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Friday, January 21, 2005

heyy everyone. juz came back frm obs last nite. achelli supposed to come back today. but since hari raya haji den i came back ytd. arghh. miss sui sen. not my fault tt dey make it on dis wk. y can't next wk. so not fair. we din even haf a proper ceromony. itz juz tt we're not supposed to leave in that way. felt so sad even b4 reaching d jetty. aaand, i didnt get to sign tt ownership tingy. bleargh. i mean on d second day when he told us abt d commitments in d bk i wasnt prepared to sign it. but aft four days, i felt tt i have really given my 100% to d watch. my depature was too abrupt.

well, let's start frm monday morning. go skool wid naf n lysa. lysa's bdae on sunday. gave her present. got a decent crowd sending us off. reached punggol jetty n waited n waited, mr yeo sent us off. den i recognized kim chuan, my last yr's sparkc course director. took same boat but he left aft tt. den we went to mph (multi purpose hall), n hoped tt anderson wud b 2gether. but dere were other skoools. woodlands ring, evergreen, mayflower n anoder skool forgot d name lar. at first when i got sui sen n met wid ppl frm other skools i was like oh no! but my watch got vanessa n naf. a watch is a grp, juz diff term n sui sen is d person hu is named aft bukit ho sui. n i got kim chuan. he's my watch's insturctor. we were quite warm in d beginning. played handshake game. khatijah was our 1st aid i/c n she held The parada bag. aft lunch we went to our bunks or shud i say dorm? its d same lar. it so cool. d girls n guys same rm, only a partition to separate each other. slept in double decker beds, not so trendy as does in IKEA but still... its double decker beds wid pillows n linen n pillowcases. narissa was day i/c n farhan was d store i/c. it rained aft tt. we practised harnessing n belaying. did a jumping game in which u had to trust ur team members. we also tried to pitch bashas, kinda a tent but juz a cover above our heads. anoder instructor teached us map reading n mgr. dinner was ok. d food dere not bad lar. betta den moe dairy farm's? yeah. at nite we played a game which needed us to bring a hula hoop down. not so easy. everyone was not tinking d same. so kc said we shud try it on d last day to prove tt we can do it. it was v meaning ful to me. coz aft tt we had to sit one corner alone, n tot of y we din succeed n wad we expect in dis camp n wad we expect in our watch. so for 5 mins i sat down n cracked my brain tinking. i decided tt we wernt tinking as one n listening to d i/c coz we were still insecure n only listening to our own minds. i wanted to noe d whole watch as close as i can so tt in yrs to come i dunt juz flash my watch's pic to ppl n simply say "ohh i met dis ppl in obs. nth much". i wanna noe dem well not juz touch d surface. wadever u tink it means. haha. wad i expect frm obs 5 day course is tt i haf no specification of wad i'll learn, but dis sth tt i'll learn frm dis course n can use it in my life. i really did.

2nd day. tuesday. we had a morning circle. i dno abt others, but for me morning circles r meaningful. we get together n tok abt d day b4 n share quotes. sum stories/quotes r : d cat n mouse story. it tells us not to discount others. u nv noe. another is d boiling story. each pot has a carrot, egg n coffee. d boiling water shows our daily life's challenges. d other elemnts shows us. d carrot softens when hits d water. d eggh hardens. d coffee changes color n gives out aroma, which means tt it makes us of d environment n change it to sth gd tt fragrants comes out frm it. kim chuan gibs quotes but i cant rmbr. too long lar. i dun tink dis is d correct quote but it goes th like dis : coming together is a beginning, keeping togther is another step, wokring together is an acheivement. i tink. dose r all d morning circle's quotes combined frm d 3 days. aft tuesday's morning circle, we went hetty jumping. d jettty not tt high. juz once. it was a symbol, which meant alot to me. it really pusehd me to commit myself to d commitmentz. it was symbolic lar. we had to sign it if we really feel tt we r giving our 100% best to d watch. on tt moment, i din feel i've done tt. but aft four days of working togther, i have done my best for d watch. only ting is tt i nv sign. coz fri den can sign d book. sighh. later on, we went kayaking/canoeing. same ting rite? ya. double. so me n naf partner. it was soo shiokk! tiring? duh. but i like it. nv do b4. so we practise sharp turns n gg str8. aft tt we canoed to camp2. some boats capsized on d way back. we helped vanessa n frahan. i like d rescue drill. n den ne n naf wanted to feel capsiving. once in a lifetym u noe. so we purposely capsived. n dey came to out help. hahahaha. my specs bent aft tt coz i put in d life vest's pocket which is v tight. aft tt activity, we dried oursleves n went rockclimbing. i reached d topmost panel. woohoo!! 12m lehz. den kc said well done =). fu quan 1st to climb. den i was d belayer. held him for dno hwo long sia. two ppl came up n went down THEN he was able to reach 12m. sigh. my crotch n tigh so painful. lela was i/c for tt day. tt evening we set out for a 2km hike to camp 2. tiring seh. our bags were like so heavy. we brot two dno-how- many-litre water bottles, ponchos(NOT D LIGHT DISPOSABLE ONE, BUT HEAVY CANVAS ONES), gorundsheets, blue tarbs, sticks, canned food, harnesses, helmets, our clothing. damn light sia d bagg. we reached dere ard 7. pitched our tents b4 last lite. kc tot us outdoor cooking. used firewood n fire starters n solid fuels. d rice tasted of mineral salts n fine drains of fibre glass. not cooked well. we ate dry ration n canned food on d next day too. d smoke......... wah lao once gets into ur eys like wad sia.

