actually the Farhan and the few also very smart; they thought of using the tent pegs to hold the poles and twines to the ground.)
Then we realised that we were the only watch which was down at the outdoor sleeping area cooking and holding our "BOMB SHELTER" while the rest were under the concrete shelter having their dinner comfortably... (so what, Magalinis enjoyed ourselves =D)
After showering, we were supposed to start packing our trekking bags with clothing, food and equipments. I was made the 2nd food i/c to help Faris out 'cause food was very important and we didn't want to bring too much to add to the total weight or too little and someone would get hungry. And all of a sudden, there was a fire drill! That took up so much time that we only had 10 minutes left to pack before lights out -.-
*That night's sleep was the best out of the 3 nights.
Day #2
Bernard gave instructions for us to had breakfast and strike our tents before 7am, I thought our watch was the only 1 which had breakfast before our morning exercise. Anyway, we played many many games, did some warm up, had some 5-dunnowad work out, quite an intensive jog and a cool down. Shiok man! I loved it! I was perspiring like... just shiok lah.
After morning circle when we were given time to write in our little OBS journal and we signed in a Commitment Book if we agreed to commit to the regulations inside.
We were then given some (really some, like 20 minutes) to pack and then we were off for high elements. Magellan was so lucky to get the elementary rock wall to climb. So that was my challenge for myself. It didn't seem too tough to climb because I'M A VERY EXPERIENCED GIRL GUIDE but it deceived me =( I climbed till only half of where I had expected to reach.
Anyway, after lunch, we continued to seize whatever time we had to continue packing until it was time to line our bags up and head to the jetty. Whatever for? It was time for kayaking!!!! We learnt how to kayak (it was a recap for me and some others), we tested our PFDs-personal floatation device, practice capsizing, learnt the T-rescue, learnt the Wet-exit and due to time constraints, we missed out 1 more and set off shore for Jelutong.
Peter and I helped everyone else out to the water then we left (last kayak in other words). Surprisingly, we always end up amongst the front few. He's the best kayaking partner dude! However, JasminePoh and another guy (both from another watch: Marco Polo) had trouble coordinating and was always a distance away from the rest of us. So the instructors on the motor-boat had Peter to change with the guy, which mean Peter wasn't my partner anymore! =( But I was glad to help to speed up the journey or we would be waiting for them all the time. Our 2 kayaks were always on track, somewhere in the middle. Midway, the currents were choppy and it started to drizzle, but that did not hinder us to strive on despite how tiring it was. This journey was super duper uper enjoyable and I loved it too! We took about an hour (which didn't even felt like that long at all).
The unloading of our backpacks and water from the motor-boat was fun too. Marco Polo and Magellan formed a human chain and we just kept passing and shouting the watch that item belonged to. This was so army style lah (Bernard was an officer mah), but it's very efficient.
It was quite dark already and that was a bad sign because it'd be more difficult to pitch our tents and cook in the dark. So we quickly dispatched ourselves. Cooks (us) prepared curry chicken noodles, sambal ikan and Day 1's uncooked food. It was seriously very very very difficult to cook in the dark even though there was the cooking fire as a source of light. The tent pitchers took more than twice the time needed to pitch 4 tents rather than the expected 5.
We couldn't bathe there and the public toilet was about 200 metres away from the campsite. So we changed out of our wet attire into clean, dry clothes, then headed back for debrief and further instructions. The instructors told us that there would be night duty as it's a public area (which means people cab strole in to grab our stuff) and there were stray dogs (they bite anything). The 4 watches : Marco Polo, Livingstone, _______ and Magellan circulated the timing and Gordon managed to negotiate for us to get the last 3 slots. So Mag's girls did the 4.30am-5am slot.
Lucky for that man, or I'd die in the 4-men tent. The 6 of us were sqweezing inside and they didn't want to un-zip the netting, fearing that they'd get stung by mosquitoes and I let Si Yuan had more space to I was the one at the corner, suffocating. After duty, we got back and I just slept with the tent opened, my upper torso in the tent and the lower out of the tent.
*The worst night of the 3.
Day #3
We had to strike out tents and pack our stuff by 7am, but we dragged till 7.35am. Then all 4 watches headed to the basketball court near the Ubin Village. We had morning games and morning circle there. Then we started off our treeking expedition with Ashraf and Farhan as our navigators (which means Day 3 i/c can rest >.<).
The first game was to get a small stone and only with the right hand, throw the stone to the person on the right in our own watches. Only with 3 consecutive successful throws without any stones dropped then could we head off to the next checkpoint. At every checkpoint, we would have a game. We successfully got through the first 2 checkpoints quite easily with the game of "ascending life-jacket" game and the "turn over a new leaf" game as the first and second respectively.
The third checkpoint was very challenging. Not only was is very far away from the second one, it was also very high up... at the highest point of Ubin! It was so very pretty, I mean mesmerizing!!! We could see the quarry, the hills the tree... nothing can ever beat the beauty of mother nature! We were given the luxury to had our lunch right there, yes, the only watch to enjoy the scenery while enjoying our quick lunch.
The fourth checkpoint was yet another tough one. It was so off that we had to walk deep into the bushy area where people did their business (I could smell it even having a blocked nose) and almost into a swamp. That was the BONUS CHECK POINT! I think if you're from another watch, your won't understand this. According to our insturctor, because we were ahead of the time, we could get a dip in the swamp!!! Yes, the beautiful swamp! No others get this except us! Plus a 10-minutes swim inside! No salted water! Clear Blue water! Not opened to the public except under supervision by OBS instructor! SCREAM!!! AWESOME MAN!!! And we camwhored inside (Instructor Bernard's cam-phone)!!!
.jpg)
So, all freshened up, we walked another long long way to find our last checkpoint and another long long way back to Camp 2!!!
Basically that was why we took more than 7 hours to trek that journey of more than 8km and my feet was hurting though walking was my hobby. My track shoes were torn apart on the first day so I had to walk in my half-booties-half-dunnowad cheapo shoes I bought in China which had soles less than 1cm thick and base area small than the bottom of my feet, plus I wasn't wearing sock at all.
This was yet another great accomplishment!
After some rest, we unloaded our stuff and prepare for a culinery competition. (phs phs... actually Mag's cheated abit, we had those who didn't want to do the food to pitch the tents first... shhhh........) The given judging critirial were creativity, taste, teamwork and cleanliness of the cooking area. We decided to focus more on the first 2.
Since Bernard liked to tell us moral stories that had always got to do with either Ah Seng, Ah Huat or Ahmad, we came up with the Ah Huat Noodles (curry chicken noodles: canned curry chicken + maggi noodles and a bit of the MSG inside), Ahmad Soup (cambell's soup with wheat crackers crumps and bread strips as garnishing) and Ah Seng Tea ( chrysanthemum tea in an apple: boiled secret recipe tea placed in the apples which we cut a big hole to hold the tea as a cup. it kinduf gave some sweetness and fragrance too!).
