The Road Trip To Nowhere

Monday, March 16, 2009

I've just returned from my Sec 1 camp and have got a whole lot to talk about it.

Complaints #1
Of course, after the camp I've got lotz to complain about. Let's start with a major one.

This complaint is regarding the Student Leaders. Well, not my Student Leaders for that matter. Mine were great and humorous. They were fun to be with and tolerated our nonsense. But some other SLs were rubbish. Like the one that called James a...a b****** if you know what I mean. An SL! Not just a regular dude, but an SL!!!

Also, there was another unreasonable one. He punished Marvin, forcing him to stand facing the tree and not doing anything, just because of one of the complaints he muttered. I mean, it was just a remark, and everybody else felt the same!~

People with attitude problems gotta change.

Complaints #2
This time it is about the food. I know that we should not expect much, and they have tried to make the food as scrumptuous as they can, I am not satisfied with the health level.

Okay, they gave us fruits and veggies, but just l00k @ that oil! Nearly everything was coated with a layer of oil. Especially the last day's noodles. That was literally soaked in oil.
Not that I'm really health concious or anything, but at least they could try to cook with less oil...

Complaints #3
Yes, complaints again.

This time it's about the campfire, which was really unimpressive. I mean, we just performed our own bits and had some mass cheering, but what else after that? Nothing. Not that I was looking forward to anything, after a bad experience in my P5 camp at exactly the same place.
It was supposed to be the big event, but all it did was give us an opportunity to scream our lungs out!

Praises #1
Whoa! Praises! Can it be true? Yes it can!
I would like to commend some of the SLs, like ours. They were indeed very encouraging, and helped the group to cooperate and bond well. I really enjoyed my time with my two SLs. They were very tolerant, and they told out-of-this-world jokes. Especially Kenneth. He loved telling Confucious jokes, which were really punny (All pun intended). Like "Man who stands on toilet bowl is high on pot" [Pot referring to the nickname of marijuana, or cannabis].
To all those gr8 SLs out there: kudos to you!

Praises #2
Huh? Can it be? More praises?
Yes it can.
I would like to praise the trainers for their invaluable support, help and effort to make things run smoothly.
Although they were fierce and strict at times, they still contributed to most of our camp life, putting everything on track for us.
Well, they can be emotional, like that bench-toppling incident for Groups 8-13. That was scary, but it was fun after all.
Specifically, my trainer, Sheikh, was k00l. He really pulled the team together and helped us get through the camp. He was also very lenient with our journals as well. :P
So, three cheers for the trainers! Gd luck with future camps! :P

$$
Many people are complaining about how they ripped $110 (or $220 if you count Edusave) off us with a sucky camp. Well, I both agree and disagree.
For one, they did give us a boring itenary and loads of clean-up work to do, and that completely sucks. [According to the Basic Guide to Blogging, I should explain why that sucks instead of just putting it there, but really, don't you know already?] Neither was the campfire interesting / fun / interactive / attention-grabbing.
But then again, they did provide us with great lodging (as compared to the A-Huts and tents) as well as passable food although it was on the unhealthy side [refer to my previous post about the food...]. I mean, what can we expect if they have to cater to 464 hungry Sec 1s?
In conclusion, I find that the camp was indeed overpriced, but only slightly. Perhaps $180 would be good enough? :P

Lodging #1
What can I say about the lodging‽ <--[that is an interrobang]
Many people have been complaining about the dormitories, saying that it was too smell / cramped / wooden / brown, but I say that they are waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too pampered.
I'll have you know, the A-huts, the ones I stayed in in my P5 camp, were much worse. They were really cramped, everyone squeezing into a 5m x 5m x 5m space.
So, the dormitories were actually quite good! [as compared to the A-huts and tents, at least.]
By the way, during my Cub Pack trip to Malacca in '06, we slept on plain wooden boards under a shelter. I hope you over-pampered ppl stop complaining! Think about what the others had to face.
Somebody from my group (I forgot who) made a joke that they specifically put the iSpark people in dorms because we were wimpy / nerdy / geeky and could not take the harsh conditions of any other worse form of lodging. Well, since we were in the dorms, who cares anymore?

Lodging #2
Well, I can say that the lodging was pretty fine as compared to my previous camp at the same location, where I had to stay in an A-Hut, which was terribly damp, cramped, poorly ventilated, sandy, and most of all, uncomfortable. This time, I got to stay in the dormitory, which was gr8!

