CampTCP5 '09-Day 2(The Day I noticed a Large Crack On The Side Of My Shell)

I woke too early at 6am, and went back to sleep again. I remembered I dreamt about something the night before, but I just could not recall what it was. Just before I woke up at 7.30am, I 'saw' her again, for the ninth time. Why? Why was it that, the only thing I could remember was a short dream that lasted less than 15 seconds, and it's always the same character? Was there some kind of meaning to it? All I saw, was noticing someone looking over the shoulder of a team mate just as I turned in that direction, while we were doing something. I can't remember clearly if it was on the floor or at a table. Alright. It's been 9 times, and there's I might have found her. If it really is her, prove it to me. Today.

Before we go on, let me share with you an excerpt of the post I typed a month ago.

"Attended a camp with a friend, at a school on a Friday. Booked in at 4pm, had activities till late, and we had the best night walk ever. Pitch black environment, used torches(those used in medival times) as torchlights and the monsters and ghosts, were real. We even entered the bridge of a space ship!

The next morning had some games, before we had the prize pesentation. For some reason, the both of us were down to help with the area cleaning, and when we got back, we were dismissed.Here's the weird part. A girl and her father, came to us, asking for a friendly match. Alright. This match is something that would never happen in real life. Seen the anime Avatar? That's what happened. They controlled water, we controlled fire. Behind them, was a boy who could control air. We sneaked up to him, told him our plan, and we got down to it.

However, we were never successful. Until when we finally managed to carry out our plan, the girl suddenly ran to the washroom, and came out soon after, only to throw out. Someone threw a roll of toilet paper out as well, and out came the cleaner, angry about the mess she made.

We just let her let lose her anger and she walked away. I went over to her with her father. He asked if she was fine before bringing her home. He thanked us for the time and took her home.My friend and I stayed there for awhile to help with the cleaning, before going off. We went to the bus interchange together, before going our seperate ways. Went to wait for the bus, before, I met her again. Asked where her father was, she only said he had to rush back to work after something cropped up. Offered to accompany her home, and the dream ended when we boarded an SBS bus.

Here's the weird stuff. A camp at a school? A super realistic night walk that was out-of-this-world. A girl who I had seen in 4 dreams, including this one. The first sighting was in March this year. A bus insterchange that was fully air-conditioned.

Some traits. 160 to 165 in height, sky blue tee with some sliver lines and white shorts, shoulder-length hair tied up with a black band and, neither too thin nor plump. This might freak some out. Aged between 14 to 16(though I think it's more likely to be between 15 to 16).Weird eh?

Discussed this with Jon, and we both agreed it was weird with lots of weird stuff, though some parts might just become a reality. Honestly, I hope this dream doesn't come true in any possible way. As for that girl, I don't know if someone like that really exists in the real world, an even if someone really exists, I have nothing to say, other than, how was it even possible for me to dream of someone I have never met in real life? "

Basically, parts in red are events that have fully happened, orange are things that I perceived, that have happened in a different form, yellow is something that is linked to something I told everyone about on the third day, and sky blue, is linked to an acitvity we did on the morning of the third day. This post is meant for the second day, so I'll put the same excerpt up for the next post as well, before posting these 2 posts as a single post for those who have lots of time to read it.

The day began rather peacefully with breakfast. At 9.30am, we began on the first activity of the day. We had an interview with Wei Hao, and if I'm not wrong, I might have seen him on TV during a tuition class in Secondary 4, as part of an exercise to help me improve on my Chinese paper 1.

Session 3, The Paper Bag Dilema. We got into place, and started buying the necessary stuff we needed to make enough money to make ends meet. In less than 5 minutes, Jorge came to take Rachel to a prison. Although stunned, we did not really let it hit us. We decided that, if we could earn enough, we would save her. We could not. Every 5 to 7 minutes, one of them would come up to us, demanding we turn one of us in if we did not do something. Guess it really got into me at the 38 minute mark, when I went to ask for the price of bailing Rachel out of there. Jorge came again, 6 times in under 15 minutes. The first time, he had a 'warrant' for arrest for Cardus. The next time his team mate came, we managed to say something that allowed us to go free. On the third time, he wanted to take someone away(can't remember if it was Ang Siang, Belinda, Lionel or Cardus). I wanted to hand myself in. They held me back.

