Happy New Year!

Friday, December 31, 2004

Had class chalet for the past two days and I must say that it was the best chalet among the three I had for this holidays. Basically, the place was big enough to accomodate the whole class, although the location at Changi was abit ulu... But we sure enjoyed ourselves, what with endless talk-cock and mahjong sessions thoughout the night and the perfect ambience created by the natural environment around us. Our chalet gives us a clear view of the sea and Pulau Ubin seemed so near to me all of a sudden. Kind of remind me of ATC and OBS... those were the days. But at night, the tranquility and serenity is really captivating. Kang Hao, Yi Meng and I would sit on the breakwaters, with the sea currents beating repeatedly on the shores just right underneathe our feet. Then there was the cool evening offshore breeze sifting through the air, sweeping across our faces...

The BBQ was great. Elise's turn-up was such a pleasant surprise. Turns out she came back for her holidays. It was such a warm feeling to observing the A12 class pattern once again, a combination that truly belonged to us. Alvin would go about trying to AA (sorry Vin haha) and liven up the atmosphere, Jin Mei would be the one silently barbecueing stuff for most of the time, Kang Hao would sit by the shores all by himself, MTV-style, until he feels it's time to join the rest, Yin Day would enthusiastically offer to barbecue marshmallows for everyone... Can't help thinking about the next time we will have our class chalet without shuddering when the thought of A levels sprouts out. Guess it will have to be another long year.

But 2005 is definitely worth anticipating and I shall do so by offering it my warmest welcome, right in the comforts of my living quarters... probably with my GP handouts sprawled in front of my table. Lolz. Have a great year ahead everyone!

Envoy of the Stars @ 2:18 PM
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脂粉香

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

浓妆剥下
捣碎
曝晒
准备为生命
施肥灌溉
但
桌上假花
早已散发着扑鼻香

Envoy of the Stars @ 10:33 PM
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檳榔

Monday, December 27, 2004

三五一家店
低墙矮屋檐
红底白漆的亮招牌大刺刺
上写“XX檳榔”四个字
是正体
纤手一根烟
高几长桌前
花枝招展的俏佳人甜滋滋
上演“捧心皱眉”的西施
是翻版

而隔间槟榔店
一个老伯伯在孤灯下
写着一封信

Envoy of the Stars @ 1:39 PM
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Carol of the bells

Saturday, December 25, 2004

It had been a busy week, with carols and drama camp going on simultaneously, right after coming back from Taiwan. Nevertheless, it had been time well spent. Was kind of on tenterhooks when we were carolling at first because I had missed choir practices for two weeks and I was still unsure of some parts of some songs. But luckily everything went well and I picked up after the first session. Conrad and Fullerton were certainly great experiences for people like me who never got to stay in singapore hotels. At least I got to see how grand and posh they can be. It is hard not to get affected by the festive mood, especially when you are supposed to mean it when you sing "Oh it's the hap-hap-happiest season it's the jolliest time of year." It reminded me of the comical carolling session the group of us had in Taiwan, Sun Moon Lake, where we go from log cabin to log cabin bringing warmth and laughter to each other. That session was CMI but it was fun and enjoyable. Who cares whether you can't sing Jingle Bells and hit every single note or remember every single word and lyric when you are having a ball of a time. That's what Christmas is about after all.

Anyway, was once again thrown into a state of chagrin when everyone started to give out gifts and notes or christmas cards after carolling, with "Merry Christmas" wishes heard on an average of 1 per 10 seconds. I didn't prepare any gifts!!! So was happy, thankful but quite embarrassed... Ok shall make a mental note on this. Sorry once again to you guys, and thanks to all who have messaged me with christmas greetings. They really made my day. Thank you!!

