looooong post ahead.. not for the weary!!

a much needed update here...

it's already the month of june i.e. half of 2005 had passed... hopefully in a bit more, 2010 will be here and everything will be good... *smilez*

i can't really remember what has happened since my last post...err... had dim sum buffet on 020605 (it's june already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) this time we didn't do too well... we were struggling quite a bit even though we ordered considerably less this time... lyd, pri, eileen, justin, siva and i... went to queensway after that coz siva wanted to buy a pair of shoes... we didn;t know how to get there from harbourfront so we just did a bit of guessing and got lost. We were desperate so we gave the street directory to eileen... then we started talking about how sometimes girl/friends don't know left from right and right from left... yes, some of you are guilty of that!!! so after eileen's 1.5 correct directions, we made it to queensway shopping centre... siva found his shoes which he bought from another mama and we found out that the stand up speak up bands were going for $30!!! sayang, i think we can make some money out of this... hehe... then saw a bag that i liked, so considered buying it but i was kinda low on cash so i did the "if i think of it again in 24hrs, then i'll buy it" thingy... i think it works really well coz it kinda stops me from splurging...

went for PLTC (SJI scouts patrol leader training course) on friday though not on a really good note... basically, daryl and i are trying to get involved with our unit again and want to be adult leaders... so we offered to help out in the camp and to get to know the boys better... also to sort out what we would exactly be doing in the unit... so went to SJI in the morning and met the boys... it was quite surprising that the only people who knew us were the J2's!!! that seems so long ago... they were our sec 1's when we were sec 4's. at least they recognised daryl and i.

this is going to be highly irrelevant to most people coz i'll be just blabbering my thoughts here

so i found the scouts kinda slack now.. there was this guy in the den, and he was like "eh YO!! what's your name?" i was kinda shocked but i gave him the benefit of doubt that he could be a sec 4 so i told him my name... i later found out that he was one of the 3 chosen ones!!! the ultimate troublemakers... the 3 of them are uncontrollable and i'm quite surprised they haven't been expelled from the school. the one who asked me my name was called ming wei, the one who is the son of the chairman of the SJI board of governers is called mark sng and the last one is tien ren (in order of notoriety). they were going to be the trouble of the whole camp.

anyway, i found out that UTC (Unit Training camp for sec 1's and 2's) and PLTC(only for sec 3's) have been combined into the same camp so they would be sharing the same campsite... i knew that was going to be trouble... sec 1's and 2's standard will go up (in some sense) but the sec 3's standard will drop and boy did it fall... even the fall in that daryl and i asked for, they moved slowly and were fidgeting... we got quite pissed... anyway, they managed to get the stores up and running and we left for de la salle primary sch where the camp was going to be held. helped with the setting up of the modular tent and kinda sorted out the campsites. somehow the teachers were no where in sight and daryl and i were kinda running everything! so went around helping mark out camp sites and slacked a bit. we were quite apalled that the mentors for the patrols were not around for the whole afternoon and that resulted in 3 out of 10 tents not even being up by 2300hrs. their lack of guidance was really amazing!!! plus the fact that the current batch of sec 3's weren't exactly spectacular in alphonsus's words. oh, forgot to mention that during the day, daryl and i were busy reducing the nober of mallets they had from 7 to 3. haha... they weren't sharing so we forced them to share. not our problem.

next day was the start of the cadet scout camp where i was conned into being the assistant camp chief... those cute little rascals... started off with some simple icebreakers and flag design competition. then we told them that if at anytime during their camp, their flag was stolen, they would have to pay to get it back (simple lesson of taking ownership of your belongings) during the icebreakers, dog and bone was evidently their favourite game.. played it for quite a bit then was lunch... oh, there were girl scouts too... and not meant in any sick kind of way but mixed children are realllllyyyy pretty!!!! *hint hint* haha... so after lunch , we took them to around to have a look at the scout campsites to see how pathetic they were and also thought them some lessons on ropework, orienteering and tent pitching... some kid called another stupid and that boy started crying.. classic. did i say mixed children are really pretty?? :D after dinner, the kids had to prepare for they're "gangshow" so they split up and discussed their skit and stuff. meanwhile daryl and i were busy wreaking havoc on the scouts. basically, what we do is go into their campsites and steal their parangs, mallets and what stuff we find that is out of place, purely for safety reasons... ;) so daryl set up his second hand shop in the store and when the boys come and find for their missing things, we explain to them why we stole their stuff and that they should look after their belongings. of course they have to pay for the items they want. haha, went back to the cadet scouts to teach them campfire songs which was very fun and then we had the gangshow... some of the skits set up by them were really funny and cute!!! haha... some actors were really good... haa... after that was getting them to sleep... that was tough!!! "turn off your torchlights", "stop talking", "lie down", "keep quiet"... "but teacher, it's so stuffy" "but teacher, it's so squashy" "but teacher, i want to tell ghost stories" "but teacher, i cannot sleep" took me abt 45 mins to get them to sleep then went for the daily meeting at around 0100hrs... then this pri 3 boy comes into the room and says he cannot sleep. so took him to the canteen to get him some milo and tried to talk to him and get him to sleep. basically he was missing his home... and that he's sooooo cute!!!! haha... so sent him back to his tent after a while and went back for the meeting. then he came to find me like 15 mins later and said he still couldn't sleep... decided that it was better that he went home so looked for his teachers and let them take care of him.

obviously woke up late the next day so didn't make it to church... haha... again, had games for them... team building and competitions... there was also a short telematch... the kids were really having fun. and they weren't bored of dog and bone as usual!! haha... so after lunch they washed up, kept their tents and went through all the things that they had lost. 3 of them had lost their wallets and there were the usual clothes mix ups and stuff... gave out the prizes and sent them home... hmmm... i think i still miss them now... haha... i'll definitely want to do more of these things again. anyway back to the sji camp... aiyoh... terrible i tell you... after countless times of telling them how to hold their parangs (for safety reasons), they were still unable to carry out simple instructions, thus we confiscated their equipment regularly for their own good and safety :D

well, things passed pretty slowly after the cadet scouts left and that left a lot of time for thinking and reflection about myself.

hmmm... i think i'll blog more another day... this is quite long