"Hey, let me speak to them, then I'll come with you."
"Ok, go."
I told Caruds(was Jaemeng there as well?),"It's going to be fine, I don't know how to fold the bags. Might as well let me go and you'll enjoy a short period of peace."
"No, you can't! We need you."
"Ok ok! I'll let you go this time. Next time better give us something or you will go to prison!"

The fourth time, he came back, and said,"Want to see how much your friend is suffering? One person come with me. I promise I won't make you join her. Just have a look of how she is doing."
We refused to go. He gave up, and left. Although he kind of meant what he said, for once, I felt as though the trust I had in him had disappeared. In its place, I felt a fire burning. It's getting irritating. Why not, I do something that could cause them some confusion that would help not just our family, but the other 5 families as well? Afterall, we're all working hard to make ends meet right? All it takes was just one to step out, and there would be some peace, even if that peace lasted only for 5 minutes.

The fifth time, his team mate came, and we decided to perform. And he left after that. I went with Lionel to ask for some glue, and we returned after Germaise generously gave us a small portion of their rations. We were greatfully thankful for the help."Don't worry, we'll ask them for help later on too." The bomb that was ticking had just exploded inside, although as usual, I was too shy to show it, lest the 'enforcers' noticed it and took me away before I even did something.

The sixth time. Both came. As they started talking to my family members, asking to take someone away, I felt my conscience fade into thin air. At that moment, time stopped for me. I stared blankly at the notes his teammate held in his hand. I heard a voice. "Take the money. Take the money and run!"
'Did someone say run?'
My heart skipped a beat, a thousand and one thoughts ran through my mind in a split second.

"We won't be able to get Rachel out."

"You know, some people were caught trying to steal money."

"Someone from another team was caught trying to steal money from the money lender!"

"It's ok, let them have it. We'll look to them for help later on."

Play Hard, Live High. I'mpossible. Without thinking with reason, I grabed the notes in his hand, leaving him with just $2. "What the?! HEY!" I made a sprint around Our Space. It's too late to turn back. If I stopped, my team and I are goners. I burst through the door into the lounge. I jumped over someone without thinking. Guess the days of Taekwondo training since I was 12 till last month paid off. I looped around the place once, before smiling at my family through the glass window, and continued on, crashing out through the front door. I came to my senses and returned him SOME of his cash. He asked me about my offences. Speeding(I was sprinting at about 17 or 18km/h in the premises, way greater than the 1m/h allowed), stealing, running from a Government Official, evading arrest, talking back at a Government Official. After that, just after he said something about bringing me to 'paradise', the fire in me was still raging. Once again, a second explosion took place from within, I started running, narrowly evading Jorge.

I noticed Faye, Lionel, Cardus, Jaemeng and Belinda(was anyone else there, or did I add someone extra?) coming in my direction. I grabbed onto Jorge who resisted for only awhile. I pushed him away as his team mate was trying to grab onto me as well. I countered it by locking his arms(similar to what I would do in a Taekwondo sparring competition) really tightly and pinned him to the pillar,hollered,"GO!" Before pushing him away, and sprinted in the opposite direction once they were safe. I hid for a short while, but apparently I tried to contact Cardus, not knowing he had been made scapegoat for my crimes(or was it because of some other reason?). A team tried to disclose of my position, but they failed, and one of them got sent to prison.

I silently passed Faye the money, and just before I got back into my hiding place, I was caught, and sent to prison, though they failed to notice I was in need of some first aid. That's the way to be in a game! Once there, it was shocking. People tied up, and blinded. Even Cardus was in a bad shape. Just then, I realised that scene one of my third dream had become a reality.

This was something that I did not post, as it was something that I liked to do on a daily basis. There were plans to execute a prison break. I sneaked away just as my family tried to distract the prison master, to help Cardus. The fire had died down a little, but it was still burning. I told Cardus about how I would help him to break free before we ran out through the door. Just as I was brought to have my hands tied up, a riot broke out. I took the chance, and joined up with Philip till the end. Grandpa(Rhordan) noticed my injury, and sent me to the first aid corner. It was then, that I learnt that our camp, was the first of 5 camps to organise a riot and a prison break. And we sure were a rough bunch!

