"Always plan early, but nothing ever goes according to plan."

Today is definitely the test of my problem-solving ability. I always remembered this maxim and this important assignment I settled everything way in advance.

The guard house always gave us problems for our work everytime, and this time round I made extra care to complete all the paperwork early so that work can be done smoothly. Everything was according to plan, but then still some things went out of our control.

Work got stuck and there was confusion everywhere. Everyone had different solutions to resolve the problem, so it was quite an effort to reach a consensus. This always happen. Whenever there is something wrong, the first thing people do is to blame the in charge. It is not that we do not do our job, but some things are just beyond our control.

But nevertheless I am still glad that work was still done eventually.

For I am like the wind,

formless yet always present.

When the journey is calm,

I shall return to my quiet solitude.

But if the heat gets too unbearable,

You can be sure that wind will be there

to cool you down

everytime.

-peng-

I was sitting down alone at Bugis Street yesterday, waiting for 2 straight hours before ballroom dancing class. Suddenly I was struck by this deep feeling of loneliness. As I watch the people walk pass tending to their respective lives, I began to feel more and more empty.

It was as if there was nothing to look forward in life anymore. There is something missing in my life. I don't know what it is. And I fear that feeling =(

Random post but this note reaffirms the desire to volunteer.

Three lesson that I wanted to learn from this climbing trip. Teamwork, Perseverance and Goal-doing.

Teamwork - Since this was a climbing expedition, there were definitely going to be groups. What I wanted to learn was how to work more effectively with strangers. In real life, a lot of the times you will be meeting with people you are unfamiliar with, be it at work or school projects. It's actually a useful skill to learn.

Throughout the five days in Stong, I realised that teamwork isn't just about assigning roles and doing your own jobs. That is not a team, that is a group. A team is one where members are enthusiastic about achieving a common goal (reaching the summit) and everyone tries to help each other to reach it. For example, I have seen numerous cases of people helping carry backpacks of physically less fit. Even though these guys have their own load to carry, their willingness to help others is commendable. Also there are cases of people who offer to the extra helping hand even though they are not asked to do so. I wanted to see if I was capable of such acts too. For example, it is very tempting to just sit down and rest when we reach a checkpoint, but how many will actually remember those that are still struggling behind and offer to help them. I hope to make it come naturally (sometimes I too get lazy and pretend not to see).

Perseverance - Like the saying "When the going gets tough, the tough gets going." I aimed to learn this through constant trying and strong motivation to succeed. I wanted to challenge myself to see if this mountain was conquerable and I'm glad that I managed to do so. The satisfaction of succeeding on a task was definitely worth the effort. All that thanks to perseverance and not giving up halfway (when I was too tired to even move).

Goal-doing - This is different from goal-setting (even though it is just as important) but what I wanted to do was to see whether I can follow through with the goals that I set. It is easy to set goals, but it is hard to achieve them. I set my goal of reaching the summit, but if I do not put it into action, nothing can ever come out. Its no point dreaming of standing at the top of the world and not making the preparations to achieve it. My next goal will be Kinabalu before I graduate, and I will definitely prepare myself for this day =)

Nothing much to blog about these days. My new project at Bedok/ Ulu Pandan Water Reclaimation Plant has just started work so I guess it's crunch time for me.

Basically my life is becoming a rountine once again. Every weekday just work, monday nights for Second Life camp/matric fair meeting, wednesday nights for ballroom class, thursday nights for windsurf camp planning, saturdays work and volunteering. I feel guilty that I haven't been going down for windsurf sessions for quite some time. Jude must be very busy trying to coordinate every week's session.

Once again I will miss this week windsurf again because I'm going JB. oops. This friday is Project Excellence camp, I can't wait!

It's back to work after the Stong Trip. Busy as usual so there wasn't much time for me to reflect about the lessons from the trip. Probably will do it over the weekends (I really hope I have the time to do it though because its another packed weekend).

Next big event coming up will be the Project Excellence flagship camp (19 -20 June). Looking forward to facilitating those cute little kids! haha.

This is also a call for NUS students who might be free on the 26-27 June, 9am-4pm. CDAC needs about 3 volunteers to help out at their Science camp held at LT27. I can send you guys the details if anyone is interested. If you are free, go sign up! Don't hesitate when it comes to volunteering. Never mind if you don't have friends to sign up with (because when I first started volunteering, I signed up alone too. The passion to serve can overcome anything). LOL

First of all, I'm back safe and sound from Gunung Stong. It's been a really great experience this time round. Will be posting up a reflection of the things that I learnt from this, but here is an account of the things I did over there (Written in my travel journal)

Day 1

1330hrs - Met up with char, guochen , fiona, zz, karen, wz for lunch at causeway point before going off for some shopping in ntuc for the trip later.

