In other news... Failed class outing

Yes, there was a late last minute attempt at having a class outing today to bowl and watch Happy Feet. Lol... Ok, the movie sounds stupid but it's box office earnings won James Bond by roughly US$6 million if my memory doesn't fail me. So well due to the effort that was put in we continued despite the expected turn out of only 5 people. haiz.. bu hao yi si...

Ironically when we went there our lane was next to a bunch of J2s who took 2 lanes and had nearly 10+ people. Haiz.. 自叹不如 (Sigh that we can't compare to them)...

Hmm.. I wonder is it coincidence or is it something to do with people of the initials WH. One said he would turn up at 1 instead of 12, end up 2+ then just woke up.. But not bad lah, still went in the end. The other one suddenly say got training may come at 2+ then in drag drag drag until dun nd to come liao, cause we couldn't think of anything else to do cept chit chat at Macs.

Lol.. Sat there for about 3 hours to tok kok, fold stars and tear paper. Even the macdonald's tray paper that we used.. Haha, maybe that's why they immediately cleared the tray the moment we stood up to leave.

And yesh, finally back to a relatively normal post. Now time to go sleep. Good night.

Eugene remembered @ 12:48 AM

Stupid surveys

So I took this survey late last night at 2+ 3 when I was very sleepy and after losing many many rounds of gunbound for er... "incomprehensible" reasons. Dunno why I took it then, lol.. I sound like an ass or a really angsty person. But for fun lah, here they are. Note that the "you" refers to the quiz. =P

Eugene remembered @ 11:36 PM

Back - and the start of a long series of posts

Ah.. got back er.... yesterday I think. Yep, it was yesterday and today's Monday. Been confused about the days cause of the stupid 5am timing that we arrived back in Singapore at and without any jet lag I just end up feeling sleepy all day instead of just the wrong part of it. Slept and napped and slept. Lol.. In fact, I feel like sleeping again.

Don't know why I feel this way though, despite the trip involving camping, it was more like some (lousy) holiday. The schedule was so super lax, no, make that empty, that I ended up playing countless hours of asshole dai dee, bridge, weird umchi umchi games, black jack, bluff, hold-em' poker (picked up from james bond) with the scouts. Throw in the polar bear, big fish small fish and other miscellaneous games with the rest then uh... I think I can safely say it adds up to erm... 15 - 20 hours?

Oh well, the whole trip wasn't supposed to be that long in the first place so what to do? bzzt... I'll do a chronological account journal style:

Eugene remembered @ 3:37 PM

Day 1 - Going there

Supposed to meet at "8 am SHARP" in school to take a bus to..... take another bus -__- But yea, I think my time zone 5 mins behind everyone or something. Lol.. basically I arrived at 0805 Well, turns out there was like a half an hour buffer or something liddat so didn't have to really worry at all. Hmmm... what next. Right, so we arrived at kitchener road to take the SVIP bus that would bring us all the way to Gopeng. The bus was pretty good actually, nice seats, good air con, lots of space. Just that well, if this is SVIP, then 草原快车 is what?

Went via the second link, played cards, slept, ate lunch slept, toilet break, slept.... sounds like some plane journey, but finally after abt 7 hours, we reached Gopeng. Lol.. Don't ask me where that is, somewhere before Ipoh correct liao. So anyway, we transferred to this tiny lorry which brought us to the camp looking like a bunch of illegal immigrants. But honestly, the ride was quite fun, like some arcade game, have to keep looking out for protruding trees branches and objects to dodge while maintaining your balance. Quite challenging, the last part was go under some gate which is so darn low I think the shortest person would have been hit. But yea, game completed with full health remaining.

Haha, I think this entry is getting a bit boring, but somehow I just feel like complaining a bit. Maybe things had to be done this way, but I really didn't like the way the whole thing was done. Take the address for example, the one we were given was "UGM 4/1, Kg. Geruntom, 31600 Gopeng, Perak". Google returns an exact result giving me the name of the place as Gopeng Nature Resort. But turns out the place that we went to was beside it, called Rumah Rehat Adeline, with the address:" Lot 13302, Mukim Teja, Kampung Geruntum, Sungai Itik, 31600 Gopeng, Perak".

Here's a picture of the place:
No idea how good or bad the other one would have been, but hey, Adeline was not bad. The food was good and they even set up the tents for us already, so we just played bridge till it was time for the (first and only) cookout. Hmm.. here's an article on the place if you're interested.

