The Battle Royale (ICT FOC Day 1; Part 3)

In every camp there are night games, and Battle Royale is one of those that have no precedent. It does not base itself on pre-determined ideas of horror like NightWalk, but is a game on its own, able to be played in any way we want the experience to be. Unfortunately, in all camps, there is a dearth of pictures of night games (whether due to "rules and regulations" or "forget to take", I don't know) so I had to go through all my archives of SP photos to at least illustrate the action in this Part. Forgive me for any inaccuracy; we are lucky some of the pictures were taken, for some buildings have since been demolished or changed beyond recognition.

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DAY 1 NIGHT
MAY 17, 2005 AT 12.00AM

Battle Royale promptly started at 12am. The briefing, I mean. There were 12 zones, A through L. The campus thus divided, we were to collect lightrings, which were to be our sole source of light during the NightWalk, to occur immediately after the game. (Or was it lightsticks?)

We were to travel as a group through the zones. Some zones had more lightrings than others. At regular intervals, we would be informed that certain zones were closed. The game utilized the SMS feature on handphones to do the messaging. As a rule of thumb, if a particular zone is not mentioned, it is open. So the layout of open zones changed with each message.

And what happens when a zone is closed? Well, the Angels and Devils and Zone Masters will move in. There were 2 pairs of OC members acting as Devils, labelled with red lightsticks. Only one pair of Angels, labelled with blue lightsticks. Basically, if you meet a Devil, it's Bad; they will take your lightrings; if you meet an Angel, Good, they will give you one; if you meet the Zone Master, may God bless you. Therefore groups in the closed zones at the time of the message should move out quickly for fear of meeting the Devils and Zone Masters. Giving and taking of lightrings include forfeiture.

A map of the campus was presented to us, neatly divided into the different Zones. I immediately volunteered to be the navigation captain, and proceeded to indicate our position, in Zone F. Our stratagem was to search in the further areas, Zones G to L, since other teams were likely to go to Zones A to E, rumoured to contain the most number of lightrings.

And we set off! Immediately we went towards Zone I. The only torchlight we had was used sparingly. It was owned by Bash, and had several different light colours and a two-function switch. Quite blinding.

We had already passed T10, 9, and 8. Their corridors were *very* dark. Our sole torchlight was used mainly for, but not limited to, the brief illumination of a whole length of corridor and adequate illumination of staircases.

Finally we gave up trying to get to I due to its (extreme) darkness and isolation. We instead perambulated around the areas of F, G, H, and J (only). At times we imagined we saw people, in the corridor after T8 leading towards MLT2. We even witnessed another group being caught by Devils, from the corridor between T7 and the Administration Building. The unfortunate group was at the entrance of the library.

Then the Devils caught up with us! We were at the corridor running parallel to, and between, T9 and T10. Suddenly the Devils came. The rest of my team ran whilst I took refuge within the alcoves of the corridor.

After that episode, we resumed our rounds. Someone suggested that we use the lift. Although doubtful whether they were still operating at that hour, it was soon answered when the lift door opened.

Momentarily blinded, we entered. A lift! At that hour of night!

A message came through declaring that the game had ended. Finally!

(Before that we went all the way to Zone A, near our bunks, where we met with *more* Devils.) (And a Forfeit where we had to spin 10 rounds.)

We made our way to the meeting place, FC1. Other teams took a long time to come. After everyone was accounted for, we were told to wait at a gate nearby, for further instructions.

The wait lasted nearly half an hour. We were expectantly waiting for the NightWalk to commence. In the meantime, we were entertained by stories of the different reputed places in the campus (which we soon found out to be poppycock.)

Suddenly one of the OC members announced that......

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Concerning the Different Groups (ICT FOC Day 1; Part 2)

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MAY 16, 2005

Our bunk is well air-conditioned, though if you set the temperature too low, glacial temperatures would result in the middle of the night. I have assigned myself a spot, second table from the door. All footwear is to be deposited at the front, and we sleep haphazardly. That is, until the OC decided to add *more* groups to our bunk. At present only 2, it rose to 3, and finally it was decided on 4. We slept that night looking rather like corpses lined up at a morgue, what with our sleeping bags, and the equal distribution of space that was necessary for such large numbers of people.

