Scott made my night :)

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.Benjamin Franklin
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.Helen Keller
Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will.Jawaharal Nehru

Life is full of mysteries.
Some chose to remain hidden till kingdom come.
The rest decide to be so baffling that you resort to getting a cold glass of ice lemon tea and watching clouds change shape instead.

I listen to Linkin Park’s What I’ve Done day in, and day out. Constantly listening for that particular portion that makes the wind blow and the trees whisper… they say “Whoa…”
Ok… you may disregard what I just wrote… rambling my way through to my next point…
Which is…
Something I will be coming to…
In the next line…

Training!
I finally managed to haul my bum down to the Cc for a very eventful session.
Let me tell you more…
Took over half the session.
Rusty mind of 3 months reared its ugly head, coz I managed to forget quite a few things, which are part of my usual procedure.
Didn’t really get to kick much. Not something that should shock me I guess. Assistants never have the luxury of being able to join the class – that’s something that a long standing assistant told me… how true…
Taught Koryo poomsae to the ‘new’ blacks.
Got a scolding from SOMEONE.
Bleah…that spoilt my evening…
What (or rather who) made my evening was Scott.
My adorable darling gave me two – count that! T.W.O – 2!!!! Hugs :D
I wanted to take him home with me lor… sigh~

Those two hugs are enough to give me nice dreams for an entire week… till the next time I have training again and need those hugs to make my night again I suppose.
-hysterical laughter-

Today’s school programme was an interesting one.
It was the school’s first time. Rules had to be laid. Things had to be ironed out.
Some kids needed to be scolded.
Yeap, you guessed it…I lost my voice shouting at them… bleah… so much for getting well aye?
-tries to laugh out loud-
All’s said and done, I did have a good time passing the information and knowledge to them. I do hope that I did not lose my health for nothing. Some of the children were rather interesting. Some have shown themselves to be rather intelligent, others – SPOILT ROTTEN!
Throw them in the bin!
Just Dunk Them!
-does the crazy dance of joy-

aight… enough for tonight… to my other things I must…
wakakaka~

^-^

the sick times

Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day.Thornton Wilder
The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.Arthur C. Clarke
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.Aristotle

Have fallen sick.
Nothing new there I guess.
That’s the sad thing – Adelyn commented the other night, while we were chatting on MSN, that I am constantly falling sick. And yes, I do wonder why I keep falling sick.
Could be linked to my constant running around, the weather changes, the crazy things I get myself into and maybe even the stars! Bottom line is that I have no idea what is the root cause of what gets me falling sick, but I know in order for me to get things done, I first have to take care of myself. Shesh… way to go girl~

Anyways… here is what I have been up to:
Celebrated Eugene’s birthday
UMC corporate event at WWS
School programme at WWS
Watched Ocean’s 13 with TKM and YKM
Went to the doc
Haven had time for training :(
Watched Goong, but not complete yet…

Among other things, I would like to watch my copies of The Lord of the Rings, all at one shot if possible.
-loud hysterical laughter-
Want to find new scores to go banging on my piano.
Get my mind in order, coz I got so many things I wanna do, but so freaking uncoordinated that I could whack my head against the wall if I wasn’t sane enough…

I miss training. I miss my kids. I miss my training buddies. I miss kicking targets. I miss doing poomsae. I miss training.
*bleah*

Disappointment with myself.
Can’t seem to get anything right. Everything falling to bits and my hands can’t catch the pieces. Argh~
But I guess its in these times that I really need to trust the Lord to give me extra strength… makes my head spin, but the control freak in me needs to let go. And the slacker part of me needs to wake up and smell the coffee.
In God I trust.

^-^

CEA 8 n 9

If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes.St. Clement of Alexandra
We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.Ralph Waldo Emerson

At home for today.
Not that often now a days that I spend a whole day at home.
Actually, it’s the first time since I finished the exams that I am home for the entire day!
So what did I do?
Watched CSI for the bulk of the day, slept for 2 hours odd and now am here typing/surfing/checking my mail. :)
-hysterical laughter-

Who we are changes constantly. What we are is the constant item.

On to the camp!

