2 of them sharing 3 sets
yum yum (:
the effect of h3 phys lecture. trish finally succumbs to the lull of the big zee monster after 3 lectures. and gerard dint sleep at all! omg hahas. trish - 2, rard - 1.
Monday, January 29, 2007
pepper lunch
for dinner today, we went to try the new pepper lunch stall at j8 food junction. haha the prices are an amazing almost-half price of the usual outlets, but so is the portion la. txy ordered like TWO sets omg. well, i ordered one and i wasnt full when i finished. it doesnt taste too bad, but for how much it fills u up, the price isnt worth it lol. but anyway t'is the 2nd time i'm eating pepper lunch in my life haha. ok my final verdict shall be: it's ok to indulge in it once in a while.
2 of them sharing 3 sets
yum yum (:
the effect of h3 phys lecture. trish finally succumbs to the lull of the big zee monster after 3 lectures. and gerard dint sleep at all! omg hahas. trish - 2, rard - 1.
2 of them sharing 3 sets
yum yum (:
the effect of h3 phys lecture. trish finally succumbs to the lull of the big zee monster after 3 lectures. and gerard dint sleep at all! omg hahas. trish - 2, rard - 1.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Exultant
The slight drizzle pattered gently upon the runners as they huddled at the start line, grim and tense. I stood in the midst of the closely packed runners, fingers gently resting upon the watch held in my left hand, prepared to start the time. Nervous, yet inwardly calm, many different thoughts ran through my mind in the moments before the start of the race. The official finished his briefing, and shouted "On your mark..." The runners visibly tensed, those in front bending forward in preparation. The horn blared, and we were off.
Amidst much jostling and pushing.
Today was the Singapore Athletic Association X-Cntry Championships, the first race of the year, with our Men Under-20 race of 5.3km starting at 4.30pm. This year, there was a marked difference. In J1, having recently joined cross-country, (31st October 05 was my first training, I remember it so well because it was just after HCL 'O's) I knew that I was quite slow then, and for any races I took part in, I was almost always unranked. Yet I persevered, and one year later, I finally know enough about the standards of other schools to make a comparison. This year's first race was an interesting and exhilarating experience for me, a revelation of sorts.
You don't have to be a bastard to run a race well, but it helps. Seriously. At the start of every race, if you are exceedingly courteous, and give way to everyone who runs past you, chances are high that you won't do well. Every race, there will be much pushing and cutting across others, especially with narrow trails like McRitchie (at least at the start). I didn't do any pushing (except for one part where I gently nudged a guy aside =P), but I was careful not to give way as well. Every bit of ground you give up means a potential block further on. Suffice to say, it was extremely crowded and packed at the start, and being boxed in, it was impossible to run freely. I had to maneuver around many people throughout the race, but especially at the start.
I went at a comfortable but fast pace at the start, evening out my breathing as I ran. Soon many people started overtaking me, but luckily, they were mostly the Men's Open category (Men's Open is damn shen. Top guy got like 16.40min for 5.3km.) Ground conditions were very bad due to the rain, but we splashed through the mud, unheeding, each of us concentrating on the runner in front. (Fyi: After the race my shoes were an interesting shade of yellow, not to mention my calves and the back of my shorts as well =)) Though there were many people in front of me at the start, I went at a comfortable pace (as I did not have high expectations of myself). Surprisingly, over the course of the race, I overtook many people, and only one guy overtook me near the end. The trail was quite narrow, so I paced myself with the runners in front of me, and whenever there was an opening, I just grabbed it and followed through.
After finishing the forest and going onto the road, I found Alvin and Melvin quite close to me. Surprising. Even more surprising when I overtook them. After encouraging them, I proceeded on through the rest of the race, and at the end, naturally speeded up. Finishing with a time of 19.16 (average of 3.38 per km), I was exultant when I later discovered my position was about 15th or 16th. Totally unexpected, but welcomed. I shall check the SAA website later for the exact results when it is posted. RJC Team 1 got second place in the teamings. I was in Team 2 (if I was in team 1, RJC would have gotten first lol. but that's totally out of point. RJC Team 1 is all made up of good runners, better than me in fact. I respect them a lot, including Melvin, our captain. And I applaud their performance today).
This race today was a totally new revelation for me, and a great boost to my formerly low self-esteem. I realise now that getting top 20, or even top 15, is not totally unattainable for me. I shall continue to work hard, and achieve my best. And, I would like to thank our coach, Mr Quek, our teachers in charge Mr Tay and Ms Lim, and our captain Melvin for pushing me on, encouraging me to achieve my very best. I'd also like to thank everyone who supported me, or wished me luck. Last but not least, my shoes. My new racers. Not joking. They're very light, and though it's the second time wearing them, it's allowed me to do such a good run. (I felt vaguely apologetic for muddying them, so I spent about 45 min washing both my shoes and socks). This season is the culmination of the training that I've gone through so far, a good start to the season. This is just the beginning.
PS Double RoR and BoT rocks.
Amidst much jostling and pushing.
Today was the Singapore Athletic Association X-Cntry Championships, the first race of the year, with our Men Under-20 race of 5.3km starting at 4.30pm. This year, there was a marked difference. In J1, having recently joined cross-country, (31st October 05 was my first training, I remember it so well because it was just after HCL 'O's) I knew that I was quite slow then, and for any races I took part in, I was almost always unranked. Yet I persevered, and one year later, I finally know enough about the standards of other schools to make a comparison. This year's first race was an interesting and exhilarating experience for me, a revelation of sorts.
You don't have to be a bastard to run a race well, but it helps. Seriously. At the start of every race, if you are exceedingly courteous, and give way to everyone who runs past you, chances are high that you won't do well. Every race, there will be much pushing and cutting across others, especially with narrow trails like McRitchie (at least at the start). I didn't do any pushing (except for one part where I gently nudged a guy aside =P), but I was careful not to give way as well. Every bit of ground you give up means a potential block further on. Suffice to say, it was extremely crowded and packed at the start, and being boxed in, it was impossible to run freely. I had to maneuver around many people throughout the race, but especially at the start.
I went at a comfortable but fast pace at the start, evening out my breathing as I ran. Soon many people started overtaking me, but luckily, they were mostly the Men's Open category (Men's Open is damn shen. Top guy got like 16.40min for 5.3km.) Ground conditions were very bad due to the rain, but we splashed through the mud, unheeding, each of us concentrating on the runner in front. (Fyi: After the race my shoes were an interesting shade of yellow, not to mention my calves and the back of my shorts as well =)) Though there were many people in front of me at the start, I went at a comfortable pace (as I did not have high expectations of myself). Surprisingly, over the course of the race, I overtook many people, and only one guy overtook me near the end. The trail was quite narrow, so I paced myself with the runners in front of me, and whenever there was an opening, I just grabbed it and followed through.
