This year is hastily coming to a close, and we herald the much-anticipated start of the next year as a period of metamorphosis. Indeed, it would be a challenging time of change, as we abandon those short, abhorred khaki pants and don long pants, spending a fair bit of our time daily studying, and assuming leadership positions in our CCAs.
Well, at least, that’s how most of my classmates’ lives would be like.
But for me…it’s not all so similar. I’m just about to begin a new chapter in my life in a much venerated college.
The VIP orientation, held over the span of the last two days, helped my got better acquainted with my class, seniors and the school premises. It also marked officially the first time I wore VJC’s beige uniform, and their PE attire. I got to meet a senior (Laura) for the first time in person after a month of hiding behind her bubbly MSN personality. I perceive her as a very outgoing, straightforward and cheery girl. The IP2s, who were our Peer Support Leaders (PSLs), turned out to be very benign, approachable, extremely warm and friendly people whom we had no problems getting along with. Some of them were also previously from VS, so there were a few familiar (yet not so familiar) faces that I encountered. The PSLs were truly nice people who made me feel at home with their radiant smile and cordial welcome. In fact, I didn’t feel as if they were my seniors, who had an air of superiority, but more as newly made friends.
Thankfully, my classmates were also very sociable people who could gel together as a united class of around thirty. The girls were very congenial and sweet people, though a few were more demure, but there were none who were irritating or bitchy, much to my relief. They were especially helpful during the games, just to add. The boys were decent people whom I could get along and communicate pretty well with. There were a handful of China PRCs and two Indian scholars too. I think that my classmates are perfectly fine people who would influence me positively. So far, I have yet to detect any ‘attitude’ people with behaviour problems. I’m truly happy with my classmates and I hope that a few true, sincere friendships can be quickly formed soon.
My civics tutor (or otherwise known as form teacher in primary and secondary school terms) is a middle-aged man by the peculiarly quirky name of Mr Boy. How he attained this bizarre name is a mystery to me…but be rest assured that he is Singaporean. Putting his unconventional name aside reveals an exceedingly benevolent teacher who is more of an adult companion than just a teacher to us. He doubles up as our physics teacher too. During the buffet lunch on the first day of orientation, he chatted with us for a while, and I managed to extricate a few pieces of information about his teaching career from that conversation lasting no longer than 10 minutes. He initially planned to teach Chinese, but due to the MOE’s autocratic decision, he was dismayingly sent off to teach physics, which later on he took began to cultivate a strong interest in. He studied in a very typical neighbourhood school across the road from his house when he was young, and he confessed that during those times, primary school education was taken lightly, where a school was chosen based more on convenience than prestige. But nowadays, our society has evolved so rapidly that parents would painstakingly attempt all means just to admit a child into a prominent school. Well, so obviously I inferred that he, as a child, was nothing of a prodigy or genius.
Basically, this orientation was to bond us together and familiarize us with our new environment so that we would not be totally foreign when term begins. Oh, by the way, official classroom lessons only commence on the fourth week of the first term. That’s a relatively long period of orientation and informal lessons, but we receive it welcomingly, of course.
We played many icebreaker games, dodge ball using water bombs, the candle fight game, and the water transport game where we had to transport water from place to place using our shirts, and on a more serious note, had our curriculum briefing. My aging flip-flops gave way when running transporting water, something uncanny because I had run with it before and it did not spoil, but nevertheless, this was the perfect opportunity to get a better, new pair. Haha…
I think VJC is a very warm and friendly institution and I dare say that I’m quite settled there already.
This being said, however, does not diminish the fact that VS will always be cherished in my heart, although, technically speaking, VS is just my ala mater.
VS forever!!!!
Ian
Friday, December 30, 2005
Monday, December 26, 2005
BB Christmas party
My BB company organized a Christmas get-together on the 23rd Dec at Kampong Karpor Methodist Church (the church VSBB is attached to) from 5.30 till 9.30.
It was an event that we had not organized in ages; partly due to the effort spent in Sharity Gift Box (SGB), but this year, we somehow managed to squeeze in a little time for such a wondrous occasion. Approximately 20 people turned up…lesser than expected. Hence what we expected was that the food would have plenty of leftovers, and they were distributed to us evenly in zip-lock bags to carry home.