Next, we had a discussion on the earlier activity. There were suggestions like how the government could help the poor, setting up NGOs, organising trips to educate the people. There were the touching and inpiring stories of how our mentors had gone to war-torn countries, and helped make a change in the way the people lived their lives. There were also heart warming stories of the trips where some of us went overseas to help a community. I learnt alot, and it sure has reinforced the experiences I had back in Dumagete City, Negros Oriental, The Philippines. If given the chance, I will definitely want to return on the next trip. No questions asked. The only thing I am worried of, is whether I would have enough money to make that move.

It was 1.30pm, when we were finally let off for lunch(which was none other than Session 4, Lunch Unlimited). Most of us received the letter "A". First reaction? Who has an "A" as well? One by one, the groups were let off. We had a photograph taken. Did Jaemeng request for that? I saw the fine diners, normal packed lunch for those on chairs, and for us, we were going to have bread on the floor. 'Wow. This is the first camp that allowed everyone to have a feel of how the temptations I felt by looking at my friends enjoy the thick layers of cheese on the pizzas at Pizza Hut! Kudos to them!' Germaise offered food. Once again, as long as someone stoof out, there would be a great change. Everyone started to share their food. 'This is too good to be true! Imagine, just imagine, the joy I could share with my friends when I could finally consume cheese!' Out of worry that there might not be enough food to go around, I decided to skip lunch. Well, that's me. Just to see a smile on the faces of others(especially those I knew or am close to), I am willing to do anything to help. As for what would happen to my fate? I don't really give a damn. Their happiness is as good as all the wealth I could have in the world.

We came back, had a debrief about the activity we just had. They were impressed, simply because we helped to clear the food and drinks, instead of simply sharing the food. Sharing the love. Wow. That, was something we learnt from the teachers and principals at Malau-nay Elementary School(aka School on a Hill). Sometimes, the children go to school with just one meal, or they simply starve throughout the day of lessons! Worse still, some don't even have proper stationery to study with. Like what Lionel shared earlier, there were indeed families according to the principal(I might be wrong as to who raised that point back in March), who said,"Why should we let our children go to school? They are not the brightest people in the village, so we might as well save them the stress and burden of studying hard with little hope of going on to High School, and just let them continue working with us to earn a living."

We had a short break, before we went on to the Initiation Challenge at 5pm. Unlike the other camps where it was every team for themself, this camp had games that stressed on every team for everyone, for the greater good of everyone. The second and third scenes have also become a reality. The first game was one where we had to go in sequence in a room, tapping on cards with numbers, going from 1 to 20 and leaving the room in under 12 seconds. We had a hard time trying out 3 different strategies as a single team, before we finally came up with one that allowed us to complete it in 10 seconds flat.

By then, we were now together as a section, as teams 2 and 5 merged to form a team, to complete the second challenge. The next challenge would be the second scene. The grids, where to pass from one side to the other, our teams would have to work on solving the 2 halves of the route. I wanted very much to share with them the first 5 steps that I remembered from the dream. However, there was the condition of confidentiality listed on the first day. I gave up after awhile, and went on the first 4. However, when I stepped on the 5th step, the whistle was blown. 'WHAT?! You can't be serious! If the first 4 were right, then the 5th must be as well, right?' After some time, we managed to solve the puzzle, and we left them behind, after all they had done for us. As for that 5th step, I was right in the end. Feeling guilty, one of us went to tell them the clue to the next location. We walked at first, but later on, we ran to the field at block 50 as a faction.

We were the first to arrive, and there, was the first task that required us to work as a real team, as a cohort, as one. Many voices, many ideas, one strategy. After lots of discussion, we arrived at one strategy and with it, we broke the time record of 18 seconds, with a time of 17 seconds. Our final clue, was for us to head over to the 'spaceship'.

The night walk? We ran(that's why it was out-of-this-world) as one. Once there. I freaked out. Here's the excerpt again.

"Pitch black environment, used torches(those used in medival times) as torchlights and the monsters and ghosts, were real. We even entered the bridge of a space ship!"