After finishing the forest and going onto the road, I found Alvin and Melvin quite close to me. Surprising. Even more surprising when I overtook them. After encouraging them, I proceeded on through the rest of the race, and at the end, naturally speeded up. Finishing with a time of 19.16 (average of 3.38 per km), I was exultant when I later discovered my position was about 15th or 16th. Totally unexpected, but welcomed. I shall check the SAA website later for the exact results when it is posted. RJC Team 1 got second place in the teamings. I was in Team 2 (if I was in team 1, RJC would have gotten first lol. but that's totally out of point. RJC Team 1 is all made up of good runners, better than me in fact. I respect them a lot, including Melvin, our captain. And I applaud their performance today).
This race today was a totally new revelation for me, and a great boost to my formerly low self-esteem. I realise now that getting top 20, or even top 15, is not totally unattainable for me. I shall continue to work hard, and achieve my best. And, I would like to thank our coach, Mr Quek, our teachers in charge Mr Tay and Ms Lim, and our captain Melvin for pushing me on, encouraging me to achieve my very best. I'd also like to thank everyone who supported me, or wished me luck. Last but not least, my shoes. My new racers. Not joking. They're very light, and though it's the second time wearing them, it's allowed me to do such a good run. (I felt vaguely apologetic for muddying them, so I spent about 45 min washing both my shoes and socks). This season is the culmination of the training that I've gone through so far, a good start to the season. This is just the beginning.
PS Double RoR and BoT rocks.
Friday, January 26, 2007
junior class!
txy walking in the rain. sucks to be sick =\
the colonialism teachers
a failed attempt to catch ys falling asleep
listening attentively to gp presentation yups
wing "taking down notes" of gp i suppose. look carefully lol.
whoo circle of life!
yay crowded =)
mixing with juniors
(:
before <-- --> after
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
monkeys are scalars!
haohui falling asleep (:
the social studies teachers
fun socializing in e lab
circuit board thingy!
teh imba winnerz
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Silent Epidemic
The Wall of Silence
The spell will cover the whole kingdom with a wall of silence which makes spell casting quite impossible. The wall will expand to the nearby country slowly. Only those who can concentrate hard has a chance to break through the silence.
Magic Speciality:PHANTASM
Rank:ANCIENT
Type:ENCHANTMENT SELFONLY NOCANCEL EPIDEMIC
Cast Turn: 20 Cast M.p.: 750,000 Research Cost: 0 Upkeep: 500 m.p.
On Friday, Yong Sheng developed a sore throat. Today, I found out that (quite) a lot of girls have got sore throats as well. Literally a silent epidemic.
Recommendation: 1) Everyone please be careful. We are in an air-con classroom so pathogens spread very easily so take care of yourselves. 2) Since sick people are a negative externality, they should be taxed. [no lah joking =P]
PS Nice pictures Chin Ee. I didn't actually see the secondary rainbow that day, bcos it was quite faint. The only time I actually saw one was on New Year's Day :) [And the Human Head drawing is not mine btw. I not that pro lol =P] thanks for helping me take the photos Chin Ee! I like doodling randomly haha.
PPS Yong Sheng I think the prediction of the rainbow is somewhere on the site that Mr Chong recommended. Sunlight coming from behind you, angle of elevation about 40 deg. I think.
The spell will cover the whole kingdom with a wall of silence which makes spell casting quite impossible. The wall will expand to the nearby country slowly. Only those who can concentrate hard has a chance to break through the silence.
Magic Speciality:PHANTASM
Rank:ANCIENT
Type:ENCHANTMENT SELFONLY NOCANCEL EPIDEMIC
Cast Turn: 20 Cast M.p.: 750,000 Research Cost: 0 Upkeep: 500 m.p.
On Friday, Yong Sheng developed a sore throat. Today, I found out that (quite) a lot of girls have got sore throats as well. Literally a silent epidemic.
Recommendation: 1) Everyone please be careful. We are in an air-con classroom so pathogens spread very easily so take care of yourselves. 2) Since sick people are a negative externality, they should be taxed. [no lah joking =P]
PS Nice pictures Chin Ee. I didn't actually see the secondary rainbow that day, bcos it was quite faint. The only time I actually saw one was on New Year's Day :) [And the Human Head drawing is not mine btw. I not that pro lol =P] thanks for helping me take the photos Chin Ee! I like doodling randomly haha.
PPS Yong Sheng I think the prediction of the rainbow is somewhere on the site that Mr Chong recommended. Sunlight coming from behind you, angle of elevation about 40 deg. I think.
Love Versus Infatuation
civics has been pretty interesting at least the past few lessons.. the sch call it "sex education"?!? huh. oh wells. a little related la. haha anyway, today met ruth from choir after sch, then talked about civis lesson and how their gp teacher said something about love and infatuation. It goes like this:
Love Lasts,
hmms. haha just food for thought. xP anyway, i have lots of pics to post but well very lazy to post. anybody who wants to help me upload them all.. hmm i'll treat him or her to lunch! haha.. yup been collecting like at least 1 photo from each day since school started. yup. so yea dun dodge shots when i'm shooting! who knows that might be the onli shot i take for that day! haha =P okie i promised the uber talented shun cheng that i'll upload his dragon. so yea here it goes.
Animal
Double Rainbow! rare sight! captured on fri from 7th floor..
Dragon.
More dragon.
Even more dragon.
Love Lasts,
Infatuation Lusts.
hmms. haha just food for thought. xP anyway, i have lots of pics to post but well very lazy to post. anybody who wants to help me upload them all.. hmm i'll treat him or her to lunch! haha.. yup been collecting like at least 1 photo from each day since school started. yup. so yea dun dodge shots when i'm shooting! who knows that might be the onli shot i take for that day! haha =P okie i promised the uber talented shun cheng that i'll upload his dragon. so yea here it goes.
Human
Animal
Double Rainbow! rare sight! captured on fri from 7th floor..
Dragon.
More dragon.
Even more dragon.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Blood donation drive
Basic training camp for j1s
That was what it was supposed to be.
But as with all odac camps, we'll learn from it, be it whether we're teaching or doing the actual learning. In this case, we were the ones teaching, but i must say we still learned a lot from this camp. Here are my learning points which i would like to share with everyone, and hopefully people will read and learn frm it.
Lesson 1: Always prepare ahead. By this, i'm referring to my camping bag. It is never sufficient to just prepare ur bag early in the morning before u leave the hse. never do that, no matter how experienced u r, because u r still bound to leave smthing out in ur hurry. i've been to like 10 plus camps in the past 5 yrs alrdy, and so if i can't quickly pack my bag early in the morning before i leave for sch without leaving stuff out, i doubt anyone of u can. Thankfully, the stuff i left out(whistle, poncho, daypack) weren't that impt.