They ultimate winner was everyone but we knew in our hearts that if they did not emphasize on everyone being winners, ours would stand out more because all our food was edible, mouth watering, displayed creatively and we were the only watch which provided 4 servings for each of the judges.
That night, we cleared up, tried to clean the store and put everything back in place as much as possible and turned in, all collapsing anytime. Instructions wa s very clear that we had to wake up the next day at 5am, strike the tents, bring everything back to the store, wash up and meet Bernard at 6.
Day #4
It wasn't really a rise and shine. We were all late!!! Bernard came to our tents to wake us all up! So malu lah. It was already 6.05am! So we quickly got out of our tents, lifted them and carried them down to our store and spread them out for cleaning later. After regulating for the girls to wash up first while the guys pack the store then a switch after that, we had a short morning activity. The girls were leading Bernard not to have us run since the night before.
So after playing 1 game,
Bernard: Ok, Magellon, line in 2 rows, we're going to go for a run.
Girls: Huh? What?! Don't run can? Can we just jog?
Me to guys: Hey, let us stand in the front or else y'all will just sprint.
Bernard: Ok, never mind, just jog on the spot first. We're going to jog 3 rounds.
Girls: What?!
Me: Around the parade square?
Bernard: Ok, Jog on the spot. Now jog and turn 1 round.
All: LoL... *jog and turn*
Bernard: Turn another round. ... ... ... ... ... Turn 1 more round. ... ... ok, now y'all need to cool down?
All: Of course not *smiles on faces*
And we spent the rest of the morning packing the store and cleaning and everything. Some other watches went for the Jetty Jump but, so what, we had fun trying to get things back into our store. We did trading and found things. Oh, since we always found tent pegs during area cleaning, we replaced them with our lost ones and traded those too. Moral of the story... you're in advantage if you work harder.
Once the store was done after a few hours (we lost 1 jack-knife, so that's 40cents each Magalini, not so bad) it was time for area cleaning. We were in charge of the toilets. The guys we wondering how to clear the pile of dung in their loo. We girls were luckier. Our toilet was the not so dirty one and we took only 2 minutes to clean it! So we got back to the gathering point and started singing and cheering and dancing till I realised that my voice was gradually turning coarse.
When everyone's back and we've all got our valuables, Bernard had us to put down our bags under the shelter where all the watches were to gather, then brought us to the beach for morning circle as the other shady areas were taken. Bernard and Bibi apologised for having to take us to such a place but I didn't understand what's so bad about it... we had the best view of the appealing sea view by the beach. Anyway, Bernard got us to pick a stone which we felt represented us best then had us to stand in a row facing the sea. And he told us a story. He knew we'd tease him if he were to name the characters Ah Seng, Ah Huat or Ahmad. And the story goes:
Long, long, long time ago, in the southern part of China, there live this person called Steven and Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob was very good at building houses. Woah, he houses arh never fall before 1, can last very very very long. So Steven hired Uncle Bob to build houses for him.
Uncle Bob worked for Steven for a very long time. So 1 fine day, he decided that he wanted to rest. He was about 80 years old already, so he needed to rest. He told Steven that he had to take a break.
Steven couldn't bear to let him go, but he knew that Uncle Bob was very tired already. So he asked Uncle Bob to build 1 last house for him. Thinking that ... aiya, my last day already still want me to build a house, I just anyhow build lah... so anyone could tell that that house was definitely not build by Uncle Bob because the standard was too low, but he just couldn't be bothered to put his heart into it.
When he was done with the house, Steven thanked Uncle Bob for working for him for so many years. And with his gratitude, he gave Uncle Bob that very last house he built on his own.
In life, we all have 2 wolves living in our soul, a big bad wolf and a good wolf. For everything you do, you can choose to feed the good wolf or the bad wolf. You are here to learn something and I am here to help you. I cannot change your character and your personality. So now, you've taken a stone that best represents you. Forget all about the bad you have done bring back all the learning points. You can choose to let go or you can choose to keep them in you. Once you've thought about it, throw your stone into the sea, and learnt from those mistakes.
Well, I tried to hold back my tears, but the emotions ran over me. Probably I still cannot let go of the lowest point of my life, it's probably still traumatising me. I quickly got myself back to normal before everyone made a big woohaa about it.
By the end of the 4D3N camp,
the close ones were : Clarissa, Si Yuan, Eileen, Peter, Farhan, Faris, Gordon, Ashraf, Si Yan
and
the known ones were : Instructor Bernard, Instructor Bibiana, Zhang Xin, Yi Song, Darren, Mark, Han Siong, Glen
Friendship ties were made and be it Magellan, Magelini or Mag's, Ah Seng, Ah Huat and Ahmad will forever stay in our hearts because
it takes 1 minute to meet a stranger,
it takes 1 hour for us to be friends,
it take 1 day for us to know each other,
but it takes a lifetime to forget our friendship.
. . . . .
Saturday, 21 June 2008
The Last Lecture ~ Randy PauschY
I'm sure 99% of us, teens out there are rushing to complete as much homework as you can right now. Well, though I'm blogging, I'm actually sailing in that same boat.
What made me want to post despite having very little time left for my homework was this very inspiring professor, Dr Randy Pausch.
I got to know about him though this book which Crystal and LiJuan mentors gave me for my birthday present.
If you had achieved great things in life, and just when you're beginning to enjoy probably the peak of your lifetime, you realised that this thing called cancer was here to stay forever and you would be left with 3 to 6 months of healthy life, how would you lead the rest of your life?
I'm still halfway through the book, but if you want to know a little bit about what's going on, you can watch some videos available on youtube. *Catch the 2nd one if you don't have 1 hour of patience to hear him speak.
Watch Video 1:
The actual Last Lecture in Carnegie Mellon University (1h 16mins 26sec)
Watch Video 2:
A rough lecture he shared on Oprah Winfrey's Show (10mins 7sec)
I watched both. Hearing him speak was livelier than reading the book alone, but there're much more stirring stuff in the book. It's really worth reading and not only have I learnt a lot from him, what he said and wrote recognises what I've always been believing hence he's indirectly encouraging me though he don't know each other at all.
Randy is the guy, and I just hope a miracle will happen.
If not, live on your 'tigger attitude' because that's you, that's fundamentals of life and that's the only way for anyone to not regret once living a life as a human.
What made me want to post despite having very little time left for my homework was this very inspiring professor, Dr Randy Pausch.
I got to know about him though this book which Crystal and LiJuan mentors gave me for my birthday present.
