Welcome to my world
Enjoy your stay
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Just got myself vaccinated yesterday against... AIDS. Who am I kidding, there's no vaccine for that. Actually, I'm sure the media would have spread the message widely, the H1N1 vaccine is in clinics now. It's just a small dose of 0.5ml, which means it's only a small little syringe, no big fat needles to worry about. It takes around 2 weeks for the vaccine to reach its maximum immunisation ability, so get it fast, especially if any one of you is planning to go overseas for a vacation this December holidays. Remember, your family are the ones closest to you, remind yourself and them to go for the vaccine, and everyone will be happy. Don't lose any of your beloved friends and family to disease, always be...
Great. From cooking show to medical journal...what's next? Fashion magazine?Well, anyway. Onwards then. Let's just say that the pile of homework remains a headache, but I'll just let ignorance remain my panadol for now.
Will be going back to school for an NYAA (National Youth Achievement Awards) meeting tomorrow morning, but I'll be going away on holiday soon so I'm not sure if I can attend the rest of the sessions... Hmm, I'll keep my fingers crossed.
I'm really spluttering out nothing in terms of poetic inspirations currently, real disappointing, even for myself. Let's see if I can feel anything while away in Bangkok for that holiday.
Oh yes, I went monkey spotting 2 days ago. It was somewhere around Seletar, I think. Here's some for those who might actually like monkeys:
Silly ape, whachu' lookin' at?Great, just great, now I'm gonna dream of monkeys in my sleep. Good night, William.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
It's been so long, and so much to blog about. I think I'll classify it according to the dates of these happenings.21/11/09 (Saturday)
The day of I.T Camp. I was very excited for that day, since it's been quite some time since I attended the last camp. Even though it was only a 2-day, 1-night camp, I had the feeling that it would be more entertaining this time round in the status of a Sec-3 senior.
Well, first things first. Early that morning, as mentioned before, I woke up at 8am to start work on my pasta. Sigh, cooking really isn't easy. I was supposed to arrive in school at 10am, turns out I was late for a good whole 30minutes. And I hated it when I found out I lacked olive oil...
The general setup...
Chicken sausages for that breakfast feel.
Boiling of the spaghetti.
Preparation for making scrambled eggs. Salt, eggs, and low-fat, low-cream milk.(Is it just me or do I feel like this is somewhat turning into a cooking show...? Um, whatever.)
Whisking eggs into a frothy substance takes at least 2 minutes of muscle-aching whiplashing.
Tossing of spaghetti in olive oil... or, the supposedly missing olive oil. I couldn't find any...
Scrambled eggs. They didn't quite turn out to be what I thought...
Rojak the spaghetti, sausages, bacon ham, scrambled eggs, and spaghetti sauce together and this becomes the product. (Shit, I think I see my reflection burning off that kettle.)
Like I said, I was already late for the camp, so I had to take another packet to school to consume as my breakfast. The rest of my group worked on some Stop-Motion puppet touch-ups while I happily tucked into the meal. Haha.Probably by now, many of you would be wondering, what's a guy's business in a kitchen? My reply would be, what's there not to be? Precisely because not many guys like to do this, the novelty lies straight there. This cooking expedition could be considered a success, or at least my taste buds tell me so. Cooking is an invaluable skill to acquire, especially in survival context, and has nothing to do with gender stereotypes.
Later that night...
Time of photograph: 2a.m
After intense water games of people throwing water at each other and getting themselves wet to the tip, I.T club was given free time in the Com. Lab. Apparently, people thought it wise of themselves to turn the place into a DOTA LAN Gaming Centre. The dimming of lights to give it a more LAN-like experience was my idea, much to the delight of the gamers. And since I didn't play DOTA, I just continued working on my I.T project research. While some people played with cards, and some were on a raging surge of phone chatting with their other halves. (Who knows? Maybe it was phone sex....blahblahblah.)
At around 2.30am, I dragged my DOTA-maniacal group mates back to the IT resource room to start work on the project after I finished my research. Games aside. For me, this was where the fun part really started. I had lots of Laughing-my-ass-off(s).
Anyone tried walking around the school late at night? It's definitely creepy, especially when our wedgie-tight budget makes it impossible to open up the lights for camp-goers. Even the trip from the Com. Lab. to the I.T Resource Room held several scares. (But most probably we were just scaring ourselves.)
