December 15

I have officially moved to http://mentosonline.wordpress.com/

For details, read the previous post and/or the first post in the new blog.

Adios, Blogger.

A full circle

YF Camp's over. Too lazy to bore you with the numerous epic hilarious moments, especially those involving my co-leader Andrew Fu.

So this year's my 6th YF camp. To be honest, the camp didn't go perfectly, especially the controversy surrounding the night games, but there were many changes this year, including really pwnage food, 2 campsites, 4th floor dorms when we were at PLMGS, and waking up at 1am to take a breather at MacRitchie Reservoir (with workshops).

When all's been said and done, it's really great to look back at the past year and see how things have changed (and not changed), to see how some people have really matured.

In 2 days, it will be exactly a year to the day I re-started blogging. More precisely, a year and a day, since as Theodore puts it, 2008 is a leap year. My inspiration of blogging has changed. When I first started this blog right after last year's YF Camp, the main purpose was to rat about mundane stuff and post some hilarious entries for self-entertainment.

Therefore, in 2 days time, I will formally move to a new blog, one that's reflective in nature. Of course, another motivation's the fact that wordpress blog templates are stylishly simplistic :P

Enough about that. Here's to my workshop group mates, the group of Selina Kyle aka Catwoman, really great having you people for company at camp :)

Andrew Fu

Me

Kyran Chew

Hannah Lin

Elizabeth Tan

Oh Jia Min

Valerie Lew

Teng Kok Weng

Linus Seah

Lynette Quek

Alicia Tiang

Theodore Goh

Joey Tay

Christl Yong

Hahaha Kyran and Alicia were in my group last year too.

The Catwomanisers of Zion YF Camp 2008 - My Identity in Christ.

And so, we come to this time of the year again.

I have the bad feeling that I'll be dead tired by next Sunday.

Here's the schedule from yesterday to next Sunday.

Yesterday Afternoon/Evening: Musical Outreach Rehearsals

Today evening till Saturday Morning: YF Camp

Saturday Afternoon/Evening: Musical Outreach Full-Dress Rehearsals

Sunday Morning 7.30am: PA Duty

Argh no time to rest! Fortunately Kenneth's lesson today was postponed so Danny and my lesson next week was subsequently postponed as well.

And on Tuesday, we're attempting something never done before in YF Camp history (I think). Changing campsites from Zion Serangoon to PLMGS. On foot, with our bags. 120++ of us. It's gonna be workshops simultaneously, we'll be walking all over Serangoon/Paya Lebar with our stuff (ie. we'll be wondering around in a manner similar to Amazing Race without the race).

Oops, I wasn't exactly supposed to reveal that. Can't wait for the camp hehe. Hope all the experienced I gained from leading YD class (once) this year will aid me as I'm assistant group leader.

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On the more emo side of things, I have been sorting out my thoughts the last couple of days.

So what have I accomplished, spiritually?

My walk with Jesus remains far from smooth and I'm well aware of it. So as I close this year, this will be my prayer:

A broken spirit, and a contrite heart

You will not despise,

You will not despise.

You desire truth in the inward parts

A broken spirit and a contrite heart.

Lord my heart is prone to wonder

Prone to leave the God I love

Here's my heart, Lord take and seal it.

Seal it for your courts above.

This is a really beautiful song (:

Adeste Fideles

G'morning mates.

Adeste Fideles was not bad. We did miraculously well after all the fail in guitar camp. Time to take a short break, then leave for Serangoon Gardens for the YF Camp meeting thing. Tired like shit after 68 hours of crazy guitar this week.

Just got Lester's sms(es) haha. rofl Ryan Wan's in the same flight as Lester to Hong Kong. Ok that was random.

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Chillax time. Before I go, here's emo song of the week. Don't Wait by Dashboard Confessional. Yeah yet another one by them.

Oh sweet lungs don't fail me now

Your burning has turned into fear

Drills me in my every step, i'm moving quick but you're always on my heals

Just one more breath, i beg you please

Just one more step, my knees are weak

My heart is sturdy but it needs you to survive

My heart is sturdy but it needs you

Breathe, don't you want to breathe

I know that you are strong enough to handle what i need

My capillaries scream, there's nothing left to feed on

My body needs a reason to cross that line

Will you carry me there one more time?