Oh and Malaysia really shouldn't make a big fuss about selling water to Singapore. I mean, given that they seem to have excess supply, we are doing them a favour lorh, still want to increase price... What do I mean? Check out the beautiful water feature which makes us think it's pouring every night:

Eugene remembered @ 3:36 PM

Day 2 - Rafflesia Trek

Woke up at 6 today despite the official wake up time at 6.30. Wanted to get a head start, besides, didn't really manage to sleep that well in the tent which had a leaking ground sheet. Ironically, we chose the tent ourselves and we were the first group to do so, but well, u noe 塞翁失马 yes? really 焉知非福. More details on that later. Well anyway, didn't sleep well cause I woke up nearly every hour on the dot cause my feet were freezing off.

Can't remember what we had for breakfast but it wasn't too bad, actually all the meals were good save for one or two which weren't that fantastic. I think it's more of a preference thing though.

After breakfast it was time for the Rafflesia trek which was utterly boring. The trek, lol, cannot call it a trek, more like stroll to the reserve itself was longer than the trek to find the flower. The trek within the reserve was actually quite exciting thanks to the leeches which we were constantly trying to spot and avoid. But it was quite anticlimatic, I think just after 1km we "found" the flower. It was really damn classic eco tourism case study la.. the Rafflesia looked like it was placed there lorh, and it was just ONE flower. Still got chains to guide you around after you reach the flower, so its like some loop, walk there, see flower, round about head back, yay.

Oh but it was quite interesting that we kinda got to see the life cycle of it, cause the very first one we saw was a bud that looked like a rotting coconut. Then was the flowering plant, followed by a dead one:

After heading back, and successfully avoiding all the leeches, lol.. not bad lah, at least now I know that leeches live in forests too and aren't just those fat black slug like thingy you see in the movies. They're quite small and fast, pretty freaky when they like chiong toward you. It's not that fast but still... Fine, fine, I some mountain tortoise lah, first time see leech, what to do? <>.<>

Ah so sit inside some classroom thingy and snack a bit while they ask us if we wanna buy the shirts... lol.. Marianne Chong can seriously consider using this place as case study if she need new material, then can pwn Nagle cause the example closer to home, easier to relate too. heh.. I think I'm going from (slightly) bitchy to crazy, hmm.. who cares.

So we strolled back to the camp, very 吃饱没事做(eat finish nothing to do) so talk abt scandals. Lol.. The scouts can fight with our class to see who's pro-er at this kind of nonsense and wh.... lolololol.. Hope he don't see this. heh. Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention the 2 (nearly non-existent) guides we had. One irritating one and another who not that bad lah, just that look like guy and since the 2 of them just dao us throughout the whole thing and walk ahead without us, end up got talk that they les. Lol.. I shan't pass judgement

Next up, 5 hours of bridge/asshole dai dee till campfire. Campfire got some charades thingy guys vs girls. Guys won, girls forefeit to do more charades to imitate celebrities. Then somehow somehow Nadiah go sabo me and Yin Xing (er.. dunno correct or not, some scout lah). And stupid royston go gimme Johnny Depp. Bah.. but ok lah, wasn't that bad.

Spent that night in the main area cause we told the teachers our tent leaky and they were trying to either get it fixed or get us a hut. Not too bad lah, no bugs after we turned off the lights and needless to say, the air was fresh and there was plenty of space, but it was colder than the tent though. Woke up at 3am to get track pants before I managed to sleep properly...

Eugene remembered @ 3:35 PM

Day 3 - Highlight of the whole trip

Finally, after 2 days of boredom, the highlight of the whole trip was here. Waterfall abseiling and white water rafting. Hmm.. one thing I don't get about the place is that the weather can get quite hot sometimes, but the water is always freaking cold. And not as though it's flowed down from some high mountain with ice caps or anything. But anyway, the abseiling was fun, pity no photos though, the 3L ppl brought along a disposable camera but the rest of us.. 把那次难忘的经历深深地刻在脑海里 or is it 心坎？

*Edit* Lol.. Here's two photos koped from Ruth Ngo's photo album before she password protected it <>.<> Haha, managed to find it cause of wen hao's name.. lol.. she thought the guy in orange was someone else XD. But er.. Ruth, if you're somehow reading this or got to know abt this, lol... er.. paiseh...

Anyway yes, *cough*p*cough*j*cough* the guy in white is wen hao. Feel free to crop.

lol.. ok, not that dramatic but it was quite an experience, abseiling down a waterfall. It's a small 15m one but the feeling of the water gushing against your legs as you rest against the wall, the way the water splashes against your face and the rest of you as you slowly make your descent. Ah... But that aside, it was freezing though. Lol.. by the time we dried up we were kinda reluctant to go a second time already, in the end we procrastinated abt it until no more liao.

Oh well, but next up was white water rafting. Lol.. our raft screamed like mad at the start. Then somehow my side whole day go down the bigger drops last, so we get tossed into the raft. Then start floating around inside as the water drains and we scramble back to our seats. Ok, I think that's more like me the first time it happened. The second time not bad alr but still hit some people I think. Haiz.. apologies ppl.