When I took these photos, Frederick's response was immediate. "What if you photographed something you 'weren't supposed to'?" All I wanted was to capture our school corridors in a night perspective. Um, by the way, we were on our first trip to the toilet together (Yes, together.) when I took this picture.
Frederick's protest was also the same in the case of this photo. The photo above was taken on the 3rd floor. On the 4th floor, it was pitch black darkness, my camera can't even see much. The green thing's the exit sign, the white one is ah... A lamp from the parade square, I think?On our second trip to the toilet, however, I started telling a ghost story which I heard from one of my ex-teachers. At that time, Ivan, Frederick, Phil and I were walking together in a group (Yes, again.), the more we walked, we realised that our footsteps were accelerating quicker and quicker. In the end we wordlessly arrived at the toilet entrance sprinting. LOL. Later communications revealed that we were all having the same thoughts. We started running because all of us felt something following us from behind... Probably just some psychological effect from the story I was telling. Haha, and Phil. You should've seen yourself, I still remembered you pushed Ivan to the back of the pack while running! You scared him good, though.
I had quite a few scares of my own as well. Well, not really. More like I was scaring people...
I hid in the nice cubbyhole of a classroom exit which was beside a toilet waiting for Frederick to finish his business and scram out. He just walked past me without realising that there was something there until I moved and he saw motion in that dark corner. He actually dashed all the way back to our bunk with me hot on his heels. He didn't know that it was actually me until I came into the lights of our bunk. Too late, by that time my tears were already flowing from the laughter. He actually thought I was some kind of apparition!
And so...the night of work (and fright) continued till around 4am in the morning. Our CCA Teacher I/C shooed us back to our bunk for sleep. Surprisingly, a whole lot of us (except for a sleepy/lazy few) woke up at around 7am for morning P.T. Hence in resultant, most of us only had around 3 hours of sleep before a brand new Sunday smacked straight at us.
22/11/09 (Sunday)
What's your first impression when you see this? A rifle execution scene back in the time of WWII? My exact sentiments. C'mon juniors, it's only morning P.T and games, not punishment and death, why so emo?A busy morning indeed, after playing a nice game of 3-point shots with Lionel and coaching Shi Hui on some of the basketball basics, breakfast and a nice, cold shower was up next. Shu Shan actually offered me instant noodles for breakfast. What? No! In the end I got bread. Can't complain, at least that's better than Maggi.
Next stop. Club outing to West Coast Park.
The white sand here is gorgeous.So, over here, all the I.T club seniors were given posts at different stations. Since the juniors were the ones attempting 'The Amazing Race' this time round, we get to 'supervise' them through the different stations.
That's Shao Qiang sitting on my station. It's some sort of sport equipment which you're supposed to sit on following which you spin yourself around. Sounds dizzying? It is. My Sec 2 juniors will tell you that.However, I don't think I'm going to make any new friends with the juniors during this outing. After all, being the one in charge of giving instructions for this station, I did told them to spin on the equipment 20 times, walk in rotational movement towards a lamppost and swing/spin around it 10 times, run to a tree and then back to the station. Actually it wasn't that bad, just a few minor casualties like one or two giddy falls into the sand, one or two near-faints, and maybe one or two who lost their sense of direction for a good while. I still have a heart, right?
Shu Shan: “果然是我的老爸，真会捉弄人。”
A translation of that would mean, "You are my good father after all, always the one with the cruel tricks for people."
FYI, she was the one who went around acknowledging people as her relative and parents. Lol.
That's Shao Qiang and Jean's station. I kept getting the impression that SQ didn't quite like his partner. Maybe it's because of the bright flashes...of light from the Sun which made the day quite unbearable...?
It always feels great to be taking a picture with someone so cute and panda-like. (Cheng Yang's idea of a panda)In general, this year's I.T camp has had to be the greatest out of all 3 years. For once, the takeaway food was edible...at least.
23/11/09 (Monday)
Free from school. And on this day I've decided to go gift-hunting for Jiao Min in Bugis, along with Shao Qiang, who wanted to buy a new jacket. We spent a whole afternoon scouring Bugis Junction, Bugis Street, Hylam Street, and the gigantic department store BHG for what we were looking for. Or you can say, window-shopping, actually. Just taking a stroll there after not visiting that place for so long due to shopo-phobia. For SQ, it was his first time there.