Firstly, there were actually mattresses, pillowcases and bedsheets, all of which were lacking in the A-Huts, where I had to make my living space within a 3m x 1m wooden board without anything remotely cushiony within a 500m radius.
Secondly, there was a built in toilet and shower facility, which meant that we did not have to use the common showering area I had to use previously. Somehow I didn't think that the constructors of that place adequately used open concept here...Anyway, there were two toilet cubicles and one shower cubicle for our usage as and when we needed it--not that we are all scarmbling for it, though.
Thirdly, the dorm is elevated so less sand gets into our shoes, socks, bags et cetera. Unfortunately that also means more leaves and twigs are blown into the dorm, but at least they can be removed with ease.
Perhaps the lodging could be improved with better ventilation, because the window mechanisms are a tad bit too rusty.

8:44 PM

PARTY!!!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

For those of you who happened to be deaf yesterday (that's Friday), Dr Hon released us all early at about 11+a.m. on the grounds that the GCE A Level results were excellent. Of course, you must have seen everybody dashing out and decided to follow.

Anyway, I know that many of us still had CCA etc. and had to stay back. I, for one, had to stay until 2.30 before my SO actually started--Mr Chan, the conductor, was an external instructor--so I had lots of free time to get started on my geog project. Well, before that we had a PARTY!!! The 16 or so of us stayed in class, playing the computer as well as Wiseley and Yu Xuen's PSPs. At 12 noon, the real party started. You see, it was planned as a birthday party for the few of us, namely me, James, Justin and Jason, whose birthdays fell in the first term. So in came the cake, the chips and the fizzy drinks. OH YEAH! For those who just left after the announcement, serves you right for not listening to Wiseley who asked you n00bs to stay back. :P

Just look at that cake! ^^^^^ Its a black forest fruit cake and I tell ya, it was scrumptious! For those mutineers, betrayers, unloyal people who did not bother to wait for a while, feast (your eyes, of course) on that! We had loads of fun. The teachers were there too: Ms Fang, Mdm Lim and Mr Tan KK. We found out the stunning fact that Mr Tan actually knew what we were playing on the PSP: DJMAX!!! Apparently he also plays the Wii, the DS etc....

This is probably the best birthday party I have ever had. One held in school! Can you think about that!

Labels: Skool

8:13 PM

Comments on ANGLES finals

Thursday, March 5, 2009

*sigh...ANGLES. One of the world's most hotly debated topic after the economic crisis and how Obama's face would change the Earth's. Well, unlike most of the other posts, I am going to give constructive comments on ANGLES.

Firstly, like some others, I feel that ANGLES was not well organized. The two emcees were delivering and humorous, but I felt that their punning was over-excessively used. Yes, over-excessive. That means it is excessive already, but is even more excessive to the extent of over-excessive. I know I confused some of you. :P

Lame jokes aside, the whole thing was not actually well rehersed. It was evident that the emcees and the speakers were not 'collaborative' in the sense that they were not 配合 if you know what I mean. Some of the speakers came up too early, and some too late! The names on the PowerPoint were sometimes unsynchronised with the speakers' speeches. I am quite sure many of you have noticed that.

It would be helpful if they had arranged a rehersal-like session so that the speakers would be able to be more 'on-time' and not have this misorganisation. About the PowerPoint...the only thing that can be done is that the emcees be a little more attentive!!!

Secondly, I feel that the emcees did not control the audience well. In fact, they did not even try to control the audience. In the beginning, during the prepared speeches, the judges noticed that there was quite a good amount of silence. (Doesn't this bring your mind back to the topic "Speech is silver, silence is golden"?...)

In actual fact, this was just because everyone was desparately trying to copy down the main points of the speakers' speeches to clinch that optimum two ACE points for the LA. I find this rather disturbing, because it means that the silence, no matter how golden or "diamondish" it is, is all a big fab! It shows that Hwa Chong boys are not respectful and are, like Gui An said, kiasu!! Let me repeat, let me re-emphasize this point: Hwa Chong boys are not respectful. They only bother keeping quiet when it would be beneficial to themselves, but chatter endlessly otherwise.

Like I said, I find this rather disturbing. Only during a 'real' thing like level assembly or consortium assembly would these dudes even think of keeping quiet. I mean, wouldn't it be dissapointing to find out that HCI isn't the model school we all think it is??

