Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Haha... Wonder when am I eva gonna sit down properly to blog... It's kinda late now, so I guess I'll drag it on to another day, as usual... Aniwayz, just putting up more pictures of our lovely OG17! (Which basically has only a few of us left =P)
My first neoprint with some of our OGmates!
http://www.crappy3friends.com/furyz/neoprint.jpg
Pictures of our OG outing at Zhi Yong's house! Enjoy!~
http://www.crappy3friends.com/furyz/zhiyongs_house.zip
Hehe, next up on OG17!
- Celebrating Yi Huang's birthday on Friday
- Sending dear Diana off at the airport on Saturday
- Paying a Chinese New Year visit to Zhi Yong's family next Saturday
It's just hot and sizzling here with OG17! Stay tuneD!~
~
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Hey gals and guys! Everytime I see OG17 pictures, I really play those memories through my mind again and again... Just feels great! I'd like u people to experience that too! So here they are!
I zipped Everything up, into 3 files, for our 3 outings:
http://www.crappy3friends.com/furyz/marche.zip
http://www.crappy3friends.com/furyz/sentosa.zip
http://www.crappy3friends.com/furyz/dianas_house.zip
If you didn't get this fabulous picture done by Mindy of our OG17 group photo, here it is:
http://www.crappy3friends.com/furyz/og17_mindy.bmp
Diana, we wish you the best in your future endeavours! We will always be beside you in mind and in spirit in the form of our lovely pictures! Hope to see you around in the future. Good Luck! =)
~
Saturday, January 14, 2006
It’s been a full week since I last blogged. Come to think of it, I realised it’s just a phase and that it’s not smart to blog a full passage on a regular basis. Campfire last night was the night of all nights, just as the seniors have said at the beginning of orientation. T’was even better than New Year celebrations at Downtown East.
I’m going through a new phase in my life that makes me feel very weird. I basically start to think I’m downright lousy at socialising and I become super-sensitive to every thing I do with my friends, thinking about it again and again. Everything just feels so fake. But, I know it’s not the case. I’m just thinking too much. Just makes me think about what in the world is friendship.
Just can’t wait for lessons to start, for things to settle down, for all these to clear up. More importantly, for me to get used to co-ed. Damn… My female OG friends were complaining about the guys in their class behaving non-gentlemanly and I just hope I’m not like that. Non-co-ed sucks big time, now I have to go through all this crap. But I guess it has its pros too…
Just need to tell myself what I told a friend: “Remember the past, hope for the future, live in the now.”
I just need time……
~
Thursday, January 05, 2006
The third day of orientation has ended making me feel like I’m at the other end of the universe. Similar to day one, momentum built up as the day went on, and into the night… As usual, we had lots and lots of games all over the school compound. In terms of bonding, our orientation group (OG) wasn’t exactly ideal yet.
We were kind of loose at first, walking down pathways, looking at other OGs cheering their hearts out. I was wondering what happened to us. Even when Mindy, our orientation group leader (OGL) started off cheers, our response was barely there. I was worried. But, I just couldn’t pluck up the courage to lead the cheers.
Luckily, things turned out for the better later in games which we started to win such as “twin soccer” where we actually won prizes (different brands of green tea for everyone in the OG which I found really refreshing after a exciting but tiring day) for scoring four goals. Although the rain stopped us from our games occasionally, it was great fun and time flew by. Before we knew it, orientation for the day ended. By that time, it was pouring heavily outside the hall.
I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but everything that happened on this day felt like a dream, a really great dream. I really would like to experience this dream again. Anyway, as it was raining cats and dogs, I just wanted to go home. But Bryan reminded us that we should go for an OG outing. At that time, I was thinking that he must be out of his mind and that he just had nothing better to say. Come to think of it, I just feel like hitting myself hard for thinking that way. Thinking back, I must say that we are extremely lucky to have certain people in the OG for making our OG a success. If not for Mindy to suggest an OG outing, Bryan for pushing it through, Diana and Tze Min for keeping the door open by supporting the outing, nothing would have happened. I really admire Diana and Tze Min because they were still willing to go even after nearly all the other girls said that they wouldn’t go. They were outnumbered totally by more than ten boys, but they didn’t mind. Now that’s called sporting!