We commenced with caroling, and I was invited to play the keyboard. We sung 5 carols, and, needless to say, partly due to my nervousness, I did screw up some parts of the songs. But it was still a good experience nevertheless.
Next came charades. We were split up into four groups of five and our task was to either act or draw out from three categories: movies, TV programmes or carols. My group did the worse. Some groups had easier items than the rest…so it wasn’t really fair play. But we still supported each other and had an enjoyable time. Oh, the winning group got some chocolates.
What proceeded after was a typical Christmas celebration activity: dress someone up. Clement was our chosen model for this extremely fabulously comical game. We made him sit down cross-legged, then took the whole roll of kitchen towel and wrapped it around him like some sort of mummy, right up to his head, until he couldn’t even be recognized. Our aim: to build a snowman. And we sure succeeded very well. He looked so amusing cloaked in white, decorated with a paper cup hat, play doh buttons, eyes and mouth and protruding hands full of fast-melting whip cream, which we referred to as ‘snow’. Of course, we won…a bag consisting of 10 packs of twisties.
Passing the parcel was the last game we had before dinner. The forfeits, I thought, were really innovative. Dinner consisted of the typical Christmas spread: A wide selection of hams, turkey, shepherds pie, mash potatoes, fruit salad, macaroni and agar-agar jelly courtesy of Xuan Yi’ mum.
After filling our stomachs, we gathered again, for a time of testimony and sharing. The offices and CLTs contributed by telling us their life stories and how their otherwise meaningless life was moulded when they trusted and believed in the Lord. Captian Yong’s testimony, which was rather cliché too, again confirmed the indubitable truth that, indeed, we worship a living God who can change lives.
That night was, in essence, a coalescence of fun and evangelism, which I hope, will continue year after year.
Ian
It was an event that we had not organized in ages; partly due to the effort spent in Sharity Gift Box (SGB), but this year, we somehow managed to squeeze in a little time for such a wondrous occasion. Approximately 20 people turned up…lesser than expected. Hence what we expected was that the food would have plenty of leftovers, and they were distributed to us evenly in zip-lock bags to carry home.
We commenced with caroling, and I was invited to play the keyboard. We sung 5 carols, and, needless to say, partly due to my nervousness, I did screw up some parts of the songs. But it was still a good experience nevertheless.
Next came charades. We were split up into four groups of five and our task was to either act or draw out from three categories: movies, TV programmes or carols. My group did the worse. Some groups had easier items than the rest…so it wasn’t really fair play. But we still supported each other and had an enjoyable time. Oh, the winning group got some chocolates.
What proceeded after was a typical Christmas celebration activity: dress someone up. Clement was our chosen model for this extremely fabulously comical game. We made him sit down cross-legged, then took the whole roll of kitchen towel and wrapped it around him like some sort of mummy, right up to his head, until he couldn’t even be recognized. Our aim: to build a snowman. And we sure succeeded very well. He looked so amusing cloaked in white, decorated with a paper cup hat, play doh buttons, eyes and mouth and protruding hands full of fast-melting whip cream, which we referred to as ‘snow’. Of course, we won…a bag consisting of 10 packs of twisties.
Passing the parcel was the last game we had before dinner. The forfeits, I thought, were really innovative. Dinner consisted of the typical Christmas spread: A wide selection of hams, turkey, shepherds pie, mash potatoes, fruit salad, macaroni and agar-agar jelly courtesy of Xuan Yi’ mum.
After filling our stomachs, we gathered again, for a time of testimony and sharing. The offices and CLTs contributed by telling us their life stories and how their otherwise meaningless life was moulded when they trusted and believed in the Lord. Captian Yong’s testimony, which was rather cliché too, again confirmed the indubitable truth that, indeed, we worship a living God who can change lives.
That night was, in essence, a coalescence of fun and evangelism, which I hope, will continue year after year.
Ian
Saturday, December 24, 2005
The unbeatable Mac
Everyone seems to have gotten something new this holiday. Jun Jie got a new Dell Desktop for $1946, Andrew got a new camera phone, Jordan got the new Motorola Rockr E1, Han Hao claimed to have received an ipod nano and Xbox from his elder sister, Wei Liang is planning to get an MP3 player, Samuel got a DSLR, Weng Keong got a 1GB thumb drive…lucky chaps they sure are. *Sigh of envy*
Ok, away from the Christmas toys they received…here’s something more comforting.
