Sunday, November 12, 2006
I'm moving at the end of November or early December. I'm sorry for telling you guys at such short notice. My parents declined to keep me updated on the renovations.
I don't know when I can come back, since I'm going to reside in BISHAN. But I think I can take two buses back to Merawoods in about an hour. So, hopefully, I'll be able to see you guys again. Most likely on Saturday or Sunday. I'll probably stay till 10 on Saturday before going home.
Anyway, it's been great knowing everyone. I've been here for seven years and I've seen how we all grew up from little kids to who we are now. I'll miss everyone, I truly will. You've been wonderful friends =) I'm not going to list all the names because I mean everyone, even those I've had disagreements with.
Anyway, the PSL (Peer Support Leader) camp was quite fun. We were training for the Sec One orientation camp (we're supposed to show them around). It was super slack in comparison to ACE camp.
I'm too lazy to blog further.
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face @ 8:06 PM
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Monday, November 06, 2006
The holidays have been pretty boring so far. Nobody's been coming down for the past two days and those who have are busy playing WWE cards. No outings have been planned either =(
Training started again. This means that I won't have much time on my hands for most of the holidays. I've already missed a 204 soccer match for an 8.4 km run today. In the three months that I didn't train during, my fitness level has hit an all-time low. I almost died last week =P
I swear I'm going to start going for Aikido again. I've been skipping for three months since my ankle swelled to the size of an egg. But it's hard to go more than once a week. The other two days Aikido sessions are on are days on which I have training. It's hard to do both on the same day, even if their times are far apart. Due to my training today, I slept from 430 to 830 o_O
As for the proposed band...well, we've only run into minor problems so far. Most of us are willing to cooperate since we've known each other for so many years. There are a few people who don't like each other, but I hope we can resolve that. It'll never work out if the members aren't willing to compromise.
Wei Zhe and I have been jamming with Kenneth, playing Canon In C. We're making a good deal of progress. Ken is a fantastic keyboardist (well, he should be) and composer, so we've got a direction in mind. He's also managed to correct some of our rhythm problems. Playing our instruments together is a first step, anyway. As for the composing part, we've got some work to do. I have no idea how to create a decent riff or chord progression.
That's about it, I guess.
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face @ 6:04 AM
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Tuesday, October 31, 2006
I should have blogged about ACE Camp immediately after I got home. I've forgotten a lot of what happened there. My feelings about it are kinda mixed. The teachers made it sound as though it was paradise ("All the boys don't want to go back home by the fourth day"). I disagree. While there were some really fun activities, the others were tedious and boring.
We were delayed on the trip there because our bus got stuck in a ditch on an extremely narrow road. So we had to switch to another empty bus. Once we got there, the first word that came to my mind was...
Flies.
There's a joke going around Malaysia that the housefly is the country's national animal. It's more or less accurate. The camp demonstrated this.
Our tent was already pitched and I ended up with Tim Soo, Jun Teng and Gareth. There were two guys from 203 sharing it with us, too. We had lunch first. The food was great for something served in a camp, but the flies put me off. Imagine bringing a spoon to your mouth while waving your other hand about to fend off flies.
The first activity we did was called, 'Jungle Survival'. We were supposed to pretend that we were stranded on an island and had to find a way to survive. There was a bag lying around the area which had an empty water bottle and some other stuff, which was supposedly luggage salvaged from our 'crash'. My group was assigned to finding food so we went fishing with a makeshift rod. Or rather, tried. Our 'fishing rod' wasn't a very efficient one, fish were sparse and someone in our group (won't mention the name =D) couldn't throw.
That night it rained, so we missed dinner. But the most fun part of the camp was at night, in the tent.
"Open your legs lah, idiot!"
"Chin, can I put my leg on your crotch?"
"Open up, open up!"
"***, you're sick!"
"***, what are you doing?"
"Maneuvering your stick."
Someone kept standing up in the tent every night to do something to someone else =)
This went on every night. A lot of crapping went on too.
Also, someone else, while sleepwalking, touched the people sleeping next to him in ways too graphic to describe =P
On the second day, we went rafting in the morning. There was also a hornet drill in which we were supposed to throw ourselves to the ground and cover our necks, in practice for a hornet attack. During one of these, I landed on a red ant nest. Needless to say, a lot of pinching ensued. As for the rafting, it was quite challenging. Out of three rafts, ours was the only one that didn't make it. I was supposed to row on ours, so I had to step into muddy water to bring the raft in. When it started falling apart, I just stood in the water like an idiot, not knowing what to do. I was filthy after that =( We also had river crossing, which was pretty fun.
The instructors for this activity were incredibly PMS (short-tempered =P). I'm not going to say anything else.
We went canoeing later that day. It was quite fun. The canoes were extremely heavy, but we only had to carry them a short distance. My canoe lagged behind not only because my technique sucks, but because my boat had a tendency to turn right instead of going straight, so I had to keep turning to keep it on course. I did get the most painful sunburn of my life, though. I was almost as dark as Gen =P
On the third day we did orienteering, which is an activity that requires navigation skills. My group didn't do too well. The instructor was really nice though. He kept asking, "Am I boring you?" =D
At the end of the orienteering there was a water balloon fight. I was tying my laces when it started so I got hit in the face by two balloons almost immediately.