If you had achieved great things in life, and just when you're beginning to enjoy probably the peak of your lifetime, you realised that this thing called cancer was here to stay forever and you would be left with 3 to 6 months of healthy life, how would you lead the rest of your life?
I'm still halfway through the book, but if you want to know a little bit about what's going on, you can watch some videos available on youtube. *Catch the 2nd one if you don't have 1 hour of patience to hear him speak.
Watch Video 1:
The actual Last Lecture in Carnegie Mellon University (1h 16mins 26sec)
Watch Video 2:
A rough lecture he shared on Oprah Winfrey's Show (10mins 7sec)
I watched both. Hearing him speak was livelier than reading the book alone, but there're much more stirring stuff in the book. It's really worth reading and not only have I learnt a lot from him, what he said and wrote recognises what I've always been believing hence he's indirectly encouraging me though he don't know each other at all.
Randy is the guy, and I just hope a miracle will happen.
If not, live on your 'tigger attitude' because that's you, that's fundamentals of life and that's the only way for anyone to not regret once living a life as a human.
. . . . .
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Update!Y
16 June
Haig Girls' School Student Leadership Collaboration
On Monday, the former and current Main Exco of the Student Council (so that's 9 times 2, which is the 18 of us) were down for this very important event for our council. Though not the entire council was summoned down, this collaboration actually marked a step further for the council as this was the first time the young TKSC of a history of 6 years had ever worked with a primary school and conduct a leadership course for young student leaders.
Due to accepted reasons, 3 couldn't make it for the actual day.
Initially, we had problems trying to communicate with the girls because they were extremely quiet and, since they were mixed into groups with people they might not know and they were ONLY primary school kids, they hardly converse with one another. It was tough, but the 5 group heads/ facilitators (I was 1 of them!) tried our very best to bring life to them and make things sound fun and exciting.
It was very easy to tell of what kind of a personality each and every one of them had as a leader through discussions and games. I felt that in my group, they were not well-prepared and ready at all time, they were not very united (can't blame them for that) and were almost waiting for me to guide them and give them the solution rather than to sit together, talk to one another and take the lead. I expected the event to be a little more "high" since it was an all-girls school we're talking about here, however, it was quite disappointing seeing how much enthusiasm they showed.
Though my group, Robin Hood didn't emerge as the top or any other followed behind except for the last position, I felt that they were stronger than other teams in their own unique way which they might not have realised, that they were very determined and persevered on even when we had to restart the game while others were already done.
These girls were quite cute.
There was a piece of mahjong paper with the words " Cooperation and Patience " on it and I was too lazy to throw it. So I asked if anyone wanted it and a girl said she'd like to have it if everyone signed on it. I felt that it was unfair because there were 12 of them and others might be unhappy about 1 person taking the 'representation' of the group. Then another wanted my autograph on her lecture booklet. Thinking that it was a simple job that'd make someone's day, I took the paper pushed to the centre of the table for easy-reach, and signed. The centre gradually piled up till a hill and then to a mountain! That moment was so satisfying because it really showed that my existence was greatly appreciated.
Exchanging or revealing of contact was strictly not allowed, hence this was the only thing they could have to remember me. It's indeed a wonderful experience and I hope they did bring back precious values and memories back with them
and
and
and
don't throw the lecture note with my signature on the cover page =P
Youth Congress Chalet
Immediately after Haig Girls' Collab, the entire Sec 3 Main Exco except Siddharth were heading to our 3D2N chalet. Sharon joined us 'cus she received a mistaken call from the Mdm Shahirah. Mdm Halilah gave us a ride to the MRT station and we were so indecisiveof which MRT station to go to and finally agreed on Tampines. Thanks Mdm Halilah, and her lovely husband and her sweet little daughter =)
So at Garden Terrace B of Aloha Loyang, Rifat, Peter (I'm used to calling Edwin Peter as Peter rather than Edwin) and Uncle Lawrence were already there. There were 2 double decked beds in a room and 2 single beds in the other. Since Rifat was the only male sleeping overnight, we decided to let him have a room to himself.
While the others were playing games and chilling out, I went into the kitchen to help Uncle Lawrence prepare dinner. It was so much fun and I didn't know he was once a chef! We exchanged some of our little cooking tips, and as one by one those outside came in, culinery became the topic of the talks within the spacious kitchen.
We had sphagetti, tomato-mushroom sauce, cream of mushroom, potato salad, fish fillet, chicken wings, marshed potatoes, mixed vegetables. Yummy was the food and bloated we all were as we munched, watched 'So you think you can dance?' and commented.
After Peter, Ryan and Sharon left (they had to go home =[ sad ), Uncle Lawrence set up the projector and plugged it to his laptop! That is cool or what?! We watched the 'Employee of the month' till probably about 12+ ? But it wasn't enough for me and the other were still in the watching mood, so we watched short cartoon snippets. And soon, we washed up one by one. The night (or early morning) didn't end there. We played hand games and card games and had so much fun, while Rifat was sleeping....shhh....
Oh, and I realised that I had a flu after the movie. I voice became coarse and horribly unpleasant to the ears. I couldn't sing!!! Oh no!
17 June
Day 2. I was the first to get up. Since the eggs were meant for breakfast, I prepared smashed eggs with mayonaise to match with the bread. Oh, and I heated up the night's left-overs; they were still tasty! No proper drink, and Heaven n Earth Jasmine Green Tea was the closest we could get in the fridge. Rifat, Estee, Clarissa and I were watching Ellen's before Oprah's shows on TV while playing DaiDi while the others, I believed, was playing Truth-or-Dare in the ladies room (not the ladies).
We then headed to the beach.
LiJuan mentor was made a statue for her Dare the previous night.
Rifat was playing around with the waters and sand. He was collecting foam!
And then there was the whole SAND WAR!!!
Haig Girls' School Student Leadership Collaboration
On Monday, the former and current Main Exco of the Student Council (so that's 9 times 2, which is the 18 of us) were down for this very important event for our council. Though not the entire council was summoned down, this collaboration actually marked a step further for the council as this was the first time the young TKSC of a history of 6 years had ever worked with a primary school and conduct a leadership course for young student leaders.
Due to accepted reasons, 3 couldn't make it for the actual day.
Initially, we had problems trying to communicate with the girls because they were extremely quiet and, since they were mixed into groups with people they might not know and they were ONLY primary school kids, they hardly converse with one another. It was tough, but the 5 group heads/ facilitators (I was 1 of them!) tried our very best to bring life to them and make things sound fun and exciting.
It was very easy to tell of what kind of a personality each and every one of them had as a leader through discussions and games. I felt that in my group, they were not well-prepared and ready at all time, they were not very united (can't blame them for that) and were almost waiting for me to guide them and give them the solution rather than to sit together, talk to one another and take the lead. I expected the event to be a little more "high" since it was an all-girls school we're talking about here, however, it was quite disappointing seeing how much enthusiasm they showed.
