SCE Camp 2014 (I)

Secret War Journal[8 July - 12 July 2014][Long Post][Media-Heavy]
Day 1 - Yorel, you're up
Clothes checked. Shoes checked. Sleeping bag checked. Yorel, it is time to go.

I would be frank. I was dragging my feet to the door on that afternoon to go for the camp. I was slowly packing my items as indicated from the packing list provided. Emelia was around so she probably noticed my walking up and down to transfer items to and fro my bag.

Why am I dreading the camp? After all, did I not sign up for the camp. (Now you are probably wondering I am some indecisive ***tard.) In my defense, I am an introvert. It just so happens that on this very day, the first day, I was feeling the full blown effects of introversion so I was not really looking forward to meeting a lot of new people. It helped that I had prepared myself for this day but it did not help that I was not able to recharge sufficiently before today.

Nevertheless, what's done is done. Despite my reluctance to get out of the house today, I set out towards tampines.
--
The location to meet was at the Gongcha at the MRT station. (Ironic as it may sound, I actually reached the area early. Curses, well on the bright side, I guess it was better to be early than late.) However, when I reached the location, I did not see anyone in orange shirt.

(A bit of background here: We were supposed to meet up at bubble tea shop gongcha wearing an orange shirt. Since there was no whatsapp group created beforehand, I had no one to consult except for a phone number.

Our orientation group (OG) name was Titus. Supposedly named after a roman emperor. The reason why likely could be due to the theme of the camp - The King's Coliseum.)

As it turns out, Titus's meeting point was not exactly at the bubble tea shop. Jin Heng, one of my OG mate came to me when I was loitering around the shop. He asked if I was part of Titus which I replied that I was. He pointed to a shelter opposite the shop where I see another guy with orange shirt.

As it turns out, I was the first few to arrive. I was kind of surprised because many members from the other OGs had arrived. They were all very early, wow. Perhaps I should rephrase my sentence - I was the second member to arrive at the correct place. I think many of us arrived around the same time but no one realised that the meeting point was actually opposite the shop. (I mean, seriously, no one was informed about this. They cannot be blamed.)

While waiting for the rest to arrive, we started to introduce ourselves to make this whole waiting a little bit less awkward.
--
When everyone was gathered, we took a bus towards the lodging area. Much is not revealed before this day. No one among us knew where we would be staying at nor what were in store for us. As it turned out, we were taking up residence at the Aloha Changi Chalet.

This was where we stayed for 4 nights

After a long ride, finally reached our destination

Here, we did a formal round of introduction and proceeded with the games.

This is where we had our games for the first day

Camp President Speech

One of the notable games we played was the one concerning our mode of accommodation. We had to compete against the other houses, Vulcan, Spartans, Ceasar in the game of 黑白配 (a game where two players first play scissors-paper-stone, the winner then denote a direction which the other player must not point his head to. If the winner succeeds in making the other player point his head towards the designated direction, he wins.)

Scissors-paper-stone!

Wrong direction! :p

Long story short, Titus was second. Thus, we were supposedly allocated the second best lodgings. (I still feel cheated on this matter but it is not that important.) The last house from the competition was supposed to sleep outside overnight but obviously, it was a lie. (In fact, some believed that their lodgings are better than the first and second runner-ups. Blasphemy.)

Next, we painted our house flags. Camp family shot!

Ceasar

Vulcan

Spartan

Titus

Titus Family
From Left(2nd Row): Kai Wen, Jin Heng, Andy, Leroy, Wee Hang, Da Yuan, Choon Keat, Ryan
From Left(1st Row): Yeow Yang, Aaron, Sisi, Xiao Xin, Sebastian, Francis, Shu Wei, Sin Yi, Daniel, Jivon

Night came and we played a series of games with our sister-house Ceasar before we called it a day early. By early, I meant earlier than expected. The activities ended around 11pm which came as a shock to most of us. We actually suspected if the camp organisers would wake us up in the middle of the night for some activity. (They didn't.)

Blowing bubbles, for fun

Drinking game

So messy!

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Interim -/- Namesake -/-

• Aaron - (Hebrew) Exalted, Strong
• Andy - (English) Manly
• Daniel - (Hebrew) God Is My Judge
• Francis - (Latin) From France Or Free
• Jivon - (Sanskrit) To give life
• Ryan - (Irish) Descendant Of The King
• Sebastian - (Greek) Venerable
• Sisi - (African) born on Sunday

Not much interesting names this time round. Some names worth mentioning would be Jivon - an irregular name given to males. Its Sanskrit origins makes the whole name much more interesting; and Ryan - For obvious reasons. Unfortunately, it is of Irish origins. I hope to find one originated from France.

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Day 2 - We and our sense of direction
We got lost, very lost, extremely lost

Morning came with most of feeling tired despite how early it ended yesterday. Time check - it is now 7am in the morning. I slept at around 4am in the end yesterday from talking. Some slept even less, catching the World Cup live.