As you can see, one hasn't been there for a long time, and the other is totally foreign to the place. Quite a hassle to get around, as you can imagine. The funniest part of the whole trip was when SQ discovered that his water bottle was leaking and had turned his bag into a reservoir of drinking water. What I cannot believe was that he actually turned his bag upside down and emptied all the liquid inside, right there on Bugis Street! LOL, he made an old lady in front of him jump when he did that.
One whole row of men's wear in Bugis Junction. Gosh, just taking a walk in those stores alone is enough to make you feel cool.After all that trekking. We went to TeaDOT Cafe to get ourselves refreshments.
That's my latte in the foreground. They gave a funny name for it... I think it was called the 'Tired Coffee Latte'. SQ's beverage in the background was called 'Violet Dream', I think... some tea stuff.
Businessman on his billion-dollar project talks... Look at that stance.Reached home after a long day at about 8.30pm. Ended the day with huge plans in mind for another hectic tomorrow.
24/11/09 (Tuesday)
Woke up at 6.20am to meet up with Phil later for fitness training, and also to run some very special errands. Jiao Min, I hope you liked the morning postman?
Perhaps I should exercise with friends more often instead of running alone all the time like the cold person I am. Jogging-cum-chatting with Phil had been a nice experience. Two men tearing our muscles apart on strength training equipment had been almost high.
Oh yes, Quote of the Day: "Ugh Phil, mind your fluids!"
The afternoon was spent with Jiao Min and her friends. Ooo, do I really love Italian cuisine that much?
I had Italian Bacon and Cheese Bolognese at ambush, an European restaurant. The branch at Jurong Point was in open-air space, very classy indeed. However, it is this search for class which made Kriscillia drag her feet around the complex with a distinct whine, starving. Then they complain that I'm too fussy about food, wth? This is called MAKING CHOICES.Moreover, Jasmine and Kriscillia kept making esoteric jokes which both Jiao Min and I didn't quite catch (and most probably I never will). Tsk, annoying. The two left us soon after lunch due to enigmatic reasons, which left us to go for our own plans...
Thought that this wasn't too bad a place to let someone have some fun on her birthday. The Singapore Discovery Centre was a enticing place to be.
This is the Upper Exhibition Hall. Hm, I was just wondering. Does anyone know what's the purpose of that giant sphere in the middle of the hall?
Holy cow, they had a wartime simulator there. A Made-in-Singapore product, even the voices were distinctly of Singaporean soldiers. Gosh, they had UAVs, Apaches, F-16 Fighter jets and almost the whole of Singapore military vehicles in it.
A giant dome with many small screens along the aisle and one walkway in the middle. From what I saw, I'm assuming that it was also a simulation, but one for the parliament of Singapore. Different screens had like "Design Sector of Orchard Road", "Design Sector of Bugis" displayed on it.
Oh yes, they had this annoying robot with a freaky voice who kept screaming weird things at me. It actually freaked me out, damnit... I think it's name was 'Little George'. You actually let Jiao Min had a good time laughing at me. Watch out, GEORGIE.We went to their 3D Theatre next whereby I had my first go at a 3D movie experience. Wow, I could have almost reached out and grabbed a snowflake...
At the end of the day, we took a double-decker bus back to Boon Lay MRT Station whereby we proceeded our way home. Ooo yes, double-decker buses! They let me feel like I was back to being a 7-year-old again! I used to love them when I was younger. But it's been many years since I rode on a double-decker bus...Finally today I got the chance. Oh well, maybe I really shouldn't get this excited on double-decker buses.
On the MRT trip homewards, I got to help a mother and her young little baby push the pram through a crowded train. I think the baby smiled at me! Ah, if it's one thing I feel complete adoration for, it's cute little ones like him (or was it a her?) I'm not sure. Little babies are just so adorable.
It has been a tiring day but the time was inestimably cherished, that I can assure you. I wish you a Happy birthday once again, Jiao Min. Je t'aime.
Friday, November 20, 2009
For real, I feel like pasta right now. I feel like eating pasta as well. Stop-Motion sessions has robbed almost every waking hour out of me for the past week. All is about to complete though, at least we got to accomplish something. Partially the reason why I feel like curly-whirly pasta in recent days.Pasta can be simply known as 'Italian Noodles'. Italian cuisine is really exquisite, something which is to my taste. Could it be why I have this sudden urge to cook pasta tomorrow morning? Perhaps.
