Wednesday, January 2, 2008

2008 begins~

First things first, happy new year!! A new year always brings new suprises, new friends, new things, new nearly everything. Well, not everything ><
In a few days, most of us are going back to school already. Some of the older students head out to foreign countries to begin their further education. I witness myself last night (2-1-08) that my seniors from my former school of WMS at the airport, going to Australia and London to begin their studies there.
Note:
What was I doing at the airport? 'Cause my brother was among those going.
This year I think will be one of the hustle year in my life, I can feel it in my guts. Many things I hope to accomplish, acquire, and most importantly, to obtain. Well what I said sounds all the same, but still they are different to me.
Well, I only hope this year will be a good year. And I'm baging my hope into something happy but completely useless. -Guess what it is? :P-
-Aaron- Jan '08
Aero Valentine -Arkangel-

Friday, December 21, 2007

Trip to Taiwan

Day 1 10-12-07

We arrived at the airport at about 12 pm. We checked in, which has hell of a hustle. My grandparents forgot to wrap their wine, and in the end they couldn't bring it along. Hahaha. After the rest of my family checked in, we went into the next terminal and waited to board. We boarded at 1.45 pm and we fly at 2.30 pm. We arrived in Taiwan at about 7 pm. We took our luggage and got transfered to the hotel. After dinner we turned in early.

Day 2 11-12-07

We woke up and get washed. After breakfast we took off to this Mountain Ali (weird name). It took a whole day's drive to get there so there wasnt anything much. But we spend our time in the bus catching up with old times, exchanging stories, for we never seen each other for a while. And times like this for all of us to be together for a long period of time is very rare.

Day 3 12-12-07

We woke up at about 5 am to get ready so that we could take the train up the mountain at 5.50 am. We got there in good time and took the train up. After a look at the mountain view, and the very cloudy sunrise, which meant we couldn't see it because of the clouds :( , we went for breakfast. After that we walked back to the hotel to have a quick shower and last minute shopping before we boarded the bus to head for our next destination. That night we arrived at a lakeside hotel, which had a nice view. We slept quite well that night for we were all tired.

Day 4 13-12-07

This day we had no much of a rush so we woke up at our own pace and went for breakfast at 7.30 am. After a quick photograph, we boarded a ship that took us on a tour around the lake. It was nice with the wind blowing at us. Finishing this, we went back to the hotel to pack and we left once again to head towards our next destination- A themepark X) ! Well I don't know its exact location, but all I know is that we had loads of fun. My grandmother was keeping an eye on us teenagers for she didn't want us to ride the dangerous ones. It scared her out of her wits by just seeing them. That night we stayed at hotel with hot springs X) !! I had a nice hour of hot bath and went back to the room sleepy...ZZZZZ

Day 5 14-12-07

We woke up early for we had to leave before a certain time. So we had breakfast and left to I-forgot-where... Wait let me think. Ok I seriously forgot where, but as long that night we were way past tired. And the hotel was 5-star!! YEA!!

Day 6 15-12-07

As my parents, my grandfather and my uncle had to visit factories that day, the rest of us went on a one day tour. We had this cute guide to take us around XP and we went to quite a lot of places. The morning was devoted to shopping while the afternoon was devoted to sight-seeing and also shopping. We went to Taipei 101 which is if I'm not mistaken the tallest building in the world for a short visit before we met my parents and some others for dinner. Then it was a last goodbye before we returned to our hotel for a good night's rest.

Day 7 16-12-07

We was woken up at 4 am in the morning so that we could catch our flight which was at 8 am. We all travelled to the airport and checked in. After a hurried breakfast, we entered the main terminal and waited till the plane was about to take off. We arrived back at about 2 pm.

All of us had a good time. We will all miss being together, for after this, it will be a very long time till the next time all of us cousins will meet again, maybe even never.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Holidays-A good or a bad thing?

Holidays:

Sometimes I wonder. Is it a good thing to me or not? Well, to all teenagers, even nerds, enjoy the holidays, for they can whatever they wish, whenever they wish, however they wish. However, in my case, the holidays bring more trouble than they bring any good at all. Ok, I get to go online the whole day everyday, as long my parents don't switch off the wireless. But, still, I feel all alone in the holidays. I have to admit, I miss my boarding school more than I miss home.

In school, my friends are around me all the time. Ok, there are times that they will be problems, some huge ones, but still we managed it through all the time. I have my studies, my sports activities, and all to keep me occupied all the time. With all those, I am satisfied already. At home is a completely different senario. There is nothing here to keep me going.