1600hrs - Met the participants and the rovers members at kranji mrt & took 170 to JB. This is the first time I'm taking a bus to JB (I have to admit it even though I stay in woodlands). I was quite excited and nervous because I've read so much news about fatal robberies over there, yet another part of me was curious to find out the place that I only get to see from the singapore coast. The company of friends sort of reduced my nervousness.

1730hrs - Reached City Square and went down to the basement to find their supermart to buy foodstuff for the trip with fiona, amy, trisha & alvin. Things are so much cheaper here, so I guess I don't mind going over to shop next time.

1900hrs - After dinner, we boarded the train to Dabong. The entire journey lasts 10 hours, so the time of arrival should be somewhere around 7am the next day. One thing to comment is that it is another first for me (I have never taken a train all my life, unless you consider MRT as one). So I was quite fascinated with it. Throughout the ride, we entertained ourselves with games and HTHT.

The first impression of the train was that it was quite spacious and clean (of course with the exception of the toilet). The ride was bumpy throughout and it was quite hard to maintain balance at the upper deck (if that is the right word to use).

2330hrs - There is not much stuff to do onboard, so I shall end off early and sleep. Tomorrow is going to be an exhausting day, since we will be trekking to the base camp with our bag packs (extremely heavy because of the tents and burners). Let's see what will happen tomorrow. I'm too excited that I doubt I can sleep peacefully tonight.

Day 2

0600hrs - Woke up and washed up. One funny incident to comment was that me and zz (or was it haowei) went out of the train to brush our teeth when it stopped. We thought the train might stop for a while to let passengers alight. While we were doing so, we suddenly notice that the train started to move. Totally shocked us because we almost thought what will happen if we could not get back up and ended stuck at this unknown destination. I cannot imagine.

0700hrs - Reached Dabong. We had breakfast at a nearby canteen. Fiona was extremely afraid of cats (and there were quite a number of them there) and had to keep shifting around to avoid them. It's funny to see that scene that the more she tries to move, the more the cats wants to follow her.

0900hrs - Cave exploration begins. We visited the dark cave, the dagger cave and the fence cave (not sure if i gotten the names correct).

Dark Cave - the entire place is totally dark (hence its name) and consists of many limestone features. I better go read my 'A' level geography textbooks before I post the names of the features that I saw.

Dagger Cave - This is the most interesting of the three caves. It is named because of this dagger shaped feature found inside. The shape is created based on the changes in the water level inside the cave for the past million years (?). Presence of the gull pools, Jordan Shoe, limestone curtains continued to capture my curiosity for nature's wonders. There is also a special species of spiders that lived only in that cave (see facebook for the photo). It was hard getting into that small chamber because the hole is rather small. We termed that hole as the "birth canal" (haha) because it was almost as hard as labor to pass through it. At the end, there was a special area where the sunlight beamed down and created a surreal scene. Everyone was posing and taking photos of that phenomena.

Fence Cave - The only special thing about this cave is the presence of the trapdoor spider. And of course that diamond lookalike crystal structure.

1300hrs - Lunch back at he resort followed by4 hours of trekking to the base camp. The path up was slippery due to rain. It was tiring but worth the effort eventually because we were greeted with a magnificant view of the place from the top of the waterfall (310m).

1700hrs - Set up tentage in the rain. Dinner and free & easy. I wanted to go for star gazing but the sky was too cloudy, so we went up sitting down and just chit-chatting. Sleep at 2330hrs after chatting with trisha and haowei.

Day 3

0600hrs - Woke up to catch a glimpse of sunrise fromthe lookout spot but the sky continued to be too misty. Breakfast with the group at the same area. It was quite a good feeling to be free of worries (at least temporarily) and enjoy the view from above. Packed up lunch and water for the summit climb later.

0900hrs - Started the climb and it took us 4.5 hrs (estimated) to reach the summit. Trek up was rather monotonous, mostly climbing up rocks and branches (similar to Mt Ophir).

1300hrs - Reached the summit at last. It was rather disappointing though because I had in mind a summit that has a fantastic view but the summit consists of just a piece of rock. The view was blocked by trees, which cannot be cut because it protects the soil at the summit, otherwise the rock at the top might fall some day due to soil erosion. Lunch and photo-taking at the summit.