I sincerely hope that these Sec 1s would reconsider their decision of adopting the vice of irrespect. Perhaps if everybody played a small part by not responding to their friends' constant chatting, would they learn proper etiquette. Because, after all, we talk because we expect to hear a reply. Deciding not to give one would probably effectively eliminate this chatter.

Also, the emcees should have tried to say like, "Can the audience please quiten down?" or "Please listen to the speaker and not hold your own private conversation." or to the extent of "Would you shut your damn big fat mouth up you pigz???". Okay, perhaps they should not go that far.

On a lighter note, I feel that most of the speakers were awesome. Their prepared speeches were really prepared. They were persuasive and convincing and well-structured and demostrative and had excellent examples and thoroughly elaborated and...well, you get the idea. I feel that the speakers had really done a great job for their speeches. A big round of applause to them!! :P

Like some other bloggerers (N.B.: Blogger: website. Bloggerer: somedude who uses Blogger.), I personally feel that Gui An should not have the first position. He used a tremendous amount of Singlish, inserting it wherever he deemed fit, but actually none of them were fitting at all. Only the word kiasu should have been used! That was his topic, not "Speaking Singlish lah~"! He also spoke with this weird, highly Singaporean accent (i.e. with a 口腔 for those of you cina people [no offense] + I am also using Singlish here <)) that would not be fitting to this competition. I mean, it is loquacious speakers, not all the lahs here, the lees there and the lays everywhere.

Perhaps Chun Jie would have made a better first prize winner than Gui An. His speech was well organised and structured. He projected his voice well, and his voice had a bright tone to it. He has created a grand, lasting impression in my mind.

All in all, I think that the ANGLES organising committee did quite a good job. It certainly did bring out its name: A New Generation of Loquacious English Speakers!!

(By the way, Zhen Hui also commented that the word loquacious sounded phoney, like they had to force some fancy-pantsy word into this spot just for the acronym!!)

If you have really read all the way to the end, congratulations! It takes one good reader to read such a long post like mine. :P

Labels: Skool

8:42 PM

Set pwnage!!!

zOMG!! Set game is k00l~! ...I still see funny images floating around in my brain... Anyway, set game is really fun. It is probably the most fun specialized card game on Earth. For now, that is. Yesterday's set competition was so thrilling!

First, let me explain how set game is played, and how the competition was held. Set is played by finding sets of three cards. There are 81 cards in total. Each card has four properties: colour, fill, shape and number.
Colour: Red, green, blue/purple
Fill: Solid, striped, hollow
Shape: Pod, diamond, squiggle
Number: 1, 2, 3

On each set of three cards, the properties must be either all the same, or all different. In the beginning 12 cards are laid out. As long as either team can spot a set, they shout, "Set!" and take the cards which they claim to be a set for the opponent to acknowledge. Three new cards are then laid out. The game then continues in this manner. If no sets are found among the 12 cards, three more cards are added, making 15.

The competition has 36 groups. There are two preliminary rounds, a quater-finals, a semi-finals and a finals, in which only the last 2 groups play. Now let me tell you why I am so ecstatic today. Here are the results of me and Yu Xuen's games: 9:-1; 9:2; 13:12; 14:11; 5:9. If you count carefully, there are five rounds, which means...we went all the way to the finals!!! This meant beating two groups of Sec 2's!! :P

The first two games' Sec 1's were not challenges for us. They just joined for fun, easily letting us get through. From the first Sec 2 group onwards, though, the game became very quick. The teams started screaming "SET!!!!" all the time and grabbing the cards off the table. Soon, only a few cards were left. For the 13:12 game and the 14:11 game, only six cards were left! Can you imagine how fast we were to almost complete the entire deck? Well, we faced a very strong team from 2i2 in the finals. They were much faster than us and cards flew all over the table. They won by 9 points to 5. It was a good effort though. Also, it was a convincing win so that we would not feel so bad.

Something else we did was scam...because some of the other teams had almost absolutely no idea how set was played, they allowed us to have two scam sets--sets which did not conform to the rules. Even the judge noticed it and sniggered in the corner...

All in all, this was a great experience for us both, and we will definitely join this competition again when we are Sec 2!!

(Perhaps you may like to check out this website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(game) )

Labels: Skool

8:39 PM

profile

i'm alvin.
i come from hwa chong institution in singapore.
i'm in class 2i2. yes, i'm a sparkie.
i'm 14+ years old; celebrated my bdae on feb 12.
my hobbies r simple: reading, piano, com games.
i like animals, especially cats mudkipz.
enjoy my blog.
thx.

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