The Internal Race was a total nightmare.

The current was strong, the wind was light and it kept shifting. So in the end, of the 4 races, I only managed to complete one. The rest of the time, I drifted so far I couldn't even manage to reach near the starting line.

But this is not going to be my last race, I'll improve with every session I attend :)

I'm off to Vietnam in like 18hours. Will update the blog when I'm back.

Merry Xmas to all my blog readers :)

(Credits to samuel for sending me such a nice picture, just had to share it with everyone else)

Ok this is going to be a busy week. So I shall conserve my energy by catching as much sleep as possible. Oh man, Internal Race is coming soon, I better train more. Don't want to end up last :(

Monday (22)- Fort Knighters Ubin Trip
Tuesday (23)- Windsurf Training & Pri Sch Gathering
Wed (24) - Mixed Rice Nerdy Theme Party
Thurs (25) - Haven Study Group Xmas Gathering
Fri (26) - FDS/ Eddie's Hall Party
Sat (27) - Windsurf Training
Sun (28) -

Mon (29) -
Tue (30) - Windsurf Internal Race
Wed (31) -

I'll be away to Vietnam from 1-6 Jan. Those dates that are blank means I'm still available and free. Anyone free can sms me I'll go plan something to do :)

Anyway, photos from canoe expedition and mambo outing are up on facebook. I'm plain lazy to reupload here. oops

Looking at the number of things to do on my calendar, I'm just happy that this is the most fun-filled holiday ever in my life (for now).

Very appreciative of all the effort of those around me who helped plan for all these activities. I have to admit that I'm a very lazy guy. Most of the time I wait for people to plan stuff to do, sometimes I don't even help out. In the end, I complain that I'm so bored at home with nothing to do, especially when all I need to do is just to call/sms people and plan something out. This is a bad habit and it shall be my target for 2009.

Haven't had time for reflections during this holiday but I'll find time to do just that. That shall be all, its time for Internal Race training.

More photos from the camp (taken from samuel's waterproof camera)

Finally a nice pic of me surfing (without falling into the sea)

New profile pic :)

practising before heading out to sea

Offering milo at a "cheap" price

The Choonpeng Milo Store

Owner and the store assistants

Oops... sorry but the store is Class C

will post up the canoe expedition photos up soon. Looking forward to fri race training session.

Photoblog for the windsurf camp.

grand finale

the windsurf committee

YES to a successful relay race!

the broken mast

supporters cheering for their team

elite fight: sam vs jude

Just 1 word to describe: chaotic

Windsurfers unite

I just thought this photo was well-taken

Preparing for the relay race

tired and lazy to do our own BBQ

yiwei: the one who likes to BBQ marshmellow but don't like to eat them

flying the invisible kite

the kite was the most popular item in the camp (other than the windsurf equipment)

another committee photo.

Like what sab said," After the camp, I'm being to like windsurf even more :)" Very much indeed. Oh man I feel like joining the Internal Race but there are just too many pro around. Next day morning still going overseas. How?

Away for Camp 11-13 Dec. It's time to enjoy the sun,sand and the wind :)

While I generally welcome people to read my blog, I do hope that the readers identify themselves so that I can still get a sense of who you guys are.

In case anyone still doesn't know it, every time you click on the ads on my blog, you guys are helping me to earn money. haha. then I can give a treat when I get the money. The ads been there for almost half a year but I haven't even earn my first payment. Haiz...Low traffic to the blog :(

But that's not the main point, the ads also help me to identify blogs that visit mine. Most of the regular bloggers are my friends, but there is this particular blog that I hope he/she can identify himself/herself. http://away-wego.blogspot.com/ , If I know you that's good, if not I hope you can leave a tag or a msg.

Thanks a lot.

(pardon me if I sounded too harsh, I just don't feel good when I see unfamiliar readers who don't acknowledge themselves)

One last paper to go and I'll be free :)

Things I will want to do during the holidays
in order of preference:

1) go windsurfing
2) kbox
3) catch up on my monthly reading
4) clean up the house
5) go shopping for xmas presents
6) kite flying
7) redesign gusto blog
8) prepare for overseas
9) burn away all my notes
10) play Second Life
11) sleep
12) restart project x
13) do research for investment
14) plan activities for nusridegcats
15) all other activities

I'm extremely free for the xmas period. Ask me out, quick!

The world has just gotten more dangerous these days.

Even while I'm safely back at home, world events continued to strike terror into many people's life. Especially after I saw news of the singaporean hostage's death in the mumbai terrorist attack. Somehow it just struck a chord in me. Perhaps because she was a singaporean, or maybe she was a fellow human being.

The philosophical question "Is human nature innately good?" re-appeared in my mind once again.

I often believe that humans are kind in nature, most of the time people commit atrocious acts/crimes is due circumstances. I don't think people will want to kill another just for killing sake.

Though I personally shall not judge which side is wrong in this incident, after all both have their own sides of the story to tell. But all I have to say that violence will not solve anything. These acts can only bring more sacrifices and more often that not, the innocent are the most affected.

Everyone knows that life is so precious, but why do we still have people doing this?

It just surprises me. Human nature isn't supposed to be like that :(

Attended a relative's son wedding yesterday night with my mum at Fullerton Hotel. This was straight after my bio psy exams, which totally drained all my energy. The exam questions were super out-of-the ordinary and I almost stunned for a moment when I read the essay question. This was like the second shock throughout the exam period, first being the stats paper when I almost couldn't finish it (which fortunately I did at the last min).

Anyway, what already happened is over, I shall concentrate on my other exams.

