Monday, August 20, 2007
Hall 13 Orientation Camp (Group: Odin)
Realise it has been quite sometime since I blogged. I am pretty busy recently, plus there is a need to adapt to the new environment and lifestyle... I had my Hall 13 Orientation camp more than 2 weeks ago and I think it is an experience worth blogging... so here goes.
I only joined the Orientation camp on the 1st August although it started on the evening of the 29th of July. Ah!!! Hang on, before you jump into any conclusions about me wanting to wriggle myself out of those dirty games, you are wrong. My reason for being absent is that I had driving lessons and on the 31st July, I had my driving test. Yes!!! I was lucky enough to get an easy test route (no. 8) and I passed with 12 points deducted. HAPPY!!!
Ok back to Hall Camp. Basically, 1st August, we had this game called "Amazing Race". It was just as good as participating in Adventure racing except that it has less components. We were made to run/jog/walk from NTU all the way to some chalet at East Coast, only taking two short bus rides in the whole journey. Played games at those stations. I think the most memorable part of this whole game is during the last part. We had to run from Paya Lebar to that chalet ok! we saw the team behind us caught up with us at our last station at Paya Lebar... so we decided to run. My group was really cute in the sense that they made one of of group mates who couldn't catch up sit in this supermarket trolley they took from somewhere and pushed her all the way to the chalet. Along the way, they went like "Gear 1, ok, change to Gear 2, 3, 4..." I thought that was really funny and nice of them.
Yeah... as my dear friends would know how lousy my stamina is and how I am not really dependent on power gel (Okok... I would say I need those for adventure races!!!), I got calf cramp. It was really irritating because we were already at East Coast Park when the cramp worked in. So towards the end, I only kind of jog/walk. Totally hate it. Anyway, there was this nice "AhBeng" who is our group umpire, accompanied me on the last bit. We talked a bit of crap about marathons and stuff. He was really nice and decided to cheat a little by stopping the timing a little earlier. Saw him smoking and heard he drinks a lot, plus that dragon tattoo on his calf... doesn't make him look like any goody-two-shoes, yet I think he's really nice. Touched. :)
So the conclusion of the race is that we came is as one of the top two teams and are actually allowed to sleep in the chalets... but somehow our group was caught using maps so in the end, with the penalty, we were made to sleep in tents. I don't know about the rest, but it is not a big deal of a penalty to me... if you ask me, I would rather sleep in a spacious tent, overlooking the sea than to cramp in a chalet, sleeping in uncomfortable positions.
The next day, we played 食字路口. Again, we went all over Singapore to try food. This time it wasn't that tough because we get to take trains around. That night, we had our fright night. They drove us in a lorry to this deserted HDB estate near Lim Chu Kang area. It used to be 3-story HDB flats surrounding a market place. There was no electricity supply, the windows were removed and there were big holes around 1mx1m connecting the apartments. We were made to walk in pairs across each level of the HDB flat and enter the rooms to gather clues. The seniors tried to frighten us. I believe I had enough of IJ Fiesta back in secondary school days to stop me from screaming. There was a point in which we were sitting at a table to obtain a clue and when the game master shouted at us to go, and we started to leave, there were hands grabing at our ankles from the bottom of the table. My partner jumped out from his seat, making the seniors laugh. Another funny part was that my partner went down to the second floor thinking we still have to search for clues, we mistakenly entered this room where other freshies are still playing. we felt quite embarrassed to spoil their station. That was the fright night. The location was enough to raise some goosebumps but I think any IJ girl who went for Fiesta games will just be as calm as I am, knowing that the seniors are just trying to frighten us.
I did not join my group to Sentosa on Friday as I wanted to attend some talks. That "AhBeng" was trying to persuade me to go. Apparently I heard that he was the vice-president of the Hall Camp... :) Anyway, comes Friday night in which I had the most horrifying experience in Hall Camp. Friday night was Initiation Night. The name doesn't suggest anything. When I first heard it, I was like "What the crap is initiation nigh?" and the answers were either "I don't know" from the freshies or "You will find out" from the seniors.
Ok, so it turned out this way, we were suppose to be blind-folded and play station by station. First station, they told us that we have to crawl through this shit tunnel. I think it turned out to feel like I am just doing leopard-crawls across smelly and dirty canvas sheets. Next we went on to walk around and suddenly someone just said "Fold you arms across your chest"(the person was standing quite close I believe, and his breath smelled like a smoker's... I was trying to withdraw my face away), suddenly, someone pushed me and I just fell back. There were people below that caugh me.
Next is the most disgusting station and until now, I can still feel my skin crawl. We were suppose to touch something and guess what it is. There were meal worms, snails, millipedes, spiders, crab and FROG. Damn it!!! I was alright with the meal worm and was playing with them on my hands, they carried on to put them on my neck. It's ok, so long as it does not fall into my shirt. I heard one of my friend went to grab a handful and got extremely freaked out when the worms start wriggling around. The snail was actually VERY slow. Even when I touched it's slimey body, it did not retract. The crab stinks and I don't have much comment on the other creatures except FROG! DAMN IT!!! At that instant, I screamed, felt like puking, fainting, crying... but nothing like that happened. I just couldn't stop complaining and wiping my hands on the ground, on railings whatever after I touched the frog. I think I can still imagine it on my hand... (flicks my left hand).
