Scout's recruit camp reflections

Hello everyone! Back posting again! This time, I will be posting about my scout's recruit camp. The only word I can give for it is "horrendous". Well, actually, not every part of the camp was horrendous. It was just some of the parts that spoilt it all. I will be telling you more about why I felt this camp was horrendous in the later parts of this post.

Firstly, the food was not so nice as it was cooked by our seniors themselves. Thus it didn't turn out to be very nice. However, we didn't have to cheer to eat so that was the only good point.

Next, there was this morning inspection thing in which we had to pack and unpack all our camp items in a short time frame of 3 minutes. It was almost as if we packed and unpacked everything for nothing as they didn't even look at our things. They told us that the use of this inspection was to ensure that none of us brought any illegal items however they didn't even look at the things that we unpacked! And it was almost as if we wasted 1 hour every morning for nothing!

We were also scolded countless of times each day. It is almost as if they were unhappy with every single thing that we did! It was totally meaningless. They can scold us for hours and hours and sometimes they even cut into our activity time!

Lastly, the J1 seniors were the worst. They told us to wake up at 2 in the morning for PT(physical training)! We were like half asleep and they wanted us to run 4 rounds around the field! What's more, if we didn't do well enough, they will tell us to go down on pumping position while they scold us. And they ground was full of sand that I hurt so much that I almost cried!

However, there are still some fun parts in the camp like the solo hike and solo night. The solo hike required us to follow a trail BY OURSELVES and we had to pass through several checkpoints. Sadly, I freaked out and I ran so fast that I caught up with Ke Xuen and another sec 2. So in the end, we along with many other people got caught being together. The consequences were dire. We were forced not to complete the solo hike:( So sorry Ke Xuen and Nicholas( the sec 2 guy). The solo night was the scariest. I was positioned to sleep directly in front of the staffroom which was totally dark! I was so scared that night that I disobeyed the seniors and move out of my spot.

So although some of the parts were fun, the camp was not to satisfactory overall.

Going for my 3rd and last camp tommorow

Going for my 3rd and last camp tommorow. Yipee!:( not sure if I am happy or sad because I have to bring a lot of things.:( The only good thing is that it is going to be the last camp. That's all.:) And I still have study for my upcoming test so that I will not flung like this time. Btw off to wrap up my brother's birthday present because it is on 28th March. Bye bye!

Child heals villagers with a magical stone? Superstition or just lack of faith in country's health services and government?

This is a newspaper article found in The Straits Times on Friday, March 20 2009.

A tiny village in East Java has become a magnet for pilgrims almost overnight. Tens of thousands of Indonesians are flocking to Kedungsari- about 200km from Surabaya- because they believe that the nine-year-old Muhammad Ponari has magical powers that can cure them of any illness. The boy was said to have been struck by lightning a month ago. However he manages to survive the ordeal and found a stone the size of his palm on top of his head.

The stone is brown and the size of a man's fist. When Ponari immerses the stone into a pail of water, it is believed that the water becomes a miracle water that can cure any illness.

His miracle cures has since captured the entire nation's attention. However, the phenomenon has also embarrassed both government and Islamic leaders. Because the people's trust in the boy has underlined the lack of faith in the country's health services and government.

Ponari also lets the people pay any amount they want as little as 1000 rupiah(13 cents in Singapore). However the officials still believe that it is only a growing trend where people tend to look for miracles.

So what do you think? Is this a force or a farce? Please comment after reading. Thanks!

Prawns that cost $30? Is it really worth it?

This is what a 400g tiger prawn looks like:

It is about 34cm long from tip to tail, almost the same width as a newspaper, 5cm wide and roughly the weight of seven tennis balls. It is also quite rare specimen in Singapore. But a Newton Food Centre hawker was accused of overcharging six American tourists last Saturday. The Americans were billed $491 for a meal at the store and mind you, it is only a hawker centre. They were charged $239 just for eight tiger prawns which would mean that each prawn would have an average weight of 375g as every 100g costs around $8. I feel that this is utterly atrocious as it is only a hawker centre as I have just said, and even if it was some five star restaurant, it would only cost around $300. This will also bring down the name of Singapore as tourists will feel that Singaporeans have no intergrity. That will eventually result in the decrease of tourism which wouldn't be good for Singapore in such times of recession.

So what do you think of this incident. Please do let me now after reading. Bye bye!

The free iPersonic Personality Test

Hello everyone, I just found a new gadget and it is called the The free iPersonic Personality Test. This is how it looks like:

By the way, that is also my personality. :) Well, what do you think of it? Want to give it a try? Just click on the "Take the free test" button and remember to let me know of your personality. Bye bye! :)

Counsilor In Training camp reflection (CIT to be short)

Hi to all once again. Just came back from my CIT camp. Today, I will be writing about the CIT camp. I know, I know, you must be getting bored of my reflections but please bear with it. Now let me get straight to the point- What do I feel about this camp?

Firstly, let's talk about the food provided during the CIT camp. Well, basically, I feel that it was a million or zillion times nicer than the secondary one camp food. And what's more we didn't even have to cheer to eat! Hooray!

