Camp
Youth Camp is usually an event where people are touched, the gap between the university students and secondary one students is closed and people basically get to know each other more. For me? Camp was hectic. Thanks to the rain, the first day was a mess. We had to push one of the games into the second day when (thank God) it started raining only after we had finished all our games.
There wasn't much bonding or talking for me because every single meeting with the games committee, which consisted of myself, Sherrill and our mentor Paul, was spent brainstorming (mostly done by Paul) and finalising game plans. During the camp itself, I spent much time preparing for games, and although I did have fun, it was quite disheartening to see people complaining about the game in which we had put the most effort and time.
Logistics was a nightmare and I realise the importance of having to make decisions according to your own discretion with the willingness to take responsibility should your decision cause certain shortcomings in the execution of the game plans. Thankfully, the last minute preparations I made did not result in any and all the games were carried out without much problems.
Nonetheless, I feel no closer to anyone although I have noted that my working style clashes greatly with some of my team members. That however, is not to say that I did not have fun. I most certainly did.
This camp was certainly quite a different experience for me. And a note to readers. Book your campsite EARLY. By early, I mean ONE YEAR early. The BB/GB campsite was a budget nightmare for the admin section of the committee. You have to rent the bunks ($100 a night for a room of 10 beds) , the function room ( $250 per 3h session) and the kitchen ( $60 a day) SEPARATELY. Even then, the compound isn't yours. You have to share it with about 2-4 other organisations at any one point of time.... Seriously. Expensive and non-exclusive. Wouldn't recommend it unless it's the only available campsite (there's a good reason why it's not fully booked).
Christmas Eve
After a day spent mostly sleeping, it was the eve of Christmas. I spent the morning at Macritchie training. Unfortunately, I also had diarrhoea that morning and very nearly had to go for an early change of clothes (if you know what I mean). I still ran 8 of my 12 km (albeit with a horrible timing) and spent the next 20 mins on the grass patch with the strangest feeling of a churning stomach mixed with the relief that the toilet was only 30 seconds away. Thankfully however, I did not require usage of the aforementioned until training had ended.
After a short lunch with a two people that are fast becoming my best friends (Of their friendship, I am grateful, I didn't expect to make such friends in Junior College) , I left for Nickolaus' house. Nothing eventful, I just met Jonathan again (after one long year), played some games on his PS3 and went home with my family. A good lunch I had there though.
Back home, I helped my dad make preparations for the guests (taking out tables , chairs etc.) and then waited for the arrival of the first few. Upon arrival, Paul immediately started setting up his Kinect and projector. Took a while, and he encountered difficulties but Mark figured it out.
About an hour later, almost everyone was there and the other youth were already playing Dance Central courtesy of Paul and the adults were out in the driveway eating and talking (I think). I got bored and asked Amos to teach me more drills for Wing Chun. Nathaniel, Aaron and Damia got interested too and joined us. So imagine the scene, with a bunch of youth in the living room playing dance central , and about 5 people doing wing chun drills in the conjoined dining room. Hilarious.
Christmas
Woke up at 11am, mixed up a banana and chocolate chip brownie in about 15 mins (my sisters had already been baking for about an hour) , left for church for soundman duty.
I arrived about half an hour late, but thankfully, Daniel had already set everything up. It was the first time we used 12 channels with the new mixer. 8 singers that day.. seriously. With solos during the carols, I actually had to pay attention for worship practise for the very first time. Nothing much worth mentioning about soundman duty. It would bore you to death. Anyway, remember the brownie? I just mixed it due to time constraints and my sister helped me put it in the oven. It turned out looking like something you would see in the toilet bowl after a night of seafood dining. Anyway, I took it from my dad's car (the rest of my family had came to church later), and left for Clementi.
I met Shaun, Jun An and Yun Mei at the MRT station and we made our way to Andrea's house from there. Jordan was very late so we left without him. I won't go into the details, but I pretty much spent the night making jokes about Jordan and Andrea, an action that was met with both feigned anger and laughter. Andrea has an interesting family, that I'll say.
That was pretty much how I spent my Christmas and I wouldn't change how I spent it. Okay , except maybe the eve of Christmas. I did have fun learning a bit of Wing Chun from Amos (I got a bruised forearm for that), but I was downright bored and as the host family, I couldn't exactly retire to my room.
My week!
Training tomorrow.
Soccer Match with secondary school pals on Wednesday followed by a potluck dinner with my cell group.
Training on Thursday morn and Seniors Farewell at night.
Possibly CIP on Friday.
I could have sworn that my level of English has decreased over the holidays. Something I intend to remedy by tonight; Alongside my untouched(mostly) holiday homework.
Bought but not given
A gift with no recipient
My name is Max.
In a nutshell, I like running and writing.
I play the classical guitar(something I taught myself so don't judge)
I read books and people (I am not very good at the latter)
SASS (Class of 2010)
ACJC (Class of 2012)
And clearly, I'm not very good at writing profiles either.