Though my group, Robin Hood didn't emerge as the top or any other followed behind except for the last position, I felt that they were stronger than other teams in their own unique way which they might not have realised, that they were very determined and persevered on even when we had to restart the game while others were already done.
These girls were quite cute.
There was a piece of mahjong paper with the words " Cooperation and Patience " on it and I was too lazy to throw it. So I asked if anyone wanted it and a girl said she'd like to have it if everyone signed on it. I felt that it was unfair because there were 12 of them and others might be unhappy about 1 person taking the 'representation' of the group. Then another wanted my autograph on her lecture booklet. Thinking that it was a simple job that'd make someone's day, I took the paper pushed to the centre of the table for easy-reach, and signed. The centre gradually piled up till a hill and then to a mountain! That moment was so satisfying because it really showed that my existence was greatly appreciated.
Exchanging or revealing of contact was strictly not allowed, hence this was the only thing they could have to remember me. It's indeed a wonderful experience and I hope they did bring back precious values and memories back with them
and
and
and
don't throw the lecture note with my signature on the cover page =P
Youth Congress Chalet
Immediately after Haig Girls' Collab, the entire Sec 3 Main Exco except Siddharth were heading to our 3D2N chalet. Sharon joined us 'cus she received a mistaken call from the Mdm Shahirah. Mdm Halilah gave us a ride to the MRT station and we were so indecisiveof which MRT station to go to and finally agreed on Tampines. Thanks Mdm Halilah, and her lovely husband and her sweet little daughter =)
So at Garden Terrace B of Aloha Loyang, Rifat, Peter (I'm used to calling Edwin Peter as Peter rather than Edwin) and Uncle Lawrence were already there. There were 2 double decked beds in a room and 2 single beds in the other. Since Rifat was the only male sleeping overnight, we decided to let him have a room to himself.
While the others were playing games and chilling out, I went into the kitchen to help Uncle Lawrence prepare dinner. It was so much fun and I didn't know he was once a chef! We exchanged some of our little cooking tips, and as one by one those outside came in, culinery became the topic of the talks within the spacious kitchen.
We had sphagetti, tomato-mushroom sauce, cream of mushroom, potato salad, fish fillet, chicken wings, marshed potatoes, mixed vegetables. Yummy was the food and bloated we all were as we munched, watched 'So you think you can dance?' and commented.
After Peter, Ryan and Sharon left (they had to go home =[ sad ), Uncle Lawrence set up the projector and plugged it to his laptop! That is cool or what?! We watched the 'Employee of the month' till probably about 12+ ? But it wasn't enough for me and the other were still in the watching mood, so we watched short cartoon snippets. And soon, we washed up one by one. The night (or early morning) didn't end there. We played hand games and card games and had so much fun, while Rifat was sleeping....shhh....
Oh, and I realised that I had a flu after the movie. I voice became coarse and horribly unpleasant to the ears. I couldn't sing!!! Oh no!
17 June
Day 2. I was the first to get up. Since the eggs were meant for breakfast, I prepared smashed eggs with mayonaise to match with the bread. Oh, and I heated up the night's left-overs; they were still tasty! No proper drink, and Heaven n Earth Jasmine Green Tea was the closest we could get in the fridge. Rifat, Estee, Clarissa and I were watching Ellen's before Oprah's shows on TV while playing DaiDi while the others, I believed, was playing Truth-or-Dare in the ladies room (not the ladies).
We then headed to the beach.
LiJuan mentor was made a statue for her Dare the previous night.
Rifat was playing around with the waters and sand. He was collecting foam!
And then there was the whole SAND WAR!!!
And the 4 of us who were at the 14th SLC showcased our cluster performance : The Ketchup Dance; however, Vivian was seriously nuts and all the while she ahd the motive of getting me wet in mind! Since I was already wet to the neck, I thought why not just get myself entirely wet.
There was no point screaming for help because
No.1, My voice could hardly be heard;
No.2, Even if they could hear me scream, they'd rather watch me sadistically;
No.3, Vivian was too strong (physically) a person for me to defend myself.
After an hour or two at the beach, we decided not to go roller blading or cycling since we're so wet and there wasn't enough clothes to change into, we sneaked into the pool. Yes, I mentioned sneaked because we weren't properly attired. Then we had a game of 'Ice and Water' in the pool. I'm sorry but I was the worst swimmer of all. C'mon, I last swam when I was in P4 okay? I almost got myself a Bronze certificate when the SARS came and the whole lot of puberty nonsense came. Oh, the instructor was lecherous too.
Anyway, in the midst of our game, we saw Hwa Chong people entering the chalet main office area. Then as they walked along the pool to wherever, gosh, I saw the kukubird (sorry if this is foul language, but it's a nickname the Cultivation of Leadership Cluster used to call that guy)!
Later on, when the pool was roughly cleared as it was lunchtime, we, again, sneaked to the children's pool to play on the slide. It was so fun. And hey, we're definitely not deprive of our childhood, it's just that it's so irresistable and everyone wishes to be a child, so innocent, so likeable and so thoughtless, don't we?
It was about 3 when we were showering and preparing for lunch, but decided to get pizzas and chicken wings delivered to us. We were about done at almost 5.
Vivian ans Sharmane still wanted to cycle though knowing that our BBQ would start at 6 and the ready-made raw food had arrived more than an hour earlier. So we all went out to the beach side. Estee and I didnt want to cycle, so we took a stroll.
I was just sharing with her about the last time, or rather, the first time when I was at the exact same place in Pasir Ris Park, I saw many kites in the sky. The wind was strong and I saw a huge Merlion and dragons flying high up. And as she popped the question," Why don't we fly a kite?", the was a little koisk on our left and we went in to check out the kites. They were reasonably cheap, so we got 1 and started getting it up in the air.
An uncle saw us, so inexperienced, so he offered to help us get it to fly first. However, the wind was shifting. Estee could tell. She's a sailor. After aiding for about 20minutes, the 2 of us were left alone to try to fly the kite. The kite was testing my patience, and Estee was all the time so optimistic, encouraging me to be patient. Then I was calling out the slogan of this year's investiture, "Altivolus, Soaring to Greater Heights!".
As the 4 of them cycled back, they saw us flying the kite. Rifat bought 1. After returning the bikes, Rifat and Clarissa joined us back on the patch of grass and we kept on trying. It was quite fun and at least both kites did fly to a certain height and remained in the air for about 3 minutes before dying down.