The Conclusion:
The holidays are nice, but they have to go. Hope it ends soon.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

IYA Camp

IYA, also known as International Youth Award, is a society in my school, in which I decided to join this term :) There are 3 awards, bronze, silver and gold. I am currently doing my bronze. There are 4 criteria, physical activity, expedition, service and skill. I've now completed my skills, with cooking, and my expedition, which is this camp. The physical activity remains another month before it is complete.

IYA Trial Expedition
This was a two day camp and was quite a short camp I have to admit. It was held in Gunung Dato Negeri Sembilan. The main event of this camp was the mountain hiking on the 2nd day, which is the last day. It was an easy climb up, but coming down was the problem, for it began raining, and the road became slippery. We were told that it will be a hard trail when coming down especially while raining. Some of us nearly lost our lives (this is true I m not making this up) but all managed to come back, though not unscathed, but safe and alive at least.

IYA Expedition
This camp was a 3 days camp, and was held in Kuala Woh Perak. This was a true expedition. We had to cook 3 meals, go through a harsh jungle trekking, group activities, river crossing, community service.

Day 1
We left KTJ at about 6 am. We arrived at Kuala Woh at about 10 am. We would have arrived earlier but we had to stop for breakfast. After we arrived, we were briefed of the rules and the area. Once we unpacked, we cooked lunch. Man it was nice. For once :P Then the afternoon activities began. We did some rotating activity. Lazy to explain. Then we had river crossing to cool down. It was fun :) The night came. We cooked dinner. Then that night we continued our activity from the afternoon. That night after briefed with sentry duty, I joined the night's sentry though it wasn't my night. I stayed up the whole night.

Day 2
We went for jungle trekking. Ahhhh!!!! it was tall. But still we made it. The sad thing was we had to come back and cook!! The afternoon activities was fun, we learned a few cooking skills. Then we went swimming in the river. There's where I got injured :P my tail bone got hit on some rocks in the river. That night's BBQ was terrible but we had a nice time. I did sentry again that night so in result I didn't sleep for 2 nights in a row.

Day 3
That day we only did the community service and went home. I picked up 4 people so they could get home faster. It was fun. We were joking in the car the whole way back :)

Both camps were fun, and with it ends my bronze expedition.

Interhouse Rugby Tournament

I've nothing much to say about this tournament, except that we went in unprepared, but came out 2nd! Unexpected, yeah, but we played to our best.

Training? Don't even ask. I was in charge for a while until another captain was chosen for I had too many things to do. Then no practices were held until the final week before the matches began. We only had 2 practices then the weekend came. Half the team was absent on that weekend due to trips. I myself was absent due to a camp. So that weekend was off, i supposed.

Then the week proceed, and the matches as followed:
NAQ vs NAZ
This match we played extremely well, but due to lack of knowledge of the rules to some of us we could have ended the match with a draw instead of a lose. Everyone gave their best, even though one of our best player was absent from the game. He wasn't here for the tournament in fact. We lost gallantly :P 2-1.

NAQ vs NAD
This match we played easily, and there was not much of a pressure. Their players were a complete slack, and it was worthless playing them in the first place. They even fought among themselves and we were standing there yawning! HAHA!! It was funny watching us standing there staring at them. We won the match 5-0. We could have won 7-0 but were not clear of some rules again so there it was.

NAQ vs NQH
We started this match thinking we must not under estimate them, for I learned my lesson from the interhouse basketball. However, it turned out to be a complete joke. They even collided into each other. HAHA!! It was weird I had to admit, but still it was a fun match. We won again 5-2.

NAQ-IMR
This match grew huge tension, and we were at an alarming disadvantage. For we were worn out from the last match, and the opponent was fresh from a good nap! We played our best, for I remember our match against them clearly last year when I was still a rookie. I played too at that time but was no match for them. This time we managed a draw and this placed us 2nd in the tournament. We drew 2-2.

This tournament brought us experience and fun as the exams looms upon us and I have things to attend to. I played my best and had no regrets this time :)

Interhouse Basketball Tournament

This tournament is the first basketball tournament I've been for a long time, and this was my only junior tournament I will ever join in my whole life, in KTJ and also out of school. For next year onwards, I am officially a senior!! (Ahhh!!!)

For this tournament, not bragging :P but my house captain chose me as captain for the team. It was a hustle when I became captain, for there were some people who did not approve the house captain's choice. However, the house captain himself gave the team a talking saying that he will dish out punishments for those who does not listen to my instructions. Now to mention it, I am also my school's temporary basketball captain, for the current one was injured.

The training went on for a while. I had a hard time training them, and in result could not actually get out the full potential of the team. I can also say I didnt play my best for I was hard for me to play alone, for all my team mates do is follow blindly.