Breakfast!

Today's highlight was Amazing race. Our first stop would be... Tampines. There is nothing to done at Tampines actually. It just so happens that that we have to transfer at Tampines since it is the nearest MRT station from our chalet. From Tampines, we made our way via train to Somerset where *scape awaits us.

And so we go!

Having fun at Tampines

This train belongs to us

--
*scape

One of our sponsors

Reaching the station was no easy feat. Not much were given as to the precise location of their whereabouts apart from the fact that it was in *scape. After venturing the place a bit, we eventually found them at the one of highest floor. One interesting to note, however, was that there was a filming being taken place beside it. I could not figure out what show was it for but it did not seem local.

One consequence of the station being located next to a set was the inability to shout and make a lot of noise since the other party is filming. As a result, we were not allowed to do cheers and get overly excited. (kinda sad, huh)

To clear this station, we had to finish a game combining charades and messenger.

Mirror LMAO

Instead of a verbal message, the message had to passed from one to another via charades. Of course, there is a high chance that the message gets kind of strange, rendering this challenge potentially difficult. However, all strategies were made redundant by the wonderful position of the wall mirror. With the mirror, one could see the first person's actions and deduce the answer. With that, we cleared the station with ease.

Next stop. A certain stadium (I forgot)
--
Stadium

What? Not happy ah

This station tested us on coordination and teamwork. It was a manageable task and we cleared it with minimal hassle.

Tying our legs together

We are ready!

Getting our coordination right

The first task was to satisfy a set of conditions as instructed by the station master. For example, 5 legs, 4 arms. Only 5 legs can be in contact with the floor and 4 arms in the air. It is similar to the game, twister.

Next, we would be given a pivot and we would need to either rotate clockwise or anti-clockwise about it. It was quick fun clearing this task, hahas.

The third task involves passing through a hula hoop across all the members.

Not very difficult, isn't it

Cleared them, no sweat!

After the third task, we would be released. The entire house would not conduct a macarena dance. This was done with hilarious effect.

What's happening?! Hahas

Now, bonus round! In this round, we would given a period of time where we try to get as many water bombs from one point to another via human chain. We had to throw it to pass to the next person.

Not going to make it easy for you guys!

Bring it!

This is trying

This is...Just give me!

This is...Too easy

Out for lunch

Clearing the station, we headed for lunch - Chicken Rice!
--
Plaza Singapura

Getting our clue to our next stop, Plaza Singapura, we headed there after our lunch.

As it turns out, this was the easiest station. The challenge was this -- Find a certain number of items which add up to a specific amount as given by the station master.

Our strategy to achieving this real quick was to split into smaller teams and find items to match up to an amount that we discussed on.


--
Marina Barrage

Our last station. Last because we took kind of long to reach the destination.

Our OGLs - This is going to take a long time

The task is called Magic Carpet. This is actually harder than it looks. Stage I was easy. We need to stand on the mat and flip the mat without us touching the grass patch outside the mat.

Smile while you still can guys!

Stage II: We need to move the mat from Point A to Point B without us touching the grass patch outside the mat.

Magic Carpet, fly us there!

It took some time and a lot of coordination but we did it.

Stage III: The mat is not cut to one fourth its size and we all need to squeeze on it!

We did it! We did it!

Time to attack the Station Master, with bubbles!

Since we ran out of time to go for the next station, we decided to have some fun (and clear some hidden missions at the same time :)

Jump shot

Power Slam

From Left: Aaron, Leroy, Andy, Francis, Jin Heng

Taking pictures with tourists

Time to head home.
--
A little incident
On our way back to the Chalet from Tampines, an incident happened. Drunk with laughter and fun, we boarded a bus without a second thought, only to realise that the bus does not go to our chalet. The bus that we were supposed to take was XX. When a bus XXA came, we sorta assumed that the bus would go to our Chalet. Once aboard, one of us checked and realised that it does not. Immediately, we alighted after one stop and waited for our bus. However, bus after bus came, all full and could not accommodate us. Eventually, we gave up and took a bus back to the interchange and took the correct bus to the chalet. By then, we were one hour late. As a result, we had a late dinner.

You would think this is all for today but it had only just begun. I am cutting this post into multiple parts, seeing that this post is becoming too long.

Click here to see what happened next [Not published] -->

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Credits: Are You Photogenic?, Michelle Chow

X Men: Days of Future Past

Secret War Journal[25 May 2014]
People who knew me would know that I had no intention to watch this movie at all. Partly because I had no interest in the story. No offense to the fans, I did watch the X-men films up until Origins (at least I think I did) but I just liked how the story ended at X-Men 3 (it was a sad ending, I know). I did not really want them to dig up the story again and smash what I thought I knew about the story and kept it moving again.

