Convocation

Thursday:

Met up with my FTB group at East Coast for cable skiing. I was a tad bit reluctant at first as I intended to go to Marina Bay to catch the fireworks display by Spain. In typical Singaporean fashion, it is customary to go early (and that's an understatement) in order to get a good spot thus I was torn between meeting them at East Coast and heading straight for Marina Bay. In the end, I chose the former, a decision which I did not regret.

So I trudged down from Hougang to East Coast, and after a rather long walk, finally reached the cableski 360. Although I felt a little lazy and apprehensive, I decided to just join them instead of watching along the sidelines - Cable skiing is not something you do every other day. To digree a bit, I figured that since I'm starting life as an SMU student, I might as well just throw myself into situations to try out new things; if I have the guts to dance on a table, I could jolly well afford to swallow a few gulps of NaCl water.

I must say that I had no regrets trying and I'm sure I'll be back for more, to try out the other boards like the wake board and so on and so forth.

After that, I proceeded to Tanjong Rhu to try out a new location to capture photos. I almost got lost as I was clueless about how to get there. In fact, I was supposed to meet a fellow photographer that I met on a forum. Fortunately, I chanced upon another group which led me to the place that I intended for, which was along the shoreline of marina east with the city skyline as a backdrop. While it was a rather long trail which to some extent resembled an obstacle course, involving climbing over rails, walking on creaky, makeshift board bridges and blood-sucking mosquitoes, it was well worth it as the skyline slowly came into view.

The firing point was different from last year so the view of the fireworks was from the side, as such, I wasn't able to view the formation. Regardless, in my opinion, this year's teams weren't as good as those from the last and from pictures off forums, the spanish put up a rather disappointing show.

Some pictures I managed to salvage:

I'll post more if I have the time but I hope the rest enjoy it. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a DSLR somewhere in the near future.

I'm attached

I'm officially attached.

Surprise!

Yes, I'm officially attached to a chiou bu. She's hot, she's chic and she turns heads. I was walking with her at the MRT station and so many people couldn't keep their eyes off her. It's her "Wow" factor.

I love her - my new MacBook. So hot. So cool. So sexy!

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Now for today's story.

Georgia met up with Winston at Vivo to purchase shoes for convocation. Winston was (and still am) happy with his purchase of a pair of black shoes, with a classic but sleek design. Georgia got herself an LBD from Zara and was pleased with her purchase. Since they were shopping together and fellow shopaholics, both ended up happy AND pleased, which was a rather dangerous combination, given that it left both of them rather 'high'.

So, while they were in this rather trance-like euphoric state, (truth of the matter is Georgia and Winston seem to be in a perpetual crazy state of mind, which somehow feeds on the other in a manner resembling positive feedback) they caught a glimpse of a pink mascot, which was a pig, roaming about Vivo. It had a cute pink tail which resembled a (I shall not quote Georgia on this). Georgia then decided to tail it just to get a "feel" of its tail (pun intended). When she finally got her hands on it, she picked it up and released it. In doing so, Georgia committed a "gross act of indecency" to the amusement of me and everyone else. She defended herself by stating that "she(I) just wanted to have a feel of its tail."

Poor mascot.

Haha.

We later adjourned to a nice cafe for milkshakes and dinner by the sea. A rather romantic setting to which Georgia made the comment, "Pity we're not a couple".

It's amazing how I've found someone who is so alike in terms of character, taste etc. It is real freaky, but nonetheless damn fun, hilarious, (insert positive adjective)... Even our blog layout is alike.

Woah. I have found another bitch partner =D.

Being Happy

Life in SMU is about to start officially, which marks the beginning of another chapter in my life. University life seems exciting, brimming with an abundance of opportunities. However, academic life is also daunting as it brings with it the pressures of juggling multiple projects, deadlines and examinations. The culture already seems to smack full of superficiality, backstabbing and parodies a cross between Survivor and The Apprentice. While I may sound pessimistic, I must confess that thus far, I have been able to make new friends, with whom I believe I can develop genuine relationships with.





On a lighter note, orientation camps were quite an experience.





Freshman Team Building camp was a learning experience:





It sort of taught me how to work with different people, and some skills on project management





I built a raft with my team members, which unfortunately sort of disintegrated the moment it hit the "stormy" seas





I made a decision to gather some of my group mates for a nice chat. We sat under the night sky talking about the things we enjoyed, finding out more from about Vietnam from our international friends from Vietnam and North India. It's these things and not just the games that make orientation memorable; it's about fun but more importantly, it's about getting to know people as people, not merely their names. Thanks to Huifen, Felicia, Adeline, Dip, and Aslam for that wonderful night. That night, we decided that we wanted to "make a difference" on the final day, to get group 67 excited and so we did. The Spartans won and cheers to $50 of B&J vouchers! :D








Bondue camp (for the business faculty) had a more relaxed atmosphere but before that, I shall mention that everyone got a purple yahoo bag and a huge Yahoo towel courtesy of Yahoo Singapore :D which I like to show off. Nike sponsored some of the prizes so they had a representative come down and talk to us about Nike products -__-".



I must commend nike for its brilliant commercials which they showcased during the half-hour talk, it was visually stunning, witty and sleek. Anyhow, during the Q&A session, I challenged the representative to justify the exhorbitant prices of Nike products as he proudly proclaimed that Nike's vision was to "...bring innovation to every athlete..." A very noble aspiration I must say, perhaps lost to the lure of capitalism and supernormal profits over the years... I earned a great response from the audience for daring to ask it... Haha.





I must give credit to Georgia and Tingwei, our facilitators and my bondue group which was really different. Late night conversations, touhui at Selegie, muackz to everyone! I completely embarassed myself by getting drunk and high but it was fun cos I brought laughter to everyone. Whee!!! Silly drinking games with rules like "you cannot say I, You" got me drunk. And I danced on the table with Georgia (Marcus saw me and joined in too) during the clubbing thing. I wasn't high on alcohol at that time but I thought I might as well just try to get into the groove of things and see if I enjoyed it. I did get quite a good workout from all that dancing even if it seemed rather meaningless and stupid.

The best part of all was everyone got to know each other as a person. And that's what's most important to me. =D