Lesson 2: Be realistic. If u r fit and experienced, pls do take note that others may not be as fit and experienced as u r. In this case, i was referring to the j1s. Me and petrina planned out our skills rotation route according to my recce timings with gerard and meiting. And the j1s kinda cldn't keep up with the timings. they were like 3-5 mins late for each station, simply because their walking speeds are 3-5 mins slower than us when we recced the route. As much as i asked the grp leaders to hurry the j1s, i forgot to take into acct that some of the j1s mayb really weak in terms of fitness. (Oh well, those wun make it into odac through selection, but that's not the main point here) Thankfully again, the skills trainings still kinda ended smoothly, without that much delay.
Lesson 3: Remain contactable. Basically, charge up ur hp b4 the camp so u remain contactable, especially when u're an ic(me skills ic) and ppl hav to contact u to ask stuff. If ur hp is out of batt, it's troublesome. Thankfully yet again, pet's hp had batt throughout.
Lesson 4: Drink loads of water, and eat less. I drank a serious hell lot of water this camp. And i'm damn proud of myself. usually ppl say if u're sick, dun go for camp. stay home and nurse urself back to health. i just trashed and crushed that saying. totally. i went into the camp on friday with a sore throat that was worsening by the minute. by night time, my voice totally disappeared le. but i drank like siao. and it paid off. next morning(sat morning), i barely just had enuff voice to lead the j1s through their morning PT. however, my voice recovered enuff to do skills training briefing and debrief later in the day. and my voice is more or less back today. i can talk and my parents wld never realised i ever had a sore throat. woot.
On the other point, i shld eat less. i ate like siao on day 2 dinner. which is qte stupid, cuz u're gonna hav loads to shit out the next day.
there r also other many other lessons learned, but if i listed them all here, this blog post might not finish. lol. so i shall stop here. and start doing smthing gen hates. narrate what happened at the camp. haha. oh well, sorry gen! anyway, if any of u were wondering how i spent my time wif meiting( wah lao this is all thanks to just talking cock wif lz lah), i hardly interacted wif her throughout the whole camp. really. i think the person i was closest to was pet(petrina) lor. cuz we were fellow skills ics, so me and her were more or less put into stuff together, even if it was not skills stuff. another person i got to know much better wld be ryan d. and of cuz as usual my eoy ex in aus buddy, kevin.
Anyway, so yeah. left sch on friday, 3.50pm. had toyed arnd chem lect before that,before deciding that i shall not sit through the first 15 mins of it. After all my previous ri friends had came in and went "yong sheng what the hell are u doing here". so we went down to rgs to collect 16 spars(poles) for our camp stuff. Also lugged along almost all the camp logistics. so that the non-advanced party wun hav much to carry. Reached campsite at arnd 5? dunno the time lah, but arnd there lah. met tpjc odac who were leaving that area. chope the campsite and set up our tents and stuff. and had dinner which was food we took away frm changi village. and then abt half of us(the advance party) went off to meet the j1s and the non-advance party j2s. and they started their first activity of the camp, night orienteering. it was abt 9 at that time and it was getting damn dark. so it will be qte fun. haha. but i cldn't join them cuz i was among those assigned to guard the campsite. So i basically had 4 hrs to waste with nothing to do. so i used the remainder of my hp batt to sms ppl. eh and i clarify k. i did sms chinny. or at least tried to. basically it somehow cldn't send to him. it just kept going error and ask me to retry. so i gave up. so i sms other ppl instead. whee. and my hp ran out of batt and died. lol. so now i'm uncontactable. didn't think much of it(cuz i wasn't very impt at that pt in time), until tmr when i realised how gg that was. anyway, so nothing much for the remainder of the day. waited for j1s to come back at arnd 1. then had debrief and went to slp.
When i woke up the next morning at 5 plus, i checked my voice. omg it's like really gone. but a while later, it kinda recovered bit by bit, and soon it was better than last night alrdy. by 6 plus, when i had to lead the j1s for morning pt, my voice had just barely made it to the pt that that the j1s cld hear. anyway, with that kind of voice, it's not advisable leading all the j1s alone, so i asked gavan to help. then finished morning pt and my voice was much better le. so i cld actually brief the j1s abt their skills training! omg i just cldn't believe it at that time lah. and this was when the trouble began. With the skills trainings now underway, ppl confused abt how it would be run, where the stations r, or watsoever, started calling. and it didn't take them long to figure out that my hp is like switched off, uncontactable. thankfully, pet's hp had batt, and so i just stuck to pet throughout the whole of skills training. took 2 bikes and biked arnd the diff stations to ensure the smooth running of the whole program and giv last min instructions to the grp leaders. Went somewhat smoothly, then the j1s went off for interactions with the villagers, while me and pet cycled back to campsite and settled the logistics stuff. then left campsite with some other j2s to our respective stations for the station games coming up. had gavan, ryan d and angie at the station wif me. gavan had brought his ipod along so he and ryan d just kept singing their hearts/lungs/watever out while listening to the ipod. damn little grps made it to our lang hut station lah. so i actually had damn a lot of time to slp at the hut. yay. haha. after that, station games ended, then the 4 of us made our way back to campsite. we had dinner after that, at qte an early time, as we wanted to hav campfire after that. oh and it had rained halfway through station games so my tent was like flooded cuz some joker had left the zip open and didn't bother to cover the tent with the flysheet. zai.anyway, it rained halfway through dinner again, so the poor j1s didn't really get to cook a proper dinner. the j2s still did, cuz we had a tarp. but the poor j1s didn't hav. so we cooked qte a bit of food for the j1s, since we had qte a lot of food anyway. n i ate like a lot still. freak. and it was while cooking that i sustained three burn marks on my hand. basically it happened cuz one of our stoves ran out of gas, so i had to remove the gas head so i cld change the gas canister. and while removing the gas head, i accidentally allowed the gas head metal part to touch my hand. just a split second, cuz the reaction i made after that(dropping the gas head to the ground) immediately moved the gas head frm my hand to the ground le. but that split second was enuff to cause three scaring burn marks on my hand le. right now the three marks r like black. qte disgusting to hav black skin like that. lol. no racist pun intended hor. anyway, how it can cause that in jus that split second can easily be told frm the fact that the gas head had fizzled and sizzled upon touching my hand in that split second. like how the iron wld fizzle and sizzle when u drop water onto it. and the gas head did that on my hand. ownage.
anyway, after dinner, we had campfire.(omg omg we managed to get the wet firewood to burn) the performances put up had damn a lot of sexual connotations in them so i shall not elaborate here. like omg lah. so after campfire , we had solo night walk for the j1s. which was nothing much lah. not fun considering we j2s dun get to walk ourselves. lol. so after that debrief and went to slp again.