We were so glad when most of the girls came to join us at the bus stop slightly later. We took a bus to The Heeren, still undecided on what to do. But when we finally reached, we decided to buy a present for Mindy and meet up with her for dinner. When we walked into the shopping mall, another part of me took over and I started doing things I really don’t do usually. May be it was because I was uncomfortable with the way we were wandering around, may be it was because it was the first proper social outing I’ve had in my life. But anyway, I started engaging everyone and we became more and more like a class who has known each other for years. Throughout the shopping, I just had to tell everyone not to block the way (basically gathering in a circle in the middle of walkways for discussions) again and again. It just came out, I didn’t think. So if anyone was offended, I’m sorry. But that didn’t seem the case as all the girls were giggling away every time those words came out and the boys thought the same. At some point, we even had the security guard staring at us, greatly increasing the frequency of my reminders. There were many other little happenings that brought much meaning to the whole outing such as deciding between two good buys. We would fuss and make so much noise and it was just great fun.
To put it simply, buying of presents for Mindy and seeing the look on her face when she received them was the peak of our outing and I really had the time of my life! Thanks to everyone for making shopping so fun! We were laughing non-stop throughout while choosing her presents and I really hope to be able to shop like that again someday.
Three Cheers for OG17! *Clap*, *Clap*, *Clap* x 3, *Clap* x 4, OG17!!!
Keep in touch guys! =)
~
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
On this day, I am officially a junior college student. Day 1 of orientation was a great success in my opinion. I was highly impressed by the way my seniors carried themselves, welcoming us into their big Hwa Chong family. While participating in the activities carefully planned out by the council, I can feel the great difference of maturity and togetherness displayed by my seniors as compared to the life we led in the high school section.
The day started off without much of a bang, but the element of fun picked up momentum as the schedule rolled on... By the time we were done with all the academic briefings and were assembled in the hall after lunch, it all then began to feel like an orientation. It was then that “I’ve Had The Time Of My Life” (Name of one out of many mass dances we learnt today) since my primary school days. No matter how hard I tried to find another reason for all this refreshing feelings and experiences, nothing came up. Yes, it was because there were girls around.
Other than the mundane but necessary academic briefings which were basically to introduce us to the syllabus of each subject, the rest of the day was broken down to mainly four portions – icebreakers, dancing, singing and cheering.
Icebreakers wasn’t that successful as the modification of “Whacko” my orientation group leader Mindy decided to let us play didn’t really let us have a chance to get to know each other well, although I must admit that it did break the ice. The name of the modified version was called “Husbands and Wives”. Rather than going around “whacking” others while trying to remember their names, this modification is a comparatively less energetic game. At first, the girls were made to stand behind the boys and the boy sitting in front of each girl is her “husband”. At first, there would be Mindy without a “husband”. So she would call out names of the boys while the girls have to tap the boys before they can walk to Mindy. Later, the boys then had to tap the girls who had their names called out, before they had a chance to walk away. Although it wasn’t a very successful modification as there was much cheating involved such as finding out the name of the person in front of you first, the hilarious mistakes brought about much giggling and laughter which made the game a successful icebreaker.
After that, we gathered at the hall for the days climax – dancing, singing and cheering. These sessions were basically for us to learn the Hwa Chong mass dances, songs and cheers for frequent use in the activities throughout our two years there. I found the dancing most entertaining as seeing the whole hall move together in one fluid motion was just too satisfying. Furthermore, some of the many mass dances required us to find partners of the opposite gender. With well choreographed dance movements passed on from many years ago from the rich tradition of Hwa Chong, we all had a great time with our partners. For me, I loved the feeling of dancing with someone else, laughing at each other when either of us made a mistake, at the same time also consoled that everyone else is going through the same thing.
What a way to start off day 1 of orientation 2006! I really look forward to the two whole weeks of healthy fun and thank the council for all their efforts. From today’s experience, my urge to join the Music & Dance Society is getting stronger and I hope it would be a choice I will not regret.
I feel so shagged now. Although day 2 is mainly academic according to the programme booklet, I guess should go to bed early. I’m hoping that the people from the rest of the junior colleges who are having their orientations enjoy loads and loads of fun too!
~
Monday, January 02, 2006
The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight… what a precise way of portraying the situation our world’s depleting resources are in. Written by Thom Hartmann, this book was recommended to me by my father. He told me to study it as it would aid me greatly, expanding my pool of resources to meet the demands of the General Paper module. More importantly, the book would provide me many new perspectives to the current situation our world is in.
Only after reading a tenth of the book, I have already gained many new insights and perspectives to what is wrong and why our world is in peril. It is amazing how Hartmann can piece together his floorless wholesome viewpoint which has much cold hard facts as backing.