Macs – the epitome of computing. Undoubtedly. Macs – also the best example illustrating the ease and pleasure of change.
Try using a Mac once and I convincingly assure you that you’ll never want to revert back to Windows. This I can declare with certain confidence, for I was, and still am, shamefully, a Windows user, who also uses a Macintosh. The overall feel between a Mac and Windows is remarkably different, with Mac of course being the more favorable choice. Many people who have not even laid hands on a Mac claim that Mac sucks, but that is no more than a self-concluded twaddle based on the fact that the wide majority of computers are Windows.
On the 20th of December (a few days back), I went to the Apple Centre at Orchard and found myself joyfully carrying back an iBook G4 home – yes, I did. I lugged home a white box something a tad smaller than the 20-inch Cinema Display box. Now I can say that I do own a white beauty and have experienced the power of the world’s most advanced operating system, the Mac OS X 10.4, or otherwise recognized as Tiger.
I do not regret my purchase at all; it was the right choice without a doubt. Even my father, who is a traditional, loyal Windows customer, was dazzled by the wonderfully amazing user interface and it’s minimalist, sleek design. He even remarked with a hint of sincerity saying that he would get a Mac the next time he buys another computer. Wow, Apple sure has the incredible ability to alter mindsets within a very short period of time.
So here are the technical specifications of my little baby:
- iBook 14-inch 1.42GHz PowerPC G4
- OS X 10.4.2
- 2 x 512MB DDR SDRAM (rounded off to 1GB)
- 60GB HDD
- Bluetooth connectivity
- AirPort Extreme for wireless surfing
- 512KB L2 cache
- Sudden motion sensor to lock hard drive in the unfortunate event of a drop
- 1 fire wire, 2 USB ports
- 32MB graphics memory
- Scroll pad (With 2 fingers, you can page up and page down)
- iLife ‘05 preinstalled
- DVD readable drive
Yup, these are the major and notable features amongst the whole load of others. Impressed? That’s up to you to decide.
You may be wondering now…so just how much did all these cost? I shall not disclose the price directly due to certain reasons, which I shall not mention here. But I also got Microsoft Office for Mac, the truly mighty Mighty Mouse and an $89 sale voucher. Haha, you can do the calculations yourself. Oh, I redeemed 3 dairies too, with 2 pink ipod notepads, 2 Apple Centre mouse pads, a 15% Nike voucher, a 290 bucks worth of 60 day free Starhub Max Online that came packaged with Office, a thick stack of lucky draw coupons and a free desert at some Japanese restaurant. That’s a whole load of freebies thrown in.
Macintosh is the best way to go. So ditch your pathetic Windows, kick it’s ass and head down to the nearest Apple Centre to be astonished by the tantalizing Macs. Even if you don’t end up carrying a white box home, just perusing it would also do you good, and change your perception about computers.
After all, change IS good. Believe me, for I now am a Mac user alas.
Ian
Ok, away from the Christmas toys they received…here’s something more comforting.
Macs – the epitome of computing. Undoubtedly. Macs – also the best example illustrating the ease and pleasure of change.
Try using a Mac once and I convincingly assure you that you’ll never want to revert back to Windows. This I can declare with certain confidence, for I was, and still am, shamefully, a Windows user, who also uses a Macintosh. The overall feel between a Mac and Windows is remarkably different, with Mac of course being the more favorable choice. Many people who have not even laid hands on a Mac claim that Mac sucks, but that is no more than a self-concluded twaddle based on the fact that the wide majority of computers are Windows.
On the 20th of December (a few days back), I went to the Apple Centre at Orchard and found myself joyfully carrying back an iBook G4 home – yes, I did. I lugged home a white box something a tad smaller than the 20-inch Cinema Display box. Now I can say that I do own a white beauty and have experienced the power of the world’s most advanced operating system, the Mac OS X 10.4, or otherwise recognized as Tiger.