Oh by the way, for purposes of posterity, I will disclose the names of the eight different groups (in no particular order): Cherokee, Blazerz, Ozone, Fire, Bull Shit, Hi-5, Summit, and Samurai Six.

Blazerz. We are a strange group in that there aren't many talkative people, save for Terry and Jia Xian, who create most of the conversation during mealtimes. Even they cannot be buzzing all the time. We strategize, cooperate, comment, and suggest. I was the unofficial navigation leader, and performed well I think. It was partly due to my thoughtful provision of the Singapore Map and Transport Guide. Another member, Edwin Toh, brought the same thing, and thus became our second navigator. We Blazerz are good people.

Cherokee. Mad people, according to Timothy, a member of our group.

Ozone. A concise name, and they could call themselves O³ if they wanted to. Exists in that group an associate of mine.

Fire. They lost miserably during the beach games at Sentosa (on the 3rd day of camp.) Well, Fire cannot play water games, as my associate put it.

Bull Shit. Their aptly chosen name is the laughing stock of the camp, enough said. There are one or two slightly corpulent members, and the group is adept at games using playing cards.

Hi-5. Childish name but good. Likeable people. Quite sporting. Jovial.

Summit. An ally for the Water-Strike game at Sentosa, it soon changed to enemy when they appeared to be using dubious methods to thwart us.

Samurai Six. Quite a lot of team spirit they had, but weren't so prominent, somewhat.

So, on the first night we had a game called Battle Royale or something; before, we ate a distasteful dessert (it's *supposed* to be distasteful) and appointed some boys as our "shims", but more on that later.

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About the Terrible Food, and the Spoilt Handphone (ICT FOC Day 1; Part 1)

I began writing this in a book during the second day of the camp, the 17th of May 2005.

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MAY 17, 2005 AROUND 11AM

There shall be a little section in this Book written about Malaysian civil engineering. Quite atrocious stuff. Unfortunately, now it is time for brunch and I'm not in Malaysia. The section devoted to this subject will be kept for later. But it deserves an honourable mention. Now, I shall elaborate on the aforesaid brunch.

This brunch is just one of many meals served during the Freshman Orientation Camp of the Singapore Polytechnic Info-Communications and Technology Club I am currently attending. The absence of a proper breakfast was due to our unearthly sleeping hours the night before (which was due to the compound activities of a NightWalk (sort of) and a certain battle game.) Therefore, brunch.

As usual it is not good.

The food (if you could call it that) tastes like metal, plastic, and wood respectively. There are also strange shades of green in the vegetables. It is generally agreed that the food is tasteless. At least the breakfast is more decent, consisting of bread, jam and nyonya kaya.

However, the opposite could be said for drinks. The drink for breakfast is terrible, whilst the ones for lunch and dinner are good, though a bit bland (what do you expect? They made it themselves), and consisted of grape cordial or lime cordial.

The drink for breakfast was some substance made of Ovaltine, sugar, and warm water. It is an experiment not to be repeated.

Grape cordial wasn't so concentrated. It would take more than 1 bottle (which was what they used) to sweeten the amount of water in the drink canteen. Quite bland.

The lime cordial was much better. It was more concentrated than I expected for cordials sold in that kind of bottle.

On the first day of the camp we were told to create a name for our group. There were lots of proposals, but none sounded convincing. Our group was singularly silent, and names like Crystal Ballz and Bratz and 4u2c did not sound right. The other teams were buzzing with excitement, but ours followed the maxim of "I see you, you see me", to the extent that our Group Leaders pleaded us to speak.

Only a few of our members put forward names for consideration. We were reminded that the name chosen would be the one we were to use for the duration of the camp, and therefore must be concise and memorable. The other (newly-formed) teams had finished and were permitted to enter their bunks.

Finally it was just us.

*Other* Group Leaders (or GLs) noticed our plight and stationed themselves around us, giving encouragement.

Our GL, peculiarly nicknamed Bash, suggested Blazerz.

Blazerz it was.

Then came the part about the cheer. Our minds were completely drained. For lack of ideas, our *other* GL, Sonia, gave us a cheer, which we promptly accepted.

After clearing our bunks of the tables and chairs (it's actually a classroom), we went for lunch. Vegetarian. Out of the 50 sets, 40 were vegetarian! There was some error, so we ended up eating rice with vegetables.