I will now try to summarise what little I have digested so far. First, Hartmann emphasizes that we are all made of sunlight. Think of it this way – we all feed on plants directly or indirectly through herbivores or even-more-indirectly through carnivores that eat herbivores and so on. Since plants are the only organisms which have the capability to store energy from sunlight through a series of chemical reactions, they are the reason why we can live on this beautiful earth, so thank them!
During the time mankind first roamed the earth, they lived off what their environment could provide them directly – basically fruits to pluck and animals to hunt. However, when humans discovered that some animals they hunted could feed on other plants that they could not, the idea of domestication and herding was born. From then on, food supplies soared and population was on the rise.
As time goes on, mankind discovers more and more different means of garnering energy. But ironically, these resources were in the forms of minerals, coal, oil etc. and were limited. Sadly, humans became more and more dependant on these limited resources, turning to mechanization and other forms of technology to further strain the already depleting reserves.
Hartmann puts it in a way that makes me feel that the sky will really be falling down on us. I can only hope that the solutions he speaks of which I will get to read in detail in the later parts of the book can raise my spirits again. In his concept, the word at hand is sustainability. When humans start to use up energy more than the earth is getting daily through sunlight, it is bound to deplete sooner on or later. The driving force of our world today is mainly oil. As these oil reserves are formed over millions of years, they can be termed as “ancient sunlight”. As such, we are draining what little is left of this “ancient sunlight”. Furthermore, we are nearly totally dependant on these limited resources as the massive oil industries are actively suppressing the development of garnering alternative energy resources. As the years go by, we are improving our technology to harvest these resources at a quicker pace, making it seem as though advances in technology are actually driving us to the verge of destruction on many fronts. Therefore, the situation we are in seems very bleak.
What I have written above is basically only one of the many concepts Hartmann has brought out in his amazing book which Neale Donald Walsch, author of Conversations with God has labeled, “One of the most important books you will ever read in your life”.
I hope you found the entry meaningful!
~
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Hee...once you start, you just wanna keep going don'tcha! Well, here’s my second entry!
First things first, a Happy New Year to everyone! I'm very happy this year because I started it off with my first foam party in my life! It was during the countdown party at Downtown East...
My relatives had organised a chalet at Aloha Loyang in Pasir Ris and it was walking distance from Downtown East where all the fun is! After getting drenched in the rain in a failed attempt at cycling at the Pasir Ris Park which had a cycling track but cannot-make-it, we dragged ourselves back to the chalet in hope of a miracle.
Appeared, a miracle did, after we made a trip to Downtown East where a countdown party was taking place. Well I can’t say much about the countdown party other than it gave us a warm-up for the overnight partyin’ later. But yea, da peeps who moved to the techno beat in the huge round tent were getting real high in preparation for the countdown. Although I called it a foam party, the foam actually lasted only for about 5 seconds together with bewildering firework displays. To top it up, there was actually more foam around as thousands of “foam cans” (whateva you call those things people spray down your neck) were emptied during the party.
The real thing came during the disco after the countdown where we had great fun groovin’ to the beat, some mischief picking up leftover “foam cans” and spraying everyone from the back (in fact girls only) in their hair, down their necks and other skin-exposed areas (I heard one spray went down an ass-crack =X oooh… that must have been real coolin’).
What’s most memorable would be that it was my first disco nite. It was the first time I had let go, dancing to the beat with everyone else (can’t actually call it dancing for a noob like me). But I must say the DJ also cannot make it, just like the cycling track… Throughout the night, he was only able to fork out two sentences. The first being, “Comon’ people mAke sOME NOISE!” and the second being “SomEboDY scReAM!”. I’d say he did those two sentences really well as it made everyone scream out and get real high. I mean, if you just say two sentences at every disco, you had gotta be good right? But comon’ man, sAy sOMEthInG eLsE! Furthermore, one of my cousins is a skilled dancer, who opened up a “challenge arena” for other dancers to strut their stuff. It was a real eye-opener for me as I never had a chance to see professional dancing such as break dancing up close. Just makes me feel like joining dance for EP3 (CCA) in JC…
Whee! I’ll have a countdown party by myself tomorrow for the start of school! Haiz~, it’s just sooo ironic… During schooldays, you can’t wait for the holidays to kick all that assignment and tests away. But when the hols. are here, we’re really anticipatin’ for school to start! Dont'cha?
~
