It’s almost been a month.

No it’s not that I’ve abandoned my blog again, but that sometimes I just got nothing to post.
And I still wanna post about my noMADic with TJC.
Not to mention some overdue posts about my life so far in a ’short-distance relationship’. Hahaha.

Savour life Tim, savour it.
It can only get better.

Direct From NUS Engineering

In the company of 6 sleepy-yet-thought-provoked people, and 2 zombies forced to think.
With a laptop and internet connection, notebooks and pens.
The mood is weirdly bittersweet, we are drained of energy yet sustained upon company.

I’m having a huge milestone camp. And I don’t regret it one bit.

The Law of Attraction

If anyone has 90 minutes to spare, I urge you to watch The Secret.

It is a documentary-adaptation of the bestseller, and if you’ve read the book you’ll know it’s well worth your time.
I haven’t read the book, mainly cos’ no one bought it/I never made an effort to borrow it/I just browsed and jumped straight to ‘What is the Secret?’.
But thank God I got my hands on the film, because the ‘Secret’ is more than just the Law of Attraction.
Given also that I am a very visual learner and observer, the film helped a whole lot.

It also brings it more into focus how the world is exercising things taught by the church all this while.
We’ve been taught for so long in church how to go by faith, visualizing, trusting that God will take care of the ‘Hows’ as long as we take care of the ‘Wills’.

I wanna do the whole process. I will believe.
I will receive.

Breaking the Silence on HA

I’ve just been thinking.

Much as I could dislike the HA situation right now, what with the exclusivity stuff and the distasteful things said by the people I once considered good friends, I can’t discredit the lessons it has taught me.
It was the people I met there who make up a bevy of my closest friends, and the people I met there who essentially are part of where I am now.

To consider that part of my life void, the part where I donned a red T-shirt, would just be unjustifiable. I met Melvin and Jeremy there. Joy and Jillian. Ridtz. Andrew and Alvin and Arvin.
And most importantly, Ms. Kwan Yue Xing.

Situations just took a turn for worse, and because of such situations relationships were affected.
I just hope the people who are still in the company stop seeing people who ‘left’ as enemies and ingrates. We ‘left’ because we were chased out by a technicality.
I appreciate what was imparted to me by Jeremy Tang and Veron, and people from past like Munting and Fraddy and Marvin.
I appreciate the relationships built and the friendships conceived with people like Mojo and Andrew Quek and countless others who shared a pudding, a bath, a cheer, or even just a laugh with me.

I may not be the best instructor or the most caring colleague, but I do hope I was at the very least a decent friend.
Friendships aren’t based on hearsay or words of people who aren’t mutual acquaintances, but based on the experiences and what we shared.
I wish the people in HA all the best, and to continue being a spark of difference and life. :)

When two of my favourite musical influences collide.

You've made the past 634 days of my 7607-day long life, amazingly love-filled and blissful. I love you.

I remember what you wore on the first day
You came into my life
And I thought hey
You know this could be something
Cos’ everything you do and words you say
You know that it all takes my breath away
And now I’m left with nothing

So maybe it’s true, that I can’t live without you
Maybe two is better than one
But there’s so much time, to figure out the rest of my life
And you’ve already got me coming undone
And I’m thinking two, is better than one

I remember every look upon your face,
The way you roll your eyes, the way you taste
You make it hard for breathing
Cos’ when I close my eyes and drift away
I think of you and everything’s okay
And finally now, believing

And maybe it’s true, that I can’t live without you
Well maybe two is better than one
But there’s so much time, to figure out the rest of my life
And you’ve already got me coming undone
And I’m thinking

Oooh I can’t live without you
Cos’ baby two is better than one
There’s so much time, to figure out the rest of my life
And I’ve figured out with all that’s said and done
Two, is better than one

Two is better than one

Look at the albums I’m listening to, you just might guess which one this lovely track came from. ;)

Sedili; A Coach’s Account

It’s been awhile before I made an account of a camp I went for, and this is one I’m making simply because I have an abundance of pictures to choose from. xD
So let’s go…

Tanjung Sutera Resort, Kota Tinggi

The place is awesome. It’s everything you wished a resort would be in SG, but never is.
The food is good, the accommodation rocks, and the environment is just lovely. I mean, how many UN conservation sites have a resort next to them, and yet has a camp running too?

The pond, and a view of the hut coaches stayed in (right).

So basically, we reached the resort by evening, only just about ready for dinner.
The first activity was to be The noMADic Code, and there wasn’t enough time for framing. I personally thought that would make it a tough time ahead cos’ framing matters sooo much.
In every camp, whether AK or not. And whoever says otherwise are just either stupid or ignorant. xD

The first frame-up and briefing for The noMADic Code.

Did I mention, only 1/4 of the batch were guys? Yeah.

So then cut long story short, we went through The noMADic Code, and it amused me that these kids knew nothing about Damien Rice.
Like woah! Damien Rice?! Never heard of?? That is saddening.
After the activity, rundown of the next day’s Race, blah blah, went to sleep, woke up, had fantastic breakfast, and then set off.

Giant Skips over Giant Footsteps.

Stayed at the campsite first, did the skipping activity. There was an intention to continue with the stuff at campsite first, but then resources were limited and we decided to set out instead.

On the road. Literally.

I don’t think I’ve to go in-depth as to what they’re supposed to do, but basically what they had to do was to head to the nearby village and collect pictures of certain ‘landmarks’, and to interact with the community.
If you ask me, it wasn’t stretching enough. In fact, it was almost a little too easy. But then again, it’s a small area so, beggars can’t be choosers.

Kuala Sedili.

So they traveled around, went into the kampung suburbs, went into the stalls, etc.
It was an eye-opener, especially if you see how much they can do with so little.