Envoy of the Stars @ 10:34 PM
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Drama Camp.... more dramatic than ever

Friday, December 24, 2004

Spent the past two days busying myself by being group leader. Because of this camp I could take a break from carolling, not that carolling is not good, it is definitely fun but maybe a short break to let my voice take a break would be great. But it turned out my voice could not go on a holiday either because being group leader means shouting group names to gather attention. The theme for this year was 断翅蝴蝶飞. Strangely I had a bizzare affinity with thsi catch phrase. In Taiwan we were supposed to do some artwork using butterfly specimens. And in the end my specimen became quite mutilated due to my poor hand in Art, part of the left wing got a bit broken and so I might as well wrote the words "断翅蝴蝶飞" on that card.

Anyway got introduced to my group, which is pathetically small. Then again, I heard response was slightly smaller this year so there was a smaller turn-up than the past few years. My group "Fly Away" had only 5 people... and they were really slow to open up. But a bit of lame conversations, ice-breakers and a couple of games set them going finally. The first day was mainly just play. Sort of reminded me of orientation, with the field and games involving flour and ketchup and disgusting forfeits. Half the time I had to dodge the handfuls of starch that rained on me because I didn't bring an extra shirt... So standing beside the rest makes me look and feel really clean... haha. And in the evening went home to get changed for the Arts Fac Christmas party. Here's when everything go so melodramatic I couldn't believe it happened. But it did. My handphone got lost all of a sudden. Don't ask me how but while I was taking bus 88, I found my pockets empty. And this was when the shock really came over me. So strong that I was the jolt sent my spine tingle, metaphorically. I immediately went into a state of frenzy and eyes turned as I feverishly searched my bag, my other pocket, even my patting my shirts as though I can feel my handphone there. I would have loved to let this all be a happy story but unfortantely this is no fairy tale. So I made a dramatic decision to double back to the bus-stop where I took the bus to search for the handphone, even though I clearly knew that it could no longer be there. Anyway, tried to wish for a miracle to appear but none came. So I dashed back home, informed my mother about this unfortunate incident and told her to help me cancel the line. Everything was over pretty fast and now I have my line back with the same number, but not the same phone of course.

Haiz so that was that. The second day of drama camp was great!!!! Although I was dead beat, but still managed to drag my half dead body around and kept my spirits high. Hope my group didn't blame me for trying to rest at times, especially when they are busy discussing their performance and there was nothing I could do. (they were learning a song...) But it was definitely fun to direct the performance, give some tips and guide them along, though I must admit they can really act very well, something I am proud to announce. Got to know a Chinese High guy who was really hyper. Bubbly and comical. Wondered to myself whether he stood a chance to be one of the actors next year. Shall wait and see. Everything ended in a high note as usual, with alot of mass dances and cheers.

Envoy of the Stars @ 11:23 PM
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Taiwan.. Continued (Part 2)

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

On the fifth day, we went to Zhong Lie Ci in the morning to watch their passing over ceremony. It really reminded me of the old NP days except that obviously the soldiers had a more gruelling work schedule.

Ok so I promised to talk about Bei Yi Nu, one of the things that we (at least the guys)have looked forward to before the trip. But ok let's just say it is a slight disappointment. Once again we were divided into classes and this time round we attended two lessons each with the Bei Yi Nu girls. I have to say my host class was still ok, in fact quite warm. Managed to engage in some small talk with the girl sitting beside me, but no dream girls, no special surprises whatsoever. Well at least the class seemed quite reluctant to see us leave after the two periods. I use "seemed" because I am not sure whether that is a show of pretence or a display of true emotion. This will have to tie in with Alvin's account of how he and his group were totally ignored by their host class. That was probably what pissed him off so much so he now dislikes the school. He claimed he saw the true colours behind the facade. Obviously some of the LEP girls strongly sided Bei Yi Nu. It appeared that the girls in their host classes actually cried when they saw them leave after a mere two hours... I was like wow I didnt know that this kind of visit can be so melodramatic. Spare me. Ok I am not sounding jealous but hey I mean given if it were you would you believe this is all just a matter of being able to click??

