a story worth remembering\\we skip the goodbyes *sometimes its hard to express in words*

Yuda at 10:09 PM

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Just woke up from sleep after a very tiring but fulfilling day!! Yesterday was the dry run for SS team-building which ended quite early and then there was the last stairs climbing training for TLBS!! Vertical marathon is tomorrow at around 1530!! it will be at republic plaza which is 60 storeys high. We will do our best tomorrow!! Woke up at 0530 this morning to rush to school for the actual SS team-building event. This team-building organised is supposed to stretch us to our limits as we have lack of manpower and of course, test our skills in running 2 activities con-currently on the same day itself. At least that is what he said during the rather short de-brief we had today. So, had to prepare many things before the scholars came. At around 0800, the scholars arrived in the hall. We had to start immediately and there was the starting skit. At first, i never thought taking the scholars for this team-building was that fun. For ice-breakers, we played several games as there was plenty of time and i never expected them to speak up and interact with us so confidently. After that we proceeded on to the station games which ran smoothly and at the end of the games, they were quite upset that they don't get to play all the 5 games that we planned due to time constraint. At the very same time, the RCY units from Hougang Sec, SCGS and St Margret arrived and they started the day with skits and ice-breakers as well. The 38 pages of proposal submitted gave us a full detailed itinerary of what was going on at that time!! GREAT JOB SS TEAM-BUILDING TASKFORCE!! During the last station game which was moving chairs, the scholars completed their task with variations in less than 15 mins so we had to play filler games (polar bear) with them before the final debrief. It was really heart-warming to see them participate actively during the debriefing and giving positive feedbacks about the activity itself. It was even satisfying to see them being able to communicate better with each other and even with me. After the final debrief, we proceeded to the hall for a concluding story before dismissal of scholars. I am sure the ODACers felt proud of their achievement to see all the scholars enjoying themselves and they even did a scholar's cheer for us. We still managed to take a group photo and of course a combined group photo with the scholars!! After that we had to join the other facilitator to help in the facilitation of the RCY groups. You could really see the distinct contrast between the mood of the scholars and the RCY groups due to the age group. We really did not expect there would be sec 1s joining us in this event. So, they were quite bored with the games and their morale was really low throughout the games. I really applaud jason for his enthusiasm in being their facilitator and trying to liven up the mood!! many changes in the debriefing points had to be made to suit them. After they left, we had to clear up all the things we used before our very own debrief. Today's debrief was rather short though, only took around 20 mins?? i must say i am quite pleased he learnt his lesson in not scolding us about minor stuff that happened during the day and even learnt to praise us for our efforts in making this a success!!

This SS team-building activity is really different from the CCA team-building activity organised last month. The games were the same but the target groups were different. I had to facilitate scholars instead of the CCA and that they were not bonded at all at the start of the team-building activity. It really gives me a totally different experience as i was facilitating alone and that many things were unpredictable and we had to react fast to the changes, We really had improved quite a lot since CCA team-building in many aspects, both individually as well as as a team itself. Moreover, there is always the sense of achievement being a facilitator and seeing your group grow and learn together. During postcard reflections today with the scholars, they gave very insightful points that i could learn from. "Opportunities are everywhere; success or failure depends on whether we grab it and make use of it to our advantage", "The new discoverer". We discover many new things each day; from the people around us as well as we discover more about ourselves. It is when you slow down your footsteps and take a look at the people around you that you discover more about them and it is really through obstacles and stress that you discover more about yourself. A totally different experience from what i learnt from the CCA team-building!! it is through stress and obstacles that we are able to stretch ourselves and discover more about ourselves. Had lots of fun and many learning points today during SS team-building. SAINTSODAC will continue to improve and make the next activity a success!!

Labels: SS team-building 2007

Yuda at 10:17 PM

Thursday, February 22, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WEIHAO!!! you're 18 now man!! can officially watch M18 shows and buy alcohol already (: hahah.. hope you like your presents tomorrow!! anyway, had vertical marathon training today which was so tiring!! This sunday 1530 at republic plaza!! must come down and support ok?? TLBS will be representing SAINTSODAC for this competition! great news today that we will not be playing frisby for PE lessons anymore and we are finally doing physical conditioning. We are sick of the game already after playing it for 1.5 months?? correct me if i am wrong. Training for vertical marathon was so tiring. Climbed 2 sets of 23 floors today and after ODAC, another 3 sets. Feeling damn tired now!! never expected climbing stairs to be so tiring! the competition has 66 floors so good luck to us already :/ chinese new year had been boring this year. Maybe its because there's going to be block test in 1 month time. Going to start studying real soon after this week. Speaking about this, we had this ridiculous target-setting and peer mentoring programme organised by ODAC teachers!! and we still have to devise a study timetable which usually is useless for guys!! i don know about girls though. Anyway, back to my GP presentation!! MUST COME DOWN AND SUPPORT US ON SUNDAY!!!