There is a running joke amongst us, which began when one of our eight camping groups decided to call themselves Bull Shit. It was received with great amusement, and started off a great series of jokes. It is now presumably still in circulation. Even the seemingly serious Organizing Committee (OC) members could not stifle their laughter. Bull Shit also created an equally Bull-Shitting cheer (one of those jokes.)

Oh yes, during the aforesaid brunch, there was a Highly Singular Occurrence! It involved a spoilt handphone speaker. The phone was owned by Jia Xian, a member of our group. The problem was noticed in the morning, during which only the vibration alert was working but the ringtone was absent. Later on during brunch, someone suggested that he blow into the handphone, as if playing an instrument. Miraculously, it worked! He blew into the speaker itself, and the music started only when that happened. When he did not blow, it stopped. He proceeded to demonstrate the anomaly to the rest of the group.

Suggestions were then propounded. Some thought it was a neat trick; some thought he was operating the Pause button; but no, he was not. We were in amazement.

It may be that the speaker was compressed (in some way) and could not vibrate and produce sounds. Therefore, when air pressure was applied through blowing, the speaker was free to vibrate. It would not work if you press it with your fingers; then, the speaker would not vibrate.

He has yet to switch to another phone.

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Template Change!

A minor template change to my blog, a change which is long overdue. I haven't put up images yet, it's mostly minor cosmetic changes in the fonts, colors etc. In due time I will have to put up a proper background image, else it will look really bland.

ICT FOC 05/06 coming up, as promised!

Introduction

This was my first ever blog post. From my friendster blog, which I have recently decided to migrate over to this blog for purposes of centralisation.

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AUGUST 13, 2005 AT 11.37AM

In this Introduction I'll just skim through what is to be expected in future writings.

I shall mostly be talking about random, disconnected matters, maybe concerning school, maybe concerning everyday occurrences (which go under the category of Highly Singular Occurrences).

It is not my policy to start a subject and leave it hanging. However, that policy may be broken (as all policies are meant to be), due to lack of time. This Book shall consist mainly of little mentions of things as they happen to me and as they occur to me.

Words I emphasize on will be enclosed in asterisks, like *this*. Examples are: Someone *has* to go and mess up those things, right? But we don't *do* these sorts of things.

Compare those with: Someone has to go and mess up those things right? But we don't do these sorts of things.

Alternatively, the asterisks can be replaced by a capital letter at the start of the word, as in: We simply Have to do that. What in the name of Goodness are you doing?

Every single thing in this Book is written in British English. Likewise, reading it in a British accent is suitable (*Very* suitable indeed.)

And so it is.

My next writing shall be about the Freshman Orientation Camp of the Info-Communications and Technology Club. A bit late to speak about this, but better late than never(?) Either way, I have to get it off my back. A note: It shall be written as a first person narrative (in other words, in present tense.)

Friendster Blog or Otherwise?

I have decided to move my posts from my friendster blog over to this blog (like finally!) The post below is the last post from my friendster blog before I decided to abandon it and post exclusively in my blogspot blog. I had already been posting in my blogspot blog since March that year, but at some point between March and June 2006 I realized the inordinate nature of keeping two blogs updated, and uncertainty resulted. Ultimately I decided on maintaining the blogspot blog and as a result, the friendster blog fell into disuse.

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JUNE 18, 2006 AT 6.17 PM

Should I write in a Friendster Blog or otherwise?

A Friendster blog is good in that it may notify people when you have updated it (if you wish it to). It isn't good in that design capabilities aren't so flexible. Terrible aesthetics!

Any other type of blog is more wide ranging in terms of customization, but this customization usually consists of getting an already-made template (I dislike that, but not entirely). The originality of the blog design is questionable. Also, people won't necessarily come to it.

Are my writings interesting, on both my blogs? Should I go on writing on my Friendster blog, or on my Blogspot blog? In the end, I still have to update one, or there will be annoying duplication. I hate the decentralisation. With one blog, it will be the main one, and all writings converge there.

Give a comment, or send me a message. (Comment may be easier.) I realise I am falling back Web-wise. Not even a decent blog to work upon. Tagboards, layouts, photos? How?

If you can help me in my blog design, please do. (I promise to get the Blogspot blog presentable.)