Steady lungs, don't fail me now

I feel you bursting but you won't let me die

Fill me up with every step

I'm feeling sick, but i'm leaving it behind

Just one long breath i beg you please

Just one more step you are not weak

My legs are sturdy but they need you to survive

My heart is sturdy but i need you

Breathe, don't you want to breathe

And know that you are strong enough to handle what i need

My capillaries scream, there's nothing left to feed on

My body needs a reason to cross that line

Will you carry me there once more?

I have reason to believe that i have victories to taste

I can feel them on my teeth, upon my lips and in my chest

I can roll them on my tongue, they are more subtle than defeat

I feel the tension in my lungs and every move is filled by my resolve to

Breathe, don't you want to breathe

I know that you are strong enough to handle what i need

My capillaries scream, there's nothing left to feed on

My body needs a reason to cross that line

Will you carry me there one more time?

From the album Dusk & Summer (2006)

Post-Camp Order Of the Day

Take lift from PCMW

Quickie Lunch, 2x Double Cheeseburgers from Macs

1 hour random chill session listening to random songs

Update blog for no reason

Shit

Bathe

Slack

Catch up on the news I've missed in my 3 days of isolation

Start gaming

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Right.

Camp was really fun, really appreciate the hard work of everyone who helped to make it possible. Please continue bear with my rubbish during ensemble practice =D

Back

I greet you now in my return from my mini-hiatus.

Well, I wasn't that busy lately, just a little thing from one of the seven deadly sins preventing me from updating. That's right. Slothfulness. I can imagine the un-surprised look in your eyes.

Here's a little fail story about me to brighten your day. On friday, I went to Sitex 2008 with Aaron (yeah and some of his friends). Looked around at some cool stuff. Holy banana Geforce 9800 GT cards going for $199!!! And 4GB of DDR2 RAM for as little as sixty-odd dollars.

Messed around with the new Macs, quite impressed at the build quality and design. But even then if I had waited for this show to buy a Mac even the new Aluminium Macbooks would have been out of my budget anyway. So yeah good thing I didn't wait like an idiot. And yeah the classic white design matches with the power adapter and iPod Hi-fi anyway. Oh, and the remote.

Moving on to a more interesting part of my little story, Aaron and I each purchased a 250GB external hard drive from Maxtor, the OneTouch 4 Mini (design matches the new Al macs). When I got back to use it for the Time Machine backup software, damn thing would not work. Just refused to, after trying for 3 damn hours and plugging it to 2 different computers, running all kinds of system diagnostics tests.

Had to bring the damn thing back all the way to Expo to get a new one (Teik Siang came along since he was bored). Thank God, the sales staff there both on Friday and yesterday were super helpful and understanding.

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Anyway, I shall remember to pray for everyone stuck in Thailand! Apparently, the People's Alliance for Democracy is acting like a spoiled child and making ridiculous demands and backing that up by taking Bangkok's airports hostage. Namely, they wish to cut down the number of democratically elected members of parliament by two-thirds! Nice work calling themselves what they call themselves.

So Kanin's stuck in Bangkok unable to come back for Guitar Camp. And Deacon Zhi Wen, Nng, Zachary, Jasmine and Peiling and other members of the Zion mission team that are stuck in Chiangmai, and Shermaine in Laos. Their connecting flights were through Bangkok.

Apparently, Peter told me over YD lunch today that Thanasak took a 72 hour bus ride home. Wow. O_o

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Ok end of random rant time. I'll be away for guitar camp from 1-3. Concert on 4. YF Camp WGL Training on 5. And YF Camp from 7-13 at Gardens.

Thanks for the memories.

Just chanced upon Perry's NUS High profile page. Oh-ho-ho, his profile is littered with tons of documents that simply seem to say classic Perry.

And on his profile The DMVPKV is mentioned. I am so honoured.

Go find his profile yourself, just type his full name into google and you'll be there in 10 seconds or less.

And therefore I found it prudent (very prudent as a matter of undeniable fact) to extract an entire document from that particular database which apparently (quite apparently) acts as a treasure trove of documentation of his life in ACS(I).