Next, I will be talking about accomodation. That is the only part I hate about the camp. The first 3 groups were all squeezed in 1O3. Whereas for groups 4 and 5, they used 1O2. Actually, there isn't much of a problem being squeezy but let me tell you about an incident that happened on the first night, I mean the only night. It goes like this: I was sleeping halfway until someone(not telling his name. You know netiquette.) kicked me. I woke up and saw that he had already moved onto my sleeping bag! But that was not all. I wanted to tell him to go back to his own sleeping bag but it was then that I realised that his hands were in his pants. And it was as if he was playing around with his you know what! And wait, wait it gets worse. He didn't even realise what he was doing and he was still sleeping there like a pig! And in case you ask me, this is real. I did not make it up.

Last but not least, let me tell you about the activities. An overview of all the activities would be that they are more towards teamwork. I feel that the night trail was the nicest. We were allowed to sleep at 9.15pm(but no one slept). Then at around 10pm, we were woken up(not really woken because we didn't even sleep) for the night trail. It was so fun although I didn't get the chance to lead the group. Then a few minutes before the night trail ended, I was picked out to go for the interview. Which I felt didn't go so smoothly.:( Not sure if I am going to make it and become a counsilor.

By the way the camp was fun overall. So that's all for today. Bye bye! Wish me luck!

Job week (scouts) Reflections

Hi to all, how's your weekend going? By the way this week is a job week for scouts! In case you don't know, I am a scout. Which means that I am also involved in this job week. I will be telling you more about what I did and what I learnt from this job week further in this post.

Basically, job week is a week where scouts would go in groups to ask for jobs. If there is a job, we will have to do it and we will be paid a small amount of money. But don't be mistaken, we don't use the money for ourselves. All proceeds will go to the Singapore Scouts Association.

Now let me get straight to the point- what did I do and learn there? My patrol or so called "group" was sent to Farrer Road to do our job week. You might ask me why Farrer Road? And my answer for you will be simple: Because it is full of bungalows? Like, isn't it so obvious? However, the results didn't turn out to be so good. Most of them had maids thus they didn't need our help. Duh? So me and my patrol had to go all over Farrer Road to look for jobs. It was so tiring. You know, it is like going for a hectic activity after you have just returned from your camp.

Well, in the end, we only got(drumrolls please) $28.90. Can you believe it? Only $28.90 for walking all around Farrer Road and asking almost every house we went pass. And what's worst was that we were only offered one job! Which was watering the plants and weeding. For that job, we were offered quite a large amount ($15). You might wonder where did we get the rest of the money from since we only did one job. Well, the answer is simple the rest were donations. But don't be mistaken, we didn't ask for them. It was offered by them as they didn't want us to help them do anything.

So that is basically a brief write up of what I did there. Now I will be telling you about what I learnt there. I learnt that money is very precious(Duh? Isn't that what our parents usually tell us?) as you have to walk all around Farrer Road just to get $28.90. So, that's all for today's post. Happy March Holidays to everyone and Happy Job Week to all scouts!

Secondary one camp reflections

Hi blog and readers and so on and so on... I am finally posting again. Yipee! This time I will be posting about my secondary one camp which was held on 11-13 March(in case you didn't read my previous post). Anyway let me get straight to the point. I felt that the camp was not very well organised but please don't take that as an insult. I would count this as a, erm, constructive criticism. Anyway you don't have to worry because I am not going to 'defame' that company as I won't be telling you the name of the company.(You know netiquette). Now let me tell you why I felt that the camp was not very well organised. Firstly, I felt that there were too many cheers. Like before you eat, you have to cheer for 1 hour just to know that you were cheering because they wanted to waste time while waiting for the food. Next, I feel that they waste too much time taking the attendance. The time they need just to take the attendance is almost 1 hour long and we have to sit there under the hot sun while waiting. And what's more the time used to take the attendance always cuts into our activity time. Lastly, I feel that there were too little activities. They didn't even have the high elements neither did they have the flying fox or absailing. So all in all, although some of the activities were fun, it was not very well organised.

Camps, camps and camps

I will be going for a 3 day 2 night camp tomorrow! Yipee!:) So I won't be blogging for 3 days. Too bad.:( Anyway, I will be having the most hectic March holiday of my life as I will be having 3 camps straight. Can you believe it? 3 camps! The first one will be on 11-13 march(Sec 1 camp), second one will be on 16-17(CIT camp), and last but not least my scout's camp on 27-29. By the way, never mind if you don't now what is CIT. It's none of your business. Haha just kidding. It actually means Counsilor In Training camp. Understand now? Luckily, I am not the only one who will be having this schedule. Marcus Low will also be having the same schedule. Yipee! At least I am not the only one. (Three cheers for Darrell and Marcus!) So that's all for today's post. Bye bye I will be missing you guys when I go for my camps.:)

Values learnt and practised this week

I felt that I practised joy the most this week as I made some of my classmates laugh. Although some of my jokes are a little sick, but all in all, I still made them laugh. So, in conclusion, although I also practised a lot of other values, I feel that I practised joy the most. By the way here's a picture for you all to ponder about. Is this a frog or a horse?

Re: Previous post

Just for your information, that post took me 2 hours. Can you believe it?! Because I did not know how to post a video so I had to try and try and try... which took me 2 long hours. But anyway, it doesn't do much harm as I learnt how to post a video(three cheers for Darrell!) and the exams are already over(Yipee!). So that's all bye bye!

Nick Vujicic

Have you ever heard of a man with no arms and no legs? Or perhaps some of you might even know who I am referring to. But for those who have never heard of him before, you may want to watch the video below.

Have you learnt anything valuable from this video? Well I hope you have. By the way, that's all for today's post. Hope you enjoyed it.