1400hrs - Started the descent. On the way down, we encountered heavy rain and everyone was totally drenched. I was so afraid that my passport will get wet and the immigration chop would be smudged. Fortunately, I managed to leave my plastic bag inside jonathan's waterproof bag. I can't imagine the consequences.

1600hrs (estimated) - This is the moment that I just had to blog it down. We had to cross a rushing river to get back to our base camp. The river was flowing very fast due to heavy rainand it was quite dangerous to cross it. The guides made a makeshift bridge for us to cross. One particular incident that shocked me was when Guochen accidentally slipped and fell into the river. It was super dangerous then. Luckily, the guides managed to get him back up.

1800hrs - All of us are back in one piece at the base camp. It was quite an experience to be trekking in heavy rain and everyone was quite exhausted. We had dinner.

2000hrs - The river was still flowingvery strong at night so we couldn't really bath. After dinner, basically we just sat around the campsite and passed milo and chit-chat again. I went to sleep at about 2330hrs. Sleep was not good as usual because of the branch directly below me (plus the tent was wet from the rain before).

Day 4

0600hrs - Once again supposed to catch sunrise but the weather was not on our side. Went back to sleep and only woke up at 0730hrs. Today is the last day in Stong and we will be doing waterfall trekking later.

0900hrs - Waterfall exploration. The first waterfall was the one with a mini-dive pool and all of us took turns to dive into the pool. Had a hard time persuading those non-swimmers to conquer their fears and jump. But everyone eventually did it. Hurray.

Second waterfall was the one with the 1.7m hole and mini slide. New experience to try to put oneself into that small little hole that I cannot feel the bottom. This was also the place where we took the "butt out" photo at the waterfall cave. My shorts almost came off due to the pressure of the fast moving water flowing down. Totally hilarious and "choonpeng-ish".

Third waterfall was the one with a 3 storey high slide. Everyone had to take turns to climb up the waterfall and slide down from there. This was the main highlight of the entire trip. I went up and before I could even sit down on the slide, I slipped and fell down the waterfall. OMG! Nothing fatal happened though but I was just shocked because I didn't even have the time to prepare myself and I slided down. Went back up again and did a 3 man slide with haowei and zz.

1300hrs - After the waterfall exploration, we went back to camp for lunch and packed up for the final descent. Before we set off, we got to see live scorpions byt the local people. I was too afraid to even touch it and hid behind all the way. It was a real shocker to see the person put two scorpions into his mouth. The trek down took about 3.5hrs.

1730hrs - We are finally back at the resort. Our official Stong journey is over. Another funny incident to note down again. Me, haowei, guochen and zz went to bath at the river. I wanted to threw my clothes over to a piece of rock so that I can cross over. The moment I threw it, the pack of clothes fell and slipped into the river. Of course I immediately tried to retrieve it back but failed. The water swept my clothes away. I tried to reach my hands to grab it and slipped and fell down the rapid as well. It was quite an embarrassing sight and haowei chivalrously managed to dive in to get back my clothes.

Another funny incident was when haowei was standing on the rock and changing and we suddenly saw karen from afar. haha haowei was totally surprised because he thought no one is looking and was going to change his undergarments. haha. I had the same experience when I was changing and guochen suddenly pointed up and I saw charissa from above.

1830hrs - Took bus back to the train station for dinner. Boarded the train at 2250hrs and the journey back was again playing games and bonding session. Went to sleep at 0130hrs.

Day 5

1000hrs - We are back in Singapore! It's definitely an enjoyable trip. I shall go sign up for another one next year.

Away to Stong from 1-5 June. It's time to challenge myself with another daunting task again.

One of the biggest disappointment in life...

I feel like blogging but there is nothing much to blog about. Work is stressful as usual.

Maybe its high time I get a camera. The sunrise I see everyday is just way too beautiful to be described with words =)

Waltz is not as easy as it seems. I better go practice more so that I don't make a fool of myself next lesson.

Second day at work and I'm totally overwhelmed.

But I shouldn't be complaining so much because I get to see so much stuff that others rarely get to see. Imagining being able to enter rooftops of buildings, shopping malls, water reclaimation plants and even incineration plants. That is surely an eye-opener.