Then comes the matches:
NAQ vs IMR
This match ended 36-34, with us losing during the golden goal. We actually played really well. I could say I played my worst in my whole life, but that was at that point. I played worst in the following days. The match actually went up drawing all the way. Even we had extra time and we still draw. First time something like that happened for me. At the end of it I was freaking disappointed. As i was captain, no one was there to support me. I had to do everything myself.

NAQ vs NAZ
This match was only the worst match I have ever played. In the end, we lost 19-17. Again a close match. If only had I changed strategies we would had won. Stupid me. Im to blame. AAAAHHHHHH!!!!

NAQ vs NAD
This match, however, was a match I has not allowed to play in, for i was absent from school due to a lasting injury during the night. However, I still played for half the match. I kept on scoring, I felt really good. I came out from the court feeling disappointed that I could not play for full time, and my score was useless. However, seeing my house giving me a good support gave me a happy spirit. The game ended 36-10.

NAQ vs NQH
This match was a complete havoc. Another best player and I was fouled out for we couldn't control our anger. And without two of us, the whole team fell apart. We still had a key player inside, but he panicked and gave way. We lost 23-16.

All in all, I can be said to be blamed for the failure of this team. I am sorry to all my team mates, for I was inexperienced. Ill make up to them, i promise my house.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

THIMUN Singapore

THIMUN Singapore has been a good experience for all of the first timers, and also brings fresh enthusiasm for those attending again. All delegates were having fun, except for a few, where some of us were sleepy :P.


-Day 1-
We left KTJ at about 9.40 am. We were supposed to leave at 9 am but there was a slight delay for we couldnt find one of us for it turns out she twisted her ankle and had to be picked up. It was boring driving all the way down to Singapore, and getting lost in Singapore was really a frustrating experience. We arrive at Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) at 4.15 pm, 45 minutes left for registration. After that we went to YMCA Singapore where we will be staying for the duration of the trip. That night a few of us went to Orchard Road for dinner and shopping. I swear never to go shopping with HER ever again for it was a NIGHTMARE. She just wouldn't shut up!

-Day 2-
Suited up with suits and ties, we proceed to the HCI's SALT Centre, where most of the GA's were. I went to GA2 feeling as though I was about to throw up. After roll call was over, we began lobbying. I was saved by Natasha, delegate of New Zealand, for I had no clue of what to do. We spent the rest of the day combining our resolutions together with the people we managed to recruit while lobbying. Not to forget the opening ceremony which I slept during all the performances, and also the OVERCROWDED lunch, where all delegates for one day will have meals together. 1000 over people in a small canteen. We were all going to DIE.

That night we went to Orchard again :) :P But then having HER following us again was HELL. AHH!!

-Day 3-
The Debate began. I actually fell asleep and I got caught. :P well that's for trying. But the note passing was fun. Some of them were discussing, some were gossiping, others were just sending for the sake of tiring the admin staff. Seriously jobless. Some of the debaters like the delegate of France, UK, New Zealand were all good speakers. N some were funny. Way too funny.

That night was alot better. No Samantha! Weee!! Miao Shan, Andrew, Isaac and I had fun without her. We went walking around along Orchard Road, going far enough for us to be exhausted. We then went back, only to be staying up and chat till like 2 am. It was fun, but somewhat I was pissed that night. Dunno why.

-Day 4-
Another day of debating. This time I had a nice time shooting down an opponent's resolution. At the end of the day, my groups resolution was picked to be debated in the plenary hall the next day. Oh my god, the members of my group were all happy and nervous, for all 6 GA's will be there in the hall the next day.

The night came and where we were? In the zoo --. Actually we had a social time with the other delegates there. There was buffet dinner and time to shake whatever you have down there :P. Well I sort of ditched my group and dancing with another group, which was all Singaporean. Man some of them sure can dance!! Like Tai Boon n Joan. But there was one shy one hiding behind someone... forgot who was it... her name starts with a S and ends with n A.

-Day 5-
The General Assembly session and also the Closing Ceremony. Nothing much to say, except the General Assembly was havoc.

Andrew, Isaac n I joined 3 girls, Joan, Celestine and Sandra for a last night. Celestine had her dad come and fetch us first so luckily our transport there was alright. I think we would have gotten lost if we went on our own :P. We had fun while we were there. Details? I will keep it to myself. But there was something I regret not doing. Which what is it i am not going to state it here.That night we slept like about 3 am :) :P
-Day 6-
The morning was nothing much. Andrew, Miao Shan and I made a last trip to Orchard Road to see if there was anything we needed to get. Nothing much to buy but we 3 bought an identical shirt. Nice.
We travelled back to KTJ and arrived at about 7.15 pm. Back in jail :(
All in all it was nice and the experience was frutiful. Did I just said fruitful? Shit my vocabulary is making me sick. And there are a lot of people which I hope to meet again someday, especially one person...