And i skipped my sentry duty(no point lah the sky cloudy. will be very sian when u can't see stars in the sky). anyway it wasn't my fault. cuz the previous time slot sentry is supposed to wake me up for sentry, but i bet he cldn't find me. cuz i moved over to the teachers' tent after mine flooded. haha. and so woke up and 5.30 and had our breakfast and prepared to giv the j1s a surprise.woke the j1s up at 6, got them to start their breakfast at 6.30 and told the they hav until 7 to finish their breakfast. then we interrupted them at 6.45 and tell them to evacuate immediately. meaning stop breakfast, strike tents, pack up and leave campsite by 7. this is supposed to be their emergency exercise part one. then they wld leave for merbah hut at 7, then begin a nature walk and finish their breakfast at the quarry. the view there is supposed to be magnificent lah, but i didn't follow the j1s. i stayed behind with some others to clear up the campsite and then got ready to leave. the j1s in the meantime are supposed to start their emergency exercise part 2. that is, that they hav found casualties( acted by the j2s) and are supposed to bring them to the bball court bseide the jetty. so then we met them there, and the left ubin.
and that was the end of btc 2007. sad, but still it's over and we can't turn it back. but still, i've learned a lot frm this camp and i'll rmb the lessons. while i may not hav gotten to know any j1(which is damn sad), at least i'll leave this camp more prepared for any future outdoor experience. =)
and i missed the taopok they gave willy(our camp commandant) at the end. damn. haha.
freaking hell, i hav 144 mosquito bites(yes i counted) all over my body. 70 on right leg, 44 on left leg, 18 on left arm, 12 on right arm. freak i'm itching like siao. if every bite drains 3 ml of my blood, i wld hav lost like half a litre of blood le. oh man, let's just assume i've just taken part in a blood donation drive okay?
That was what it was supposed to be.
But as with all odac camps, we'll learn from it, be it whether we're teaching or doing the actual learning. In this case, we were the ones teaching, but i must say we still learned a lot from this camp. Here are my learning points which i would like to share with everyone, and hopefully people will read and learn frm it.
Lesson 1: Always prepare ahead. By this, i'm referring to my camping bag. It is never sufficient to just prepare ur bag early in the morning before u leave the hse. never do that, no matter how experienced u r, because u r still bound to leave smthing out in ur hurry. i've been to like 10 plus camps in the past 5 yrs alrdy, and so if i can't quickly pack my bag early in the morning before i leave for sch without leaving stuff out, i doubt anyone of u can. Thankfully, the stuff i left out(whistle, poncho, daypack) weren't that impt.
Lesson 2: Be realistic. If u r fit and experienced, pls do take note that others may not be as fit and experienced as u r. In this case, i was referring to the j1s. Me and petrina planned out our skills rotation route according to my recce timings with gerard and meiting. And the j1s kinda cldn't keep up with the timings. they were like 3-5 mins late for each station, simply because their walking speeds are 3-5 mins slower than us when we recced the route. As much as i asked the grp leaders to hurry the j1s, i forgot to take into acct that some of the j1s mayb really weak in terms of fitness. (Oh well, those wun make it into odac through selection, but that's not the main point here) Thankfully again, the skills trainings still kinda ended smoothly, without that much delay.
Lesson 3: Remain contactable. Basically, charge up ur hp b4 the camp so u remain contactable, especially when u're an ic(me skills ic) and ppl hav to contact u to ask stuff. If ur hp is out of batt, it's troublesome. Thankfully yet again, pet's hp had batt throughout.
Lesson 4: Drink loads of water, and eat less. I drank a serious hell lot of water this camp. And i'm damn proud of myself. usually ppl say if u're sick, dun go for camp. stay home and nurse urself back to health. i just trashed and crushed that saying. totally. i went into the camp on friday with a sore throat that was worsening by the minute. by night time, my voice totally disappeared le. but i drank like siao. and it paid off. next morning(sat morning), i barely just had enuff voice to lead the j1s through their morning PT. however, my voice recovered enuff to do skills training briefing and debrief later in the day. and my voice is more or less back today. i can talk and my parents wld never realised i ever had a sore throat. woot.
On the other point, i shld eat less. i ate like siao on day 2 dinner. which is qte stupid, cuz u're gonna hav loads to shit out the next day.
there r also other many other lessons learned, but if i listed them all here, this blog post might not finish. lol. so i shall stop here. and start doing smthing gen hates. narrate what happened at the camp. haha. oh well, sorry gen! anyway, if any of u were wondering how i spent my time wif meiting( wah lao this is all thanks to just talking cock wif lz lah), i hardly interacted wif her throughout the whole camp. really. i think the person i was closest to was pet(petrina) lor. cuz we were fellow skills ics, so me and her were more or less put into stuff together, even if it was not skills stuff. another person i got to know much better wld be ryan d. and of cuz as usual my eoy ex in aus buddy, kevin.
Anyway, so yeah. left sch on friday, 3.50pm. had toyed arnd chem lect before that,before deciding that i shall not sit through the first 15 mins of it. After all my previous ri friends had came in and went "yong sheng what the hell are u doing here". so we went down to rgs to collect 16 spars(poles) for our camp stuff. Also lugged along almost all the camp logistics. so that the non-advanced party wun hav much to carry. Reached campsite at arnd 5? dunno the time lah, but arnd there lah. met tpjc odac who were leaving that area. chope the campsite and set up our tents and stuff. and had dinner which was food we took away frm changi village. and then abt half of us(the advance party) went off to meet the j1s and the non-advance party j2s. and they started their first activity of the camp, night orienteering. it was abt 9 at that time and it was getting damn dark. so it will be qte fun. haha. but i cldn't join them cuz i was among those assigned to guard the campsite. So i basically had 4 hrs to waste with nothing to do. so i used the remainder of my hp batt to sms ppl. eh and i clarify k. i did sms chinny. or at least tried to. basically it somehow cldn't send to him. it just kept going error and ask me to retry. so i gave up. so i sms other ppl instead. whee. and my hp ran out of batt and died. lol. so now i'm uncontactable. didn't think much of it(cuz i wasn't very impt at that pt in time), until tmr when i realised how gg that was. anyway, so nothing much for the remainder of the day. waited for j1s to come back at arnd 1. then had debrief and went to slp.
