The new sec 1s came in for try-outs today - a simple interview and a 2.4km run. That's it. And it was so hard for them. I'm already upset that I have to give up the lo hei with the other student leaders and my chairman board (which I promised Irwin I'd come down, but I didn't. I'm so sorry.) even though I went down early after lessons to prepare for the try-outs.
For one, I wish the sec 1s would learn some manners and not barge into the store while I'm changing uniforms. And try and ask questions and engage conversation while I'm putting on my socks. It's highly annoying.
I had a good mind to turn away quite a number of them. On grounds for ill-discipline. One guy actually left the holding grounds to buy a pao to eat and a drink, when I told him to put it away he said 'I'm hungry. Besides, I'd eat fast.' Oh sure, I'm not hungry at all.
(By the way, Mr Teo can always, ALWAYS tell when I didn't eat lunch. He can read me o.o)
I tried my best to let them entertain themselves during the long wait, but they kept saying their bored out (Oh sure, I'm having the time of my life watching you guys wait.) Then they kept ka chiaoing my unit guys.
I felt like some shepherd. And my sheep keep straying.
I see potential in quite a number of them, they are serious, and ask intelligent questions, are very calm and attentive as to how training was being conducted. It would be an injustice if Mr Goh doesn't take them in.
The breaking point when I snapped was when the sec 1s were doing something odd near the flag pole when someone's handphone dropped in and they made such noise and a big fuss. I told them to clear off twice but they kept coming to irritate until I yelled at them to shut up, as they created enough trouble already. Pah.
That all aside, now I can only trust Mr Goh and Mr Teo to choose the best 30 cadets from the 82 applicants for our unit. No matter what they may be, they are bound to be of better attitude (I hope) and we NCOs will play the role of molding them and preparing them for a NCC life. And all others have to do you part by raising your standards, setting a good example as cadets for the sec 1s to emulate when they join, right from the start.
Wanna thank a couple of people: Bryan Koh, he rose again to help me when I had problems, today with the handphone-in-drain issue. And he helped me multiple times before too in NCC. Really appreciate it, he's almost like an honorary member =D
All my NCOs for helping so much today, as detail ICs and with track duty. Thanks so much for helping to pull today off ^^
Yoow, you never fail to make a bad day better by snapping my hand :DDD
And sorry Irwin for not going for the lo hei.
Don't feel up to colouring much of the post this time round. Now all we can do is wait and have faith in the choice of cadets.
Part III of the major update, on the new member of the family:
Velvet!
Isn't he adorable? :D We got him a week ago, so currently he's 2 months and a week old. A little precious German Shepherd puppy he is, he's really fun. But no walks for him yet until he's 3rd jab when he's 3 months old.
Fun he may be, we need to send him for classes as soon as he's 3 months. Toilet training isn't too effective and he's mouthing us time to time when we play with him because he thinks its a form of playing too, and it hurts =X But we all still love Velvet much.
And and annnnnddd:
Kinda says it all. Gold Unit '08! I have another good news too but I can't disclose it now =D Nevertheless it made my day on CNY celebrations.
But I wasn't looking forward to the next day.
Balthus
*runs around classroom chanting 'gold unit, gold unit' till classmates start throwing oranges*
P.S.
Please do take care there, Li. Know you're reading this, and I may sound naggy, but do sleep earlier there =X I don't wanna describe how my Saturday went, but you know how it was =)
Well, Part II of a over-due update. CCA Day Orientation!
I shall spam photos and talk about them.
All the sec 1s wandering around our booth with our cadets talking to them about our CCA. Love this angle - the aero mod plane looks kinda awesome.
The iMedia conducting their interview to all CCA leaders in every booth. Here's me doing mine - it was intimidating to be talking to a camera lens with a weird mike hanging above me and 4 crew members staring at me while I thought up answers to the questions.
NCC (air)in action during CCA day again showing the sec 1s around =D
The OALs (Outdoor Adventure Leaders) are crazy. Nich Wee made a bet to NCC land's Brandon to go and hug and wink all the Senior Specs in order. Apparently he went so far as to take a pic of him with the surprised Hui Yang. He came for me a little later =X Odd OALs.
If I ever have the chance to, I wanna ask Yong Hwee what on earth he was doing in front of the Ranks and Badges display o.o
Group pic for fun when there were no classes to attend to. From left:Clarence,Myself,Joel,Darren,Yu Cheng
Another group pic for fun =D From Left:Hui Yang,Wei Kit,Sir Sui Peng,Myself, Yong Hwee
Sir wanted a pic with us =D His sword glimmered in the flash!