Premise
That said, I ended up watching the movie in the cinemas. As ironic as it may sound, I was presented with the opportunity to watch the movie. As luck would have it, NUS Business was giving away X-Men tickets for participants of their tea session. As not everyone who attended for the tea session was interested in watching the movie, Emelia managed to obtain additional tickets for her family and me.

To be honest, I was not aware about this development when they procured the tickets for me. At first, they asked me if I was free to join them for a movie. At that moment, I was celebrating Jing Ying's birthday with Lai Yin and Gable gang. Since I was not aware when the celebration would end, I decided to play safe and replied that I would not be able to make it. For some reasons, they did not catch my reply (I think Johnston's phone went out of battery) and sent me another message stating that they got me a ticket. Naturally, I assumed that they bought a ticket for me already. Hence, I excused myself and quickly headed for Vivocity to catch the movie.

Personal Opinion
The movie saw the return of popular characters such as cyclops, jean grey and storm. While they play little role for the bulk of the show, they did play a role.

There were introductions to many new characters featured in the Days of Future Past. Furthermore, we got to see the younger Magneto and Professor X in action. The whole show gave off a calm before the storm atmosphere which helped to build suspense as to when chaos would break out in the timeline that Wolverine was in. All the while, time was ticking in the 'now' where their hideout is being discovered by the Sentinels. Here, the mutants will make their last stand against the Sentinel as one and their fate depends on Wolverine.

This situation certainly helps to build excitement for the critical moment when the past reaches a turning point where Wolverine and his team attempts to change the future and prevent the advent of the Sentinels. Credit should be given to Jennifer Lawrence, the actress behind Mystique who played a central role in this show.

Overall, it was an all right show. Not great but bearable. (I am sorry, I am not a X Men fan.)

I would like to note though, that the next X Men film: Apocalypse seems promising. Until then! 

My Journey to the East

Secret War Journal[March 2013]
A lot has happened. I cannot deny that.

Before I begin my account of how I reached my destination in the east, perhaps a little retelling of the events prior to this would be beneficial. (Partly also because I am aware that this post is being published before my wrapping up of my end of army days.)

A little-known fact that my father probably wants to hide

And he probably would not like the idea that I leak it out. However, everybody eventually will know. Yes, he probably wants to be the one telling it so I can understand. But I have to say it. (Apart from a nagging feeling that I should, from a suspicion,) I need to say or this entire post would be difficult to explain. That means the reader (yes, even the future me.) would have trouble understanding the motivation behind this whole saga.

So what is all this fuss about? Well, to be blunt. My family is in financial trouble. In my opinion, it begun with the whole borrowing of money to play in stocks. At first, it was all good. Some time this year (to my knowledge, at least, it happened. Bear in mind that I spent more time in an army camp than at home.), the market went downhill, along with the shares that my family bought. That meant that we instantaneously lost a large amount of money. Given the conditions of the loans, such a loss was a very big problem. Apparently, my family was reaching a point where we are having issues resuming our daily life activities. From the sound of it, it really seems serious. If I learnt anything from this crisis, it is to never borrow to invest in high risk activities.

Now that you understand the financial situation of my family. Put it to the back of your mind. Know the reason but remember that there is no need to spread it. Moving on, with the additional financial stress, it added to, or worsened, the saga of the room rental scare last year.

It was first and foremost, a Journey to the West

For those knew of the room rental saga, I think you would understand the need for me to vacate my room to put it up for rent. Yet, as many had asked me too, the idea of moving out to rent out your room seems counter-productive. Indeed, it is. (I would not trouble myself to defend something I do not quite understand myself). There are two schools of thought to justify this.

First, how this idea about renting out the room came about was literally moving out of the room, not out of the house. The concept then was to move my stuff and make the bomb shelter my new bedroom. (Still makes little sense, I know) Unsurprisingly, I was pissed at that notion. Thus, I made a scene last year. That saga resulted in my father, my sister and I living in our then-vacated condominium in an improvised manner for a period of time (3 days or more? I could not remember). What happened to that condominium later on is a story for another day.

Secondly, to be blunt, my stepmother just could not stand living with strangers. Well, she is family with my father and half-brother but that is it. Her inability in controlling her child did not help matters as she pushes the blame to my sister and I. Of course, no one will outright point out that this is the case but we should bear in mind that could had been the case. (In fact, such a scenario is not as far-fetched as you think. If you go around reading support groups for stepmothers, you would realise that most of them are really uncomfortable in living with children from previous marriage. They often felt that the children is an obstacle to their happiness in the current marriage and would prefer them to be away, out of sight.)