Work is super tough but I will manage it somehow.

p.s my apologies to friends out there, I'm afraid I can't meet up as often as before. But I will try my best to join in the activities. The OT here is like crazy =(

Maybe its time I talked less and listen more. That way, I will be able to stop assuming that others think the same way as I do.

There is a limitation to my own perspective. And I remembered this example that I always used to illustrate this point.

Whenever I see a child cry by the roadside, I tend to assume that the kid must have been lost. It seems like the best logical reason within my own thinking. But more often than not, that is usually not the case. The kid is probably throwing tantrums because of some other reason, but he/she is not lost because the parent is always somewhere near.

The problem is if there is no one else beside that can offer me an alternative explanation, I will still have continued to assume that the kid was lost. Other perspectives is outside of my thinking sphere and there is no way I can know it unless someone tells me so. That is when I get the insight to the problem and make a correct decision.

Otherwise, I will have made a wrong decision (approaching the kid and asking if he/she is lost) but that is not the correct response to the situation.

What I want to say is that sometimes I tend to wrongly assume things, but it was an honest mistake. It is quite impossible for me to see from other perspectives (afterall perspectives are subjected to the person's own experiences).

So unless I can find a way out of this, I will continue to say the wrong things at the wrong time. The consequences are clear when that happens.

I will learn from my mistakes.

David Cook - Life on the Moon

Here in this crowd, I'm feeling all alone

Turn me around and point me back to home

I'm getting lost more everyday And I can't tear myself away

From the stars in my eyes with no light

Here are my thoughts, have some faith in me

And I'll let you be who you need to be

Life on the moon, could it be that stranger

Life on the moon, would it feel this far away

The life that I knew is through

And I'm gonna need you more than ever

I'm alone in this crowded room

Is there life on the moon

Flown off the ground, my head's up in the air

So conscious to the fault with all the people everywhere

It's getting harder every night

To take the punches left and right

Just to know that you are here by my side

Here are my thoughts, have some faith in me

And I'll let you be who you need to be

Life on the moon, could it be that stranger

Life on the moon, would it feel this far away

The life that I knew is through

And I'm gonna need you more than ever

I'm alone in this crowded room

Is there life on the moon

Getting lost in my own atmosphere

Stars in the sky, all the stars in my eyes

Is the cost of getting out of here alive

Life on the moon, could it be that stranger

Life on the moon, would it feel this far away

The life that I knew is through

And I'm gonna need you more than ever

I'm alone in this crowded room

Is there life on the moon

A good song can inspire me. This is definitely one of them.

I guess I had enough fun for the past few days.

Since I have yet managed to find a job, perhaps now is the time I should start getting serious with my "grand project" which I promised myself to complete by the end of the year.

Even though I am very much stuck with the method for presentation, it's still better to start writing rather than to just procrastinate.

I'm finally done with my exams!

This is probably the hardest semester I ever had, and I'm glad its over and done with. So many stuff has happened this few months that I barely had time to sit down and reflect.

I shall do that after this weekend. It's time to consolidate all the things that I have done/learnt and put it to good use in the future.

Will blog again soon =)

Good Luck to everyone for the exam!

Mine's starts tomorrow. See ya all after the 7th =)

Development essay results is out and its disappointing as usual.

Either it is because I set too unrealistic expectations for myself or I'm comparing too much with the people around me. But I truly believe that CAP 4.0 is possible given the effort I put in. But they keep getting all the As while no matter how hard I try, I'm always at the B- range. arghh...

I need a smarter brain. I can almost feel the limits of my intelligence.

The "Uniform Party" is super cool. Everyone was readily dressed in their respective attires. Dinner was inside char's room and our madness soon began after we had our fill of pizzas.

We started off by "parading" ourselves in our uniforms all the way from RH to cheers in YIH, which was quite some distance. I was abit embarrassed though because my uniform was super striking. It's in BRIGHT ORANGE. haha.

Ended up terrorising Cheers after we bought our ice-creams by taking tons of photos right at their entrance. After we had enough fun with the cam-whoring, we took a long stroll to the running track for dessert (which is some distance away again).

I can't remember how long we spent there but we ended up walking back to RH after chatting. That was when the we had the birthday cake cutting. Sab came up with the creative idea of having a watermelon cake (a watermelon with candles).

Present presentation was after cake cutting. We got the birthday boy and girl to compete with each other to complete the jigsaw puzzle. The loser can put whip cream on the loser, but fortunately we were still sane and this crazy thing didn't happen in the end.

The party's over. Now its time to go for mugging :(