When i woke up the next morning at 5 plus, i checked my voice. omg it's like really gone. but a while later, it kinda recovered bit by bit, and soon it was better than last night alrdy. by 6 plus, when i had to lead the j1s for morning pt, my voice had just barely made it to the pt that that the j1s cld hear. anyway, with that kind of voice, it's not advisable leading all the j1s alone, so i asked gavan to help. then finished morning pt and my voice was much better le. so i cld actually brief the j1s abt their skills training! omg i just cldn't believe it at that time lah. and this was when the trouble began. With the skills trainings now underway, ppl confused abt how it would be run, where the stations r, or watsoever, started calling. and it didn't take them long to figure out that my hp is like switched off, uncontactable. thankfully, pet's hp had batt, and so i just stuck to pet throughout the whole of skills training. took 2 bikes and biked arnd the diff stations to ensure the smooth running of the whole program and giv last min instructions to the grp leaders. Went somewhat smoothly, then the j1s went off for interactions with the villagers, while me and pet cycled back to campsite and settled the logistics stuff. then left campsite with some other j2s to our respective stations for the station games coming up. had gavan, ryan d and angie at the station wif me. gavan had brought his ipod along so he and ryan d just kept singing their hearts/lungs/watever out while listening to the ipod. damn little grps made it to our lang hut station lah. so i actually had damn a lot of time to slp at the hut. yay. haha. after that, station games ended, then the 4 of us made our way back to campsite. we had dinner after that, at qte an early time, as we wanted to hav campfire after that. oh and it had rained halfway through station games so my tent was like flooded cuz some joker had left the zip open and didn't bother to cover the tent with the flysheet. zai.anyway, it rained halfway through dinner again, so the poor j1s didn't really get to cook a proper dinner. the j2s still did, cuz we had a tarp. but the poor j1s didn't hav. so we cooked qte a bit of food for the j1s, since we had qte a lot of food anyway. n i ate like a lot still. freak. and it was while cooking that i sustained three burn marks on my hand. basically it happened cuz one of our stoves ran out of gas, so i had to remove the gas head so i cld change the gas canister. and while removing the gas head, i accidentally allowed the gas head metal part to touch my hand. just a split second, cuz the reaction i made after that(dropping the gas head to the ground) immediately moved the gas head frm my hand to the ground le. but that split second was enuff to cause three scaring burn marks on my hand le. right now the three marks r like black. qte disgusting to hav black skin like that. lol. no racist pun intended hor. anyway, how it can cause that in jus that split second can easily be told frm the fact that the gas head had fizzled and sizzled upon touching my hand in that split second. like how the iron wld fizzle and sizzle when u drop water onto it. and the gas head did that on my hand. ownage.
anyway, after dinner, we had campfire.(omg omg we managed to get the wet firewood to burn) the performances put up had damn a lot of sexual connotations in them so i shall not elaborate here. like omg lah. so after campfire , we had solo night walk for the j1s. which was nothing much lah. not fun considering we j2s dun get to walk ourselves. lol. so after that debrief and went to slp again.
And i skipped my sentry duty(no point lah the sky cloudy. will be very sian when u can't see stars in the sky). anyway it wasn't my fault. cuz the previous time slot sentry is supposed to wake me up for sentry, but i bet he cldn't find me. cuz i moved over to the teachers' tent after mine flooded. haha. and so woke up and 5.30 and had our breakfast and prepared to giv the j1s a surprise.woke the j1s up at 6, got them to start their breakfast at 6.30 and told the they hav until 7 to finish their breakfast. then we interrupted them at 6.45 and tell them to evacuate immediately. meaning stop breakfast, strike tents, pack up and leave campsite by 7. this is supposed to be their emergency exercise part one. then they wld leave for merbah hut at 7, then begin a nature walk and finish their breakfast at the quarry. the view there is supposed to be magnificent lah, but i didn't follow the j1s. i stayed behind with some others to clear up the campsite and then got ready to leave. the j1s in the meantime are supposed to start their emergency exercise part 2. that is, that they hav found casualties( acted by the j2s) and are supposed to bring them to the bball court bseide the jetty. so then we met them there, and the left ubin.
and that was the end of btc 2007. sad, but still it's over and we can't turn it back. but still, i've learned a lot frm this camp and i'll rmb the lessons. while i may not hav gotten to know any j1(which is damn sad), at least i'll leave this camp more prepared for any future outdoor experience. =)
and i missed the taopok they gave willy(our camp commandant) at the end. damn. haha.
freaking hell, i hav 144 mosquito bites(yes i counted) all over my body. 70 on right leg, 44 on left leg, 18 on left arm, 12 on right arm. freak i'm itching like siao. if every bite drains 3 ml of my blood, i wld hav lost like half a litre of blood le. oh man, let's just assume i've just taken part in a blood donation drive okay?
A permanent reminder
in case u think this post is mean, let me clarify first. it's not supposed to be mean, rather, it's supposed to provide people with a reminder that mr chong has given a certain some one.
"Please consider ur level and items first before u on avatar and dash into battle."
Remember that, chee chin.
Whee, on a sidenote, my situational awareness has fallen alot in dota. like hell man. looks like 3 months of hols without playing does hav its side effects. lol
"Please consider ur level and items first before u on avatar and dash into battle."
Remember that, chee chin.
Whee, on a sidenote, my situational awareness has fallen alot in dota. like hell man. looks like 3 months of hols without playing does hav its side effects. lol
Thursday, January 18, 2007
fc dota pro
lessons after break today were slack, tho albeit boring. jameson took my phone many times. i dint stop him cos i was bored too, but i kept a sharp eye on him. he called like yiting, avonne, and the aircon man -.- but the best part is realising the phone acts as a mirror. first u put the phone on the table. then u switch on the secondary camera. then u look down onto the phone and make funny faces. then jasper will try to hit the capture button before jameson can pull himself away. and thus this leads on to an even better idea. switch it to video mode and record yourself doing stupid things. and this how the following two vidoes were born.
jameson hiding in shame when ms yeo watched his video
the first time we asked fc to dota, he said holidays. we tried again 2 days ago, and he said weekend. today we saw him online at 2pm (omgomg so slack?!) and asked him, and he said ok evening time. so today we played 2 games with him. woo he's pro! well, not imba gg pro but at least weisong kelvin standard. i saved the replay, and tried to take some screenshots, but they dun have the "fcsonic has just pawned lalala's head" message, so all i can do is try and take the final hit screenshots. taking pics of fc killing ys is not that spectecular cos u cant really see assassinate. but ys did make some determined chases of fc. i dint manage to catch the shuriken tossing part, and the replay cant rewind so i was lazy to try again. anyway, fc is a challenging player and fun to dota with! we should dota together more often =D
end-game scoreboard. nothing much interesting bout fcsonic's records. not the pro-est but definitely among the top. one interesting point is his relationship with lalala. if u observe, bounty hunter's K/D ratio to sniper is 3/3. meaning, ys killed 3 fc 3 times and was killed by fc 3 times. i sense smth personal. hahahas.
yongsheng chasing fc all the way into enemy territory. what happens next is he tosses a shuriken and finishes the sniper off. this happens quite a lot. ys going around hunting heroes, that is. be prepared to be on your toes in a game with ys as bounty hunter in it.
jameson with his trademark ability to come up with funny expressions
what to do when u're stuck in the middle of a boring econs lesson? take a video! haha. (if u listen carefully u can hear a bit of econs stuff)
jameson hiding in shame when ms yeo watched his video
the first time we asked fc to dota, he said holidays. we tried again 2 days ago, and he said weekend. today we saw him online at 2pm (omgomg so slack?!) and asked him, and he said ok evening time. so today we played 2 games with him. woo he's pro! well, not imba gg pro but at least weisong kelvin standard. i saved the replay, and tried to take some screenshots, but they dun have the "fcsonic has just pawned lalala's head" message, so all i can do is try and take the final hit screenshots. taking pics of fc killing ys is not that spectecular cos u cant really see assassinate. but ys did make some determined chases of fc. i dint manage to catch the shuriken tossing part, and the replay cant rewind so i was lazy to try again. anyway, fc is a challenging player and fun to dota with! we should dota together more often =D
end-game scoreboard. nothing much interesting bout fcsonic's records. not the pro-est but definitely among the top. one interesting point is his relationship with lalala. if u observe, bounty hunter's K/D ratio to sniper is 3/3. meaning, ys killed 3 fc 3 times and was killed by fc 3 times. i sense smth personal. hahahas.
yongsheng chasing fc all the way into enemy territory. what happens next is he tosses a shuriken and finishes the sniper off. this happens quite a lot. ys going around hunting heroes, that is. be prepared to be on your toes in a game with ys as bounty hunter in it.