Camp EnviroAwareness 8 and 9 was held from the 4th to the 6th and 7th to the 9th of June 2007.
XJ and I stayed over at HQ from the 3rd, so technically I guess you could say that I stayed on site from the 3rd to the 9th of June.
Between the 31st and the start of camp, a whirlwind of activity took place. All the logistics had to be done and final arrangements for everything from the sleeping arrangements and worksheets had to be taken care of. We even converted the memebers’ area into our ‘bedroom’!
Wakakakaka~
As usual, I was the kan chiong spider in everything. XJ – the cool cucumber.
Haha~
Even Marilyn and Qiu Shang commented that I was really stressed.
Thank you to everyone who was looking out for my sanity.

The first camp was more like a trial run for the two of us.
We ironed out the kinks as we conducted each activity.
Winged the schedule at times and changed various activities to suit the weather conditions. Placed people in charge at the last minute and what not.
Here’s the clincher:
We were initially told that we would be taking care of 20 boys, but on Sunday afternoon, right before we were to report at HQ, we received news that the number of students had dropped to 9. The following morning, 8 turned up.
Despite the small number that turned up, the kids had the energy of 16 kids. They caused a ruckus and drove almost all the adults up the wall. The first night, some of them did not sleep until 4am. Thank goodness for the nightwatch guys. If not I think all the facilitators and us would have been zombies by the time morning came. We managed to get them tired out on the second night. Which game us time to sleep. Had to prepare for the next camp - things had to be redone and much had to be re-thinked.
Dodo and Nono came in on the 3rd day to conduct the Dragon boat session with the kids.

We breathed easier during the rest of the days; coz the D&N team was on site.
Learned though out the days we spent at HQ. That’s a good thing no?
The in between day of Wednesday’s afternoon was spent going home to get my pillow and other items. For your information, I slept in different positions for every night of the camp. The first few nights were spent on a lousy camp bed. It made my joints ache and gave me a headache whenever I woke up. Thank God that Eugene bought a better camp bed for me to sleep. Made the sleeping a whole lot better.
Met more of the members than usual and had fun with the facilitators at same time. The second camp more so than the first, due in part to the fact that the children were a lot easier to handle.

During the sand sculptor session of the final camp, XJ and I saw the amount of rubbish at low tide and felt the urge to clean up. Clean up we did. But the sad thing is that the more we picked up the rubbish, the more we felt that we could not get everything into the trash bags. Joshua did lend us a hand when he saw how much rubbish we were trying to tackle… it was a sobering time for me. Depressing to realize that no matter how much I get rid of, the same amount or more will replace it the next day. However, at least the amount we got rid of will not be there any more. :)

XJ had to go to Mediacorp studios to do filming for the PUB programme: ABCs of Water (every Wednesday, Ch 8 @ 8.30pm). The very show that the WWS gang did filming for on a Sunday last month. Having just watched the show, I am very proud of XJ, and her standard of Chinese :)
-throws pompoms all over the place-

All the children had a good time learning and enjoying the activities on the water. I hope they walked away from the camp as individuals who are more aware of their environment. I hope.

Some of the things I learnt:
Not everything can be planned for.
Laughter is the best medicine.
Sun block is very important.
Yawning and panic are contagious.
Well-disciplined children are prone to be less creative than rascals.
Never under estimate the dumbness of people who have never pitched tents before. (Myself included)
Sleeping in an air-conditioned room is not always good. Shivering can and will ensue when the temperature is too low and there is no blanket used. I think I would have done better in one of the tents, but the air was also very stagnant those nights… oh well…thank God for the office~ :D
The programme assistants aka the food uncles/food jiejies /Milo aunties/Milo uncles, are very important. They are truly the most important people in the camp!
I go crazy when XJ is not around.
Calls from home are good for the soul.
Rubbish is a real heartbreaker.

The post camp administration has been completed and now all that remains is the clearing of the recycling materials… else the HQ turn into a rag and bone man area… *bleah*
All the admin has been prepared for the next camp. Depending on who is going to run the camp, I think the persons will have an easier time coz I will also be writing out and entire list of what to do and what not to do… very essential to the sanity of the camp coordinators!

I went to watch Pirates of the Caribbean with Parveen yesterday!
YES!
I watched it again!
Hahahah… good show deserves more than one viewing chance~
-does the disco dance-
We had lunch at Pasta Mania and went to the Euro-Fair at Bishan.
I was taken surprise by the first ride. After which I refused to go on any other rides… coz I was not capable to physically handling any of them. I know I would have puked big time if I had gone up the Vortex or the Challenger… too much height and too much spinning… the worse combinations in the world…
I was content just looking after bags and shoes…
-hysterical laughter-
Sent my sugar babe home before heading home myself. Thank God for taxis… I don’t think my feet could have made it… I have very bad blisters because of my swanky new pair of shoes… shesh… other than that… everything was just peachy :D

And with that written - time to sign off for now…
Chaoz~
^-^

Ten days on...