next morn, wed, achelli supposed to wake up at 5. budden everyone juz shook d next perosn n say ehh 5 o'clock liao. den in d end delay. tt morn i felt like vomiting. nauseaous sia. so groggy. den when i open my eyes is d trees not in one polace, moving like tt. in d end izzah got axe oil. wahh. really relieved me. thnx izzah n naf for asking for minyak angin. at last, everyting snowballed. we were late for 25 mins. its like for d whole course d instrucotrs r dere juz to guide us. dey will tells us wad tym we want to meet n we decide. i was d day i/c n i felt quilty coz nv really pushed dem. we ate breakfast of tuna n sardin wid bread n tt tooked too long. so d morning circle bcame a tym for sui sen to reflect. kc was quite noisy, not grouchy lar, abt us being late. tok abt sui sen formula n everyting. we realised tt we can b one. n i belive we've acheived tt now. give comments n everytink. sui sen n barker we buddy watches. we slp same dorm n camping area. so we did d double dangling duotoo. double dangling duo is at camp 2. itz like s suspended vertical log where two ppl ascend at d same tym. helping each other up. barker was at d same place, only at another dangling log. me n fu quan first to go. it was really dangly. not stable. half of me was afraid of heights n d other half, dno wad. he is v dependent. but in d end we climbed to d topmost. all d activities tt i completed was a gr8 acievemnt to me. for lunch nv cook. so ate dry ration. sunchine bread. coffee n strawberry flavoured. oranges for dietry fibre. we were really punctual aft tt. we left camp2 n went for an expedition. naf n zhe chian was d expd. i/c. had to climb up highest natural pt in ubin. PUAKA. woohoo! i reached highest pt in p. ubin. coz tts where we will find d clue to our campsite tt nite. it was beside d old spore granite quarry. d water was beautiful. sparkling blur sia. serious. really blue. on our way dere, lela fell. her palm had a VERY DEEP CUT TT D FLESH CAME OUT. d trekking rds very dangerous. got moving rocks n itz v uneven. a van picked her up n she went bakc to mainland to had it stiched. she din get d cert. . so our watch had 13 ppl, including me. tt nite's campsite was near a quarry, an overflowing one. 10 stories or more deep. we slept beside it. barker was opp. us. picthed bashas again b4 last lite. cooked instant noodles. had extra so we gave dem to ghandi coz dey kayaed their way to d quarry n had difficulty pitching bashas coz it was oredy 7 plus. a few ppl hepled ghandabalan too. at ard 7 haikal n his frens frm barker wanted to go toilet but dey saw STH dey din wanna c. ran all d way back. so barker n sui sen go toilet together. d toilet is really once in a lifetym. we peed onto d mangrove area on d sea. mite sound gross but haf to ok. n if wanna shit muz dig using d spade n cover it it. d same spade used to bury our leftover food. d guys sang song while peeing to help ruduce noise. hahahahaha. cool huh. to wach our utensils we used sand frm d shore n remove soot. sth new to me. our campsite v useful coz we had a small trench frm d overflowing quarry so dunnid go so far to d sea. tt nite we played peanut game wid barker. d game v funny n lame. haha. we decided to call oursleves barksen. since we dno d game, we lost 3-0. lost wid dignity. tt nite sum ppl cant slp coz d kelong ikan got karaoke session. den can hear sia. d music all so freaky. waked me up at 3am., budden slept back. too tired, even tho d grd v uneven n hard. coz its sand, not like tues nite, d grd was grassy.

next morning francis was d i/c. we split ourselves into 3 grps n helped wid d work of bashas n cooking. by 6 ppl were drinking milo n eating bread wid strawberry jam. n den we pack3 n got changed into our wet activity clothes. d guys changed at sui sen's camping grounds while d gals changed at barker's. no toilet ok rmbr. everywhere can b a toilet. yah. our challenge of d day was to built a raft which floats using 8 pvc pipes, 4 containers which act as a bouyant n 1 pail of 16 ropes in 1 1/4hrs. cool. aft tt we did rafting. we did it in tym, together, as suisen. our was able to float in d quarry n we paddled. barker was also in d challenge, same tym wid us. but theirs was a flop. so we kinda helped dem abit? haha. den went quarry jumping. d guyz changed in sum grassy area. we hiked back in a short tym. ard 1 hrs plus. d distance was far ok. stopped for breaks n saw wild boars. when we reached camp 1 all of us did a toast. tink d whole camp heard us. good. lunch was fresh. frm d cookhouse. i had my last activity aft tt. ropes course. 3 elementz. i was really afraid of d bridge. i was so not stable lor. my legs werent even jelly, dere were liquid liao. i i told myself to push on. n i managed to finish it. aft tt me, zakiah n naf go back to bunks n packed. left a note for sui sen n barksen. i started missing dem oredy lor. such a way to leave obs. hope can meet u all again, sumday. a police pertol kinda boat took us back to punggol. 10 ppl. d rest took d sloww ferry. wanna cry sia seeing d campus getting smaller n tinier. but i din cry. i tink if my watch down dere wave at us i'll cry. tink wadever u wan tink.

well, gg back hm, me,izzah n faris supoosed to take a cab. budden kok up sumwhere but im cool wid it. coz im quite cold to her too. hahah. naf's dad sent me to khatib. thnx. all d way till braddell, i was tinking abt obs. n den i tot of skool work. damn. reach hm mrs vj call me. mastry test on mon. 3-5. haizz. tmr muz go sajak taklimat.

I REALLY MISS SUI SEN N OBS. i dun even mind gg d 8km hiker per day again(not wid d bag tho. tink d bag weighs 15kg or sth) or d high rope course again nor d tiring kayaking n mentally challening whne facing ppl. miss ya. rawk on.