Tuesday, July 25, 2006

withers away @ 11:29 pm

It's something Mystical

time to continue on my obs trip.. (this is really detailed coz i wanna rmbr the many interesting things that happened.. its my obs diary in a sense) lucky we didn't have to wake up so early on day 3, since we only slept at 1+am.. we had nice hot milo and fried bread thanks to zx who bothered to set up a fire.. den we had to plan our route for the land ex, since each checkpoint had different no. of credits and the credits are required for us to buy stuff later for a mission.. LJ taught us how to use his walkie talkie in case he collapsed.. he said we had to carry him if he fainted halfway or smth.. naturally we thought he was only joking.. we didn't find many checkpoints.. went bashing into the forests quite often.. halfway thru the sole of my right shoe was falling off so we stopped by for lunch and for me to change into my wet activity shoes.. so paiseh lah.. it rained twice so LJ decided not to let us trek up the mountain, which is one of the checkpoints.. he just needed us to tell him where we were on the map and how to get to the checkpoint and we'll get our points.. we did some activities to gain more points too.. was pretty amazed at how fast we got together to find the best way to complete them..
at one point when we were reaching our destination, LJ suddenly ran ahead of us.. when we reached camp 1 gate, we realised he locked us out.. i thought we were supposed to climb the gate haha.. turned out we had to play a game which tested our mo qi(wad u call this in eng??). we were to close our eyes and each of us has to take turns to shout out a no. from 1-20 in order. no 2 ppl can say the same no. at the same time and everyone has to say at least one no., if not start over again. we were not allowed time to come up with any strategy.. heard this conv over LJ's walkie talkie:
LJ: we're stuck at camp 1 gate now
(i dunno who): why? u can't open the lock?
LJ: i can always open the lock, its them.. *laughs*
but guess wad, we actually completed the game in less than 5 min.. LJ was surprised.. we rock man.. :D
we didnt have much time to clean up, and had to go for another activity-the tunnel. while LJ went to make some preparations, we entertained ourselves singing jay's songs, national day songs.. almost anything that came to our minds.. when LJ came back, he gave us blindfolds and we were led in a single file into the forest.. one by one we were led by LJ somewhere.. we couldnt take the silence, so we ended up singing again.. when it was my turn, i was actually trying not to be too scared.. it was some sorta fear of the unknown.. coz its like.. LJ didnt even call my name, he just came, i heard his footsteps and he took me away.. when i was in the tunnel i was told to take off my blindfold and find my way around.. we had to find an exit with a white light (LJ's headlamp).. i took a wrong turn and backtrekked to the entrance.. so had to go again.. banged everywhere really coz couldnt see anything much.. esp i wasn't with specs.. no hard objects in the tunnel.. (i suspect this is where i got all my blue-black) i'm glad for my helmet.. i was talking to myself all the time; wonder if anyone heard.. haha.. but found my way eventually.. though there were "fake lights" along the way which turned out to be ventilation holes>< i think this was the first thing we had to do solo.. hmm.. not that it was fun, but its meaningful:)
we finally had time to wash up and wash everything that we carried with us.. it felt good to have nice clean hair.. after dinner we still had some time before having to meet in the multi purpose hall.. so guess wad.. we went to the beach and sang songs again! kept singing and singing non stop.. guys did a great job harmonizing too.. it was so relaxing, with the breeze around us..
when it was time, we went to the MPH for our mission: to build a catapult that would propel an egg the furthest without breaking it.. materials would be bought using the credits we earned at the checkpoints.. LJ wasn't around when all the other instructors were.. then we heard from another instructor that he's down and ill.. later LJ still came, but he couldn't even stand properly.. den he asked if any of us vomitted or had diarrhoea.. apparently he had food poisoning.. so he wasn't joking when he said he might collapse.. think he wasn't feeling good in the beginning of the day liao.. he disappeared after awhile, and we were left to do the catapult and design a coat of arms.. the job of designing was obviously left to zi rui, adm student.. we all thought we had the whole night to do both, and suddenly the instructor said "10min left". nearly died man.. the catapult was sorta settled, though towards the v last few min we started to go mad, esp zj.. i also can't rmbr wad we were laughing abt.. we were told to leave evthg in the MPH, but zi rui brought back the markers and cloth.. some girls stayed up to help out.. we wanted to finish it fast, coz we weren't supposed to bring it back yah.. and instructors do come to check if we really sleep after lights out.. 1st night LJ came at 12+, so we wanted to finish it by 12.. faced many probs, mainly coz we didnt have enough ink for our markers, not enough colours too.. coz we didnt bring back the whole box.. zx came over and zi rui just joked to him to ask him to steal it back frm the MPH.. he really went to get it.. he borrowed a black marker for us too.. rox lah haha.. we needed big black patches for the background, and v clever zi rui thought of using trashbag.. borrowed from buddy watch.. we didnt have glue, nor staple.. clever zi rui again used her plaster as scotch tape! v creative loh..
we managed to finish it at abt 12+.. actually the night before we had a pact with zj for him to tell us his story.. but by then we could only hear snoring frm the guys' rm.. didnt get to play anymore, nor listen to anymore stories.. disappointed yes, but dun blame them.. we're all tired..
day 4: last min catapult test and stuff.. we managed to get the 3rd prize haha.. even though we didnt even use camping sticks.. only used hula hoop, bungee cord, pvc pipes, straws, cotton twine etc.. later we had time to our own watch, shared our take-aways, had a part of the same twine.. listened to a song LJ shared on his laptop, which he said the instructors liked (he was completely fine already by then.. could run around and stuff.. can't even catch up with him).. but we weren't done! had one last activity.. for our watch it was the chasm.. the simplest compared to the rest.. its climbing somewhere up there and taking one big step across the empty space between 2 planks, eyes shut.. if u dun think abt the height, its easy.. after everyone's done, we had some time to ourselves again.. pei xian used the leftover straws to make a basket for LJ.. i made 2 stars.. she also made the letters L and J using the straws, attached my 2 stars to them and then attached the letters to the basket.. when we were seated in a circle, we were passing the basket around to zx, who was seated beside LJ, so he could put it behind him.. it was v obvious lah actually.. but he appreciated it.. so its good:) he asked us to write our names on the basket too.. we compiled a contact list and he helped us make photocopies.. we're actually meeting up tml for kbox.. i dunno how many ppl will turn up, but at least its an effort.. for this grp of ppl who didnt know anyone, but still helped one another out with everything from the very beginning.. we came from v different places, different backgrounds, guys being older than girls, overseas and local scholars alike.. its a special bond we shared.. and all of us know that.. we didnt have a chance to know each and everyone v well, but its a v memorable experience.. we had a paper passed around to write abt a good and bad pt of each person.. so i have my own paper with me now.. nostalgic lah.. that's the word..

tock seng's charter:
1. if u feel pressure, let it go. (came from zx, while we played a game called helium loop on the 1st day.. all of us formed a circle and used one finger to support a hula hoop at chest level.. with all our fingers in contact with the hoop at all times, we had to bring the hoop down to the floor.. damn tiring though it looked easy at first.. this line frm zx became a chant which helped us succeed after.. 1/2hr? LJ said we were the first watch he's seen who dared to do this with our eyes closed.. and he's been in obs for 5 yrs.. cool huh?)
2. play your heart out, but not literally (for safety sake)
3. 2 heads are better than 1, but 14 heads are best. (sounds weird grammatically, but we didnt bother)