"We must fight, to run away!" - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
"The driver doesn't choose the car; the car chooses the driver." - Transformers Movie 2007.

I've been in a whirl-wind of activites these few days.
Blogging about the camp has been on my agenda list ever since my last post and still I have not had the chance to write about the experience.
Of course, this ain't the time to do it. ;p

Question:
What have I been up to since the breaking of camp?

Answer:
Annie's Award Ceremony @ Science Centre.
Bicycle patrols.
Post-camp administation
Shopping.
Movie Orgy with Parveen - Scary Movie 4, Bridget Jones Diary, The Longest Yard.
Outing with TKM.
2 pathetic training sessions.
Forgetting to wake up in the morning on numerous occasions.
Watched Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Pirates of the Caribbean was good.
Sound effects, acting, storyline, music and whatever you can add to make a movie - all of that was good :)
Would I recommand it? Yeap!
Would I watch it again? Sure!
Would I buy the dvd/vcd? Yeah... but waiting for the trilogy to come out ... den I can save money :p

Going crazy over the new Transformers movie - and it's not even out yet!
So excited about it man!
I am so going to watch it!
-does dance of joy-

My two training sessions were pathetic cause my body hasn't been in the 'game' for close to 3 months. Can't stretch as far as last time, need to make sure proper warm up is done. Can not do cold stretch... hurts lor~
Anyway... now that I am on 'holiday' I can focus on doing more exercise... I hope.
Hope is a good thing.

My darling nephew visited the house yesterday.
Cute as a button with a smile that could melt any ice berg.
He is a hazard to global warming...
-loud psychotic laughter-

Missed my Sugar babe!
Glad we had the movie orgy!
It was good to catch up with movies that have no running theme!
-hysterical laughter-

What do I do at home when I don't go out?
Sleep
Read
Pack
Get Admin done
Email
Watch TV
Hang with my Aunts

People!
Tis' the time for all the gatherings to take place!
You know what I am talkin' about -
Mah Jong
Movies
Shopping
Hanging out
Rotting together
Swimming
Cycling
(add random activity to list)
Let me know when you are free and we'll meet up ya?
Sumpah! :)

Got plenty of things to tick off my list so I'll sign off here... but here's the Linkin Park Song that has me going nutty over the Transformers movie:

Linkin Park - What I've done

In this farewell
There’s no blood
There’s no alibi
‘Cause I’ve drawn regret
From the truth
Of a thousand lies

[Pre-Chorus:]
So let mercy come
And wash away
What I’ve done

[Chorus:]
I'll face myself
To cross out what i’ve become
Erase myself
And let go of what i’ve done

Put to rest
What you thought of me
While I clean this slate
With the hands of uncertainty

[Pre-Chorus]
[Chorus]

For what I’ve done
I start again
And whatever pain may come
Today this ends
I’m forgiving what I’ve done!!!

[Chorus]

What I’ve done
Forgiving what I’ve done


Cheers!
^-^

In camp training

"iiiiiiiii caaaannn gggiiiibbbeeee yyyooouuuu ggeeeetttsssooobbbbeeeeeeee"
-Takuya Kimura Getsby Commercial

I find myself typing this entry from camp.
Learning on the job has never been so interesting.
Among other things, we have been through hellions and back, eaten Ben and Jerry's, watched Goong late into the night and even gone crazy6 onmore than one occasion.
Then again, going crazy or losing my mind hasn't been something that happens on a limited basis.
XJ has seen me go from diminishing marginal returns to increasing marginal returns.
Totally blessed to have her running the camps with me.
I'll stick with that at the moment, coz i don have the energy to get everything down.
I've been tired, cranky, happy and psychotic at times.
Praise God through whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praiase Him above ye heavenly hosts.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen.
^_^

Some of the things we've been up to:
Going out on the boat for trips up the Singapore River with the campers.
Sand sculptering
Sleeping late and getting up early every morning
Collecting water samples
Playing games with the campers
Rubbish-ing around with the facilitators
Losing my brain or sanity at numerous occasions.
Being lame with the members.
*more to come*

oppz... time to get back to the camp.. dinner is calling me!
Chaoz~!
^-^