We headed back for the BBQ. And our guests were already there. They were Mr Ernest Fu (TK Admin Staff who booked this wonderful terrace), Melissa (Bukit Merah Sec's mentor), YanYing aka YY (PLMGSS's mentor) and Uncle Lawrence). Although most of them left a little earlier than expected, we managed to put up a little performance with our *ahem* standard Ketchup Dance, You Raised Me Up, We Love You... . They liked it.
Guess what, it wasn't us who didn't want to stop, the kids from the next door gathered at the edge of the low dividing wall and watched us. So we sang and did all the nonsense we knew. They requested for "Umbrella". We didn't deliver. In turn, we told them that it was their turn to perform for us. They sang ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars, BaBa Black Sheeps, and other nursery rymes. Please, they were in primary school already.
We cleaned the pit area, went back into the 'house' to freshen up and walked to E!Hub for a drink at MacCafe. When we were back, everyone was too tired to stay up for more and we were in slumberland before 2am.
18 June
BeeHoon and Spring Rolls from previous night's BBQ was for breakfast. I took the unwanted whole potato and ate it with mayonaise. We were watching Ellen's show after Prime Time Morning on 5. As we played more DaiDi, the 2 mentors were back in bed for more sleep.
I ate at the small coffee table on my own while they played DaiDi and forced one another to finish up the BeeHoon and the AgaAga Uncle Lawrence made. I was very lucky, wasn't I? After being chased out of our 'house', we really wanted to go to MacDonald's for breakfast no matter what. We were almost bloated! So with our rucksacks on our backs, we walked to DownTown East and had second round of breakfast at MacDonald's!!! We're just too pro and I bet you're nodding your head in agreement (exclaiming : OMG!).
Rifat went home to put down some stuff and took whatever necessary for Band Camp from 18-20 June.
Shamane, as usual, so fortunate to have such a Dad who picks her up almost anytime she calls. While as for the others, we took a train back: Crystal mentor at Kembangan, Vivian at Simei, Esteer and Clarissa and Me at Eunos, Rifat to school at Paya Lebar, and LiJuan mentor at Kallang.
That's it people, this is a super duper uper long post. I couldn't complete it yesterday because I slept before 4pm and woke up this morning at 8am, unbelieveable yeah? I can't imagine sleeping that long myself as well!
. . . . .
Saturday, 14 June 2008
虽然我愿意~ 伍家辉Y
请让我靠近你轻轻对你说
别让我每个夜为你受折磨
是多么不容易才默默放手
为了我就当作这次为了我
别让我因为你被回忆折磨
而空气凝结了我们的脸孔
我别无选择
就算我们之间有什么问题
依然想念着你
虽然被放弃
虽然我愿意
就算我们之间有什么难题
黑夜我还想着你
心碎人孤寂
虽然我愿意
再让我靠近你轻轻对你说
当我说我要你从此好好过
是真的否则我怎么肯放手
为了我就当作这次为了我
赐给我你现在幸福的笑容
别让恨冻结了我们的脸孔
请你做选择
就算我们之间有什么问题
依然想念着你虽然被放弃
虽然我愿意
就算我们之间有什么难题
黑夜我还想着你心
碎人孤寂
虽然我愿意
心碎人孤寂
虽然我愿意
就算我们之间有什么问题
依然想念着你
虽然被放弃
虽然我愿意
就算我们之间有什么难题
黑夜我还想着你
心碎人孤寂
虽然我愿意
(心还想着你)
. . . . .
Friday, 13 June 2008
long-lost buddyY
I so have to post this, really!!!
Indeed, he's Joel the LEGEND! The boy (note that I use the word 'boy', not 'guy') I first met 12 years ago at this little corner in Eunos Community Club where we became best friends soon after, which lasted till the very last day we were there. However, we were not matured enough then to even understand the importance of taking down each other's contacts and hence lost in touch.
But fate brought our friendship back together again!!!
He's the guy who created the friendster group for 14th SLC, and he requested for me to join the group, which I did.
Then he requested for a personal 'friend' add. It was then that I realised that the name was so familiar and this person was probably that very person I've been wanting to get in touch with all these while. (Well, he got the picture of the SLC nametag with his full name on it as his primary picture, or the one on display) I recognised that full-name immediately, and was like...
...click the name
...click the photos
...browse through the photos
...*looks like him right?*
...*it's been 9 years; he's definitely not going to look the same!*
...better send a message and get things clear!
...message sent!
And within a minute, I got a reply. IT IS HIM! HE'S THE ONE!
Oh goodness that I have a healthy heart or I would be in the hospital by now. I added him on MSN as fast as I could!
"Omg" filled the first few lines of our conversation, followed by all the "I remember that...".
Gosh, why didn't Shaun Seah told me that they were from the same school, same Student Council earlier?!?! (He must be super puzzled wondering what has anything here got to do with him...haha)
Indeed, he's Joel the LEGEND! The boy (note that I use the word 'boy', not 'guy') I first met 12 years ago at this little corner in Eunos Community Club where we became best friends soon after, which lasted till the very last day we were there. However, we were not matured enough then to even understand the importance of taking down each other's contacts and hence lost in touch.
But fate brought our friendship back together again!!!
He's the guy who created the friendster group for 14th SLC, and he requested for me to join the group, which I did.
Then he requested for a personal 'friend' add. It was then that I realised that the name was so familiar and this person was probably that very person I've been wanting to get in touch with all these while. (Well, he got the picture of the SLC nametag with his full name on it as his primary picture, or the one on display) I recognised that full-name immediately, and was like...
...click the name
...click the photos
...browse through the photos
...*looks like him right?*
...*it's been 9 years; he's definitely not going to look the same!*
...better send a message and get things clear!
...message sent!
And within a minute, I got a reply. IT IS HIM! HE'S THE ONE!
Oh goodness that I have a healthy heart or I would be in the hospital by now. I added him on MSN as fast as I could!
"Omg" filled the first few lines of our conversation, followed by all the "I remember that...".
Gosh, why didn't Shaun Seah told me that they were from the same school, same Student Council earlier?!?! (He must be super puzzled wondering what has anything here got to do with him...haha)
He is LEGEND;
JOEL LIM XING ZHI
IS BACK!
. . . . .
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
14th Student Leaders Convention - AftermathY
14th SLC had already ended 2 weeks ago, however, it's not stopping there...
Not only the OTs (Organising Team) has kindly uploaded the official informal and formal picture, and the action papers of the various groups and clusters on the official SLC website for participants to grab, there will also be a self-initiated gathering, or mass outing they call for SLC participants!
The fever did subside a little but I'm sure that on 21 June, it will be oh-so-SPICAY (like what Jon always says) and it will definitely be fun-filled! Can't wait for it... but how unfortunate to have guides walkathon on that day as well (moreover, we were only indirectly notified like today?)
Anyway, I forgot to express my greatest thanks to each and every fellow fond FIRMINUS friends in the previous post regarding SLC.