Yuda at 12:00 AM

Saturday, February 17, 2007

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR TO ALL!! just came back from reunion dinner! the reunion dinner is the longest i ever had. The dinner was supposed to start at 7.30 but we ended up starting up an hour later and finishing at around 1030? The food was nice though but the service was too slow already. Cannot blame them also because of the heated customers and lack of manpower :/ Anyway, falling asleep really soon. Too tired after night-cycling last nite. Yesterday's CNY performance in school was not bad except that we had to stay back after school for ODAC (one of the few CCAs that had to stay back. Had lao yu shen though which was fun but messy!! the SS team-building dry run was quite redundant in my context as all of us were not in the mood to do anything. Wanted to sleep for at least 2 hours before night-cycling but didn't managed to :/ night-cycling was as usual fun but tiring. The route had been slightly modified a bit. It was the most tiring activity i been to so far and my knees were aching like mad after esplanade. The worst part was at the end around 6 am when we still had a scenario activity to test us in case a real situation happens. Simply collapsed when i reach home at 10 plus before going out again. And here i am blogging!! can't sleep early today though. Must 'shou sui". To everyone again!! HAPPY CNY and remember to collect lots of ang paos (: ENJOY!!

Yuda at 11:42 PM

Thursday, February 15, 2007

just found out that i haven blog for quite a long time already. My last post was night-cycling recee and tomorrow's going to be night-cycling dry run. Okay!! i shall start of this post by a quote. "its not the end that matters, its the process that counts". This quote can be used in many situations but for me, this quote is applied in a different manner. Yesterday was Valentine's Day (14/2/07). It has been 2 years since i last went out with a girl on this day. Last year has been spent with my OG!! Don't get me wrong though, last year's outing was quite fun (:

so in relation to Valentine's day, the first thing is to ask the girl if she's free on that day first. After that is the waiting for reply part and the rest follows after (where to go, what to do etc.) I must say that this is what i call the process. The most memorable one i ever had!! it was a long story but there are interesting twists and turns in this story. I shall not blog about them though cuz its going to take me forever.

There was also the preparation period where we buy all our gifts for the people we appreciate and had become a part of our lives. So, we did shopping after the movie "the inconvenient truth" which was so cool!! This show is about global warming and how all of us are going to die very soon if we don't save the environment. Oops.. i am out of the topic again. Anyway, spent quite a lot of time shopping for the gifts for Valentine's day and the gift exchange session that ODAC is organising. So, after all the preparation, we have to bring them to school. So i figured that there will be many ppl bringing gifts to school on wed, so i brought the gifts on tues!!

The big day came and the school was filled with a "loving" atmosphere; playing love songs in the cafe, selling balloons, flowers, cakes and many goodies!! THANKS FOR ALL THE GOODIES (: time seem to fly by and in the afternoon was ODAC knots-tying and orienteering session. It was a pretty long session and i had to go off at 5 for dental appointment (: Oh.. before going off i decided to give my secret-valentine her gift and i was like so shocked to find out who it is lor.. THANKS FOR THE NICE THINGYS!! after that, hurried to change into my school uniform before hurrying off. Rushed for the appointment and i was late!! so sorry :/ she looked really very tired and sick at that time (collapsing soon type). So, we started walking the citylink. Hahah.. had no idea where we were heading to though. Finally, she said she wanted to go to Donut factory for some snacks first so we started walking back. Hahah... before we reached there, she told me that the queue was going to be super super long but to our surprise the queue was quite short (at first)... until we realised that we were not at the right queue!! It was so embarassing la.. hahah... and the queue was like SUPER long!! so decided not to have donuts for snacks and went for dinner at SAKAE SUSHI instead. This time there was not a long queue and we managed to get seats immediately. Started eating and taking the plates but i don know what happened to me man!! only ate 3 plates before declaring that i am full!! I AM NOT TURNING INTO A GIRL LOL!!! hahah.. ate and talked quite a lot before leaving the place for home (she really needs her rest). On the way to the bus-stop, saw some unexpected people!! OMG! you never tell me that there was an 08 outing at city hall lor. So, talked with them for a while before sending her home. Thank you for the cupcakes and for the day also!! hope you recover soon (: (so sorry about not buying flowers and the white chocolates :/ buy you other stuff next time!!)

then today was the sharing session with my bestie and talked about many stuff yesterday and thanks for waiting with me to pass the gift to my friends at J8. It was supposed to be a studying session but we ended up talking for 2 hours?? hahah.. just have too many things to share already!! glad you had fun on v day also (: and i typed this entry already as promised!! Tomorrow is CNY celebration and ODAC activities after all of that. SS team-building dry run and night-cycling dry run!!