Tomorrow is also the day of I.T Camp. Finally, I get to wind down a little and try to enjoy myself after one whole tiring (but eventful) year. Will be away for some time, I'm off to get myself a vacation.
"A flower will grow if you water it with care. A flower will wither if you drown it in too much water. Take mind that as long as she thinks it's enough, that's all the assurance you need. " ~Budding flower enthusiast, William.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Arrogance. It is like a drug. It engages you deeply, it satisfies you, it gives you an overwhelming sense of superiority. However, like a drug, it stuns you, corrupts you, and worst of all, it stupefies you. Common misconception is that confidence and arrogance are the same, if not similar. However, in analogy, arrogance is just like a glass stairway you climb to reach your goals. When you look down you think that even though it's transparent, it is still there, but the truth is that when you get to too high a point, you lose your footing and find that your glass stairway was really non-existent in the first place.
Although different, confidence and arrogance do share a common element. That element is pride. Confidence consists of pride. Arrogance consists of pride. Confidence relates to the bold but rational regulation of pride, while arrogance points at the uncontrolled bursts of overestimation at one's worth. Confidence and arrogance are not parallels of each other, although many would like to think so. This might sound complex, but in fact it is not. Think about it this way, popularity does not equate to greatness, education might not necessarily portray intelligence, and knowledge does not always lead to application.
I prefer climbing a concrete stairway than a glass one, even though it is much more tedious, but I can safely descend my line of sight below my nose level and know that it is solid, and still there. The one thing about glass stairways of arrogance is that they often have little or no foundation at all, and one gentle nudge can bring it to a spectacular defeat. Confidence breeds security, arrogance begets the lack of security.
Ever heard of, "The box with the least coins makes the most noise"? If possible, try to make it a point to use this sentence as a guideline in life. Not forgetting, this says a lot about insecurity. Of course, this is different from some cases. Such as, I have friends who talk a lot, and I love them for that, but 'talk' comes in many forms. At least for many of them I know that they are just having fun with their endless chatter, nothing harmful. But anyway, back to point. As mentioned before in 'To Kill a Mockingbird', a man with morals does not take pride in the talents he has simply because it is wrong to do so. The more you try to justify and prove the skills you have, the more obvious it becomes that you do not have them. As said before, confidence is security, and people who feel secure about themselves do not have to specially slog to prove themselves to other people. Whatever they do in their daily lives will be enough to speak for themselves. The opposite of this is arrogance, the situation where some will secrete words of unease and try to pass it off as a high sense of self-esteem, when in fact it really is, just plain old insecurity.
The reason why I don't like to talk much is because one of my strongest principles is "Talk less, listen more." One would rather talk when the scenario deemed it absolutely required, than to display insecurity by 'showcasing' your abilities by talking about them when no one is interested in listening. After saying so much, I would like to reinforce that everyone's definition of 'confidence' and 'arrogance' are so very different. What you've seen in this post today are nothing more than my own mere thoughts, the rest is up for you to judge and decide. The skill involved in being able to do this will mean a lot in later life, when judging the characters of different people will become all the more critical. On a final note, just remember, "Every man is entitled to his own opinion, no matter what."
Although different, confidence and arrogance do share a common element. That element is pride. Confidence consists of pride. Arrogance consists of pride. Confidence relates to the bold but rational regulation of pride, while arrogance points at the uncontrolled bursts of overestimation at one's worth. Confidence and arrogance are not parallels of each other, although many would like to think so. This might sound complex, but in fact it is not. Think about it this way, popularity does not equate to greatness, education might not necessarily portray intelligence, and knowledge does not always lead to application.
I prefer climbing a concrete stairway than a glass one, even though it is much more tedious, but I can safely descend my line of sight below my nose level and know that it is solid, and still there. The one thing about glass stairways of arrogance is that they often have little or no foundation at all, and one gentle nudge can bring it to a spectacular defeat. Confidence breeds security, arrogance begets the lack of security.