Thanks for bringing back the memories, Perry.

Note to our Guest of Honour for this post: I think you forgot the part where Mr. Simon Bongard went into the water with a pen knife in order to "persuade" our ruggedly constructed floating contraptions to conspicuously disintegrate.

OUR OEP TRIP TO TEKAM/TAMAN NEGARA

Half the class were excited about the trip during our starting on Sunday. The other half wished for an MC like Trevor, including me. So we began our perilous journey at 6.45am on Sunday to Tekam Plantation, Pahang. Many almost vomited, so although the prices and quality of items in Yong Peng was cut-throat, it was quite welcoming as our first stopover. For lunch, we stopped at Segamat. In the afternoon, we visited the gasing (top-spinning) factory and learnt how the game was played, and some people bought tops. We arrived in Tekam at our chalets at 6pm, greeted by a welcome drink, followed by dinner. At night, we trekked for some time before exploring a cave. The first day, we slept past midnight because of supper and the unpacking of luggage.

On Day Two, Monday, we began our exhausting, muddy and wet activities. Rafting was done with a number of bamboo poles, string and canisters, with 11 students on each raft. Then we held a lake race, where our group was still singing morbid anthems while I was trying to get back on onto the raft. The whole activity drenched us with muddy pond water and threatened with leeches, but the best part was that unlike the other classes, none of our rafts sank. I lost my insect repellent in the water. Too, we found out wearing our non-sacrificial shoes and socks was a bad notion, as it took three washings to get the mud off when we returned. So after lunch, which was a dirty and dripping affair, we went to visit the fruit plantation and had a fruit feast. We were wise enough to bring sandals this time, as our class did Flying Fox and River Crossing later, crossing the river suspended 5m above the same muddy pool in the former, and 5cm above the water in the latter. Teik Siang got stuck on the way due to a lack of bodily momentum. It took many efforts tugging the rope to get him down. A joke for all of us, but a unforgettable memory for him.

Treasure Hunting commenced at 9pm, where we searched for clues roaming around the plantation. One group ate a banana they were supposed to collect. Surprisingly, another group finished it in just 26 minutes. As usual, save a few rounds of BOOM-O, a favourite pastime of our class and that drew great crowds to our chalet, we knocked off to sleep, knowing that we would be sleep-deprived the entire week.

On the third day, we trooped to the oil-palm plantation to be educated on the harvesting, growing, anatomy and manufacturing of oil-palm. Barring lunch, we completed the Obstacle Course of getting a 70kg person through a 100x50cm frame off the ground, pushing a tyre out of a 3m pole, and walking on a movable bridge, all without touching anything else. The night was reserved for packing.

Subsequently, the next morning, we went to Tembeling jetty to take a longboat to Taman Negara. The longboat, made of wooden planks, was more comfortable than we had expected, with 25km/h winds in our faces. Arriving in Taman Negara two hours later with just a haversack, we dined to a wonderful meal there. The resort at Taman Negara was superb, but at night, the environment was more suited to zoologists. Monitor lizards, snakes, and monkeys – they had samba deer too last year – roamed freely. 

We went to the Teresik Trek, Canopy Walk and Rapid Shooting. Trekking for 2.5km, we arrived at the Canopy Walk 200m above sea level on ropes and planks. Rapid Shooting consisted of charging against the currents and making waves. We were not very wet until the other boats swamped us with waves from their oars, upon which, it felt as if the Tembeling River dropped on our heads.

We were hard hit when our comrades Matthaeus and Juztin succumbed to disease at night. Being a roommate of Matthaeus, we had to pack everything for him. But the worst part was that he felt better in the morning – and the disease passed on to me. Still, the boat ride was not bad if not for the cold whipping winds. Thus followed the journey home, but with a viewing of the patin fish farm first, at Termeloh, where I turned orange into mango juice. We all endured a near-vomiting trip to reach ACS.

All in all, it was a journey which I promise, with all the over-punctuality of Mr. Simon Bongarde, the hanging of Teik Siang, the games of laughter and BOOM-O…… will not be wiped out from our memories in the foreseeable future.