I must say I was quite impressed with the wedding at Fullerton. Unlike normal wedding restaurants that have a service crew for a few tables, they actually had like 1 crew per table. Another thing that I spotted was that instead of having a large plate at the middle like what others do, they actually cut up all the foood into portions and serve it individually to us. Totally first-class service.

While we were eating, there was actually a live band singing love songs throughout the dinner. I was like totally intoxicated by the girl's singing, totally superb (or maybe I was intoxicated by the alcohol)

It was a great experience (the entire dinner should cost a bomb). No wonder karen says she wants to get married at Fullerton (but then the food... i shall not comment about it. haha)

It's that time of the month again: Exams.

Now I'm starting to feel all tense up and stressed. I need some morale booster!

PL2131, PL3232, PL3235, PL3242 and NM2220- Please don't fail me this time :(

I can't believe that someone will be that callous as to steal donations that were supposed to be given to the little girl's famiily.

But that really happened in yesterday's 心晴大动员(Life Transformers) show on channel 8. I was totally disappointed with that thief. While the volunteers were busy cleaning up the house, that thief actually went to steal the gas cylinder when no one was watching.

Luckily, the production crew decided to replace the gas cylinder with their own cash. It was then, they discovered that 30 cans of food was stolen again. I'm not sure if it's the same person, but if he/she still have that little bit of conscious guilt, I urged him/her to better return those stuff to the family.

I shouldn't judge the thief either, because usually circumstances forces people to commit such crimes. The thief might have his/her own personal problems or financial need. But then to steal from the poor is like 落井下石/趁火打劫.

what a thing to do.

Considerate Visionary

You are a Visionary

Your imagination, self-assuredness, and knowledge of the world combine to make you a VISIONARY.

You have clear notions of how things could be, and the confidence to try to make them that way.

You enjoy having a routine, and prefer comfort and familiarity to risk and adventure.

Not needing others' approval to forge ahead, you are confident in your designs for the future.

Your imagination allows you to envision the world as a better place.

You're better at thinking of the big picture than you are with details, and you can see wonder in abstract things.

Style and appearances are important to you, and you have a good eye for beauty.

You are somewhat rigid in your beliefs, which comes from both confidence and an aversion to change.

You are good at creating works of art in forms with which you're familiar.
_____________________________________________________________

You are Considerate

You trust others, care about them, and are slow to judge them, making you CONSIDERATE.

You value your close relationships very much, and are more likely to spend time in small, tightly-knit groups of friends than in large crowds.

You enjoy exploring the world through observation, quietly watching others.

Relating to others so well, and understanding their emotions, leads you to trust people in general, even though you're somewhat shy and reserved at times.

Your belief that people are generally well-intentioned contributes to your sympathy regarding their problems.

Although you may not vocalize it often, you have an awareness of how society affects individuals, and you understand complex causes of people's behavior.

You like to look at all sides of a situation before making a judgment, particularly when that situation involves important things in other people's lives.

Your close friends know you as a good listener.

Just came back from CDAC Vision2012 Workshop at Zhenghua Community Centre.

This workshop was actually a panel discussion with the management of CDAC to chart out its future direction for 2009 t0 2012. This is probably the first panel discussion I attended and there is really alot of big shots (Ministers) today. No wonder everyone have to wear formal for this event. But I do have to agree that this panel discussion was indeed insightful for stakeholders like me.

The floor posted a series of relevant questions regarding the recent economic crisis and the panel discussed the future strategies that the organisation need to do to help with these needy.

Definitely an experience worth remembering. I should make use of the learning points today for my future use.

Read more about the CDAC Vision 2012 here.

The After Action Review (AAR) for Camp Gusto last saturday was great.

There was lots of learning points from the session and I definitely gained much insight as to how a camp should be organised. It's a challenging role to take on the programmes for the camp, mainly because I have had no experience prior to this. Even though I participated in lots of camp, it's still a different story when I had to do the planning myself.

But I'm glad that everyone is so supportive to the camp and I really enjoyed the entire planning process.

Like what william said," no camp is perfect." There's still a lot of room for improvement and next's year camp is going to work on this year's strength and get better :)

After watching the 9pm show on Channel 8, I'm begining to ponder where the cause of stigma is coming from.

This stigma appears to come from our biased attitudes towards these victims. But how did we come up with such attitudes in the first place?

I wonder.

Time flies really fast again.

I could still vivdly remembered the first time I joined Club Gusto. I signed up from some volunteering website during the June holidays and chanced upon this CDAC programme. The first training session was held at HQ and I thought this was something that was worthwhile for me to dedicate time for.

Things didn't turn out fine at first, because at that time there wasn't a lot of volunteers to help out at the new school. We almost thought we couldn't succeed then. But things turned out fine after all.

Gusto was the first volunteering work done on my own accord. Before this, I volunteered because of CIP, which isn't really true volunteering in a way. It's a long story as to why I decided to volunteer (I shall post it some other time)

Come to think of it, I almost wanted to give up at some point in time. But something prevented it from coming true. I'm not sure if its because of the students, the fellow volunteers, the essence of Club Gusto itself. I'm quite glad I didn't make that choice.

If I did, I will never have experienced the joy of our first Gusto camp on sunday. It's a great closure to all our achievements for the year 2008. Our efforts have never gone in vain.

A big thank you to the team (huihui, zhenyou,jeffrey,jack, william, pearlene, kenneth, glenn, jiawei, lan hui, yanping, qinzhi, simin, james, alvin, benson, yongquan, valerie, jieying and student volunteers) for making my first year of Gusto so meaningful.

After this week....

Gusto Survival Camp will be over.
Windsurf Camp registration will be over.
Second Life will have no more events till Dec.
New media project should be 80% done.

then I'll be a free man :)

Totally screwed up Stats mid term.

Now I'm so demoralised :(