Other stations include, guessing songs, digging into toilet bowl with things in it, pretending we were drinking another group's saliva when it was only flour water, sliding down a very long and steep slope, carrying our group leader and dashing up a few flight of stairs with a lit candle trying to prevent it from extinguishing while people hose us down. I think it was really fun, except for the damn frog.
On the last day, there wasn't much that happened except that we had a group outing and then we went to Home club. It was booked by my Hall and we had the secret pal night. I don't have an actual secret pal and so I was assigned one. Unfortunately (or is it fortunately?) my secret pal is a pageant... so we kind of got sabo-ed quite a bit. The forfeit was super embarrassing. The emcee gave us a Tequilla shot and after dabbing salt and lemon from the drink on his neck, I am suppose to lick the salt and drink the shot in one gulp. What an outrageous thing to do. *FAINTED* Clubbed a little more (my first time clubbing). We were dancing halfway, then a group of guys including that AhBeng VP started to try stripping one another. They got their shirts stripped off and thrown around. My goodness. But the most was only a belt. Some of my group mates decided to continue clubbing at Zouk while the super tired me took a cab home alone.
That's my Hall Orientation Camp.
Perhaps will upload pictures soon.
Realise it has been quite sometime since I blogged. I am pretty busy recently, plus there is a need to adapt to the new environment and lifestyle... I had my Hall 13 Orientation camp more than 2 weeks ago and I think it is an experience worth blogging... so here goes.
I only joined the Orientation camp on the 1st August although it started on the evening of the 29th of July. Ah!!! Hang on, before you jump into any conclusions about me wanting to wriggle myself out of those dirty games, you are wrong. My reason for being absent is that I had driving lessons and on the 31st July, I had my driving test. Yes!!! I was lucky enough to get an easy test route (no. 8) and I passed with 12 points deducted. HAPPY!!!
Ok back to Hall Camp. Basically, 1st August, we had this game called "Amazing Race". It was just as good as participating in Adventure racing except that it has less components. We were made to run/jog/walk from NTU all the way to some chalet at East Coast, only taking two short bus rides in the whole journey. Played games at those stations. I think the most memorable part of this whole game is during the last part. We had to run from Paya Lebar to that chalet ok! we saw the team behind us caught up with us at our last station at Paya Lebar... so we decided to run. My group was really cute in the sense that they made one of of group mates who couldn't catch up sit in this supermarket trolley they took from somewhere and pushed her all the way to the chalet. Along the way, they went like "Gear 1, ok, change to Gear 2, 3, 4..." I thought that was really funny and nice of them.
Yeah... as my dear friends would know how lousy my stamina is and how I am not really dependent on power gel (Okok... I would say I need those for adventure races!!!), I got calf cramp. It was really irritating because we were already at East Coast Park when the cramp worked in. So towards the end, I only kind of jog/walk. Totally hate it. Anyway, there was this nice "AhBeng" who is our group umpire, accompanied me on the last bit. We talked a bit of crap about marathons and stuff. He was really nice and decided to cheat a little by stopping the timing a little earlier. Saw him smoking and heard he drinks a lot, plus that dragon tattoo on his calf... doesn't make him look like any goody-two-shoes, yet I think he's really nice. Touched. :)
So the conclusion of the race is that we came is as one of the top two teams and are actually allowed to sleep in the chalets... but somehow our group was caught using maps so in the end, with the penalty, we were made to sleep in tents. I don't know about the rest, but it is not a big deal of a penalty to me... if you ask me, I would rather sleep in a spacious tent, overlooking the sea than to cramp in a chalet, sleeping in uncomfortable positions.
The next day, we played 食字路口. Again, we went all over Singapore to try food. This time it wasn't that tough because we get to take trains around. That night, we had our fright night. They drove us in a lorry to this deserted HDB estate near Lim Chu Kang area. It used to be 3-story HDB flats surrounding a market place. There was no electricity supply, the windows were removed and there were big holes around 1mx1m connecting the apartments. We were made to walk in pairs across each level of the HDB flat and enter the rooms to gather clues. The seniors tried to frighten us. I believe I had enough of IJ Fiesta back in secondary school days to stop me from screaming. There was a point in which we were sitting at a table to obtain a clue and when the game master shouted at us to go, and we started to leave, there were hands grabing at our ankles from the bottom of the table. My partner jumped out from his seat, making the seniors laugh. Another funny part was that my partner went down to the second floor thinking we still have to search for clues, we mistakenly entered this room where other freshies are still playing. we felt quite embarrassed to spoil their station. That was the fright night. The location was enough to raise some goosebumps but I think any IJ girl who went for Fiesta games will just be as calm as I am, knowing that the seniors are just trying to frighten us.