So that was Bei Yi Nu for you. I hope I don't mislead people into believing that place is really pretentious and all. There are always the good and bad in one place anyway. On the sixth day we went to Tai Da, only to visit its botanic garden in great detail. If not for the good-natured guide who brought us about scrutinising different types of plants as though we are on a quest to get the Young Botanist Badge, I would have put myself on screen-saver mode. Then we got to take photos (Wow!!) as usual in some more popular hot-spots of the school grounds. (like 椰林大道) Then it was off to Ying Ge where we made our own clay models. It was great fun, although my model was 90% made by the instructor and so the sense of achievement is greatly reduced to less than 10%... In the evening we visited the Taipei landmark- Taipei 101. I thought the skyscraper looked quite funny in its architecture and I found it quite slanted when I looked up at it from a distance of about 20 metres. Ok parallax error... Anyway the things here are so mainly ostentacious goods selling at exorbitant (ok maybe normal for the richer class) prices, but definitely not a place meant for a bunch of students...

Into the seventh day with half of the journey left. We had Arts and Craft in the morning! It seemed like ages since I had Art and Craft and we were supposed to make some china knots which reminded me of campcraft sessions... Then it was one lecture before we headed down to Dan Shui to view the scenery and to tour the 淡水老街. Next day was quite boring. We had another Arts and Craft session before going to Cheng Pin Bookstore. That was such a disappointment in my opinion. It was just something like Kinokuniya and the books are not any much cheaper than that in Singapore. Shall skip mentioning the ninth day because we visited the museums and stuff.

The tenth day was quite interesting. We visited Xiao Ren Guo theme park and it was really fun. Too bad we did not have enough time to finish exploring the whole place (especially the Mini Europe) because we were busy trying out the different rides in the park. Then we were shoved to a Science Centre which was certainly better than our own, just to look at dinosaurs... Ok but I think the T-rex is really cool. One of the more realistic ones I have seen so far. I have to admit although I am an Arts person, I would love to find out a bit more about bacteria and DNA over there. Here I think I would want to end the account on what we did because after this what we did was more or less the same.

I shall now turn to more juicy topics... The fact that the whole HC group was glued to the TV set every night tuning into South Park was pretty interesting. Eventually everyone became so corrupted that the daily conversations were filled with South Park jargon... This is something we have to change now that we are back in Singapore or else we will only find out that we are the only ones laughing at our own jokes... Then of course the countless bitching sessions we had in Taiwan were definitely eye-openers. It certainly made me learn more about LEP people. Especially some of those whom I reckoned were rather soft-spoken or pretentious. Eventually the subjects were narrowed in on the few primary targets. Haiz... all the bad karma accumulated... But other than that, the trip really lets you know your friends, especially when you fall sick all of a sudden. I shall not wish to elaborate. After all, this sort of thing is supposed to be uncovered by oneself. I don't want to impose my opinions on others, even if the effects are small. So well, here's drawing an end to Taiwan. It had been a great experience and certainly a memorable one.

Envoy of the Stars @ 10:54 PM
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Taiwan... I'm loving it (Part 1)

Sunday, December 19, 2004

Finally back after two long/short weeks. Not going to give long accounts about the trip, just probably some of the more juicy stuff. Haha. Basically, it was just eat, sleep and play for the two weeks, except that we attended lessons for a few days. The first day really sucked because it felt as though we have already been in Taiwan for five days, in fact it felt strangely as though we are leaving the next day after we have touched down. Haha don't ask me why. It was late afternoon when we landed in Taipei and we were driven to Jin Hua Da Sha for our tea break. It was supposedly lunch but because we all had a heartening meal on the airplane, some of us used the $200 vouchers for other purposeful uses. Our hostel was situated very near Shi Lin Night Market and that night we rushed and tried to cover as much of Shi Lin as we could in that pathetic one hour. (We were grounded after 10 and being the nice little angels we are, we abided by the rules throughout the whole trip)I still remembered how some of the girls complained how little time they were given. They nearly had to swallow their words much later. The second day was normal. Travelled to Hualian on a train. The train reminded me of Bremen, I guess it was just the cubicles and the layout. Ok so maybe all long-distance trains look like that but so what. Anyway, everyone just explored Hualian and I must say that at this juncture, some of us are still experiencing jet lag although there was no difference in time zone... So the fun has not begin.