NCC (air) hentataki cheer! I wonder where the combined NCC cheer is. Hmm.
Well, that was about it. It wasn't easy at the start because it was very confusing, but it got better soon enough and we all gave our best shot :) Now we just wait for the good news (which I already know now! But I can't say =X)
So much as happened since the last update (of Uniform Groups talk).
- Chinese O level result & First Aid cert ( I know damn long ago already XD) - CCA Day Orientation - Velvet & NCC (air)'s success! - Li's departure :(
One at a time now. Gah. on 12th Jan, all of us sec 4 HCL students were waiting anxiously in the auditorium. My leg could not keep jumping as I sat. Wei Yang and I made a pact, regardless of what result we get, we're NOT(notnotnotnotnotnot) going to drop HCL. The Chinese department decided to lengthen our pain with slow powerpoint slides showing the order of performance of our Oral and Overall results.
3-3 '08 scored somewhere high in the Oral component, so some of us relaxed. But when they showed the Class Overall MSG results...we were all at the edge of our seats. *show our class last, last last last* it was shown by order of merit. then 3-3'08 came out - MSG of 1.11~! The whole class went crazy - all distinction~!
When it was time to collect out certs, Index no. 1 ran down to the table, took his cert and signed his name, and quickly looked at the slip. I actually got a A1 overall and distinction in Oral! :DDDDD Ran around congratulating many friends, and see shocked faces of -some- people who believed I'd drop HCL.
Then I quickly called Mr Suah and thanked him over the phone :DDD He was super happy as well when he heard and he congratulated me, encouraging me to work even harder for HCL. Then we put him on loudspeaker and yelled XIE XIE LAO SHI. We went crazy the rest of the day. All that we did with Mr Suah is now paying off ^^
To top that, I met Li later that day to collect mine (and all the other NPCC guys') First Aid cards! Now we're all official Red Cross first aiders :D Thanks Lizzie again for helping me get this in the first place. And congrats for getting into SJII~!
I think Uniform Groups talk went rather well, and everyone gave their best in the NCC (air) presentation. I wanna get the pics and videos of our presentation soon! As soon as I do, gonna post them up here for keep's sake ^^
I got down to the store and put my stuff down at 10.20, rushed a meal, and hurried back to memorise my speech once more. While changing into no.1, I suddenly got a report that Jacob hurt his thumb while rehearsing =X Quickly finished changing and rushed to get ice for him. Thank goodness it's only a hairline fracture - take care of it kay?
A full rehearsal of how our presentation would go, then the sec 1s came pouring in while we hid back stage. Truth to be told I was rather nervous, more than I was than last year when I was in the PDS performance team for the UG talk '08. When everyone had settled, we played Samuel's awesome trailer:
As soon as it ended, Sir Sui Peng and myself emerge from the curtains.
"And that is the trailer of our unit, NCC (air)!"
Then I started to introduce about NCC and our unit's special activities. Abraham came out to demonstrate how to start up the electric motor plane =D After that was screening of 2 videos, one of our activities and the other of PDS. I stared down a sec 1 who laughed non-stop at something in the video >:(
After a simple introduction of PDS..."Let us watch a performance of our very own NCC (air) PDS team!"
I want the video of this one sooo bad =D This has to be one of the best performances, if you look at it at the right angle. My heart skipped a beat and one point of time though, but that mistake was shadowed by the fact that it looked so cool. Really admire Wei Kit and Yu Cheng'srecovery and composure. And once again, in awe of Hui Yang's awesome focus (Yes HY, you're awesome. And I'm sane.) in executing his classic Jumbo ^^
That about sums up our presentation. I think it's still a whole lot better to watch on video. Thank you everyone who gave in their best in making this the best presentation we did - the PDS team's endless trainings, and the usher's help. And Sam's trailer ^^
I stayed to watch the NCC (land)'s and NPCC's presentation as well. Land was...I can't find the right words. Skip. NPCC was kinda awesome =D Yong Kang did well too, but the best was their Black Knight's performance. CHS NPCC's baton drills are awesome, I want that viiidd~!
And please stop calling Wei Kit "Staff", Wei Kit and myself got our promotion to MSG on Tues, so address him accordingly =) MSG!
Yes, Jeff, just like you. Except a couple months later. And Mandy too :)
Balthus In NCC (air), you'd be sure to experience a diversity of activities, but only if you give us the chance to give YOU the chance to :D
Now that the debts are finally resolved, I shall be super random and talk about the bet Damien and I made.