I did not join my group to Sentosa on Friday as I wanted to attend some talks. That "AhBeng" was trying to persuade me to go. Apparently I heard that he was the vice-president of the Hall Camp... :) Anyway, comes Friday night in which I had the most horrifying experience in Hall Camp. Friday night was Initiation Night. The name doesn't suggest anything. When I first heard it, I was like "What the crap is initiation nigh?" and the answers were either "I don't know" from the freshies or "You will find out" from the seniors.
Ok, so it turned out this way, we were suppose to be blind-folded and play station by station. First station, they told us that we have to crawl through this shit tunnel. I think it turned out to feel like I am just doing leopard-crawls across smelly and dirty canvas sheets. Next we went on to walk around and suddenly someone just said "Fold you arms across your chest"(the person was standing quite close I believe, and his breath smelled like a smoker's... I was trying to withdraw my face away), suddenly, someone pushed me and I just fell back. There were people below that caugh me.
Next is the most disgusting station and until now, I can still feel my skin crawl. We were suppose to touch something and guess what it is. There were meal worms, snails, millipedes, spiders, crab and FROG. Damn it!!! I was alright with the meal worm and was playing with them on my hands, they carried on to put them on my neck. It's ok, so long as it does not fall into my shirt. I heard one of my friend went to grab a handful and got extremely freaked out when the worms start wriggling around. The snail was actually VERY slow. Even when I touched it's slimey body, it did not retract. The crab stinks and I don't have much comment on the other creatures except FROG! DAMN IT!!! At that instant, I screamed, felt like puking, fainting, crying... but nothing like that happened. I just couldn't stop complaining and wiping my hands on the ground, on railings whatever after I touched the frog. I think I can still imagine it on my hand... (flicks my left hand).
Other stations include, guessing songs, digging into toilet bowl with things in it, pretending we were drinking another group's saliva when it was only flour water, sliding down a very long and steep slope, carrying our group leader and dashing up a few flight of stairs with a lit candle trying to prevent it from extinguishing while people hose us down. I think it was really fun, except for the damn frog.
On the last day, there wasn't much that happened except that we had a group outing and then we went to Home club. It was booked by my Hall and we had the secret pal night. I don't have an actual secret pal and so I was assigned one. Unfortunately (or is it fortunately?) my secret pal is a pageant... so we kind of got sabo-ed quite a bit. The forfeit was super embarrassing. The emcee gave us a Tequilla shot and after dabbing salt and lemon from the drink on his neck, I am suppose to lick the salt and drink the shot in one gulp. What an outrageous thing to do. *FAINTED* Clubbed a little more (my first time clubbing). We were dancing halfway, then a group of guys including that AhBeng VP started to try stripping one another. They got their shirts stripped off and thrown around. My goodness. But the most was only a belt. Some of my group mates decided to continue clubbing at Zouk while the super tired me took a cab home alone.
That's my Hall Orientation Camp.
Perhaps will upload pictures soon.
what we could have been, 11:14 AM.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
I am like typing this in my hostel room... so I think anyone can infer that I actually moved in to my hostel already. The bed in small and the study desk is big. Alright, maybe the desk is not as big compared to Yuting's hostel's.
What I still lack in my room is a cushion for my chair. And I am already eyeing one... Yeah... I believe some people can already guess. The cushion I am eyeing is the blue squid one sold at MiniToons. Apparently, there is only pink available. So I am waitin for the blue one to come in. But maybe I will buy both pink and blue. Perhaps I will also need to bring a larger mug here.
I signed up for standard chartered marathon yesterday. This year, I will be trying for the 21.1km run. I think it is a big challenge for me and just reminding myself of it will spur me to exercise. Otherwise, I think I will just gain even more weight without PE lessons now.
I miss AJ ODAC trainings. Since uni lessons will be starting next week, I believe chances of going back to train with the juniors will be lesser. It is a shame that I still cannot remember all my juniors by name until now. Perhaps, I will after the next expedition that I go with them.
What I still lack in my room is a cushion for my chair. And I am already eyeing one... Yeah... I believe some people can already guess. The cushion I am eyeing is the blue squid one sold at MiniToons. Apparently, there is only pink available. So I am waitin for the blue one to come in. But maybe I will buy both pink and blue. Perhaps I will also need to bring a larger mug here.
I signed up for standard chartered marathon yesterday. This year, I will be trying for the 21.1km run. I think it is a big challenge for me and just reminding myself of it will spur me to exercise. Otherwise, I think I will just gain even more weight without PE lessons now.
I miss AJ ODAC trainings. Since uni lessons will be starting next week, I believe chances of going back to train with the juniors will be lesser. It is a shame that I still cannot remember all my juniors by name until now. Perhaps, I will after the next expedition that I go with them.
what we could have been, 9:27 AM.