I do not regret my purchase at all; it was the right choice without a doubt. Even my father, who is a traditional, loyal Windows customer, was dazzled by the wonderfully amazing user interface and it’s minimalist, sleek design. He even remarked with a hint of sincerity saying that he would get a Mac the next time he buys another computer. Wow, Apple sure has the incredible ability to alter mindsets within a very short period of time.
So here are the technical specifications of my little baby:
- iBook 14-inch 1.42GHz PowerPC G4
- OS X 10.4.2
- 2 x 512MB DDR SDRAM (rounded off to 1GB)
- 60GB HDD
- Bluetooth connectivity
- AirPort Extreme for wireless surfing
- 512KB L2 cache
- Sudden motion sensor to lock hard drive in the unfortunate event of a drop
- 1 fire wire, 2 USB ports
- 32MB graphics memory
- Scroll pad (With 2 fingers, you can page up and page down)
- iLife ‘05 preinstalled
- DVD readable drive
Yup, these are the major and notable features amongst the whole load of others. Impressed? That’s up to you to decide.
You may be wondering now…so just how much did all these cost? I shall not disclose the price directly due to certain reasons, which I shall not mention here. But I also got Microsoft Office for Mac, the truly mighty Mighty Mouse and an $89 sale voucher. Haha, you can do the calculations yourself. Oh, I redeemed 3 dairies too, with 2 pink ipod notepads, 2 Apple Centre mouse pads, a 15% Nike voucher, a 290 bucks worth of 60 day free Starhub Max Online that came packaged with Office, a thick stack of lucky draw coupons and a free desert at some Japanese restaurant. That’s a whole load of freebies thrown in.
Macintosh is the best way to go. So ditch your pathetic Windows, kick it’s ass and head down to the nearest Apple Centre to be astonished by the tantalizing Macs. Even if you don’t end up carrying a white box home, just perusing it would also do you good, and change your perception about computers.
After all, change IS good. Believe me, for I now am a Mac user alas.
Ian
The BSOD
Commonly referred to as a virtual nightmare wrecking havoc of such massive scales, this is an unwanted, detestable and traumatic catastrophe that every sane PC user would want to prevent, and avoid, from ever occurring to him.
The BSOD, or otherwise termed as the Blue Screen of Death, is usually, to everyone’s utmost dismay and disappointment, the sign suggesting that your poor PC has crashed and needs some serious reformatting.
Well, that was exactly what happened to me on the day that I returned from Camp Temasek (on the 5th December) when I booted up my computer at night.
First, the monitor didn’t on. Suspecting that the connections were loose, I ensured that all the switches were fixed properly. On the second attempt, the LCD did budge, but now, I noticed that the CPU was so obediently quieter than ever. There were no crackling noises, but just a barely audible, constant hum. I began to get nervous. These were telltale signs of incoming trouble looming ahead.
Alas, when everything did seem to be working orderly, a black screen appeared. I was appalled. It said that some system file was corrupted or missing, and I needed to manually insert the original Windows XP Setup CD-ROM (which I don’t have) and press the ‘R’ key to repair the damned file.
In a useless bid to get the system to start up, I frantically restarted the machine several times, went into system settings only to find irrelevant information, and repeatedly jammed the ‘R’ key, all to no avail.
I’m either unfortunate or Windows just hates me, but I’ve crashed my HP PC three times this year (including this). To complicate matters, I didn’t know what the hell went wrong! All except that it couldn’t be a virus, worm or spyware, I’m 99% sure. I treated my computer with so much patience and care, defragmenting, updating with Windows Updates, using disk clean-up, scanning, and it just crashes on me all of a sudden, unexpectedly, and definitely to my horror.
Luckily, all my documents were all backed up in CDs.
Well, I sent it for reformatting. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, for I got the original OS, Service Pack 2, and amongst all else, a much needed ram upgrade. From a measly 256MB ram, I added 512MB at a reasonable cost of 95 bucks to upgrade to a comparably fast 768MB of DDR ram.
The difference in performance was immediately felt. Startup and shutdown time was greatly reduced, loading IE was thankfully very much quicker, and document processing was all speeded up.
The BSOD, something that, at times, is beyond human control, unless you get a Mac. It just happens, and you’ve got to accept your fate, just like how I accepted mine thrice.