Indeed, the environment was pitch black when we arrived, there were torches, really the ones used in medival times. The monsters and ghosts were, yes you guessed it, our mentors themselves! There they were, at the bridge of the spaceship(the stage). One of the "monsters" used a torch, to light another 2 torches, before passing it to someone. And not just that, just like how I had dreamt it to be, that "monster" could sing! Why I thought it was a spaceship? An image of the Earth being flashed on the walls with projectors.

We had probably the best dinner at a camp, buffet dinner with free flow of ice cream, pop corn and cotton candy! WOW!

Come to think of it, the 2 overnight TCP events I had attended, both had a great dinner the night before the day the events came to a saddening close.

We proceeded to take some photographs, before carrying on to Ourspace for M&M again. For the first time, I felt no fear in speaking out to the team. I noticed a large, long crack running along my shell. The first day, was kind of an experience for us, to understand ourselves and our characters, which form the basis and the very foundation of a team. On the second day, we were going to use that experience and the lessons learnt, to form the next level of a team.

'Keep to your promise, you said you'll tell them.'

I wanted to, but I guess there just wasn't enough time for me to go on talking so much. And so, we were dismissed for the night after another photoshoot.

"We had activities till late." That night, I joined Cardus and his room mates, together with Philip, Jaemeng and Jalyn in his apartment. We played the Monopoly card game for sometime, ate snacks, added one another on facebook and chatted till 3am. As promised, I decided to tell the guys first. Gary and Dax seemed really interested on when I would finally introduce her, to them, after I broke the news. I asked the typical probability question, and they gave encouaging answers to the math question.

At 3am, I turned in for the night, hoping that the next morning would not be a tearful one. I couldn't bear to leave everyone just after I got to know them well.

Went to school as usualy for CAM today. The CNC turning machine is so cool! I love the sounds of the hydraulics and the cutter at work! Man! I love my course! As usual, we went to the labs to complete our assignments due the next day. Since there was still some time left, I decided to go meet my advisor. I had always thought my advisor was a 'he', until I went to check for her extention number, to request an audience with her. She's a really nice person to talk to, and I sure was surprised that I was the first student to meet with her. Initially I was worried that we might end up with nothing much to talk about, but thanks to the camp, somehow, I was able to open up well. I talked the way I never used to. Enjoyed the session lots. Oh, and I also told her about the dream I had about the camp, and she asked if I could dream about any potential first prize numbers for the 4D. Had my breakfast, lunch and dinner in a single meal at 4pm with Ying Feng, before going to the library to settle for the extremely slow internet speeds till 6.30pm, before meeting Joel for the Videography Club meeting. I told Joel about the dream later that evening before we boarded the bus, and again, he said he was looking forward to getting a 4D number from me. Oh man, just when I thought it would be good to share about that with people around me. Well, anyways, I'll try for one!

Another dream I had the night before. We were at Shaw House on a shopping trip. There were less than 10 of us, from team 5. All I could remember is we were trying on clothes at a shop, and went for coffee and some light food at TCC. I woke up after that.

Alright. I admit defeat. You got me. You win. So, the next day, I shall tell my team tomorrow, before we all go home for the weekend, as promised. The accuracy of that dream has made it to my cloud of fame, with an accuracy of over 80%. Right now, deep inside, I'm hoping for the 10th. However, up there, I don't want myself to get occupied with unnecessary thoughts and dreams. As of that night, I was speechless, and lost. Everything had happened almost exactly the way I dreamt it to. Was it a good thing? Would I scare my friends away? Afterall, it's a gift for being knocked cold for a short moment after falling off a flight of steps on board the school bus when I was just 7, for playing and running around on board the moving bus.

On Vacation'08-Part 7

Hey there! Here we are, at the seventh and final part of series, which means that the holidays are about to come to an end, signalling the start of another semester. I must say, that, this week was definitely one of the most exciting weeks during the seven week break. So, without any more delays, here's the week's happenings. Oh, and I decided to throw in today as well, since I wanted a nice, long finish to this post.

Monday wasn't really an exciting day to begin with, and I was still waking after 10am in the morning! How exactly am I going to wake at 6am this coming Monday for the first lesson of the semester, which starts at 8am? In the afternoon, I went for my third-last evening run for he holidays. I clocked 20 minutes, which was not too bad, as it was a few days since I ran the route, and I usually have relatively low average speeds on Mondays.