Though I'd written small notes on the 'thumbs-up' post-its, I'm still goina honour these fellow fond FIRMINUS friends:
(not in any sort of order)
Fac.Alvin - The TeddyBear of Firminus! Though he couldn't make it for the 1st one-and-a-half days, we were still very close to him for he always had that big smile on his face and shares sick and lame jokes which were sure to make our day.
Fac.Gordon - He was suppose to be the head-fac for our cluster, but as Alvin was not around, he took over. Firminus was the only group which he actually knew each of us in person as we interacted a lot, having spent time together in the orientation games and the initial brainstorming for the action paper.
Rachel - The forever Rachel-ly Rachel who never fails to ask people whether she's a bimbo because all her friends in school calls her one. Whenever she's bored, she'd just share her lame jokes around or crave for more sick and lame joke from fac Alvin.
Siti - The ever so glamorous girl who's quite quiet but you'd just never be able to spot her being un-glam... haha
YiHui - She joined us later on the first day when we were back from Marina Bay. Quite a pro in Chinese Language as well (like me... xD), we always laugh at how the Hwa Chong boys tried so hard just to translate whatever we were doing to the Chinese students.
Shahirah - This girl was definitely super duper uper bimboistic with all the "oh-my-GORD"s going on in Firminus. We all know what that means don't we, fellow fond Firminus friends? This sassy girl is definitely not a girl you don't wanna joke around with...hehe
YuWei - She's from China, and was quite lonely because we have an odd number of girls and most of the time she didn't understand what was going on because we all speak English too quickly (for the Chinese). She's innocent looking on the outside, but since we're talking about the aftermath, I guess Firminus knows her power now!
Benjamin - Should we call him our saviour? Quite unsuitable for him. Blim never fails to speak for Firminus during cluster meetings and this guy was one of those who made Firminus really Firminus. I actually got to know him better after SLC because both of us are online more frequently than the others. There's just too much to type...
Jonathan - Jon, can almost be the thinker of Firminus. When we finally ran out of ideas how to put it in our action paper, he just took over, together with his buddy Blim. They seriously make a pair, I don't mean gay.
YiHeng - I hardly heard him say a single word except for the time when we were playing "Honey, do you love me?". I wrote in the little note that he was the soul supporter of Firminus because he's always with us but not really woohaa-ing like everyone else. He gave the most moral support man.
Siddhant - He's from India. He's emo. He takes his own stand. He's super duper uper confident. He can be really really scary~
KeaHoa - Sid's PILLOW!!! well, Sid treated him as a pillow in the auditorium and I guess during cluster meetings as well. It kinduf got on his nerves but hey Pillow, I've got to tell you that at the end of the day, you were Sid's last bestie in Firminus... hahaxD
ShenXin - Soooooo tall, also from China. I liked his attitude. Though like YuWei, he couldn't really understand, we tried as far as possible to get involve and perticipate actively. He's quite funny too =D
ZhiJian - How could we ever forget about him. He's only Sec2 but yet was able to interact very well with us. I applaud for your courage man; I'd have been very timid if I were you! Oh, and everytime when we have mass conference on MSN, this guy would be like 'what's going on? ... huh?' because he's under-age to understand the nonsense... haha... don't feel too bad about it because I still admire your courage!
So before I end, once again, bringing to you...
FIRM-IN-US!
Not only the OTs (Organising Team) has kindly uploaded the official informal and formal picture, and the action papers of the various groups and clusters on the official SLC website for participants to grab, there will also be a self-initiated gathering, or mass outing they call for SLC participants!
The fever did subside a little but I'm sure that on 21 June, it will be oh-so-SPICAY (like what Jon always says) and it will definitely be fun-filled! Can't wait for it... but how unfortunate to have guides walkathon on that day as well (moreover, we were only indirectly notified like today?)
Anyway, I forgot to express my greatest thanks to each and every fellow fond FIRMINUS friends in the previous post regarding SLC.
Though I'd written small notes on the 'thumbs-up' post-its, I'm still goina honour these fellow fond FIRMINUS friends:
(not in any sort of order)
Fac.Alvin - The TeddyBear of Firminus! Though he couldn't make it for the 1st one-and-a-half days, we were still very close to him for he always had that big smile on his face and shares sick and lame jokes which were sure to make our day.
Fac.Gordon - He was suppose to be the head-fac for our cluster, but as Alvin was not around, he took over. Firminus was the only group which he actually knew each of us in person as we interacted a lot, having spent time together in the orientation games and the initial brainstorming for the action paper.
Rachel - The forever Rachel-ly Rachel who never fails to ask people whether she's a bimbo because all her friends in school calls her one. Whenever she's bored, she'd just share her lame jokes around or crave for more sick and lame joke from fac Alvin.
Siti - The ever so glamorous girl who's quite quiet but you'd just never be able to spot her being un-glam... haha
YiHui - She joined us later on the first day when we were back from Marina Bay. Quite a pro in Chinese Language as well (like me... xD), we always laugh at how the Hwa Chong boys tried so hard just to translate whatever we were doing to the Chinese students.
Shahirah - This girl was definitely super duper uper bimboistic with all the "oh-my-GORD"s going on in Firminus. We all know what that means don't we, fellow fond Firminus friends? This sassy girl is definitely not a girl you don't wanna joke around with...hehe
YuWei - She's from China, and was quite lonely because we have an odd number of girls and most of the time she didn't understand what was going on because we all speak English too quickly (for the Chinese). She's innocent looking on the outside, but since we're talking about the aftermath, I guess Firminus knows her power now!
Benjamin - Should we call him our saviour? Quite unsuitable for him. Blim never fails to speak for Firminus during cluster meetings and this guy was one of those who made Firminus really Firminus. I actually got to know him better after SLC because both of us are online more frequently than the others. There's just too much to type...
Jonathan - Jon, can almost be the thinker of Firminus. When we finally ran out of ideas how to put it in our action paper, he just took over, together with his buddy Blim. They seriously make a pair, I don't mean gay.
YiHeng - I hardly heard him say a single word except for the time when we were playing "Honey, do you love me?". I wrote in the little note that he was the soul supporter of Firminus because he's always with us but not really woohaa-ing like everyone else. He gave the most moral support man.
Siddhant - He's from India. He's emo. He takes his own stand. He's super duper uper confident. He can be really really scary~
KeaHoa - Sid's PILLOW!!! well, Sid treated him as a pillow in the auditorium and I guess during cluster meetings as well. It kinduf got on his nerves but hey Pillow, I've got to tell you that at the end of the day, you were Sid's last bestie in Firminus... hahaxD
ShenXin - Soooooo tall, also from China. I liked his attitude. Though like YuWei, he couldn't really understand, we tried as far as possible to get involve and perticipate actively. He's quite funny too =D
ZhiJian - How could we ever forget about him. He's only Sec2 but yet was able to interact very well with us. I applaud for your courage man; I'd have been very timid if I were you! Oh, and everytime when we have mass conference on MSN, this guy would be like 'what's going on? ... huh?' because he's under-age to understand the nonsense... haha... don't feel too bad about it because I still admire your courage!