I hope this will be the last and the last forever to haunt me.
To hell with you BSOD!
Ian
The BSOD, or otherwise termed as the Blue Screen of Death, is usually, to everyone’s utmost dismay and disappointment, the sign suggesting that your poor PC has crashed and needs some serious reformatting.
Well, that was exactly what happened to me on the day that I returned from Camp Temasek (on the 5th December) when I booted up my computer at night.
First, the monitor didn’t on. Suspecting that the connections were loose, I ensured that all the switches were fixed properly. On the second attempt, the LCD did budge, but now, I noticed that the CPU was so obediently quieter than ever. There were no crackling noises, but just a barely audible, constant hum. I began to get nervous. These were telltale signs of incoming trouble looming ahead.
Alas, when everything did seem to be working orderly, a black screen appeared. I was appalled. It said that some system file was corrupted or missing, and I needed to manually insert the original Windows XP Setup CD-ROM (which I don’t have) and press the ‘R’ key to repair the damned file.
In a useless bid to get the system to start up, I frantically restarted the machine several times, went into system settings only to find irrelevant information, and repeatedly jammed the ‘R’ key, all to no avail.
I’m either unfortunate or Windows just hates me, but I’ve crashed my HP PC three times this year (including this). To complicate matters, I didn’t know what the hell went wrong! All except that it couldn’t be a virus, worm or spyware, I’m 99% sure. I treated my computer with so much patience and care, defragmenting, updating with Windows Updates, using disk clean-up, scanning, and it just crashes on me all of a sudden, unexpectedly, and definitely to my horror.
Luckily, all my documents were all backed up in CDs.
Well, I sent it for reformatting. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, for I got the original OS, Service Pack 2, and amongst all else, a much needed ram upgrade. From a measly 256MB ram, I added 512MB at a reasonable cost of 95 bucks to upgrade to a comparably fast 768MB of DDR ram.
The difference in performance was immediately felt. Startup and shutdown time was greatly reduced, loading IE was thankfully very much quicker, and document processing was all speeded up.
The BSOD, something that, at times, is beyond human control, unless you get a Mac. It just happens, and you’ve got to accept your fate, just like how I accepted mine thrice.
I hope this will be the last and the last forever to haunt me.
To hell with you BSOD!
Ian
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Camp Temasek IV – gunGbound, 1st to 5th December 2005
Inspired from a popular online game which has found substantial favor amongst our younger generation of youths, this year’s Camp Temasek IV was hence named gunGbound – however, with a slight twist to the well-known game, in order to remain relevant to us, yet being distinctive.
The dominating, but somewhat intrusive and unappealing capital letter ‘G’ which catches our curiosity upon first glance, underlies the purpose and objective of this five days four nights BB camp. ‘G’ is to represent the venturous gung-ho spirit which the organizing committee aims to instill in the campers, to embrace the entrepreneurial skills which would be cultivated through participating in activities, but most importantly, above all, to recognize and magnify God’s name in a very meaningful and personal way.
Camp Temasek – a grand, large-scale and massive camp which gathers BB Boys’ from various companies, both locally and internationally, also warmly invited other guests, such as the Girl Guides, BB Thailand and Malaysia and NCC cadets.
As the response was overwhelming, with a total of around 600 campers (excluding officers and committee) enthusiastically participating, organization was a daunting task which the organizers had to deal with. This propelled the creation of six guilds, namely Crusaders, Judges, Knights, Paladins, Priests and Missionaries, to divide equally the huge population into smaller, more manageable groups. I was assigned to the Paladins. In charge of the whole camp, as usual, is the camp commandant. In charge of us was Edward Tan, our approachable guild master (GM). Supporting the GM is the assistant guild master (AGM), who would assume the role of the GM in his absence. Primers were also selected to handle each guild. Every guild was further split into ten societies, with a senior boy leading the group as the society leader (SL). Lastly, another senior boy would take charge of the whole guild, referred to as the guild sergeant major (GSM). Wow, it seems that bureaucracy can also noticeably present in a mammoth event. I thought that this was, to a certain extent, something resembling a microcosm of our government.
