Saturday, September 3, 2011

27th August 2011

Went to church for like a leadership course conducted by Andrew Kwan. Spent the first half of the day studying and also on com with ka wee. Then i left for church at around 3.30 and reached at 4. It was actually a fun session with some lessons learnt and more ideas spawned. First we learnt that we shouldn't be a victim in life and complain, justify or put blame onto others. We played 2 games, first game was involving rungs of twine. The big aim was to basically move the whole congregation between 2 huge rungs within 2 seconds. We solved the problem by elongating the rungs till they will like columns only and placing them side by side. Then we sat on them and placed our legs on the opposite rung facing us. On the count we retracted our legs into our own rungs, and we successfully completed it in 1.3 seconds! Problem solving at its best.

Then we had another game called crossing the river. The gameplay and concept was almost the same as Hot chocolate river used in AC. But this time we used chairs as 'magical stones' to cross the river instead. But ultimately at the end of the game, we were let in on the truth: We could have completed any distance possible, as long as we worked together, like 2 groups combined chairs to complete the challenge, after all he did not say that we couldn't do it. So thus he let us in on one of the most important aspects of teamwork: You can move fast when u move alone, but u cant move far, unless u go in a group.

Somehow i think i can put these lessons to good use in my life.

28th August 2011
Studied in the morning from 12 to 1+. Then headed to somerset MRT to meet Fred and Ahmad for parkour. Me and Fred came up to view skateboarders in action first. Then when ahmad arrived at around 3 we headed up to level 4 of scape to begin our first insights into the fascinating and alluring world of Parkour. We paid up at the counter, feeling quite awkward at first because we were in unfamiliar environment, but having gone through the formalities of being introduced to our instructors and the basic itinerary, adrenaline took over. Our awkwardness level decreased with each successful vault over the barrier, which was a road barrier basically. We learnt several styles of vaulting, with the likes of a lazy vault, a speed vault, 2 handed vault and the convault. The convault was particularly difficult for me because i could not control my body well enough, i was afraid to slam my knee into the barrier. At first i was on high and i was vaulting with full power and speed, achieving much distance and admiration, but it was quickly turned down with injuries. Halfway through vaulting, we became bored and took to the flips instead, i tried to do flips for the first time in my life and it was absolutely thrilling. The feeling of floating and turning through the air was pure pumping adrenaline. I used the springboard for once too and i punched off with full power, slamming off the board with huge distance. People were impressed and i was quite full, in fact too full of myself. On a jump, i took off the springboard with full power and landed almost off the safety mat, slamming my left foot into the ground and racking up a blue black on my heel and toe. The dull pain followed me through the day. Then people suggested that i did not require the springboard because i had the jump to complete the front flip. So i tried it. I think i was quite good at it, but there was still much room to improve on, for one i had to control my flipping motion through the air and bring down my body with both arms, however i was only bringing down with a single arm, turning my body sideways and not allowing me to have a firm proper landing. I tried for a bit more until it was quite tiring and we returned to the parkour station. My worst fear came through, running up to a convault, i slammed my kneee into the barrier instead of successfully bringing it over, the whole barrier crashed down and acute pain shot through my knee, crippling me for about 20 mins and rendering me unable to bend my knee for the next 2 days. It hurt absolutely, because of that moment i think my adrenaline dripped off and i went back into my shell because of the pain. I tried to do parkour once again after that, but i strained my groin muscle instead, at first minorly. But a powered tic tac ended it all at 6.30. I could not even walk properly as i feel my groin strained to the extent that i was not able to lift my knee for 3 seconds. I limped back home, licking my wounds and praying for a quick recovery. I thought that i pulled my groin muscle, but i was to be wronged in the next few days, either that or God placed his miraculous healing hand on me. :)
Overall an exciting day with much opportunities, but just incurred several injuries that might cripple me. Returned home and memorised my teacher's day rehearsal scripts, of which i had 2.

Then stayed up until late to see the presidential elections result. Was quite thrilling, but in the end tony tan was announced the winner, to some disappointment, because then there will be no change.

29th august 2011
Teachers day rehearsal in school! Woke up at 7am and reached school at 8am just in time to meet nerissa, david and joey plus the MCs for a short briefing first. We were introduced to what the game was going to be like and more. as well as being handed the action plan. At 9pm the rest of the people started streaming in, mainly drama, AC11, and the Unknown. We had a short briefing and then was given a break to rehearse our lines before performing on stage. We were quite high and hurled paper balls at each other outside the science staff room. Then we headed up to the hall to begin the actual rehearses. Tried being a game host for once and it seemed really awkward as i didnt really know what i had to say. Then drama put on a skit, which was on the life of a teacher last time i think. Then performed with AC and it was an imba fun and funny time! finally performed with Unknown for lucifer. I needa do better on the actual day though. Rehearsed the whole thing one more time then we were dismissed at 1.15. Stayed back with Aderic, gillian and cindy to wait for Nerissa for the whole thing to end before she could be dismissed. Waited until 2+, which i slept some time away, then we went to NEX KFC for lunch. I ate meltz + 1 wing. Then we chatted. Then walked around NEX and went to popular, i bought a screen protector and some pen refills for stationery needs. Walked around for a little while more then i went back to rest. At night went out with mum bro and jamie to NEX again. Ate Lai LAi and then walked around at NTUC to purchase some stuff and biscuits.