Kids - Having in abundance what adults lost: Imagination

Exploring the Pack Rat.

After the Race, their end point was a court next to the Primary School.
Over here, they were divided into 2, with 1 group taking on a Physical Challenge and the other taking on a Mental Challenge.
The Mental Challenge is simply using the Zoom cards, the Physical Challenge is a compilation of many many exercises to push the kids through.

They did Suicides, KC Jumps, Success Claps, Half-Squats and Laps.
The set-up was this: The Physical Challenge takers would be subject to more and more exercises and would not be allowed to stop until the Mental Challenge takers complete their task.

To the baseline!

Success Claps.

This was what the Mental Challenge takers were up to.

Half-Squats.

Finally, the challenge was complete and they were able to set off back to campsite. Not before doing more Success Claps together that is.
They were also challenged to job all the way back to the campsite. Needless to say, they did.

Back at the campsite, we started preparations for the Success Cocktail Mastery and the individual presentations.
This was when the drama happened.

The 4 Musketeers went back, bathed and changed into our attire for SCM.
I was first to bathe, then Andrew, then Vivien and then lastly Mabel.
But for some reason Mabel bathe damn slow. Or went into the shower damn slow. Idk. Either way, it was such that the 3 of us fell asleep waiting.
When we woke up, we smelt a distinct burning smell. I said it smelt like burning plastic, Andrew said it was green bean.
Naturally, we ignored it. xD
Then Mabel came out, we all brushed up, got all nice and neat, and made to leave the hut.
Lo and behold! Smoke started to come out of wall and our lights started to flicker like mad.
Vivien ran out of the hut just in time, and saw the electrical socket box on fire. We ran out too and bam: All 4 of us stunned.
Stunned not because we were taken aback. Stunned because we were stuck with a dilemma.
Run to extinguish the fire, or run to get our belongings outta the rattan hut. A minute later, we went with the latter.
I ran up to get an extinguisher, the first one I saw, Andrew ran down to get the extinguisher in front of our hut.
Mine was stuck to the hook, the rust was unbelievable. I thought, “Wah amazing safety la down here.”
Andrew came up with the extinguisher, limping.
Cut long story short, he sprayed, we all breathed in ABC powder, some smartass went into our hut and sprayed at nothing (effectively covering our bags with ngiam-ngiam ABC powder), we felt all sticky and sweaty in our shirts and blazers.
What a way to start SCM.

Still, it was fun, because of the impromptu-ness of it all.

What would you be if you knew you couldn't fail?

After SCM was their presentations, and yeah. Nothing else to account for.

For the next day, the only thing on the agenda was Focus On Your Outcome, Graduation and R&R.
FOYO was pretty cool, although most of them actually didn’t know for sure what they would want to achieve. I think they were affected by the previous night’s SCM so much so that every goal they wrote down was focused mainly on careers and not so much on personal or familial goals.
Still, it was a good time to drill into them who they really were. For them to see themselves as leaders and not just another appointee.

Dream Big.

Star up in the sky; Mountain peak up high.

After FOYO, it was pretty much easy-going by then.
Went to Jusco for shopping, had some unexpected pleasant surprises (thanks, you know who you are ;)), then headed back to the causeway and voila!
End of camp.

The Sakura buffet after camp was really impromptu. I didn’t figure we’d be having so much food even just 2 hours from eating Nando’s.
Sedili is a wonderful place for a camp, and I’m glad Greendale was the pioneer set of leaders to be trained at Tanjung Sutera.

The 4 Musketeers.

Singapore, Desaru, or Sedili; I’ve Done Them All.

Because age is not a reason to avoid difference making.

The greatest training memory of this would be the physical challenges we put them through.
Suicides, Jump KCs, Suicides again, Success Claps, Half-Squats, Laps.
All for roughly an hour or so, maybe more. It felt longer than that. Haha.

But none gave up. None succumbed to failure. And that’s the leadership spirit I endeavor to see every single camp.
Greendale, set your sights higher. Look into the mirror and always see yourselves as capable leaders.

I will blog about my own personal experiences sometime soon, like when I have the pictures to show for them.
The fire, the SCM, the pool, everything la. Us coaches had our own brand of fun, something entirely different from other campsites.

“A man is but a product of what his thoughts. Whatever he thinks, he will become.” – Mohandas Gandhi

Friendship, Redefined.

What is Friendship?

Encarta defines it as “somebody emotionally close to another; somebody who has a close personal relationship of mutual affection and trust with another”.
But what does it mean to each different person?

Do mutual friends, close and sincere friends, essentially look for the same thing in a friendship, which thus results in them being best friends?
Are similar goals needed in order to establish a lasting friendship?

I think this requires research. Like seriously. xD
Watch this space.

The Fighting, This Feeling of Flames

Every quarreling couple should take a listen to this song, Begin Again by Colbie Caillat.
An excerpt from the chorus:

So lets just, try to cool it down
The fighting, this feeling of flames
So lets just, try to slow it down
We crash when we race

Oh this is not the way that it should end
It’s the way it should begin
It’s the way it should begin, again
No, I never wanna fall apart
Never wanna break your heart
Never wanna let you break my own
Yes, I know we’ve said a lot of things
That we probably didn’t mean
But it’s not too late to take them back
So, before you say you’re gonna go
I should probably let you know
That I never knew what I had
I never knew what I had

How apt are those words. Wow.

Part of Your World

What would I give, to live where you are?
What would I pay to stay here beside you?
What would I do to see you smiling at me?

Where would we walk, where would we run,
If we could stay all day in the sun?
Just you and me, and I could be,
Part of your world…

I don’t know when, I don’t know how,
But I know something’s starting right now.
Watch and you’ll see, someday I’ll be,
Part of your world.