Ever heard of, "The box with the least coins makes the most noise"? If possible, try to make it a point to use this sentence as a guideline in life. Not forgetting, this says a lot about insecurity. Of course, this is different from some cases. Such as, I have friends who talk a lot, and I love them for that, but 'talk' comes in many forms. At least for many of them I know that they are just having fun with their endless chatter, nothing harmful. But anyway, back to point. As mentioned before in 'To Kill a Mockingbird', a man with morals does not take pride in the talents he has simply because it is wrong to do so. The more you try to justify and prove the skills you have, the more obvious it becomes that you do not have them. As said before, confidence is security, and people who feel secure about themselves do not have to specially slog to prove themselves to other people. Whatever they do in their daily lives will be enough to speak for themselves. The opposite of this is arrogance, the situation where some will secrete words of unease and try to pass it off as a high sense of self-esteem, when in fact it really is, just plain old insecurity.
The reason why I don't like to talk much is because one of my strongest principles is "Talk less, listen more." One would rather talk when the scenario deemed it absolutely required, than to display insecurity by 'showcasing' your abilities by talking about them when no one is interested in listening. After saying so much, I would like to reinforce that everyone's definition of 'confidence' and 'arrogance' are so very different. What you've seen in this post today are nothing more than my own mere thoughts, the rest is up for you to judge and decide. The skill involved in being able to do this will mean a lot in later life, when judging the characters of different people will become all the more critical. On a final note, just remember, "Every man is entitled to his own opinion, no matter what."
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Haven't been updating too often these few days, my apologies. Since it has been so long, looks like I have some helluva updating to do then. Even though I've not been touching this blog for a long period of time, a lot has happened in recent days. Hm, I don't even know where to start...
Hm, let's start with something more 'natural' then. Has anyone been to the HSBC Treetop Walk @ Venus Drive? It's somewhere near the MacRitchie Reservoir. May I suggest that it's perfect for anyone looking to overcome their fear of heights? Anybody interested? Ke Xin? You should really visit that place.
The Pure Geography class trudged there with Mr Sam Soo, Mr Zainudin and Ms Fizah (Sorry, my spelling of Malay names isn't good at all.) on the 29th of October. As expected, any place with the presence of Mr Sam Soo, laughter is bound to follow. However, this time, the laughter was felt to a lesser extent. Probably because Mr Soo didn't have the energy left over to joke. Last I know, he was panting heavily nearing the end of the trip He wasn't the only one though, the trail was a hard one, consisting of kilometres of tough forest terrain. Well, Farnana kept asking me how come I didn't look tired after bashing through so much of the forest path at the front of the pack. Frankly, I WAS tired, but I just wanted to keep my eyes peeled for every single trace of forest life I can find. Funny how such things appeal to an urban fella' so much...Novelity, I guess, one rarely sees such scenic beauty in the city.
The highlighted route was around 7 km in length. And that was only the amount of distance we have to cover before we reached the entrance of the Treetop Walk.
Monkeys were spotted as we neared the Ranger's Station.
As we stepped afoot onto the Treetop Walk platform, things got a lot more shaky...
This picture was taken from the Treetop platform. For those learning Geography, you can have a fairly accurate guess of height from where I was standing. The tallest layers in a tropical rainforest are the canopy and emergent layers. As you can see, this place is already above the canopy, and we're at just about the same height as the emergent at the top right corner. If I didn't remember wrongly, this is 30m above the forest floor. Which is an estimated height of 10 storeys worth of HDB apartments.
All of us had to walk in single file down the narrow platform. It was around this point when Kevin started swaying from side to side, the resulting screams were much to his delight and to the horror of others.
After stepping down from the high-rise platform, the rest of the trip consisted a lot of staircases like these. Mr Sam Soo revealed to us an interesting fact about this Treetop Walk. All the stairs here were constructed entirely without nails, and it took around 8 long years to complete, all due to ecological protection purposes.
As we walked along, he also pointed out to us some fungi growing on a decaying stump. He also related it to our studies regarding how the forest naturally recycles dead materials into humus (the topmost layer of fertile soil) through the aid of fungi.
Depressing to find a strong influence of humans inside a forest, but this find excites me nonetheless.
Found the casing of a bullet in the undergrowth on the way back to the bus. Managed to dig it out with much enthusiasm. Looks like the army soldiers use this place as one of their training grounds. By measuring its size against my palm, it has an estimated diameter of 8-9mm. It should be a .32 caliber high-velocity rifle bullet, judging from its lengthier dimension and sharp nose tip.