The publication of a daily newsletter entitled ‘The Guild Times’ further affirms this notion of different levels of authority, positions and roles in this camp that is held once every five years. Supposedly the camp newspaper, the A4 sized 4 paged double-sided document reported memorable events that happened the day before.
The campsite had to have enough resources and space to accommodate everyone comfortably, so the spanking new Kranji Logistics Camp housed us. Bunks took the form of a long, spartan, whitewashed room, clad with four single beds and four rather spacious beige steel cabinets to store our belongings, all arranged in a simple, convenient and accessible layout.
The first and the last day were mainly allocated for administrative matters and the opening and closing ceremony respectively. As some lamented that it a waste of time, the organizers and guild masters had to explain that the ceremonies were necessary to commence and end such a big camp. Indeed, the opening ceremony started the camp on a high note. As we stood smartly decked in our full-uniform in neat rows, the guest-of-honour, BB president and organizing chairman gave their short welcoming speeches.
Everyday after breakfast, we had devotion as a guild, where we would study God’s word and discuss on certain issues. It was a useful time of interaction, reflection and discovering the Bible.
On the first day, we played some ice breaker games to get familiar with the guilds. They were all simple, rather unexciting (or at least in my opinion) games which put our teamwork, co-ordination and communication skills to the test. Indisputably, the ‘bombing’ game was the best loved game, partly because it tested the guild’s reflex and attention skills, and maybe because it also provided the perfect opportunity to jokingly ‘laugh’ at a guild when they lost.
The activities, all named after popular television programmes and computer games, mainly consisted of sports. At the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, we engaged in a ten-station race somewhat akin to ‘The Amazing Race’. This saw us ebulliently trekking through the park despite the occasional mud and pungent smells, while completing tasks like IQ mind games and puzzles.
The sports dubbed ‘Spongebob Square Pants’ turned out to be kayaking, dragon boating and rafting at the Chinese Gardens. The unstable, mini dragon boat tested our confidence, rafting taught us teamwork and innovation, and kayaking was simply a uniquely memorable exposure in the water.
Coined ‘War of the Worlds’, paintball was an early introduction to shooting, or at least, for the majority of us. I approached this game with a little apprehension and caution, and upon ending, I decided that this was a dangerously surreal game not suited to me. A ‘paint bomb’ brushed my kneecap, leaving me crouching for a moment as intense pain suddenly hit me. The idea of the game is to grab the other team’s flag after successfully pinning down three water bottles. Supposedly the bombs, these lethal weapons shelled blue paint which would explode upon contact leaving one disgustingly soaked in an unpleasant liquid, which is normally associated with art and not shooting. The more unfortunate ones had their otherwise clean track pants dyed in a patch of unsightly blue, or exited the range with unwanted surface bruises on elbows. Nevertheless, it was a good experience.
Also at the NCC Amoy Quee Camp, we daringly climbed a simple rock wall, took on the relatively easy Motivational Obstacle Course (MOC) and did some grueling rope stations.
We also got the opportunity to play a new game called AZ ball. A clever mixture of badminton and tennis, this simple yet challenging game consisted of a racket and a surprisingly soft, bouncy ball.
Many of us tried a sport that required more skill than stamina too. It was golf. As the bulk of us had never played it before, we had to start right from the basics. The Thais were naturally inclined to Golf to my utmost surprise, and they dazzled us with their unbelievably accurate shots. To the rest, it was just a fun time of hitting a white sphere no bigger than a tennis ball.
Archery – an activity which requires remarkable levels of attention and aiming was a first, again, to many of us. Some were good at it, some shot the arrow way off the target, but it was a pleasant experience despite the scorching sun relentlessly blazing down on us.
A much loved sport, inline skating was held at the spacious car park. Amidst the huge, dark green army trucks, we navigated our way around, having fun rolling on wheels. However, there were a significant number of campers (like me) who did not know how to skate. We earnestly learnt and picked up quickly, and I realized that it did not look as easy as it seemed.
On the second day, after dinner, we all gathered for a wonderful time of concert and performance. Each guild had to prepare an original short skit in accordance with the theme of drug abuse and present it to all the campers. I was amazed by the immense amounts of effort put into each guild’s performance, the fantastic acting by some potential actors, the creativity and the occasionally lame but much appreciated jokes. This event unmistakably imparted the message encouraging youths to stay away from drugs. We all had a thoroughly enjoyable time as audiences. Without a doubt, this was one truly memorable event.