Monday, January 15, 2007
ri canteen reopens!
today trish got herself a new phone. well, to be exact, it's her dad's phone, but well it's an improvement for her! hurray! lols. now observe the following picture.
what's going on? did trish get herself TWO phones? haha no, the one on the left is kel's and trish's is on the right. quite a sweet thing actually, having couple phones ^^
wah the guys being so hardworking during break
mr chong eating with our class! yay! sir rocks (:
birthday boy kel and a shocked mr chong being punched by txy
our new field in all its glory! well, almost.
the new parade square, and the canteen in e background.
walking down the corridor of the new block. seems rj-ish...
what's going on? did trish get herself TWO phones? haha no, the one on the left is kel's and trish's is on the right. quite a sweet thing actually, having couple phones ^^
wah the guys being so hardworking during break
mr chong eating with our class! yay! sir rocks (:
birthday boy kel and a shocked mr chong being punched by txy
So during lunch break, the guys excitedly went back to ri cos today ri canteen reopens! ah, the nostalgia of the stalls and the stallowners. the incredibly cheap prices of $1.40 for 2 veg 1 meat, and the incredibly ex prices of $900k for a drumstick. admittedly, the brand new look of the canteen robbed us of some of the nostalgic experience, the food wasnt all cooked finish yet, and the servings were hardly big enough to satisfy us, but it sure is nice to be back in ri again.
our new field in all its glory! well, almost.
the new parade square, and the canteen in e background.
walking down the corridor of the new block. seems rj-ish...
random shot taken outside chem lab
And now we have guest star appearance of Gardener Wingchung who will welcome the arrival of spring by clearing laden plants of their dead leaves. tada.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Water walk
Yeah i agree wif sc that rain is nice. but then again rain brings abt a lot of screwed up shit which i totally hate. Wet shoes and socks which makes u feel like u'd rather hav no feet than go through all the discomfort at the time. screwed up ground that is mud everywhere u walk. And best of all, i witnessed smthing really spectacular when i went ubin wif odac to recce the place for the j1s basic training camp this coming weekend. We were recceing one of the routes from lang hut to murai hut(for those who r familiar wif ubin, u'll know that it's that dirt path which no one likes walking even when it's freaking dry weather cuz it's like permanently waterlogged). And so, with being the rainy season, the 3 of us, meiting, gerard(the odac one, not our class one) and me, were kinda dreading the walk. turns out our fears were for nothing. we didn't get to walk the route. and y? becuz the whole route had been overflooded, turned into a river of it's own. the path ppl walk and cars drive is now a river. wooh impressive. when at first i pointed at the river and said that i was pretty sure that that was the route we were supposed to take(or rather used to be the route we were supposed to take), meiting and gerard didn't believe me and said that that was a river and can't be the route. oh come on man, i've been to ubin how many times, taken that route how many times, and with the npcc campsite situated along that route, i dare say i know that route almost like the back of my palm lah. i've been to ubin so many times i've memorised the names of the huts there. if the sch is my second home, then ubin is my third home. n here they are, telling me that i mistook the route(which for a short while, i tot i did too, since the 'route' i was pointing at looked totally like a river, cept a river doesn't end abruptly like it did onto a trail on dry land.). so well, after checking the map and looking for another route, we decided that the river is really the route that we were supposed to take.
like wow, a whole trail just turned into a river like that. just because of rain. cool man. wonder how long it'll take for it to recede, or mayb it'll permanently be a river le. haha.wonder wat the locals there will do. can u imagine if the route under ur block that u take everyday turned into a river overnight? wat cha gonna do? haha beware the rain.
But then again like i said(and shun cheng said), the rain is nice. ever stood under a drizzle and feel how cooling it is? or under a total shower and play soccer? or just under the shower and let it pour on u and feel the sense of nature? or in a thunderstorm and observe it's magnificent fury? ok i admit i can't rmb ever having done the last one, unless u consider hurrying for shelter as observing the thunderstorm's fury. lol. but hey the first 3 are great feelings man. especially the 2nd and 3rd ones. while most ppl wld be scurrying for shelter, ppl fail to realise how impt it is for that shower to fall. to come down. that very water cld be wat u are getting when u turn on ur tap. and soccer in such rain is damn funny, the ball can't bounce and won't bounce on the waterlogged pitch one. and u'll slide tackle others even when u hav no intention to at all. alternatively, u'll just slip and fall. haha but it's fun =)
and last but not least, rain can turn a supposed 5 day anger period into just an hr. amazing. for those who dun get wat i mean, pretend i nvr said this. for those of u who know, well u know.
on a sidenote too, yeah sc's right, ri's canteen is reopening, and kampung istemewa is coming back wooh. former ri boys u know wat i mean, for the girls and non former ri boys, it's some damn zai stall that sells damn zai food. and the food usually cost 2 million =)
like wow, a whole trail just turned into a river like that. just because of rain. cool man. wonder how long it'll take for it to recede, or mayb it'll permanently be a river le. haha.wonder wat the locals there will do. can u imagine if the route under ur block that u take everyday turned into a river overnight? wat cha gonna do? haha beware the rain.