To reinforce the second idea, when the proposal to rent out my room resurfaced once more, it was suggested that I should move out. Naturally, my father was against it. After all, he wants us to live all under the same roof. However, with pressure from the financial problem and my stepmother (you have to give it to her, it is simply amazing how she can link every topic to renting the room out, wow), my father and I came to an consensus that moving out would be a better option for me. My father felt that the situation at home now is really not very conducive for studying and was afraid my studies would be adversely affected. Thus, I began my search for a room in the West, near my school.

Halls, Dorms, Flats

The very first option that came to mind was moving to the University Halls. Compared to other accommodation options, it is definitely one of the lowest. At around $220 per month, it is a rate that was hard to beat in Singapore. This explains why so many students choose to live in Halls, huh. (Okay, guess not) However, there was a problem. While the rates were definitely competitive, it is not readily available. As most prospective students would be aware, universities in Singapore only guarantees first-year undergraduates a room in Hall. To maintain the room from Year 2 onwards, you would have to accumulate sufficient points to be allocated one. Even so, it is not guaranteed that you would be allocated a room. In addition, the allocation window for my university is around June to July which is in 2 months' time. That would be too long as I asked my father to give me about one month to find accommodation. (Remember that we want to vacate the room as soon as possible to allow rental to commence as soon as possible)

With hall being out of question, at least until June, I set my sights on dorms. Unfortunately, that proved to be a problem as well. The rates for dorms were quite expensive. The cheapest I managed to find was slightly less than $300 and is shared by 4. The cost difference between a hall and dorm may seem little but when you take into account the duration which you would be studying, it is a huge amount. This amount proved to be unsustainable and I was forced to look for cheaper alternatives.

Many would find my next option being considered a queer one. Not many would consider a tenant to a rental flat to be a cheaper alternative than a dorm. After much research, I daresay you are correct. In my own defense, I was misled by my university's' website (it is not their fault, really) that the rental rates are competitively match against the rates of those of dorms. By this time, I would like to highlight that a close group of my friends knew of my predicament. One of them was Keller and he was interested in finding a rental flat in the West area. Keller really helped to get the ball rolling, finding rooms available for rent is exactly easy, especially when you are trying to avoid agent fees and sift out the good deals from the sea of advertisements on websites. We had a plan - if we secure a flat which could be co-habited by 5, the cost should be comparable to dorms. Of course, this plan is based on the rates estimated by the University's website (which is a rough guide so I shall reiterate, not their fault). Eventually, Meldon joined the fray. The notion of living in a rented flat was quickly disregarded after Meldon's uncle, who was an Estate agent, informed us that the average price of a reasonable size for 5 was not affordable.

Eastwards, the Wind blew

With all options seeming infeasible, God decided to help me a little. Remember me mentioning that a close group of friends knew of my situation earlier? Well, these group of people, namely Johnston, Marcus, Keller and Meldon, continued to extend their help to me even though I exhausted all the three options above. Johnston and Marcus explained my situation to their family and their family each offered me a place to reside in until I graduate.

I shall first tell you about the generosity of Marcus' family. I am not exactly sure about the details but one day, Marcus informed me that his grandfather lives in a flat. His family offered me to live with their grandfather if I was not able to find a viable place to live in. It was really heartening to hear it. I was really feeling teary when I heard Marcus telling me what his parents offered. Maybe some of you might feel otherwise but most people would not offer a hand to someone whom they never met before. In fact, they even invited me to live with their grandfather who is living alone, that is a lot of trust. Thus, I was really grateful for their offer.

Johnston also shared with his family about my situation. Similar to the reactions of Marcus's family, they too offered help. They were willing to free up a room to let me live with them until I graduate from university. His mother came to me while I was at Johnston's house and shared with me their plans if I were to move in. I was really heartened by their gesture. The very fact that they thought of a future with me included convinced me that I should accept their offer unless I found a better alternative.

To be frank, I never expect either of them to share this with their parents but I really appreciate their concern. In fact, I never expected the solution to my predicament to be as such. Thus, I am really thankful for their aid and concern.

Now the Dust Settles

A few weeks passed by and I had sinced moved into Johnston's house. At this moment, a select group of my friends and family members are aware of this situation. As I write on my laptop in my new room, I would like to thank everyone who supported me through this dark time. The decision to move was definitely not an easy one but it was necessary in more than one way. My old room had been rented out, according to my father so that is good news to my family. I hope my family will emerge from the crisis soon, my father has been working overtime to manage. For my side, I am using my savings to get by while working part time at the moment. I should be footing the bill of my tuition fees myself for university but I am not sure how to get the funds yet hahas. I am definitely working part time during the vacation, when able. However, I had not decided if I should work during my school term yet. I had heard that I would not have the time, given the rigours of my course.

I would like to apologise for taking so long to churn out this post. Packing, moving and unpacking took a great deal of time. Now the dust are starting to settle down so I should have more room to manage my time. :)

Hopefully this translates to me being able to write out posts at a faster rate. See you next time! :)