Rediscovery

Slowly, life is settling into a routine. While I would not say life has gone back to normal, it has certainly become predictable (life is considered "back to normal" only when I finally reside in Singapore). Till then, I am a nomad, packing all my sustenance and bringing it everywhere I go. The first of each month always holds some wonder; a month has passed, a month is here, and the year moves on. The days up to the 12th hold eagerness; and once the date arrives, old desires flare up, only to die a few days later (in dismay, I'm afraid). The days after that are spent in deep thought, wondering what I am going to do in the distant future. Planning...

I have made progress on the portability side; for one, I got an iPhone. Unfortunately it was not planned. I forgot that I was supposed to get an iPad.

I am rediscovering things I had long forgotten; the musical saw as a substitute for an ondes martenot, the accordion as a remarkable instrument. These things can bring me to places, if only I will pursue them. They may be regarded as no more than a hobby, but there is a place for everything. The SP Childcare Centre and MLT2 have long been demolished and levelled, but interest in them has rekindled due to my NightWalk Manual (in progress).

If I manage my time I can accomplish a lot in one day (already I'm updating my blog, something I ought to be able to do regularly but don't). Don't shy away from what you want to do. Don't let others dictate what you do. Think carefully. Listen intently.

Is this what you want?

On the spur of the moment:

A solitary pursuit

Never-ending, always changing

The weeks pass.

It remains to be seen.

Malaysian Traffic, Part II

Even the roads we went through had their faults. The roads running through the many kampungs in Malaysia don't have a middle partition between the opposite lanes. As a result, you have cars running towards you on a road only two lanes wide. Very hair-raising stuff.

Also, the lanes wind round, like on a roller coaster, and go up and down hills--what most people call a "winding road into the hills". If a slow truck or bus is in front of you, you have to overtake it, but this means going into the opposite lane. Risky, but it can be done. Unless there's a hill or upward climb.

By the way, the sentences earlier about subject gaps being very far--don't be surprised if one sentence leaps into another, with totally different meanings.

The Malaysian roads at night are a sight to behold. Some stretches of road, there are no lights, and we wish you luck if you are driving on them.The two lane roads without a partition I mentioned earlier had no street lamps along them, I notice. Lucky thing we did not drive on them at night. The only indication that there is a vehicle approaching in the opposite direction is their headlights shining right into your eyes. Nothing to worry about on the partitioned roads, but on the non-partitioned ones you better watch out. Be careful when overtaking a slower vehicle.

The good thing about having no streetlights is that you can look at the night sky, and have a breathtaking view on a clear night. The moon and a few stars amid some clouds can be seen.

Malaysian Traffic, Part I

(This subject was written on 18 March 2003. The Black Book, if you remember me saying so, began because of Malaysian traffic. I felt a need to document all the idiosyncrasies of it. Impossible, Malaysian traffic is!)

Sometimes the gap between one subject, or writing, is very large between another writing. I can be writing one paragraph in my house. Next paragraph may be written in Kuala Lumpur, in a posh hotel.

Well, the earlier paragraph about volleyball was written in the swimming pool in our Le Paris hotel. However, this sentence is written at a table in a Pizza Hut restaurant - in Malacca, at Mahkota Parade, which is a shopping centre.

Yet this next sentence is written in the car, during a stop sign. 40 seconds left. Goodness, in Malaysia'a major city, Malacca, there are timers for the red lights!

Ah, finally we talk about Malaysian traffic. As I was saying, the timers for the red traffic lights were showing 40 seconds. When the light goes green, there are also timers, only now the timer display is in green. For the red light it is red. The lights also, I notice are the new LEDs. Like in Singapore, LED traffic lights are significantly better and faster at lighting up. Even though the difference between incandescent traffic lights are very small ones. But the LEDs are nicer-looking. Only in Malacca, so far, have I seen such modernities. In Johore, the traffic lights are still the old type. The only similarity is that the red lights are still equally as long to wait for.

One annoying feature of Malaysian traffic is that the road signs are all over the place. We want to go to Johor Bahru, and look around for the sign. After driving around and looking around for the sign, we find it at the intersection itself! In very great doubt, we take the correct turn. They should put signs *before* the intersection, so that we can get ready for such an intersection. If we are driving, and suddenly find a sign showing our destination at the place where we are supposed to turn, naturally we'd be very surprised and not be sure (is that *really* the correct turn or not?) Sometimes the sign for the correct place is known with different names. We want to go to JB, and find a sign with "JB and KL to the left", "Seremban and Melaka to the right" and so on, in different places, when actually they all lead to the main highway, where we can choose our direction of movement. And because of this, we wasted half an hour winding through roads of oil palm plantations.