But then again like i said(and shun cheng said), the rain is nice. ever stood under a drizzle and feel how cooling it is? or under a total shower and play soccer? or just under the shower and let it pour on u and feel the sense of nature? or in a thunderstorm and observe it's magnificent fury? ok i admit i can't rmb ever having done the last one, unless u consider hurrying for shelter as observing the thunderstorm's fury. lol. but hey the first 3 are great feelings man. especially the 2nd and 3rd ones. while most ppl wld be scurrying for shelter, ppl fail to realise how impt it is for that shower to fall. to come down. that very water cld be wat u are getting when u turn on ur tap. and soccer in such rain is damn funny, the ball can't bounce and won't bounce on the waterlogged pitch one. and u'll slide tackle others even when u hav no intention to at all. alternatively, u'll just slip and fall. haha but it's fun =)
and last but not least, rain can turn a supposed 5 day anger period into just an hr. amazing. for those who dun get wat i mean, pretend i nvr said this. for those of u who know, well u know.
on a sidenote too, yeah sc's right, ri's canteen is reopening, and kampung istemewa is coming back wooh. former ri boys u know wat i mean, for the girls and non former ri boys, it's some damn zai stall that sells damn zai food. and the food usually cost 2 million =)
scenery
from my unit on the 21st floor, e window in my room gives me a really nice view of the city. it faces the south, so i assume it's the city. many tall buildings haha. the view is really nice, but i like it even better at night. it's just really pretty how all the lights are scattered throughout the landscape. but what i really enjoy looking at more than the buildings is the traffic. the PIE is right below, so from all the way to the left to all the way to the right (and vice versa), there's an endless flow of traffic. even at 3am in the morning. i like to just sit in front of my window and look at the cars go by in the middle of the night. and i wonder, what are each of these drivers doing driving around at such a time. it's a really unique feeling, sitting here above all these, alone and unmoving, and watching all these pple going about their lives and scurrying to and fro like little ants. i can really just stay and gaze at this sight for an hour and not get bored. and there's also the sun. sunrise and sunset. i dun usually have chances to catch the sunrise, so i cant comment on that. but the sunset...the sun sets to the right of my window, way to the right, just before the 180 degree mark, so the rays of the sunset shines into my room at an angle that illuminates just my pc. those of u who have been to my room should be able to visualise this. and i really like my room as a spot to see the sun set. sometimes, it's a really beautiful orange and pink colour. and it gives the sky a really out-of-this-world kinda tone feel. but i spend more time at night, so let's go back to the night. for some reason, i never see the moon. if u wanna talk about stars, usually it's only those moving blinking lights known as planes. but i really like the night. it's a totally different atmosphere. i like walking around streets at night. it's a lot quieter, and there's much less pple. i feel like i'm alone in this world, and i can just wander about indulging in the silent appreciation of the night life. on top of which, there's no cruel sun to beat down upon you. the walk from serangoon mrt to av's house is one of my most enjoyable routes. i tried taking some night shots of my window's view from my hp, but it dint turn out well cos there's not enough light. but i shall put it up anyway. oh, and i'm too lazy right now to paragraph this so i apologize for tt (:
day view
night view
traffic
day view
night view
traffic
sunday morning
so, one might ask, what did gerard do on a sunday morning such as this. could he be enjoying a slow cup of milo while reading the sunday times. or maybe he was training his level 19 thief killing green mushrooms and horny mushrooms in Tree Dungeon II Forest up North. Or perhaps speeding through his phys tutorial like e genius he is. Nay, it was neither of all these, for his mom had set him a task, described by her, to his bitter indignance, as "a task that will test your patience."
Taking down the christmas tree and the decorations and the crib were simple enough. But arranging the bloody lights into its "packaging" was a hell of a task. i was supposed to slot 100 individual light bulbs (i dint count, so let's assume it's a hundred) into seperations made of styrofoam. i must have broke off countless styrofoam bits cos there were many gaping big holes that could fit quite a few bulbs. While doing this, the triple wire connecting all e bulbs have also got to be squeezed into this trench running between consecutive spiral layers.
After finishing the first outer layer, which as u can see is the only layer that has bulbs nicely placed into it (well, almost all of them), i gave up and started squeezing bulbs into the trench any old how and trusting the tangle of wires to hold it in place long enough for me to squeeze the next bulb in. Not long after, i gave up totally and dumped the rest of the whole green and blue mess on top of the center and shoved the whole thing into its plastic covering. there you go, mom!
While doing this, i told myself, if my mom said anything along the lines of "what are you doing?!" i shall reply with a "here's an idea. i throw this whole stupid thing away, i pay u back however much it cost, and u buy a new set that actually has a decent packaging for the lights. or in fact, why dun u just get a fibre optics tree then we dont need lights (:" but she didnt say anything, so i couldnt snap at her haha. o wells. it's now tucked away in the storeroom, and i shall never see it again until e next christmas where i'll clearly make my stand to mom that i shall have nothing to do with the keeping of lights whatsoever.
behold the fruit of my labour
Taking down the christmas tree and the decorations and the crib were simple enough. But arranging the bloody lights into its "packaging" was a hell of a task. i was supposed to slot 100 individual light bulbs (i dint count, so let's assume it's a hundred) into seperations made of styrofoam. i must have broke off countless styrofoam bits cos there were many gaping big holes that could fit quite a few bulbs. While doing this, the triple wire connecting all e bulbs have also got to be squeezed into this trench running between consecutive spiral layers.
After finishing the first outer layer, which as u can see is the only layer that has bulbs nicely placed into it (well, almost all of them), i gave up and started squeezing bulbs into the trench any old how and trusting the tangle of wires to hold it in place long enough for me to squeeze the next bulb in. Not long after, i gave up totally and dumped the rest of the whole green and blue mess on top of the center and shoved the whole thing into its plastic covering. there you go, mom!
While doing this, i told myself, if my mom said anything along the lines of "what are you doing?!" i shall reply with a "here's an idea. i throw this whole stupid thing away, i pay u back however much it cost, and u buy a new set that actually has a decent packaging for the lights. or in fact, why dun u just get a fibre optics tree then we dont need lights (:" but she didnt say anything, so i couldnt snap at her haha. o wells. it's now tucked away in the storeroom, and i shall never see it again until e next christmas where i'll clearly make my stand to mom that i shall have nothing to do with the keeping of lights whatsoever.
behold the fruit of my labour
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Water Log
The time is 7.25am. A fine drizzle blankets the surroundings in mist, as you step within the cool shade of the trees in MacRitchie Reservoir. As you proceed, a distant roaring fills the ears, one that grows louder as you near the source. A waterfall in MacRitchie?
Rounding the bend, a truly magnificent sight comes to view. Enthralling. Water draining from the reservoir with such a ferocity as you have never seen before in MacRitchie. Even though smaller in scale, the fierce, rushing waters crashing down upon each other is exactly reminiscient of a dam. (Note: McRitchie Reservoir has no river or channels feeding it, yet 4 hours later, the flow of water remains as fierce as ever.)
--
Hi everyone. There's a first for everything, so this is the first time I'm going to write about my training today at McRitchie. What's so unique about a training, one that you've likely had countless times before? But, for me, every single training is unique, especially those long runs at McRitchie. The exhilaration and triumph after completing a particularly hard run, the bitter taste of crushing failure, the utter exhaustion that accompanies you throughout the last leg of the run, the grim determination as you struggle upslope...all unique in its own way, all experiences that can never fade into ignominy within your memory.