So before I end, once again, bringing to you...
FIRM-IN-US!
P.S. Check out the official 14th SLC website @ http://www.hci.sg/14slc/
for details about the 14th SLC
and the photographs and action papers
of the various groups.
. . . . .
Thursday, 5 June 2008
Say It Again ~ Marie DigbyY
the thing about love
is i never saw it coming
it kind of crept up
and took me by surprise
and now there's a voice inside my heart
its got me wondering
is this true..? I wanna hear it one more time
move in a little closer
take it to a whisper
and just a little louder...
Say it Again for me
cause i love the way it feels
when you are telling me that i'm
the only one who blows your mind
Say it again for me
it's like the whole world stops to listen
when you tell me you're in love...say it again
the thing about you
is you know just how to get me
you talk about us
like there's no end in sight
the thing about me is that i really wanna let you
open that door
and walk into my life
i move in a little closer
take it to a whisper
and just a little louder..
Say it Again for me
cause i love the way it feels
when you are telling me that i'm
the only one who blows your mind
Say it again for me
it's like the whole world stops to listen
when you tell me you're in love..
and it feels like
it's the first time
that anybody's ever brought
the sun without the rain
and never in my whole life
have i heard words as beautiful as when you say my name.
Say it Again for me
cause i love the way it feels
when you are telling me that i'm
the only one who blows your mind
Say it again for me
it's like the whole world stops to listen
when you tell me you're in love..
Say it again, say it again, say it again;
Say it again, say it again, say it again;
Say it again, say it again, say it again;
when you tell me you're in love,
Say it Again.
. . . . .
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Council training campY
The moment I stepped into the library, all I observed was councillors sticking to their usual group of people and just waiting for time to pass. I wasn't sure if it was because I just attended SLC which enriched me too much, or was it that they had always been like that and I hadn't realised all this while. There were 2 thoughts in my head: 1)Was I really looking at TK's student councilors? 2) Something ought to be done to improve this situation!
Other than that, I really learnt a lot about myself the passed 2 days; my strengths and weaknesses, what I can do to be a better person in turn a better leader, how I bring myself out as a leader, and what kind of leader I am.
Other than that, I really learnt a lot about myself the passed 2 days; my strengths and weaknesses, what I can do to be a better person in turn a better leader, how I bring myself out as a leader, and what kind of leader I am.
I saw how different I was compared to who I was 5 years back. Wow, I didn't realise that it was such a drastic change.
I'm not a charismatic leader, but one who takes charge whenever I think it is necessary. I personally feel that I'm not a good enough leader and may avoid taking the lead or only lead when there's a need to. I tend to want to build up the people around me and want them to grow with me. I can be quite pesimistic at times.
The games were very engaging and also able to bring the entire Council together. However, the bond is not strong enough and I believe everyone can feel it. The Sec 2s brought some issues up to the trainer and he told me about it. Don't worry guys, when it's under our control, we will control it and ensure that Council is NEVER boring. You have my word for that, I promise.
Oh well, the Student Council is still standing strong. This is where I belong, the place where rare opportunities were given to me and I take pride leading this Council together with the 4 other main Executive Committee members.
No Odds Too Great, we'll serve with that spirit!
. . . . .
Sunday, 1 June 2008
14th Student Leaders Convention @ Hwa Chong InstitutionY
If you were to ask any participant in 14th SLC about Day 3, I bet 95% of the respond will be monotonous and rather boring. Oh well, basically the programme for the day was
8.00am-8.15am Reporting and Attendance taking
8.15am-8.30am Briefing by Concept Committee
8.30am-10.30am Cluster Meeting A
10.30am-12.15pm Cluster Meeting B
12.15pm-1.00pm Lunch
1.00pm-2.00pm Consortium Meeting A
2.00pm-4.00pm Address by Guest-of-Honour
4.00pm-4.30pm Reception
4.30pm-5.30pm Photo-taking and Debrief
So everything was basically just like yesterday's meetings. We were to work on the chosen Action Paper by Varinius. However, Firminus, my group felt that our idea on the "Next Top (role)Models" was pretty interesting, engaging and enriching, hence we submitted a formal ammendment form to the Cluster Director, Darren Choo.
So the cluster meetings were just on comments, ammendments and agreements.
Consortium meeting was more of a sharing seesion between the 3 clusters under Developing Affective Education which covers my cluster's Cultivation of Leadership, and the other 2 which are Betterment of Ethics and Promoting Creative Thinking.
We were addressed by the keynote speaker, which was the reason why we had to be in our blazers and court shoes. That took up almost the entire afternoon, and it ended off with photo-taking.
Day 4 started off quite monotonous as most of us were sort of "switched off" after 2 days of brain-cracking meetings. As a cluster, we had to look into the other 2 Cluster's Action Papers and make ammendments to improve on it and the best Action Paper out of the 3 Clusters will be used as the chosen Consortium Action Paper. Practically everyone was too lazy to kill anymore brain cells, so whatever ammendment was made, hardly anyone commented and objected. Eventually because we had a comprehensive, engaging and effective Action Plan, which met the objectives of the whole idea of Developing Affective Education, our cluster's paper was chosen!!! The others simply just corrected the language (so that it's more formal -.-''') or canceled away the new, creative ideas to stay in the safe-zone.
We ended of the convention (refering to the meetings) with the Closing Ceremony whereby the 2 consortiums came together and hear each other out. The other consortium was focussing on Strengthening Fundamental Education. Also, each of the Cluster Directors gave their speeches (words of thanks and their experience), followed by the Consortium Directors. These Directors were the Chairpersons of each meetings.
Darren Choo, our Cluster Director, the Hwa Chong guy who's about 1.8m tall person, who almost hit the projector connected to the ceiling said this:
"Regarding to one of your questions, why didn't I laugh when it was really funny, that's because every time when I wanted to laugh, you guys would already be laughing, so I had to scold you guys."
Tan Yu Quan, our Consortium Director, also a Hwa Chong guy who's the overall in-charge of the Concept Committee (in other words, the meetings and brainstormings), and was quite strict and firm on maintaining decorum and formality, said this:
"... ... And I received notes with tortises drawn on them... ..."
