Fencing Camp Preparations

It's been busy, busy, busy these few days because I've been doing Night Walk preparations. Spent the break before fencing doing Math Tutorial and cutting paper dolls for Night Walk with Balpreet, Ruth, Charmaine and Darren. We drew them all kinds of funny faces, even so, i doubt anyone will really notice in the Stygian gloom. Had meeting for Night Walk during training and did some fencing to prepare for Nat Trials since I feel extremely off-form. When the J2s were gone, Darren and me brought the rest of the J2s through the Night Walk route. Everyone was bursting with ideas and suggestions (cus Night Walk is the MOST FUN part of camp XD!) and we implemented a few new ones. The guys, especially Reub and Jia Hua, were attempting to scare the girls, with much success, every scare point or so. A few hair-raising screams could be heard, following a "BOO!" or a sudden pair of hands grabbing the shoulders. The finale of the night walk culminated in Jia Hua donning his hideous Halloween Mask and sauntering towards the girls a la serial killer style. Si Chen and Joanna were sent cowering against the wall of the tunnel below the Performing Arts Center to the uproarious laughter of the guys. Ranging from the chillingly atmospheric to shocking in-your-face scares (plus the somewhat incongruous Father Reub), I'm fairly sure the Night Walk will frighten the living daylights out of the J1s (not to the point of jumping off the Blk A-B bridge I hope. Lol)

Exchange Student

Jem's exchange student from Japan came for class today! Idea (ee-day-er not idea XD)) looked like L, minus the mascara and the height. Seemed like a soft-spoken fellow but it probably was cus he wasn't used to Singapore's English proficiency level. Asked him several questions through Jem about his interests and school life in Japan. During Econs, Mrs Leow tried to make him talk about the Japan Economy -_-. Give us a break man. The trauma from CTs has barely left our shattered minds. He seemed sort of bored during class but no surprise there, all of us were. Screwed Bio as predicted but the extent was a lot worse. Why do I even bother with mugging??? Did the fencing night walk trail with Darren and later, with Joanna and Charmaine, we planned the many scares to occur throughout the course of it. I think this Night Walk will be seriously freaky ^_^, replete with things that go bump in the night and moving inanimate objects. Oh, we brought Darren to the LT 2 girl's toilet. Indeed, it was an eye-opening experience for him :P. Had exco meeting later to discuss about fencing camp, where Mr Ng told us the rationale for not having games that involved hitting,water and food. Quote: "Whacko can cause head injuries, induce dizziness, loss of control and vomiting...which leads to wastage of food -_-." PE department needs to lighten up...

Jem's Bday Party!

I was one of the earliest to arrive and decided to make myself useful by helping Amelia and Suat decorate the board. On the board (one of Jem's SJI friend's idea), we adorned paper stars and long glittery strips of ribbon, with heartfelt notes and well-wishings pasted in the middle. The rest came in short intervals, one after another but sadly, the turnout wasn't very strong :(. The guys who had been keeping Jem occupied upstairs finally got him down and we presented him our presents as well as showed him the board, much to his surprised delight XD. He invited us to tuck in to the delicious spread of chicken wings, potatoes, satay, fishballs and other fried foods. Headed to the lounge for some KTV and had a great many laughs over out-of-tune voices to mismatched graphics and song lyrics or simply, plain ridiculous images. As I savored the chocolate sundae, I enjoyed the occasionally melodious voices of the singers and the crazy antics of the SJI guys. Finally plucked up the courage to sing "Kiss by a Rose" which I hope I didn't mangle too badly =P. Got into the singing mood (never knew KTV could be so fun!) and sang a couple more songs with Ching Ting and Philana before going home at about 11.

A Tale

Once upon a time (as most fairy tales go), there was a girl who was unhappy. Nothing too distinctive about her; she could have been anyone off the street. Like most humans, she was unhappy with her lot and sought to better it. A wiseman told he, if you meet the Ourobouros, joy, wealth and so much more will be yours. How shall I find it? I know not, but if you pick the nettles of the forest green and weave them into a cloth of thread so fine it seems moonlight made, the Ourobouros might seek you. So, she did dutifully as the wiseman said. Day after day, she would travel to the forests, returning only when her baskets were overflowing with nettles. At night, she would stamp on the nettles till her feet were crimson ribbons of flesh. Then, the weaving would begin. Days bled into weeks, weeks bled into months, months bled into years. The cloth was long and gossamer upon the skin and yet the Ourobouros did not come. Alas, she passed on, the nettles she had lived with for so long cloaking her in a funereal shroud. And if the Ourobouros arrived in the end, no one knows of it.

~The End~

Sentosa Beach Training!