Oh yes, did I mention that a part of the forest trail was just beside the Singapore Island Country Club? It's a comfy place to reside in for some of the most powerful politicians in Singapore. The car in the background is a Mazda RX-8, a sports car which signifies wealth flowing around the whole place. However, the RX-8 would be dwarfed by the one which I saw driving past me before this, the Bentley Continental GTC. Sadly, it sped away before I could capture its mesmerising beauty between my camera lenses. But the point is, this place is stinking rich.
For those interested to know, the Bentley Continental GTC I saw looks something like:
Stinking, filthy rich.
Despite the the toughness of it all, this journey of learning was an enjoyable one, what better form of learning can there be other than this? Being the first one to run for the bus together with Si Kai at the end of the trail was an exhilarating race, especially when we saw the bus trying to drive off... (Until now I still don't know why the Bus Driver did that, but we did catch up with him in the end.) When my tired body laid upon the backseat of the bus during the return journey, I contemplated imposing upon my mind to recall the beautiful sights once more, but dropped it. Instead, I let it drift somewhere sweeter.
Onwards.
From what I gather, many GEMs are regretting their decision in joining up in the first place. Probably because of the long hours of commitment required of them. For me it's even worse, because Ms Mazlinda is giving me more tasks than the rest of them. Now even I am starting to shudder at the thought of GEM. But there is no choice, one can only persevere. Ms Mazlinda wants me to write out an article based on my perceptions of the day of the Charity Bazaar to be printed into the school Annual Magazine. It's my first time writing for something so large-scale, I hope that my best effort would be enough... Seems that she marked me down for this task after being "very impressed with your writing ability". I knew I should've used lower-grade English in my GEM blog...Damnit.
The period of exiting adolescence, can be defined as entering adulthood. What is it with me and parents nowadays? I enter into... more intense interactions with my own parents, other people's parents, and even soon-to-be parents. Looks like it's really time to improve on my PR (Public Relations) skills in order to accomodate this increased sword-crossings with adults...especially those with a parental nature. Anyone wants to give me tips?
The more recent event would include Hui Xian's birthday party on the 31st of October, Saturday. Erm...really sorry for this late post of gratitude, but I would like to thank Hui Xian for giving me the honour of attending her party and being part of the celebrations. Happy 15th birthday! I don't have any pictures, but it was a large event. We started off by playing games in the evening. Heck, playing badminton and Captain's Ball in a Polo shirt, jeans, and tie is really something...
After dinner, we sat down in the host's room to chat (/gossip) about...just about everyone. That was what I really like, close communications between people has always been heartwarming. There were several non-malicious backstabbing which really brought many a good laughs to everyone present, and even most of those at the centre of attention at that time were willing to open up their darkest secrets. Interesting.
I think my bucket of stories are just about emptied for now. That being said, there's still Bridging Programme tomorrow. Sigh, after having just attended 2 sessions of it, I think my eyes should be looking diluted and murky by now...
And Phil has been bugging me during these few days to take up Facebook. Well? Anyone thinks I should go against his wishes? Or go with it?
Hm, let's start with something more 'natural' then. Has anyone been to the HSBC Treetop Walk @ Venus Drive? It's somewhere near the MacRitchie Reservoir. May I suggest that it's perfect for anyone looking to overcome their fear of heights? Anybody interested? Ke Xin? You should really visit that place.
The Pure Geography class trudged there with Mr Sam Soo, Mr Zainudin and Ms Fizah (Sorry, my spelling of Malay names isn't good at all.) on the 29th of October. As expected, any place with the presence of Mr Sam Soo, laughter is bound to follow. However, this time, the laughter was felt to a lesser extent. Probably because Mr Soo didn't have the energy left over to joke. Last I know, he was panting heavily nearing the end of the trip He wasn't the only one though, the trail was a hard one, consisting of kilometres of tough forest terrain. Well, Farnana kept asking me how come I didn't look tired after bashing through so much of the forest path at the front of the pack. Frankly, I WAS tired, but I just wanted to keep my eyes peeled for every single trace of forest life I can find. Funny how such things appeal to an urban fella' so much...Novelity, I guess, one rarely sees such scenic beauty in the city.
The highlighted route was around 7 km in length. And that was only the amount of distance we have to cover before we reached the entrance of the Treetop Walk.
Monkeys were spotted as we neared the Ranger's Station.
As we stepped afoot onto the Treetop Walk platform, things got a lot more shaky...