This entire 4-day long event was wrapped up with a Grand Finale concert. Immediately after lunch, our cluster was preparing our performance. Though we already had plans on doing the ketchup dance, our performance in-charge told us that there was a change and that the initial time frame of 7 minutes was lengthen to 14 minutes. So group Constantine came up with the 舞娘 (wu niang) dance. We also prepared 2 songs from High School Musical, We're All in this Together and What I've Been Looking For together with the dance. However, the performance time frame was suddenly cut back to 7 minutes, so unfortunately, we weren't able to perform the High School Musical part which we'd put a lot of heart into learning the new dance steps.
Anyway, here are the pictures and videos...
8.00am-8.15am Reporting and Attendance taking
8.15am-8.30am Briefing by Concept Committee
8.30am-10.30am Cluster Meeting A
10.30am-12.15pm Cluster Meeting B
12.15pm-1.00pm Lunch
1.00pm-2.00pm Consortium Meeting A
2.00pm-4.00pm Address by Guest-of-Honour
4.00pm-4.30pm Reception
4.30pm-5.30pm Photo-taking and Debrief
So everything was basically just like yesterday's meetings. We were to work on the chosen Action Paper by Varinius. However, Firminus, my group felt that our idea on the "Next Top (role)Models" was pretty interesting, engaging and enriching, hence we submitted a formal ammendment form to the Cluster Director, Darren Choo.
So the cluster meetings were just on comments, ammendments and agreements.
Consortium meeting was more of a sharing seesion between the 3 clusters under Developing Affective Education which covers my cluster's Cultivation of Leadership, and the other 2 which are Betterment of Ethics and Promoting Creative Thinking.
We were addressed by the keynote speaker, which was the reason why we had to be in our blazers and court shoes. That took up almost the entire afternoon, and it ended off with photo-taking.
Day 4 started off quite monotonous as most of us were sort of "switched off" after 2 days of brain-cracking meetings. As a cluster, we had to look into the other 2 Cluster's Action Papers and make ammendments to improve on it and the best Action Paper out of the 3 Clusters will be used as the chosen Consortium Action Paper. Practically everyone was too lazy to kill anymore brain cells, so whatever ammendment was made, hardly anyone commented and objected. Eventually because we had a comprehensive, engaging and effective Action Plan, which met the objectives of the whole idea of Developing Affective Education, our cluster's paper was chosen!!! The others simply just corrected the language (so that it's more formal -.-''') or canceled away the new, creative ideas to stay in the safe-zone.
We ended of the convention (refering to the meetings) with the Closing Ceremony whereby the 2 consortiums came together and hear each other out. The other consortium was focussing on Strengthening Fundamental Education. Also, each of the Cluster Directors gave their speeches (words of thanks and their experience), followed by the Consortium Directors. These Directors were the Chairpersons of each meetings.
Darren Choo, our Cluster Director, the Hwa Chong guy who's about 1.8m tall person, who almost hit the projector connected to the ceiling said this:
"Regarding to one of your questions, why didn't I laugh when it was really funny, that's because every time when I wanted to laugh, you guys would already be laughing, so I had to scold you guys."
Tan Yu Quan, our Consortium Director, also a Hwa Chong guy who's the overall in-charge of the Concept Committee (in other words, the meetings and brainstormings), and was quite strict and firm on maintaining decorum and formality, said this:
"... ... And I received notes with tortises drawn on them... ..."
This entire 4-day long event was wrapped up with a Grand Finale concert. Immediately after lunch, our cluster was preparing our performance. Though we already had plans on doing the ketchup dance, our performance in-charge told us that there was a change and that the initial time frame of 7 minutes was lengthen to 14 minutes. So group Constantine came up with the 舞娘 (wu niang) dance. We also prepared 2 songs from High School Musical, We're All in this Together and What I've Been Looking For together with the dance. However, the performance time frame was suddenly cut back to 7 minutes, so unfortunately, we weren't able to perform the High School Musical part which we'd put a lot of heart into learning the new dance steps.
Anyway, here are the pictures and videos...
Spot Sharmane and Vivian
orh~ the sweetest Clarissa...
Guest speaker: Dr Lily Neo
Jump for Joy, Firminus!
That's the Rachel-ly Rachel, and Kea Hoa (Sid's pillow) with Sid
The Big 'F'
the Tree ?
One
Two
Three
FIRMINUS!
the big Firm-In-Us
Alvin the teddy bear, our facilitator
and the murderer of this innocent snail!
brainstorming in our classroom (with air-con!)
the big F with our tea-break's cake
the last Cluster Meeting in 'Space'.
the above performances are all from the participating foreign schools
from Suzhou (China), Hangzhou (China), Hong Kong (China), India and Australia.
from Suzhou (China), Hangzhou (China), Hong Kong (China), India and Australia.
head fac of our cluster, Gordon Goh.
He took Firminus while Alvin was away.
He took Firminus while Alvin was away.
Alvin the teddy bear with loads of sick, funny and lame jokes.
Shahirah, Rachel and Me
The Last Meal at MacDonald's
Firminus shall be missed...
14th SLC will be remembered in all of our hearts<3
14th SLC will be remembered in all of our hearts<3
. . . . .
know me
littlest of the Pang Family
people call me ChiawMIN or ZhaoMIN
was from Maha Bodhi School
and TanjongKatongSEC
and Temasek Polytechnic
Temasek Design School
tracking people
PANGsters
大哥
二哥
know littlest PUNK even better
HANrelated
MeiFen
MAHA BODHIANS
Alwin
Dennis
LiXin
Michelle
Moyra
TzeChong
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YingXin
TKsians
Alicia
Amelia
Asha
Atiqah
BoonYee
Celine
Charmaine
Clarissa
Dean
Desiree
Eileen
Erina
EstherTay
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FarisFarizuan
Hafiz
Hasif
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HuiXun
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JasminePoh
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JunHui
Kane
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Mark
Michelle
MingJie
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NicholasAw
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Nikki
Novia
PohKing
Rifat
Rohaida
Ryan
SandyLikitdachavongs
Sara
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Sharon
SiHui
SiYan
SiYuan
SooHan
Stefan
WeiLin
WeiYing
YinShuang
YongJia
Xenia
Yuyi
ZhangXin
NgeeAnnSec
ChinaExchange'07
Pamela
SherylChia
Shimei
TzeChong
ZhongHuaSec
ChinaExchange'07
ChiehLing
Grace
Stella
them
TK3J'08cum4J'09
Crystal
KelvinPang
WeiYing
YanYing aka YY
YeeJia
YuJia
other STUDENT LEADERS
JonothanSeng/HwaChongInsttn
JoelLim/MarisStella
ShaunSeah/MarisStella
Jesmine/TKGS
CherylSeah/PLMGSS
EleanorNeo/PLMGSS
Hannah/PLMGSS
Joanne/PLMGSS
WeiKee/PLMGSS
ZiQi/PLMGSS
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