In the afternoon we went up Gunung Lambak, a 500-metre tall hill. It was quite tiring, but mostly because it was so steep. We took turns carrying the water bottle bags, which contained roughly seven bottles each. I carried one of the bags for half the distance. For a rough idea of how steep the hill was, if I turned around and jumped off I would be dead. I was sweating like crazy by the time I reached the summit. The instructor, amazingly, did not even have a single drop of sweat on him o_O
The trip down was worse. Since it was so steep, we had to be really careful. We had to pick the spots where our foots were to land with a lot of precision. I nearly fell several times. Not to mention kicking Soo in the ass several times =P Halfway down, a downpour began. We were caught in very, VERY heavy rain for half an hour without shelter. By the time we reached the bus, we were freezing. On a positive note, however, we did get a free bath.
On the final day, we did abseiling and prusikking. It was the most slack activity because we only did it once. Abseiling means coming down a vertical surface with a rope and the assistance of a knot. We only had to descend two stories, so it was quite easy. I somehow managed to screw up, though. Prusikking is almost the same, except we're supposed to ascend instead. I cut my finger during this one. Meanwhile, Mr Rohan and the instructor in charge went ballistic on us just because of one person's attitude.
One of the instructors at the camp was called 'Commando' because of his huge muscles, scars and the fact that he acted like a boot camp sergeant. We didn't get him, thankfully. Everybody was scared of him.
We were very happy to go home, though. Mr Khoo bought us ice-cream when we got back to school.
I've managed to sum up the camp in a not-too-long post.
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face @ 8:10 PM
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Thursday, October 26, 2006
I'm going off for a camp tomorrow. About half the Secondary Two's are going. Jarrold and Jonathan are going on Tuesday, though. I'm going to be trekking through Kluang, Malaysia while lugging a two-tonne haversack with me and...four sets of underwear. I don't expect it to be easy, but I'm going to make the best out of it. I'm leaving tomorrow morning and won't be back until Monday evening. I hope you guys miss me.
Did I mention that I'm forced to stuff my haversack with about a hundred different items? That, and a sleeping bag. I wonder how I'm going to find my stuff when I need it.
Now, all I've got to do is look forward to walking a saggy rope draped over a river where all our sewage goes.
Wish me luck.
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face @ 4:53 AM
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Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Just came back from Imp (Yue Ming)'s house. Kenneth and I were teaching him how to play the guitar. He's not very good yet, but I'm sure he'll be scaling in no time once he starts practicing and cuts his nails. Ken showed me some scales. Man, I've got to familiarise myself with them. Here's my goals for the holidays:
-Change from barre chords to open chords faster
-Slide barre chords
-Scale
-Improve chord theory
I'm also going to learn these five songs:
-Hey Julie by Fountains Of Wayne
-A Lonely September by Plain White Ts
-You And Me by Lifehouse
-Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol
-Asshole by Denis Leary
Looks like we're really serious about forming a band. We haven't thought of a name yet though. It would be cool if we called it Weezee though =D Here's the (planned) line-up.
Wei Zhe-Lead Guitar
Me-Rhythm Guitar
Kenneth-Keyboard/Bass
Jarrold-Drums
Imp-bass/violin(o_O)
No vocalist yet though. Especially not me. I sound too low =(
And Gen has refused to be our financial manager =P
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face @ 5:05 AM
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Monday, October 23, 2006
Just came back from Yio Chu Kang. I was playing soccer with the other 204 guys at a soccer field there. I was supposed to turn up at 8, but I woke up late and didn't arrive in time. When I got at the bus-stop I walked around lost because I couldn't contact Leonard. I did manage to find my way there in the end. I realised that I'm not that bad at soccer, I'm just nowhere near good. So after a lot of sweating, I went home.
Yesterday night I went down to play basketball but we ended up playing hide-and-seek. I was caught last and second-last for two games respectively. But I realised that I really CANNOT outrun Kenneth on a straight stretch of road.
English TDP interview went quite well, but I asked the teacher a dumb question at the end. I'm not going to elaborate because it was truly an idiot's question.
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face @ 10:31 PM
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Saturday, October 21, 2006
We played hide-and-seek yesterday night and it was quite fun lah. We only managed two games though because Imp and Kenneth hid in some unlocatable spot for the second game, making it last well over an hour. I caught a couple of people but we stopped after we failed to find the last two guys. But I ran like crazy that night.
It was Wei Yong's birthday too so Jarrold, Alexis, Daryl and I pooled money to buy him a soccer ball with our names signed on it. Kenneth, Imp and I spent the whole of Friday looking for a present for him. Of course, we weren't really focused. I've yet to touch the goodie bag WY gave me.
I'm going to say this again. Merawoodians need to go somewhere during the holidays.
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face @ 10:58 PM
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Today was quite fun lah.
There was a 6F class reunion at 12 so I met Fariz at 1045. Then we took 176 to West Coast Park. I think less than half the class showed up. Alvin, Cliff, Eunice, Fariz, Germaine, Ho Sung, Intan, Kang Sheng, Ming Fai, Rui Ting Wayne, Xin Ying, Yan Lam and I went. We talked at McDonald's for very long and then went to the playground to um, play. We climbed the spiderweb pyramid thingie, played with sand, spun on the structures at the playground and swung on some cable thing. We then sat at a bench for even longer. Afterwards we went into McDonald's again. Finally, we went to West Mall and the group broke up. Cliff, Fariz and I went to Comics Connection and the bookshop while the rest of the guys visited the arcade and the girls wandered off somewhere. I went home.
I wanted to play basketball but Jarrold and Gen purposely left Wan Wee and I out of the game so I watched until I grew bored and resorted to playing with a Slinky.
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face @ 4:52 AM
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