So...about today's training. Due to the rain of the past few days, McRitchie appears to be quite flooded. At the side where the canoeists normally paddle, the water level appears to have risen significantly, overflowing the banks. 5-10cm, about there. Other parts of McRitchie has also flooded, covering entire stretches of paths with water. The 4km / 5km route that is normally used for school cross-countries is heavily flooded. In many places, running upslope / downslope is akin to splashing through shallow flowing streams. If not, it'll be splashing through water about 5cm deep in places, except for a place where the reservoir overflowed its banks and covered the entire path in ankle deep water (ankle deep as in entirely covering the ankle, and more). Ever tried wading through ankle deep water? Now try running through it. As you may have already guessed, waterlogged shoes are a must, as well as being splashed with water up to your knees. Shoes splattered with mud? No worries, just run through ankle deep water for a free wash. Luckily, the Northern Route's not as bad. I wonder the extent of flooding in the area near the golf course (that area's perma-mud, even in dry seasons). So if you're visiting McRitchie over the next few days, advice is to go the Northern Route. (Unless you're Jameson, which wouldn't matter anyway since your trainings in the water ^^)
Don't get me wrong. Though rain makes the ground condition bad, I still love it (rain, not bad ground condition). What makes most people dislike rain is wet shoes, wet clothes, or bad ground condition. But people should really learn to appreciate the magnificence of a storm in all its fury, the coolness (in all its meanings) of a heavy rain, and the romantic beauty of a quiet drizzle. Ever seen sparkling raindrops form on the edge of the roof, before falling? But I am getting sidetracked here.
My performance during the 18km run really sucked, as it was 3min slower than my personal best (which is itself not that good compared to several others in X-cntry). Ironic, to have so much water everywhere while I suffer from intense thirst. No, it's not bloodthirst, or I would have completed the run much faster. But this paragraph is souring the post, so I shall stop here and change topic again.
McRitchie has all sorts of diverse flora and fauna (fauna, at any rate). You can frequently see creatures like monkeys, squirrels (there was once you could see up to 5 of them together), monitor lizards, chameleons, and even a 1cm long snail (I doubt that was a baby snail, as baby snails have soft shells, I believe). Plus, the view is wonderful, especially at sunrise / sunset. Ubercoolsia. I recommend that you go there for a relaxing walk sometimes.
On a sidenote, I heard that RI canteen is reopening on Monday. Who wants to go there to try out the food? To those who have tasted RI canteen food, I believe a few stalls are coming back.
Rounding the bend, a truly magnificent sight comes to view. Enthralling. Water draining from the reservoir with such a ferocity as you have never seen before in MacRitchie. Even though smaller in scale, the fierce, rushing waters crashing down upon each other is exactly reminiscient of a dam. (Note: McRitchie Reservoir has no river or channels feeding it, yet 4 hours later, the flow of water remains as fierce as ever.)
--
Hi everyone. There's a first for everything, so this is the first time I'm going to write about my training today at McRitchie. What's so unique about a training, one that you've likely had countless times before? But, for me, every single training is unique, especially those long runs at McRitchie. The exhilaration and triumph after completing a particularly hard run, the bitter taste of crushing failure, the utter exhaustion that accompanies you throughout the last leg of the run, the grim determination as you struggle upslope...all unique in its own way, all experiences that can never fade into ignominy within your memory.
So...about today's training. Due to the rain of the past few days, McRitchie appears to be quite flooded. At the side where the canoeists normally paddle, the water level appears to have risen significantly, overflowing the banks. 5-10cm, about there. Other parts of McRitchie has also flooded, covering entire stretches of paths with water. The 4km / 5km route that is normally used for school cross-countries is heavily flooded. In many places, running upslope / downslope is akin to splashing through shallow flowing streams. If not, it'll be splashing through water about 5cm deep in places, except for a place where the reservoir overflowed its banks and covered the entire path in ankle deep water (ankle deep as in entirely covering the ankle, and more). Ever tried wading through ankle deep water? Now try running through it. As you may have already guessed, waterlogged shoes are a must, as well as being splashed with water up to your knees. Shoes splattered with mud? No worries, just run through ankle deep water for a free wash. Luckily, the Northern Route's not as bad. I wonder the extent of flooding in the area near the golf course (that area's perma-mud, even in dry seasons). So if you're visiting McRitchie over the next few days, advice is to go the Northern Route. (Unless you're Jameson, which wouldn't matter anyway since your trainings in the water ^^)
Don't get me wrong. Though rain makes the ground condition bad, I still love it (rain, not bad ground condition). What makes most people dislike rain is wet shoes, wet clothes, or bad ground condition. But people should really learn to appreciate the magnificence of a storm in all its fury, the coolness (in all its meanings) of a heavy rain, and the romantic beauty of a quiet drizzle. Ever seen sparkling raindrops form on the edge of the roof, before falling? But I am getting sidetracked here.
My performance during the 18km run really sucked, as it was 3min slower than my personal best (which is itself not that good compared to several others in X-cntry). Ironic, to have so much water everywhere while I suffer from intense thirst. No, it's not bloodthirst, or I would have completed the run much faster. But this paragraph is souring the post, so I shall stop here and change topic again.
McRitchie has all sorts of diverse flora and fauna (fauna, at any rate). You can frequently see creatures like monkeys, squirrels (there was once you could see up to 5 of them together), monitor lizards, chameleons, and even a 1cm long snail (I doubt that was a baby snail, as baby snails have soft shells, I believe). Plus, the view is wonderful, especially at sunrise / sunset. Ubercoolsia. I recommend that you go there for a relaxing walk sometimes.
On a sidenote, I heard that RI canteen is reopening on Monday. Who wants to go there to try out the food? To those who have tasted RI canteen food, I believe a few stalls are coming back.
Friday, January 12, 2007
mobile movie maker!
before we move on to the main excitement of this post, let's have some random pics of the day =p
angled sneak shot during gp
doodle during gp lesson while gen and hc dominates the class discussion [credit of design goes to gen]
dossiers! how exciting.
our two ct reps working together!
(:
tricia conscientiously doing phys tutorial
angled sneak shot during gp
doodle during gp lesson while gen and hc dominates the class discussion [credit of design goes to gen]
dossiers! how exciting.
our two ct reps working together!
(:
so after school we stayed back to do work as usual. then bout 6pm+ we started to get sian of tutorials alr, so started doing random stuff. this is our first video.
Secret Intruders into the Toilet
Second video! The idea was supposed to make use of the pause/continue function to make us pop around all over the place, but it dint really work out heh. so then we tried to make it scary, but tt dint really work either.
The Three Transformers
So after we finished shooting these videos, i realised my hp has quite a no of editing functions haha. not very clear bout them cos i kinda skipped this part of e manual. u can merge, snip, and add bgm to videos, and u can do image editing like a mini-photoshop, and u can create a "muvee" thing which is just a cooler form of a slideshow. haha. so i tried out e muvee thing. behold! [lol chinny i beat u to e slideshow]
Muvee
whee, gotta luv my hp ^^
p.s. any of you who want the actual video file, of the videos thus far or those to come, just prod me on msn yups.
p.s. any of you who want the actual video file, of the videos thus far or those to come, just prod me on msn yups.
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