Held on the third day was the BB’s 75th anniversary birthday bash and campfire. It was, again, a fantastically amazing time of celebration and worship. A big stage was erected at the parade square and a band was invited to play some really cool music for us. Of all things, we learnt how to dance too. Yes, that meant some really groovy moves. But for me, the most meaningful time was worship, where we could sing praises to the Lord and encounter His presence in a very personal way.
Free market was held on the fourth day, where we sold items to other guilds to compete for the most coupons. This tested our entrepreneurship skills as we frantically shouted advertising our products, services and tit-bits. Water bombs also contributed to the bulk of the fun, where willing officers were, to their dismay, transformed into targets of mass attack, drenched completely from head to toe by hurling bombs from the euphoric campers. Fun it sure was, but, to me, that was also a little sadistic.
Summing it up in a nutshell, Camp Temasek was the perfect opportunity to cultivate teamwork, build new relationships with friends and be exposed to vast types of sports. It was, ultimately, a great collaboration between BB officers from many companies where unimaginable amounts of effort was put in, and an unforgettable time for us campers.
The dominating, but somewhat intrusive and unappealing capital letter ‘G’ which catches our curiosity upon first glance, underlies the purpose and objective of this five days four nights BB camp. ‘G’ is to represent the venturous gung-ho spirit which the organizing committee aims to instill in the campers, to embrace the entrepreneurial skills which would be cultivated through participating in activities, but most importantly, above all, to recognize and magnify God’s name in a very meaningful and personal way.
Camp Temasek – a grand, large-scale and massive camp which gathers BB Boys’ from various companies, both locally and internationally, also warmly invited other guests, such as the Girl Guides, BB Thailand and Malaysia and NCC cadets.
As the response was overwhelming, with a total of around 600 campers (excluding officers and committee) enthusiastically participating, organization was a daunting task which the organizers had to deal with. This propelled the creation of six guilds, namely Crusaders, Judges, Knights, Paladins, Priests and Missionaries, to divide equally the huge population into smaller, more manageable groups. I was assigned to the Paladins. In charge of the whole camp, as usual, is the camp commandant. In charge of us was Edward Tan, our approachable guild master (GM). Supporting the GM is the assistant guild master (AGM), who would assume the role of the GM in his absence. Primers were also selected to handle each guild. Every guild was further split into ten societies, with a senior boy leading the group as the society leader (SL). Lastly, another senior boy would take charge of the whole guild, referred to as the guild sergeant major (GSM). Wow, it seems that bureaucracy can also noticeably present in a mammoth event. I thought that this was, to a certain extent, something resembling a microcosm of our government.
The publication of a daily newsletter entitled ‘The Guild Times’ further affirms this notion of different levels of authority, positions and roles in this camp that is held once every five years. Supposedly the camp newspaper, the A4 sized 4 paged double-sided document reported memorable events that happened the day before.
The campsite had to have enough resources and space to accommodate everyone comfortably, so the spanking new Kranji Logistics Camp housed us. Bunks took the form of a long, spartan, whitewashed room, clad with four single beds and four rather spacious beige steel cabinets to store our belongings, all arranged in a simple, convenient and accessible layout.
The first and the last day were mainly allocated for administrative matters and the opening and closing ceremony respectively. As some lamented that it a waste of time, the organizers and guild masters had to explain that the ceremonies were necessary to commence and end such a big camp. Indeed, the opening ceremony started the camp on a high note. As we stood smartly decked in our full-uniform in neat rows, the guest-of-honour, BB president and organizing chairman gave their short welcoming speeches.
Everyday after breakfast, we had devotion as a guild, where we would study God’s word and discuss on certain issues. It was a useful time of interaction, reflection and discovering the Bible.
On the first day, we played some ice breaker games to get familiar with the guilds. They were all simple, rather unexciting (or at least in my opinion) games which put our teamwork, co-ordination and communication skills to the test. Indisputably, the ‘bombing’ game was the best loved game, partly because it tested the guild’s reflex and attention skills, and maybe because it also provided the perfect opportunity to jokingly ‘laugh’ at a guild when they lost.