Damien and I were both innocent Class Chairmans of 2-3 and 2-2 respectively when we were in Sec 2. Ivan Yak, the president of the Class Management Committee (CMC) then, he recently asked for a meeting for all sec 2 chairmans only to talk about Class Chairman life and the everyday difficulties we face in carry out our duties. Now, Damien and I were talking to one another before morning assembly one morning after that meeting...
Damien: "Ehh Benedict, you did go for the meeting by Ivan the other day right?"
Me: "Yup, it was last Tuesday, I was there."
Damien: "Oh yarh, I saw you...WAAIIT. Wasn't it thursday?"
Me: "No, I clearly remember is was Tuesday lorh."
Damien: "Noo I'm very sure it was THURSSDAAY."
Me: "Tuesday! I'm even willing to bet on it :D"
Damien: "OKAY. What do you wanna bet that it was Tueday?"
Me: "I bet......WEI YANG'S TIE."
Damien: "FINE. I BET JOEL'S TIE."
By the way, Wei Yang and Joel were mine and Damien'sassistant-chairman's of our classes respectively XD
So we ended up betting our assistant's ties over the issue of dates. I was wondering how I'd get Wei Yang to give up his tie if I lost =X So we went to approach Ivan and asked casually...
Ivan: "Err, Tuesday."
Damien and I: "Ahh. Thanks."
-later-
Me: "Ah-HA! YOU OWE ME JOEL'S TIE =D"
Damien: "D:"
However Damien really dragged looonnnggg to get me Joel's tie (mainly cause Joel refused to accept that the bet even took place) Even when Joel became an Exco in CMC, and the value of his tie really rocketed up, I had a hard time getting Dammie to keep his end of the deal and Joel to give me his tie =X
But then came first day of school of 2009...when Damien gave me for Christmas a.... Checkered Teddy Bear~!
Me: "Name it, Damien, give it a NAME!"
Damien: "Err, err, errrm. JOEL."
When I got home and Damien suddenly spoke to me about the bear Joel, I made mention that I noticed he had a BOWTIE.
Damien: "Ah-HA! I don't owe you anymore, I gave you Joel, and it came with a bowTIE. Now you owe me a BOW!"
GAAHH. Then I thought up of something. The next school day, I met up with Damien, and I did a bow =D Damien didn't realise why I did that until I told him I no longer owe him a bow.
Well, that's that. A bet that has been finally all settled after over a year =D
Balthus He needs not a penny of pity, but a handful of hope.
First day of school, it didn't feel as bad as all the previous 3. In fact, I think this might be the happiest "1st day" I had.
I walked into class to see it in a horrid state - Where's the aircon promised for all sec 4 classes?! The aircon in our room is in a horrid, dusty shape and doesn't look like it can function. And our projector is non-existent: just random cables hanging from the ceiling. I chose my new seat and I got my christmas gifts~!
Let's see now: Today I got the cute checkered teddy from DAMIEN and he named it 'Joel', and also the little ladybug from him;The Chibi Saber on top of Joel from Hong Shing; The book lying down by Stef;The iPod protector by Bryan;
The little dog which looks like a diver by Mandy named 'Ixora';The watercolour pencils by Angie;And the chattering teeth, and Art book by Li~ I have a card from Lizzie too for Christmas :D
Now, taking a closer look at Stef's gift...
Okay, looks innocent enough. I guess. Hmm,"Everything Men Know About Women"...
Ahh, looks very comprehensive. As quoted:"Fiercely frank and brilliantly insightful"
At this point of time when I opened the book I was thinking:"Wait, what?"
It's no trick - the whole book is seriouslyBLANK
After I realised what it meant, I cracked up for nearly half-hour straight XDThis.Is. Classic.
I'm really worried about my Chinese O level results now. Please, please give me my A2 =X
Now, you're going down, NYAA Silver. This weekend. I must. Lest Mr Goh does something to us D:
I was helping out at the countdown party at Boon Lay with the RJC Boon Lay Youth Club. I was the only non-RJC student there, and the youngest volunteer =X There isn't much to say, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
Arriving at Boon Lay CC at 11am sharp (along with a flood of other RJC students) I was wearing the CMC shirt (CMC! Crazy devotion for it :D) So I took my attendance:
"What is your class?" "Err, 3-3." "HUH WHAT?" "Erm, Catholic High." "OH."
Super awkward. Then a exco member gave me my new tee. Went to change, and while they organised themselves I sat in a corner and read "A Sense of Belonging". No, I'm not super enthu about the English books our school chooses, it's just that I need to do Mrs Tang's homework on it =X We all got dragged out to shift barricades. Barricades look rather light until you try and pick up on of them. The first 10 were rather easy, we just put them around the main stage area which is at a very close proximity.