Retrospectives

When I began writing my Black Book Vol. 1 in 2003, little did I know that I was actually beginning my own blog. My style of writing the Book was very much a blogging style, commenting and criticising whatever was happening in my life at the time. At that time blogs had not become popular, but I envisioned that one day these very writings will be placed on the Internet, for everyone to read (wah, like some prophecy like that). Well that's what a blog is, isn't it? A place for your rants and wants. The big difference was that my Black Book was a real book which I wrote in using a pen. No one would know what I wrote if I did not give it to them to read. If it was online all you had to do was type out the address and voila! You would be able to see whatever the person put online.

Well, I'll put up my writings since 2003 online in due time, electronifying my Black Book, if you could put it that way. It would be interesting to see how one's writing changes over the years.

There were a lot of poems and rhymes written in that period too, from 2003 to 2004. Those would be uploaded in due time, but let's take it slow, shall we?

We have much to do, and less time to do it in...

A lot of things have happened since the last post, dated August 11th. At home, at work and at play. In domestic affairs I am much the same; I still live in Johor, have my own room etc. but my brother tends to sleep in the living room more (I think it is windier there). And we have to do the housework now (that IS something!)

In work I have had a complete shift from shift work (pardon the pun) to a five-day week. Well at least I can sleep better now. And at play--hmm, that is indeed something: my NightWalk event is going on at a fair pace, and I hope we make it in time.

Planning for the event began in June. The latest grand meeting was at the end of November, where a lot of big decisions were made and announced and commitments reaffirmed. I thank those people who admitted they couldn't commit and announced their departure from the planning team. At least they made it known in good time. And now things are really beginning to get going.

Does anyone have a portable sewing machine?

The Devil is in the Details

A NightWalk should be treated with the due respect it deserves, not just "Let's throw some props together and voila!" or even "Just give us the props, and we'll think of something!"

Sadly, this is the way most NightWalks end up becoming. We may talk of making the next NightWalk being better planned, with ample preparation time, and if possible better quality props, but in the end it always becomes a rushed affair. Just like an organised enterprise is better than a haphazard enterprise, a properly-planned NightWalk is infinitely better than a "chapalang" one. If it fails, at least we made the effort to plan it.

You know the haunted house attractions of the US and Europe? It is a buzzing industry there, where people acquire properties with a very foreboding aura to them and make an attraction out of it, the more elaborate the better. It is possible to make something as professional-looking as them, but with a shoestring budget (or shall I say, raffia string? ;p) This is not to say such a NightWalk *will* be chapalangly-planned, nor will it *look* chapalang. It will just be thought out more. How to maximise the budget, yet still put out something which will impress?

(Notwithstanding the fact that there *will* be "additional" funding ;)

The Beginning...

--This post took a long time in coming, so I'll just tie up a few strings left loose in the previous few posts.--

I managed to attend FOC 0910! Yes, I know it was right in the middle of "important events", but I managed to doctor my schedule to attend the camp, even if only for the first day, and the last day. There was a heart-stopping episode during the process, but it turned out fine, and I'm relieved to say that all that is over and done with.

I've obtained the Lost World soundtrack from the Esplanade library. A longwinded process, but it was possible to do.

The NightWalk Manual has been safely returned to me. It has not been updated much, I'm afraid, but it had been of some use during this year's MIT FOC. Never mind, MIT 2010 coming up!

About the abandoned writings, I will go easy on myself. No use forcing oneself to do something if inspiration does not strike. A bad case of either writer's block or too much material? It remains to be seen.

Caesar III? That game influenced me a lot, man.

And I have a ton of things to say about NightWalk!

--Pour être continué...--

Props, Netbooks, and more!

A renaissance has occurred! I have been invigorated with literary energy and have revisited my long-abandoned writings of MIT FOC 0607, and to a lesser extent 0708 and 0809. Now FOC 0910 is just around the corner, but I regret to say that there is no possible way I can take part, as it is right smack in the middle of important events happening in my current life! (Further elaboration on these "important events" will be delivered to you verbally upon request.)