But the rest of it was much better, can't decide if it's cause we managed to get our side to go down the dips first or that we just held on to the tug line and hecked alr. lol.. Or maybe it's just that the ride was less hiong after the beginning. Still it was pretty fun, stopped halfway to do bodyrafting, basically just sit up and float using your PFD. Heh... our group first to go, then after that just keep splashing water at people. Then that wen hao go pull me backwards into the water. Haiz.. poor guy, kept trying to sneak attack ppl, in the end when he try to pull we gang and pull him first. Lol...

So the rest of the day was spent playing more cards. This time the black jack came in with push-ups as bets, then end up we look like idiots pumping ourselves for no apparent reason, but well, it was quite fun lah. Haha, that night we also got to sleep in the big hut which had pathetic mattresses but lots of sleeping mats, so just pile the mats and dump the mattress on top and sleep until song. Ah.... lol.

*Edit* Here's a picture I took the next morning:

Eugene remembered @ 3:34 PM

Day 4 - Caving

With the highlight of the trip over, the rest of the trip looked set to be a bit fei, cause the itinerary was er.. shopping for 10 hours? No thnx sorry. But not that bad lah, went caving and Gua Tempurang. Quite interesting lah, wonder who so bomb go explore the cave in the first place and discover that, beyond stretches of space less than 3/4 a meter high with a stream running through that's deep enough at some parts for you to swim, there'd be open space ahead.

There was also this approx. 3 meter high slide also. Yep, nature knows how to have fun too. Basically it was this part where it dipped at about 70 degrees, then since it was relatively smooth, just slide down lorh.. Sounds nutty? Don't worry, you're not the only one who though so. Haiz, here I learn that ziploc's not that fantastic. Firstly my ziploc bag leaked within like 5 mins of entering the cave so my small LED torch short circuited. Then after the slide part somehow a hole got ripped into it that's just the size of my torch and it fell out. Yay. <>.<>

Ok, that detail was totally unnecessary but well, besides memories what's gone never returns mah, so must include more details, then can relive the whole experience years later.

So after the scouts + 1 set down to play some umchi umchi tongkat game after lunch. Lol.. penalty for losing was..... yep, pumping. Haiz.. a bit sian doing it in front of the Hwa Chong ppl who happened to be there but I think they were too distracted to notice what we were doing.

Hmm... this part has been pretty long already, so I'll break off a new section called shopping. Lol.. It is/was supposed to be an expedition what. and er.. shopping's er... shopping. Right.

Eugene remembered @ 3:33 PM

Day 4 - Shopping

Took a bus down to Ipoh Parade. Basically some shopping centre lah.. Not bad, quite big, lots of security guards who happily volunteered to look after our backpacks for the 7 to 8 hours that we were there for 2 ringgit per person. Ok lorh, the lockers which were too small for our bags already cost 1 ringgit anyway. So with so much time we went to watch Casino Royale. Lol.. the show wasn't too bad lah. But product placement like mad. Keep using the phone, sms, call, check phone book what not, basically show off the sony ericsson lah. But the most pro was this scene:

*Vesper Lyde referring to James Bond's watch*
Vesper: Rolax?
James: No, Omega.
Vesper: Beautiful.

Everyone else(or at least me): o.O

And well, given that the show was so much about products, makes me wonder if the Aston Martin company is getting tired of sponsoring the show or something. The cars were all used at night and the Aston Martin DBS had less than say... 5 mins of screen time before it got swerved and flipped a world record breaking 7 times.

And yea, running out of card games to play, we learnt Hold-em' poker while watching the show too, though we got it a bit wrong, this James Bond site clears up all the errors though. So yes, many er... things gained from watching this show besides the great price of 8RM and not too lousy quality.

After the show we wanted to go arcade but M'sia law say must be above 18. And the woman shrieked/screamed something at us in Chinese which we didn't manage to catch. So screwed up, no wonder so empty. So it was off to bowl instead. Wahaha, damn happy, despite one screwed up lane which was damn lag and had pins missing every few frames or so, managed to achieve new personal best of 168. Would have been higher if not cause of the missing pin number 1 which.... kk, you wouldn't believe me anyway. Heh.

Ok, last bit before the conclusion of this lengthy post. Being in Ipoh, what must you eat? Hor fun right? Ironically the whole food court didn't even have one stall which sold hor fun, not even the normal one.

And that's it. The 5d/4n trip has come to an end. Oh where's the 5th day arh? 12am to 5 am, spent travelling on the bus. Yah, that's the 4th night too... So yep, this super lengthy post has come to an end. Was supposed to post this yesterday but blogger died halfway so yah. Blogger sux.