Tuesday, the day progressed as though I was climbing a mountain. I woke at 10am today, a slight improvement in my waking time. The afternoon was spent on rushing through the first 40 episodes of Naruto Shippuden, sequel to the 220- episode anime series of Naruto. There was without a doubt more action in the new series, and the music collection (knowing some of the music helps one to estimate how good a series is) is also better. I won't add any spoilers in here, for it might kill the excitement of fans who just started watching the series. In the evening, I went for a run again, and I managed to hit 19 minutes, a minute off the normal 20 minutes. At 7.40pm, I set off to meet Ling(did I get your name right?) at Bukit Gombak to collect an order. Wanted to go to Eunos to collect it as I usually want to spend some time out before going back home. So, bought some bread, before walking all the way home. Surprisingly, it took less than 30 minutes to walk home from there, even though I got lost halfway through!

Wednesday was the second time during the holidays that I met up with my sps friends. We went to Bugis for lunch, talked quite a lot to catch up on some lost time and I gained some insight about a module I'll be taking next semester. The knowledge contained that module was one of the reasons why I wanted to go to a JC, but it sure was reassuring to know that it was offered as an elective. Nice. We went to Sim Lim to get some accessories for our phones, before going to Marina Square to watch a movie. It was pretty late by then, so we went for dinner before heading home.

Thursday saw me going to the National Dental Centre for an appointment again. If I remember correctly, that day was one of the few days that I was early by at least 5 minutes. After a while, the things to be done for the appointment were done and I took the bus home after making a call to Sean. Here's a little fast fact: For every 1 in 2 calls made to Sean, there would be a long wait before he answers his phone, and there would also be someone beside him answering the call as well. Anyways, It's good to hear that they're doing really well together, but, I seriously hope I did not call them when they were doing something else, like what usually happens in most drama serials. Sean, if that did happen, please do let me know(in private of course)! I will do my best to make it up to the both of you! I went to West Mall to search for a present for my brother who's turning 15 in less than a day's time, but did not manage to find a suitable gift. So, I decided to leave for home, empty-handed. However, something lit up my spirits when I saw someone familiar, in a brown uniform and black bag. Coincidentally, I met Chong Siang! It's been a long time since we were together. Turns out that he had just come from Jurong Point after being dismissed from school, and was searching for a sports towel. So, I accompanied him to Queensway. Thought I might find something good there as well, so I decided to take him there. It was 6.20pm when we left on bus 61. We reached about an hour later, and within 15 minutes, we got our things and went to the hawker centre across the road for dinner. By the way, I got a dozen shuttle cocks, but it took me a while to notice that after making the purchase that it would make a really bad birthday gift, as he does not play badminton. So, I turned to plan B, to give him the blue lanyard for his phone I bought the day before. I reached home at 9pm, just in time, I guess, for I was expected to be home after 7pm. At 11pm, there was a group conversation held, to organise the joint birthdays of three 4E1 classmates, Wei Xiang, Wei Fan and Weng Ling. Not exactly sure which days their birthdays fall on, but I'm positive it's during these 2 weeks, so Happy Birthday to them! After the conversation, which got nowhere after a while had ended, I thought of something nice.

Let's head back to the 2007 Graduation Nite, held shortly after the last O Level paper had ended. A really great night to remember, me making the second confession(most memorable one in fact). Bonds were remembered and strengthened, before everyone left the premises. 4 years of secondary school life had ended. After that was a month of rest and recuperation from the examinations, before going to MI for the first one month during the PAE period. I was reluctant at first, but, that decision sure was the right one to make, for the strongest bonds that I have made so far(and want to have for the rest of my life), were from class 08S6. Well, it wasn't really academic strength that made us worried, but more of the separation after 1 month, that made me stressed during those times. Having friends from around the country is damn rare, and it's even more rare to have close friends from around the country. A month later, I spent time in preparation for Polytechnic life, as to me, it did no seem fair for the friends in the JCs to be studying and under much stress, while I, was at home, slacking and doing nothing. That head-start proved to be extremely helpful during the course of the first semester, where I made many new bonds during the course of study in ME. Right now, it's going to be the start of a new semester real soon, and there's only so little time left to relax, before I get back to seriousness again.