The least I can do for FOC 0910 is to help out in the props, as I have always done for MIT since FOC 0607. Last Saturday I met up in the clubroom with several juniors, the majority of which were Games Personnel (GPs), and a few Organising Committee (OC) members. A class on How To Make A Sadako was held, with rather ridiculous results. The funky pink raffia hair hadn't been sprayed black yet! I don't have a photo of this, sad to say, but if I can get one I will.

How To Make A Hand was also taught. The right hand was made by me, and the left hand was made by a female GP (I forgot her name, sorry), which resulted in different-sized hands. But all these anomalies were merely dismissed with a pronunciation of the NightWalk Props motto: "At Night Cannot See!™" (Does not apply to the funky pink hair, though.)

Hope to teach them How To Make A Leg next Saturday. I'll make sure to choose a partner with similar leg sizes, lest we create disproportionate limbs again.

I also couldn't demonstrate fully aural scares. The MIT had two sets of speakers, a large one with a subwoofer and a small Creative one, but both couldn't be made to work! The Creative one was spoilt, and the large one had a missing cable. I must remember to bring an audio cable next week.

On another note, I have just purchased a netbook from the IT Show which occurred last weekend. It was an Asus EEE PC 901 priced at $498. Usually things like these cost $798, but for my version, they removed the 3G websurfing function, and it became $300 cheaper. There were some trade-offs, as is the case with netbooks, but I will excuse them. For now, Internet access is greatly simplified!

Previously I had to go to either an NLB library or SP library to use the net, since my residence in Johor doesn't have a connection. But recently my SP SPICE account was deleted, meaning I cannot surf the net in SP anymore (for free somemore). So I had to use the computers in NLB libraries, which entailed a cost of $1.80 per hour, and you cannot save files and transfer them to a thumbdrive. No colour printing also. Very restrictive. Therefore, the netbook.

Back to Props. The Props Department this year have very ambitious targets for props, I observed. Nothing wrong with that, as long as they're used fully. It won't help making 10 pairs of arms if they're of bad quality, and have to be discarded and remade. A waste of material, I'd say. Masking tape is extremely Valuable!

Wee Hong, the current Camp Coordinator, also requested to borrow my NightWalk Manual for his perusal, the first time it has left my hands. I hope the advice and ideas in it, collected over the years, are of great use. Perhaps some new and refreshing Scare Ideas?

Recent Developments

I'm looking for the soundtrack to The Lost World Jurassic Park. That movie. Hope it doesn't become too difficult. Usually things that I search for are hard to find. And I only find that out when I actually begin searching. Terribly frustrating, isn't it?

A case in point is my 26-inch saw (refer to Dec 20, 2006 and Jan 22, 2007 for the full story). And a more recent item was a toy I saw in my childhood called the Big Big Loader (which I will elaborate upon in subsequent posts). You never know how hard it is to find something until you search for it.

Had been reminiscing recently about my Tekong experience. Thought of posting it, but these things are better said than written. My experience in HTA now is also not worth recording, I feel. Some things are better recorded immediately, like holidays and such, and some are better in retrospect.

Lots of things hanging in the balance. The Black Book (vérsion écrite), I mean. I don't know why, ever since MIT FOC 05/06, I became subjective, and endeavored to record long events like camps in their entirety, which required tens of pages or more. Writer's block would halt production, and the Book would be closed to new stuff till the current one was finished. That was the fate of the second book.

And because of that, my whole poly life went unrecorded (except for camps). Somemore got a lot of things to write. Now mostly forgotten. A bit sad. I've since begun new Books to fill this gap. One day I'll try to remember all the singular things that happened in 3 years of poly.

I rarely end posts at such a low note.

Where Do You See Yourself?

Visitorship has dwindled on this blog, I see. Not many people coming here. Well, I don't blame 'em, me as having forgotten to put new things 'ere. Not even a picture, I might say. Not enough fancy things.

Back to the serious stuff. Sometimes I wonder why things have to be. I look at the rest, and they seem to be going on pretty well with their style, but here, there is no free will! Not free will in the general sense, but in that you are not allowed to do what you want; you must follow a system. And this system, in certain respects, wastes time. It's about life experiences, not about pre-determined things. Pardon me if you do not know what I'm talking about.