We spent the third day in this nature reserve in Hualian. The scenery was really beautiful. Then of course it started to get a bit boring when we were brought about to look at picturesque sights that bear great similarity. Imagine looking at the same old mountain folds and lush greenery for like 10 times. Maybe Geogers can at least differentiate the type of rocks a mountain is made up of but for the rest of us with something called a life, we choose to give that a miss and take in the fresh air instead. The girls started brandishing their most formdiable weapon apart from their shrill voices throughout this whole trip- the camera. Yupz. Digital and powered with endless back-up batteries, complete with zooming lens and all... And all sorts of poses come to life. I am almost blinded by the "camera smiles". It is quite obvious those presumably photogenic people (and those who think they are) will get really obsessed with photography throughout the whole trip. No sarcasm intended. Really.

Into the fourth day and finally the academic fever struck. It bore testimony to our main objective of this whole trip, apart from the one known as "have fun" that seems more appropriate with regards to the programme layout we have actually. Firstly, we visited Shi Da Fu Zhong in the morning but onyl managed to stay there rather briefly. We were split into groups and attended classes for only one lesson. Then we were shoved back to the lecture theatre where we had our lunch while having a chat session with the school's student councilors. I don't know about the others but all the warm greetings that we have been tricked into believing all this while probably only existed in the fifth dimension. It was like being trapped in a political environment. The teacher gave a rather nonchalant attitude to our existence and I thought that she must have been muttering to herself how we have wasted her precious teaching time when she made the politically correct decision of allowing one of us to introduce ourselves. Ok maybe she was't that bad. It's just me. But seriously the atmosphere was so uncomfortable I can't wait to dart out of the classroom once the bell rung. The entire day was packed full with two lectures which I shall not elaborate.

More on Bei Yi Nu later...

Envoy of the Stars @ 9:27 PM
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借口

Friday, December 03, 2004

我们都是这样，在踏着各自的节奏中寻找借口。

有时根本不用去想，就立刻能信手拈来，恍若天生的本能一样。行色匆匆，遇到募款义工就躲躲闪闪，来不及避开的就来个正面交锋，一个箭步往前冲。没时间！我赶着...

迟到时，与生俱来的第一反应便是：“下雨嘛！”，“交通阻塞”，“闹钟坏了”，最经典的莫过于“刚才帮了一位老婆婆过马路，且莫探讨这些话中的真实度，但这么小的一件事，却往往最能体现勾勒出一个人的个性。

人类一大绝活就是懂得掩耳盗铃，自我欺瞒,经过一番自我催眠后，竟能把黑的当做白的，指着月亮说它看起来有点方。自己把自己蒙在鼓里，诱惑自己接受这些借口：这些相信是可以减轻人们愧疚感，以达到推卸责任目的的骗话。偏偏我们就是喜欢听骗话，把我们的心给灌醉，所以当它开始摇摇欲坠，我们才会愚昧地犯下更大的罪，因为这是的我们已然沉睡。

Envoy of the Stars @ 9:32 AM
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Yeah!

Yup "Life's about waiting" and finally the long wait has come to an end. Will be away for the next two days for Choir Chalet before leaving for Taiwan (At long last) on Sunday in the early morning. Have finished packing most of my things. Turns out I am bringing so much clothing! That was rather unexpected. I just brought in case. I can't believe the school holidays are going to be over so soon. Then, there will be the brand new start to everything. Ok Starvade, gear up for 2005!

Envoy of the Stars @ 9:02 AM
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