Day 1
started on friday afternoon, after school. i actually had swim carn finals... first time i ever qualified (ok i only tried twice), but definitely scouts is more important in this case. sorry hullett. they got second anyway. good job!
helped with the last minute scrambling of logistics. it was all quite unreal until the boxes were brought in. containing you-know-what. hmm won't say it was cool or anything, but definitely something that you don't do every day.
off to braddell west lake, where zhi was waiting for us. why was he there? i dunno. digging a hole for the campfire, arranging the twigs and leaves in a nice formation (our group's was pyramid). when we were done, the action began.
i won't describe what happened, because it might be disgusting/offensive to some. as zx and kumaran said, such things are only done in case of emergencies (which is rare) and we don't do it because we are sadist. look at me, do i look sadist? haha. anyway, the overall experience was eye-opening and new to me. i won't do it again though.
starting the fire. our pyramid shape totally failed, so seeing that kenneth's group with their fancy teepee and all had gotten the fire going, we just randomly piled stuff and it worked! although a few times it threatened to die out, and we had to constantly 'feed' it.
cooking on the fire was not bad. this is probably only my second time really doing backwoods (other time was PLTC). wonderful spread of dishes. the meat, the pineapple rice, the bread made from flour, and some vegetable soup. only about a quarter of it came back edible, which is pretty sad. haha. oh yes the eggs. the ones that werent opened fully went POP!!! and scare the hell out of everyone. yea... lol fun.
a great spread of yummy stuff (: after we buried the biodegradable remains, we left for hiok's house. a pretty long bus ride. talked a lot. when we arrived, hiok suddenly told us he told his parents got less people. lol. but hiok's parents are really kind. preparing and ordering all that food... pizzas too! great sia. most of us settled down to watch benjamin button, brought by francis. -ahem- quite an okay show, but too long-winded for us... 2 hours 45 mins?! by the time it ended it was almost 1am. but being the people we are we didnt sleep... played cards for a while, then managed to persuade 8 other not sleepy people to play Taboo! haha team of jack, anurak and me owned kenneth lam, rj, zj and tak. although zj as the speaker is damn screwed up... lol funny like hell.
slept at 3am at hiok's floor. a cool marble floor. with his sofa cushion as pillow. not that bad a sleep for a scout 'camp' (:
Day 2
woke at 7.30 next day. day was spent playing cards, watching com games and playing basketball. relaxed... fun. at around 10.30 we left for RI.
lunch, the new members went to buy scout uniforms. then we had act at 1.30. went to braddell west lake. burning regrets and burying our dreams. i think the activity was meaningful, to me. i do have lots of regrets. wrote down the main two. one is regarding my own character, one is regarding my actions last year. no, nothing to do with first class. i didnt cheat, really. those things are behind me now; watching the paper burn, along with the regrets of the rest of the batch. next the dreams. i listed quite a lot. i want quite a lot of things for myself to achieve. i want to achieve. put it in a bottle along with 10 cents and a movie ticket. rather meaningful movie ticket... guess which movie? and into the ground. we will dig them up again one day.
back to RI. sewing was a torture. i can't really sew. however, i completed it by myself, so thats another accomplishment (:
investiture at night. turning in ventures. with the new beret and applets and badges. symbolism there. as each of us stepped forward when our names were called, accepted the new beret and saluted, i took the time to think about what each person has done in my life. so much. i meant every salute i gave back. back at you guys.
postholder's was held in the atrium due to thunder and lightning. got the cert. the wrong cert by the way. anyone who seen mine please pass it to me. after the ceremony was over, the ventures had their own horseshoe. francis addressed us. he said to me before that that leaders arent needed for our batch. i think they are. francis you gave a great speech. kumaran, zx and cheeyeow spoke to us too. all people with hopes for our batch. we will make them proud, i think.
home. and slept immediately.
Once a scout, Always a scout.
And proud to be one.