The activities, all named after popular television programmes and computer games, mainly consisted of sports. At the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, we engaged in a ten-station race somewhat akin to ‘The Amazing Race’. This saw us ebulliently trekking through the park despite the occasional mud and pungent smells, while completing tasks like IQ mind games and puzzles.
The sports dubbed ‘Spongebob Square Pants’ turned out to be kayaking, dragon boating and rafting at the Chinese Gardens. The unstable, mini dragon boat tested our confidence, rafting taught us teamwork and innovation, and kayaking was simply a uniquely memorable exposure in the water.
Coined ‘War of the Worlds’, paintball was an early introduction to shooting, or at least, for the majority of us. I approached this game with a little apprehension and caution, and upon ending, I decided that this was a dangerously surreal game not suited to me. A ‘paint bomb’ brushed my kneecap, leaving me crouching for a moment as intense pain suddenly hit me. The idea of the game is to grab the other team’s flag after successfully pinning down three water bottles. Supposedly the bombs, these lethal weapons shelled blue paint which would explode upon contact leaving one disgustingly soaked in an unpleasant liquid, which is normally associated with art and not shooting. The more unfortunate ones had their otherwise clean track pants dyed in a patch of unsightly blue, or exited the range with unwanted surface bruises on elbows. Nevertheless, it was a good experience.
Also at the NCC Amoy Quee Camp, we daringly climbed a simple rock wall, took on the relatively easy Motivational Obstacle Course (MOC) and did some grueling rope stations.
We also got the opportunity to play a new game called AZ ball. A clever mixture of badminton and tennis, this simple yet challenging game consisted of a racket and a surprisingly soft, bouncy ball.
Many of us tried a sport that required more skill than stamina too. It was golf. As the bulk of us had never played it before, we had to start right from the basics. The Thais were naturally inclined to Golf to my utmost surprise, and they dazzled us with their unbelievably accurate shots. To the rest, it was just a fun time of hitting a white sphere no bigger than a tennis ball.
Archery – an activity which requires remarkable levels of attention and aiming was a first, again, to many of us. Some were good at it, some shot the arrow way off the target, but it was a pleasant experience despite the scorching sun relentlessly blazing down on us.
A much loved sport, inline skating was held at the spacious car park. Amidst the huge, dark green army trucks, we navigated our way around, having fun rolling on wheels. However, there were a significant number of campers (like me) who did not know how to skate. We earnestly learnt and picked up quickly, and I realized that it did not look as easy as it seemed.
On the second day, after dinner, we all gathered for a wonderful time of concert and performance. Each guild had to prepare an original short skit in accordance with the theme of drug abuse and present it to all the campers. I was amazed by the immense amounts of effort put into each guild’s performance, the fantastic acting by some potential actors, the creativity and the occasionally lame but much appreciated jokes. This event unmistakably imparted the message encouraging youths to stay away from drugs. We all had a thoroughly enjoyable time as audiences. Without a doubt, this was one truly memorable event.
Held on the third day was the BB’s 75th anniversary birthday bash and campfire. It was, again, a fantastically amazing time of celebration and worship. A big stage was erected at the parade square and a band was invited to play some really cool music for us. Of all things, we learnt how to dance too. Yes, that meant some really groovy moves. But for me, the most meaningful time was worship, where we could sing praises to the Lord and encounter His presence in a very personal way.
Free market was held on the fourth day, where we sold items to other guilds to compete for the most coupons. This tested our entrepreneurship skills as we frantically shouted advertising our products, services and tit-bits. Water bombs also contributed to the bulk of the fun, where willing officers were, to their dismay, transformed into targets of mass attack, drenched completely from head to toe by hurling bombs from the euphoric campers. Fun it sure was, but, to me, that was also a little sadistic.
Summing it up in a nutshell, Camp Temasek was the perfect opportunity to cultivate teamwork, build new relationships with friends and be exposed to vast types of sports. It was, ultimately, a great collaboration between BB officers from many companies where unimaginable amounts of effort was put in, and an unforgettable time for us campers.
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