Yuda at 9:43 PM

Sunday, February 04, 2007

stop at chomp chomp for stingray!!

finally woke up from a long sleep. Reached home at around 10 this morning after night cycling recee which was so fun! Met up at ECP at around 10 to start the night cycling recee. The bicycle rental overnight was only 5 bucks with free drink too!! started the recee at 11. The route goes like this:
Siglap park connector-> changi road-> paya lebar road-> upper paya lebar road-> boundary road-> yio chu kang road-> serangoon garden way-> taristock ave-> amk ave 3-> amk ave1-> upper thomson road-> bishan st 21-> braddell road-> upper serangoon road-> bendemeer road-> lavender street-> crawford street-> republic boulevard-> queen elizabeth walk, marina promenade-> rochor river-> sims road-> sims way-> mountbatten road-> fort road-> ECP connector.

prata house for prata (:

a very long list of locations rite?? its so amazing that we only took 7 hours plus to pass all those places. Stopping in between at chomp chomp for stingray, shell station for redbull and biscuits, bus-stops for rest and of course!! thomson for roti prata! not forgetting the emo times at esplanade. A very tiring but enjoyable experience (: the night life of Singapore is simply just different from the busy and hectic life in the morning. It really makes you slow down your pace of life and take a look at what is around you. I must admit although i stay in bishan, the nightlife of bishan is totally different. Even the busy and buzzing Braddell road that i pass everyday on bus 13 is a totally different scenery at night. It quiet until we could land our bikes on the road and cycle to school. Why is life in the day so busy and hectic?? it makes us miss out many things in life that are free but nice. Sometimes one should really slow down your footsteps and look around and appreciate things around you. There will definitely be many new findings that you never realise before. Same thing in life that people are able to neglect things that are so near and yet so far. This night-cycling experience is really one that can let you stop and slow down your footsteps to even think about life. Facing the CBD area at esplanade can really get you thinking. Can't we just enjoy life carefree and unrestricted by work and stress?? anyway, we returned to ECP to try to watch the sunrise but is was too late :/ what an experience!! so, my advice is try night-cycling!! to all ODACers, do look forward to the night-cycling activity coming up soon!! it will be fun (: below is my favourite song of the week!!!

result of night-cycling!!

Hero (Enrique Iglesias)

Let me be your hero

Would you dance,
If I asked you to dance?
Would you run,
And never look back?
Would you cry,
If you saw me crying?
And would you save my soul, tonight?

Would you tremble,
If I touched your lips?
Would you laugh?
Oh please tell me this.
Now would you die,
For the one you love?
Hold me in your arms, tonight.

I can be your hero, baby.
I can kiss away the pain.
I will stand by you forever.
You can take my breath away.

Would you swear,
That youll always be mine?
Or would you lie?
Would you run and hide?
Am I in too deep?
Have I lost my mind?
I dont care...
Youre here, tonight.

I can be your hero, baby.
I can kiss away the pain.
I will stand by you forever.
You can take my breath away.

Oh, I just wanna to hold you.
I just wanna to hold you.
Oh yeah.
Am I in too deep?
Have I lost my mind?
Well I dont care...
Youre here, tonight.

I can be your hero, baby.
I can kiss away the pain.
I will stand by your forever.
You can take my breath away.

I can be your hero.
I can kiss away the pain.
And I will stand by you, forever.
You can take my breath away.
You can take my breath away.

I can be your hero.

Yuda at 4:56 PM

Thursday, February 01, 2007

3 straight days of ODAC activities!! yesterday was SAJC annual cross-country. Quite disappointed though as we don have the chance to run in the last year of our JC lives. Next year we will be running in NS already :/ ODACers are appointed as road marshalls to help to direct the traffic in ECP. So had to wake up at 5 plus to board bus 13 to ECP. It was such a long ride and upon reaching there, we still don't know where to meet so had to rush down (carrying our bags and running at the same time). Anyway, we stationed at our various checkpoints to direct the "traffic". It was quite a boring job as we had to stand there and simply not doing anything except guiding the people where to run. Had negative comments from the runners though, saying that ODACers are standing there and rotting. Argh... forget all those man!! we were commended for our service after the event by Mr Ho and all the teachers for helping out. After that was PROJECT teach serene how to cycle. So, we had lunch before renting our bikes for 3 hours. It was quite fun cycling but ECP was filled with SA ppl. It was like a "SAJC at ECP day"!! anyway, after hard work and determination, serene managed to learn how to cycle. SO PROUD OF YOU BRO!! then after that went to yumin's new house for the Singapore VS Thailand match which was so entertaining!! the funny commentary which was so sarcastic. Probably going to watch the match on sunday for the return league of the ASEAN CUP FINAL!! Oh.. while taking the cab home yesterday, xiuhui and i found a handphone on the seat of the taxi!! so proud of ourselves for deciding to return the phone back to the owner (: so, walked to the bishan neighbourhood police post to report on the lost handphone. So happy that we did a good deed as the man called to say like a thousand times thank you to us!! ok.. that was yesterday. Today was an interesting day also!! forgot that i have GP debate today and never prepare anything :/ so talked crap throughout the whole debate which was so amusing!! various arguments shot at each other and all the funny rebuttals at each other. Anyway, just reached home after the first-aid refresher which we had to attend in preparation for the J1s intake which is coming soon!! its going to be really exciting and fun to join ODAC!! ok.. going to sleep soon before waking up later at 2 to study a bit!! i am starting to like this type of lifestyle!! goodnight everyone (:

PROJECT "CYCLESERENE"

Emo-ing at Bedok Jetty

Yuda at 9:43 PM