This picture was taken from the Treetop platform. For those learning Geography, you can have a fairly accurate guess of height from where I was standing. The tallest layers in a tropical rainforest are the canopy and emergent layers. As you can see, this place is already above the canopy, and we're at just about the same height as the emergent at the top right corner. If I didn't remember wrongly, this is 30m above the forest floor. Which is an estimated height of 10 storeys worth of HDB apartments.
All of us had to walk in single file down the narrow platform. It was around this point when Kevin started swaying from side to side, the resulting screams were much to his delight and to the horror of others.
After stepping down from the high-rise platform, the rest of the trip consisted a lot of staircases like these. Mr Sam Soo revealed to us an interesting fact about this Treetop Walk. All the stairs here were constructed entirely without nails, and it took around 8 long years to complete, all due to ecological protection purposes.
As we walked along, he also pointed out to us some fungi growing on a decaying stump. He also related it to our studies regarding how the forest naturally recycles dead materials into humus (the topmost layer of fertile soil) through the aid of fungi.
Depressing to find a strong influence of humans inside a forest, but this find excites me nonetheless.
Found the casing of a bullet in the undergrowth on the way back to the bus. Managed to dig it out with much enthusiasm. Looks like the army soldiers use this place as one of their training grounds. By measuring its size against my palm, it has an estimated diameter of 8-9mm. It should be a .32 caliber high-velocity rifle bullet, judging from its lengthier dimension and sharp nose tip.
Oh yes, did I mention that a part of the forest trail was just beside the Singapore Island Country Club? It's a comfy place to reside in for some of the most powerful politicians in Singapore. The car in the background is a Mazda RX-8, a sports car which signifies wealth flowing around the whole place. However, the RX-8 would be dwarfed by the one which I saw driving past me before this, the Bentley Continental GTC. Sadly, it sped away before I could capture its mesmerising beauty between my camera lenses. But the point is, this place is stinking rich.
For those interested to know, the Bentley Continental GTC I saw looks something like:
Stinking, filthy rich.
Despite the the toughness of it all, this journey of learning was an enjoyable one, what better form of learning can there be other than this? Being the first one to run for the bus together with Si Kai at the end of the trail was an exhilarating race, especially when we saw the bus trying to drive off... (Until now I still don't know why the Bus Driver did that, but we did catch up with him in the end.) When my tired body laid upon the backseat of the bus during the return journey, I contemplated imposing upon my mind to recall the beautiful sights once more, but dropped it. Instead, I let it drift somewhere sweeter.
Onwards.
From what I gather, many GEMs are regretting their decision in joining up in the first place. Probably because of the long hours of commitment required of them. For me it's even worse, because Ms Mazlinda is giving me more tasks than the rest of them. Now even I am starting to shudder at the thought of GEM. But there is no choice, one can only persevere. Ms Mazlinda wants me to write out an article based on my perceptions of the day of the Charity Bazaar to be printed into the school Annual Magazine. It's my first time writing for something so large-scale, I hope that my best effort would be enough... Seems that she marked me down for this task after being "very impressed with your writing ability". I knew I should've used lower-grade English in my GEM blog...Damnit.
The period of exiting adolescence, can be defined as entering adulthood. What is it with me and parents nowadays? I enter into... more intense interactions with my own parents, other people's parents, and even soon-to-be parents. Looks like it's really time to improve on my PR (Public Relations) skills in order to accomodate this increased sword-crossings with adults...especially those with a parental nature. Anyone wants to give me tips?
The more recent event would include Hui Xian's birthday party on the 31st of October, Saturday. Erm...really sorry for this late post of gratitude, but I would like to thank Hui Xian for giving me the honour of attending her party and being part of the celebrations. Happy 15th birthday! I don't have any pictures, but it was a large event. We started off by playing games in the evening. Heck, playing badminton and Captain's Ball in a Polo shirt, jeans, and tie is really something...
After dinner, we sat down in the host's room to chat (/gossip) about...just about everyone. That was what I really like, close communications between people has always been heartwarming. There were several non-malicious backstabbing which really brought many a good laughs to everyone present, and even most of those at the centre of attention at that time were willing to open up their darkest secrets. Interesting.
I think my bucket of stories are just about emptied for now. That being said, there's still Bridging Programme tomorrow. Sigh, after having just attended 2 sessions of it, I think my eyes should be looking diluted and murky by now...
And Phil has been bugging me during these few days to take up Facebook. Well? Anyone thinks I should go against his wishes? Or go with it?