I sometimes look at others and see what they have accomplished by the age of (whichever age you want to put here). And I wonder why I haven't done the same. It's all about circumstances, not about decisions. Circumstances affect Decisions.

It's all about hard work, isn't it? You're only young once.

To Put Things Right...

Alright, for the sake of posting, I will comment a bit about the Masquerade Night of SSP Camp 08, as I have mentioned earlier. But only a bit.

Masquerade Night was similar to MIT Club's Disco Night, a regular event in MIT camps. Everyone gets together and dance about. The main difference is that SSP's event is themed, accompanied with live music (what is SSP without live music?), and ample refreshments provided. MIT's Disco Night pales in comparison to that, with its overly loud music, lack of a unifying theme, and minimal refreshments (or sometimes none at all).

Suffice to say, we had lots of fun. If I have time I will elaborate in the next post. For now, back to Tekong!

Sang Singa Purba Kem 60-an Gerek! - The NightWalk

Yet another event brought to you by SSP! I didn't write anything down in my Black Book (version écrite) this time, since I have learnt from experience that in camps there is no time to relax and write at all. There is always something to do, campers to entertain, stuff to sort out, and events to prepare. No tons of entries enough to make into a book like the Wawas affair (thank goodness). I will divide it into a few posts with a main topic and point out the interesting points, as I remember them.

The camp lasted from the 17th to the 19th of June, Tuesday to Thursday, with a Prep Day thrown in on Monday the 16th for good measure. I was part of Manpower, with a hand in the NightWalk preparations (a very big hand, in fact). I also did a few props for the NightWalk (as is my usual custom), in addition to the basketloads of props we borrowed from BE and SMA and the piles of cloth we got from MIT.

My main worry at the beginning of the camp was the lack of time to make NightWalk Props. Up until the last moment, I was either sorting out props or completing them. Even when the NightWalk started, I wasn't at my spot in W4/W5! As a result, I missed the first camper who walked the route (someone by the name of Jalil. It would have been interesting to see what was his reaction to my Ghost-Flies-Towards-You scare. ;-) I only had time to lean the ghost in a corner at the beginning of W4/W5. He was quite startled at the sight of it, I saw from afar!

The most singular thing about this NightWalk was that it went backwards! All my NightWalks since year 1 had gone from FC1 to MIT, but this was the first which went the other way. The rationale was that we would end closer to our bunks at T6. In the MIT camps our bunks were always at MIT, so the idea of NightWalks going the other way simply did not occur to us. I had some difficulty imagining the SSP NightWalk route which went the other way.

Of all the campers which I *did* scare, only one pair of girls screamed! They turned around and ran away! I was already smiling in glee. They recovered and walked back towards me. I raised the hand of the ghost, reaching towards them. They doubled up and ran! Very scared, they were. A job well done!

Of the rest, one pair muttered Arabic verses upon being shocked, and another let forth a stream of words and curses ("melatah", it is called in Malay). Some campers showed absolutely no reaction at all to my ghost; I was quite disappointed. But the most memorable was at the very end of the event, after the last camper has passed. I didn't know he was the last camper, so I waited for more. Then two people came, flashing torchlights around. Certainly not campers, maybe scare point people. I decided to scare them. They flashed their torchlight at my ghost and saw it, then shut it off. When they were near, I made it FLY TOWARDS THEM! They screamed and retreated a few steps back!

It was Fuad and Hady! What a reaction! I didn't expect them to react so strongly... Of all the guys whom I scared tonight, this was the only pair that screamed! =)

And thus our NightWalk ended. The last NightWalk for me, before I go to NS! More about the camp in the next post!

Voices (The Epic)

My internship in Year 3 was in World Scientific Publishing Co., in 2007. Voices is the name of a lunchtime concert we held at the end of July in the library on the first floor. Sharon was the receptionist in the lobby. And with this brief introduction, I begin the poem proper.

On 31st of July at 1.03
There was this concert in First Floor Library
Alamak, some came too early
They think we start already
Actually practice-practice only!

A lot of people came down to see
There was standing room only
Got one song called "Stand By Me"
This one Alvin sing
Then got another song by Rhaimie
"Save the Last Dance..." or something

Everyone clap.

After that we eat KFC
And pizza with Chicken Tandoori
The pizza a bit cold already
The rest we gave to Sharon in the lobby!