Friday was such a slacked day for me, though I woke up relatively earlier at 9am. It's still nowhere close to my 6am target, though I know that I'm getting close to it. I spent the day watching Naruto Shippuden again, this time I'm left with 11 episodes before I catch up with the rest of the main group who are currently at episode 79. Sadly, episode 80 would only be released next Thursday. I went for the last 5kilometre run during the holidays. That run was the mos eventful. I saw myself clocking extremely totally new and faster times, especially in the nature park, where I clocked 9 minutes instead of the usual 13 minutes. However, on the return part of the run, I stopped to help two boys whose ball had rolled to the side of the ride I was on. It's rare to have me say this, but, one of them sure was cute when he took the ball, thanks me and ran off. It sue was heart warming to see them running off safely to return to their game too! I sprinted 400 metres to make up for the lost time while waiting to cross the road earlier on. I sure was surprised I could sprint that distance, as after all that running, I did not expect to have that kind of a stamina. Guess the holiday's training sure worked some wonders. I ended up clocking 18 minutes for the run that day. My cousins came at 10pm to celebrate my brother's 15Th birthday, and there was lots of fun! I was surprised when I, too received a present! Thanks a lot!

Saturday, and that's today! Today, I wok up extremely early at 7.11am! Yes! I'm almost near my target! I sent an email to the taekwondo club this morning at 10.20am, hoping to join it so that I can train up my strength and fitness. Having speed ans stamina alone would not help much. I hope I can get a reply soon so that I can start training once again after stopping for a year. At 11am, I left for the City Hall MRT by bus as I wanted to catch up on sleep during the journey there. I was late as expected, but by 5 minutes, and was second t arrive. Sean was the last to arrive today, as the gathering today was not a date. Maybe he reached home pretty late from his date the previous day, that's why he ended up being late, so I guess I can't really blame him for that. We went for lunch at Pasta mania, talked quite a lot about education again, before we went off to Toys R' Us to look at the toys vehicle models, before going to take a look at some Samsung phones. WM sure freaked me out when he went in to grab all the brochures for Sumsung models in such a short time. Sean, seriously, I wonder how freaky he was when you said that he took the brochures for every phone model which the shop sold. After that, we went to a coffee shop in the basement for desert, and slacked there till 3.30pm before going off. I went back to the esplanade to take a bus home after accompanying them to the MRT station. The tyre marks left by the cars were gone, but still, the condition of the road felt just the same as it was before the race. Perhaps the difference could only be felt when one was driving a vehicle on the road?

Just a moment ago, a short discussion was held. Guess there's really going to be a class outing for the PAE class that I was once a part of, and it's round the corner!Can't really say much here till it's confirmed though.

Well, there you go, the last weekly review for the last week of the October Vacation. The new school semester is going to start soon, and it's also time for me to do some warming up to get ready for the challenges ahead, for I have a gut feeling that this semester's not going to be as easy as the previous one. Here's a preview for the next post. On Monday after the first lesson of the semester, I would be meeting up with some friends in the afternoon again, after we sort of lost contact for 5 months.

Complex

Today I found something to occupy my time again. I embarked on another anime spree! Should have started a long time ago I know, but since it's going to be a long break, should be fine to start today I guess? By the way, WM said that he dint have time to read an essay, so I'll make this short then. I completed the first 20 episodes of D. Gray-man today. At this rate, I should be able to catch the same week telecast of the anime on Central every Friday, from friday onward, and maybe in English as well(I hope, as I have never watched anime on national TV before).

Then, just moments back, something hit me. On the second week of October, one of the 4 birthday friends from MI might not be able to make it. So, as of now, I'm in abit of a fix. Should I go on planning, or wait till December, after everyone's exams for this year have finished? Even so, I'm afraid of asking about friends in the JCs about their last day of exams, as I'm afraid this might cause unecessary stress. Maybe, I should have asked on the first day of their holidyas, and not on their last. DAMN. Maybe, right now, it's still not too late to ask I hope?

WM, this should be short enough for you to finish in 5 minutes I hope?