After a quick lunch, we hung around waiting for more duties, then it was moving boxes of water. Oh god. This was where physical strength became everything. We walked down one bus stop to the holding room filled with 80 over boxes of plain water. Omg. I suggested making a human chain to pull out like 30 boxes of water, then we individually carry one at a time back to the CC =X Not. Fun. Really. Tiring. But it was worth it, now water is easily assessable =)
More barricade moving, then it was slacking time since there were no other duties till the party started. I wasn't with anyone, so I ended up reading and falling asleep into my book several times.
Awaken by a sms on my phone, I had dinner, then we all stood by for the party itself. More. Barricades. Cannot. Get. Enough. Of. Them. This time we had to carry them and place them along the roads for the road parade - the whole stretch of the length of two bus stops D:
Skipping all the barricades part (which was a good workout, I guess), I sat in the opt.s room until finally there was a slot open for duty. Finally. There's meaning in my life :D I went down to the Games Booth to man the Accuracy Soccer booth with Margaret. She was my IC for flyers the other day. I think this was the most fun part ofCIP - watching residents, young children and adults- all try and kick the ball into the hole in the board. It was free, so they only had to queue up for 5 tries to kick the ball in and get a little gift. The best player was this 6 year old boy - he didn't really concentrate or anything, just *boot* and he scored, 2/5! The other 3 all hit the rim of the hole O.O pwnage, that kid really own all the adults there.
After that we went back to the opt.s room, where I got invited by Margaret,Qing Yu and the rest of their group to play cards :D Someone took the lone boy in ^^ I was kinda grateful for their company. After one game we got summoned to....remove the barricades. Crap. All those barricades -far far- away and maneuvering through the crowd - rrraaaaggghhhh. We were all tired already, so it was amazing to see some of the JC guys still carrying the barricades with one hand O.O "Omg, more Wei Xuans."
And we went to watch the countdown itself =)
Hmm, my New Year's resolution is that I will not start watching a new anime, or start playing any new games until my Os are over.
And I aim to go RJC.
Yes, go nuts laughing, 4-3.
Happy New Year, Balthus
And with a new start, it may have a new ending =)
Oh, beware the stupid new adware virus spreading around on MSN about "crazy party pictures", I've seen a few people getting it already and could be the reason why MSN keeps shutting down.
Looking back at this post will help me remember how to write it under my NYAA silver :)
Tag replies:
JK - No. 1 uniform land has this little something on their collars, it's SO COOL D: Bryan Seah - I brushed my teeth, had my coffee, read my papers, smoked my cigar, then went to meet my family. Clarence - That's right Chia, cigar tastes nicer after a cup of coffee Sunicia - It's all personal opinion, ain't it? You GOT to admit that dusk is really beautiful though :D Happy New Year! JK - I KNOW I KNOW I MUST TRAIN TO LEVEL UP. enthu kia - I just said, I wouldn't know, so it's anybody's guess that you could be right XD John, JC, Alex, dg - Happy New Year to you guys too!
Benedict -- Balthus
Cat High since 2006 - 2009
4-3 '09
NCC (air) cadet since '05 - C/OFFR
CHS NCC (air) USM '08 - '09
A NCC Supernumerary
Member of the CMC since '07 - '09
The star of the Cancer
Stars to favour
People around me who care =)
Symbolism, the deeper meaning
CHS NCC (air)
CHS CMC board
Figurines I like =D
Improvement, no matter how minor
Pencils, colour pencils, paper
Traditional Art and CG
Drawing =D
Piano (:
Raindrops to catch
For my unit to flourish
For my grades to catch up - L1R5 of <8!
To choose my path in life
To improve my skill with the pencil Watercolour colourpencils! Thank you :)
To learn digital art XD Become a first aider =D OH YEA.
To play the piano (:
The iMedia conducting their interview to all CCA leaders in every booth. Here's me doing mine - it was intimidating to be talking to a camera lens with a weird mike hanging above me and 4 crew members staring at me while I thought up answers to the questions.
NCC (air) in action during CCA day again showing the sec 1s around =D
The OALs (Outdoor Adventure Leaders) are crazy. Nich Wee made a bet to NCC land's Brandon to go and hug and wink all the Senior Specs in order. Apparently he went so far as to take a pic of him with the surprised Hui Yang. He came for me a little later =X Odd OALs.
If I ever have the chance to, I wanna ask Yong Hwee what on earth he was doing in front of the Ranks and Badges display o.o
Okay, looks innocent enough. I guess. Hmm, "Everything Men Know About Women"...