*Edit* Since this post is so lengthy, I'll end of with yet another photo. Photo idea koped from Wen Hao. Heh... at least I acknowledge my sources lah.... ok, this is getting screwed up already...

Eugene remembered @ 3:32 PM

Here I am

So the Perak expedition is tomorr.... today. Lol.. I should be asleep already but haiz.. Been feeling a bit irritated these few days. Maybe this trip is a good break though I'm not sure I'm looking forward to it. Always felt a bit skeptical about camps and such.

Argh.. I'll keep this post as short as possible. Really can't stand the way I'm blogging now, it seems like just random thoughts. Oh well, 2 weeks of the holidays have gone already and not bad, went out like every day the last week. Haha... least it beats rotting at home. Must go out more after this trip, rot at home anymore and I'll start to decompose already.

So yea, bon voyage to me, have fun baking ppl, and er.. cya blog...ok ok, you too. Must be nice to my readers no matter the numbers.. lol.. Yep, that's it from me for now, good night and heh.

Eugene remembered @ 12:12 AM

Of wee wee and poo poo

Lol.. weird title yea. But that's almost what this entire post is all about. Uh no.. I've not completely lost it such that I'm talking about such er... stuff. So yes, 我卖关子卖很久了, it's time to cut the crap (really no pun intended) and get to the chase. This post is about.... handling kids.

So yea, signed up for some read to reach CIP some time ago and today was the briefing. Basically reading to 4 to 6 year old kids under NTUC childcare co-operative (yes they are a co-operative) who might be reading at risk, meaning they don't really have a chance to read much and as such might not be able to catch up with their peers when they start schooling.

Anyway, part of the briefing cum training was how to handle kids... and haiz.. so sad. It's (nearly) all about manipulating them and bluffing them. Ok lol.. nono, we're not that evil, it goes something like this:

Say the book you reading got character called John. Then the kid you reading to get's distracted and tells you about some holiday he went on. So you're supposed to act interested yet divert his attention back to the book by saying something like "Oh that's nice, did you see John there? No? Well let's find out where John went shall we?"

Lol.. here's another example.
Kid: *points to cat* "Why is this a cat?"
You: "Hmmm.. I'm not too sure either. Why don't we read on to find out?"

Er... so where does the wee wee and poo poo come in? Well, er... it's just in one of the books which are meant to be read to kids... Lol.. stupid wen hao anyhow pick the dunno wat potty for girls one for me to read to jian wei. Then in the end, a pair of girls were reading the for guys version... aloud to the whole class... <>.<>

Ok, my blogging's a little out of style lately and I really don't like the wee wee and poo poo thing and so er.. I'll end with "... Chrysanthemum, chrysanthemum, chrysanthemum." Now, would you like to say that with me?

Eugene remembered @ 11:33 PM

Random post

I wasn't really intending to have this post, but well the thought suddenly struck me so I'll just write it down anyway. Haha, it wasn't that random a thought really, but no prizes for guessing what I was thinking about....

But anyways, isn't it strange that we can cover our eyes, pinch our noses, close our mouth, withdraw our hands so that we can avoid our senses from detecting things we don't want to, but we just can't effectively do so with our ears?

(and here's where the crapping starts to come in...)

From an evolutionary point of view, perhaps it's kind of like a tool for survival considering that soundwaves don't just travel in a straight line.

From a religious/philosophical point of view, perhaps it's just so that we can listen all of the time.

Well, whatever it is, I'm thankful for it, but sometimes... sometimes I wish I could listen selectively, cause regardless of intention, words once spoken always have an impact.

Eugene remembered @ 2:00 AM

Academic year 2006

Ah... it's over. Finally (perhaps). The last few days were rather crappy with PW and stuff which were kinda haunting us into the hols... but alas it's all over. Yay I guess.

I've been wanting to do this post for a long long time dating from when the promo results were out, but somehow things happen here and there and I never got down to blogging it. So things piled up, 积少成多, and in the end, I think I'll end up with a weird lengthy post that sound quite dead.

Oh well, here goes nothing..

First up, promo results. Yea. Got these such a long time ago I can't remember when.. I think it might have been nearly a month. Ah.. a quick check of the time table reveals that it was the 16th to 17th of October. Lol.. perhaps it wasn't that long ago then.. But anyways.. didn't do as well as I had hoped, haiz... but I don't really want to think about it anymore. There's always next year! and the one right at the end of it is the only one that matters <>.<>

Ok, so next up was Mr. Lai leaving.... This really delayed my post by a lot... plus there was chem spa, PW OP, I&R... all the crap. ok ok, maybe I was lazy but I think I'll stop here. Seemed to have forgotten what I wanted to say. or perhaps I just don't want to remember. Besides memories, what's gone never returns yea? haiz...

-Post truncated-

Eugene remembered @ 12:40 PM