Thanks to Eug's time-saving alternative route, I winded up at Harborfront station 20 mins late as opposed to 10 minutes early. Oh well, now I know better. Was the only J2 save for the omnipresent JX; the rest had other commitments, generally mugging. We reached Siloso beach one hour plus after 9 cus of much waiting for people and the next tram, dilly-dallying and simply, slow walking. (I was saboed to collect $$$ for the monorail ride =( Gimme a break! )Beach PT was actually quite bearable and not as awful as I imagined it to be. Probably due to the mild sun (yay! cloud cover ^_^) and the numerous one minute breaks. But I didn't managed to get the coveted full body tan =(; I think my face got slightly burnt really. The most annoying thing would be the insidious sand which wormed its way everywhere. Did sets of lunges, squats, tuck jumps, footwork on a big open sandy space. In no time, your feet begins to feel like its being bitten by many ants. Ouch!
PT completed, we headed to the beach for sprints and lunges in the water and the highlight of the day, captain's ball! Yan Long was pretty much our sole defender and though he did a decent job, our team still got trounced. Yuan Zi and David playing defence, were a formidable duo despite several brilliant saves Felicia and Shan Shan made. Piggy-backed on Yan Long as a substitute goalie for a while. (I hope he doesn't get a shoulder strain, I'm 50 kg >_<) Lost my balance quite a number of times and tumbled into the blue, nearly losing my specs. It's no mean feat trying to balance on his skinny shoulders, meanwhile looking out for the handball! Throughout our time at the beach, there was a mass dunking session from which only the heaviest were exempt =P.
After 2 hours of wet and wild fun, we washed up and went to Vivo for a late lunch. Lots of camwhoring on the monorail and guess I'll post pictures when I get them. Played multiple exciting games Heart Attack to the chagrin of some of the cleaners. All of the girls got sabo-ed through devious dealing of cards on Yuan Zi and fast reflexs on everyone else's part. Hmm..can't wait to see Shan Shan, Melissa and Lorraine running around with pillows tied to their waists next training. Lol. Played bridge with Chan, Mel and Shan Shan at the rooftop garden till we all went home. Except for the happening Chan who went to paaarrtaaay!!!

NUS Open house!

Phil, CT and me were the early birds, coming at around 9.30 thus when we were making away through the Student Activities exhibition, we were accosted every couple of steps or so. The Sheares Hall girls were particularly enthusiastic about promoting the perks of hall life; not that we didn't know about them but they certainly left us dying to stay in a Hall. One good way to avoid them is keeping eye contact with one of your NUS brochures. Alternatively, look like you want to beat someone up. Amassed lots of leaflets and freebies (waterbottle, pens, organiser...I feel like a freeloader), half of which I probably wil not use. Checked out the prerequisites for Pharmacy and Chemical Engineering; seems like I might not be able to take the latter due to my dearth of AO level physics :(. Was contemplating whether to go for NTU Open House after Phil and CT departed before deciding to visit the following year.While generally informative, I think I should have gone for this next year, after getting my A level results. Oh well, knowing how notoriously difficult it is to enter Pharmacy ought to provide me a sufficient incentive to bag those elusive 4 "As". Until next year then...

The End of Term 1

No relief at the impending March hols, no respite from the relentless rush of schoolwork because the holidays no sorry, study breaks are really for mugging. Common Tests gleefully await, fresh and ferocious, as soon as the holidays draw to a close. Need to do well enough to escape the evil clutches of remedial and more dreary hours of meeting Ms Soh -_- ... Let the mugging begin!

Ms Lim's (Now Mrs Tan) Wedding

For all the fretting I was going through in Pa's car that we would arrive late, the wedding began about 30 minutes later from the time we arrived. So much for punctuality. Ms Lim was a vision of loveliness in the wedding photos and it made me realise the illusionary wonders of photography. (OK kidding!! She truly is pretty) There was some worshipping and singing to praise the Lord, which made me feel a bit like a fish out of water. Following that, they screened a flash video with uber-cute and amusing animations chronicling the spark of the romance a.k.a How It All Began between Lydia and Seth. Its admirable to know their courtship has lasted for ten years and ten months; there are folks I know having their seventh partner or so in a span of say two years. I didn't manage to get any pictures of the bride walking the aisle cus I wasn't sitting next to it =(. After some standup comedy involving the reading of lines from the Bible by the 2 pastors, who were undeniably funny but a tad trying too hard, there was an exchange of vows. Ms Lim was so touched she cried and the pastors reassured everyone those tears were tears of joy. Proceed to Rolande Restaurant next for lunch reception. Between the lift and the stairs, the young, fit and healthy us chose the stairs. (If you think lift queues in RJ are scary, think again). Ate and socialised till Ms Lim and her husband came over to take photos with us after which people began to leave in dribs and drabs. B 5, the few of us left had cleared the restaurants for our respective destinations.