seeTs

THEY'LL TERRIFY

TOMORROW TILL THURSDAY

(+ TEMPERATURE TAKINGS TWICE)

#513: ELEVATE

To be honest I went for youth camp with an underlying dread because
a) I was missing out on precious study time.
b) I was a group leader (for the first time zomgzz) and
c) I was hoping to be antisocial.

In the end, everything panned out well, despite me neither getting any work done (!!!), nor playing a proper game of Scrabble. The messages were poignant and very anointed, and the spirit of the sermons were thrilling and infectious. Should my group have turned out to be a bunch of mutinous swamp toads (they didn't), or if all my notes had gotten mauled and my GC stolen, I would have angsted, but still gone for youth camp because the sessions were really quite worth it.

#1: Cover page to my youth camp notes.

#2: Group leader preparation the day before the camp. I like making lists.

#3: Doing up group ID with 180 DAISO plasters (we didn't use half in the end because they were too small argh).

#4: DAISO $2 ftw!

#5: My purple travel companion.

#6: The shiny foil-wrapped thing is a $2 chocolate cigar, purchased at the DFS at Changi Airport. To the right, you see a black permanent marker that I got for $0.40 for two!

#7: Porpor's duffel is cool vintage sia.

#8: Before first session - some Scissors Paper Stone showdown. Jenna in grey.

#9: Assistant Group Leader Gabriel kena singled out to sing (he just dissolved into giggles).

#10: This kid carried our team flag everywhere he went. Not only did he keep holding it like some parade flag as we trudged to and fro the hotels, he marched down the streets in Hitler-fashion (legs, salute and all). He hugged it throughout every dinner, session, and even kept trying to take it into the toilet with him. Thank goodness some other team member had the sense to wrestle it away from him whenever he did.

#11: Scrabble Showdown (that got shutdown). I mean, HOW DO YOU SPELL ANYTHING WITH TILES LIKE THIS?

#12: Boys aren't allowed into girls' rooms, and girls aren't allowed into boys' rooms. Here, we behold The Threshold of Purity.

#13: I make my first breakage (RM8) because I was so eggcited that I got to drink Milo.

#14: Chloe bought the room Dunkin' Donuts.

#15: This was how they looked like after I was done.

#16: Rachel Chloe Chua has the most active Facebook profile page everr!!

#17: She seems very indecisive.

#18: Three roommates with three pairs of black chucks.

#19: In varying shades of black/white and states of wear and tear.

#20: (from left) Grace, Rachel Chloe Chua, Abigail

#21: And this is my awesome group, TIMBRE. We were awesome because EVERY SINGLE person was darn sporting, and EVERY SINGLE person participated. Willingly, enthusiastically and very boisterous-ly. The picture speaks for itself, eh.

I'm off to KL for youth camp for 5 days WHERE I WILL HAVE NO TIME TO MUG LIKE WOOHOO.

stop.

On my Development of the International Economy notes, next to "Nixon's Devaluation", I wrote "- Reagan".

#512: Resuscitated

My trusty Singtel MIO modem went kaput yesterday morning, sometime between 0900 and 1000 hrs. Along with it, went our land line.

So we were internet-less and phoneline-less for the whole of yesterday. This meant that,

1. I could not research on the Indo-Pakistani conflict at leisure. As a result, I could not ascertain if my notes were factually accurate or not (The experience of having a set of notes that contradicts itself within a paragraph is only bestowed upon the RIJC non-humanz International History students, who constantly resort to consulting Wikipedia instead), and hence I could not proceed to finish up my Indo-Pakistani conflict summary.

2. My phone bill went bust, with me making (limited-to-only-100-minutes) outgoing calls for mum.

3. I started to curdle into withdrawal some time into the night, the time when I usually end up rotting online out of sheer boredom. Because there was no internet to rot on, I ended up in front of the telly for 2 hours. At least it was a Tuesday night, which meant it was "Crime Night". So after eons of staving off television, I once again got to see Horatio swaggering on-screen in his full carrot-topped, squinty-aviator-shaded-eyed glory, and witness his colleagues flirt over cadavers and make cow eyes at each other at crime scenes. Nothing fascinates and engages you, whilst causing you to roll your eyes periodically, like CSI Miami.

Ok back to work.

#511: Free Willy!

To celebrate Papa's birthday, we went to the ritzy Shangri-La coffee house, The Line, for dinner. Not because we're especially well-off or like burning holes in our pockets in the name of good food, but rather, because Shangri-La has a fabulous special deal, whereby you get a birthday discount off your entire bill at a percentage to match your age.

This means that if Cindy, a five-year-old child, decides to toddle into The Line on her 5th birthday, she gets a grand 5% off her total bill. I was wondering, however, if Cindy the hundred-and-ten-year-old grandmother hobbles into The Line on her 110th birthday, will she get a 10% rebate? Someone, do try and get back to me. I'm painfully curious.

Anyway so we went there and I went beserk trying to keep my eye on all the good food, which was practically impossible because there were food stations located all over the place. By cuisine. My mind/stomach/eyes couldn't keep up with one another. There were food stations offering Hong Kong, Northen Indian, Japanese, Asian, Local, Western and Italian fare. Desserts were divine, and I when I say this I mean it because I am not really a dessert-inclined foodie. But the creme brulee swept me off my feet, and made my blood sugar level hit all time highs.

Boaz stuffed himself to bursting point, till he was immobilized and looked like his body was slowly shutting itself down. While my parents got increasingly worried about his state (they thought he was going to get a heart attack), he warned us (in monosyllabic grunts) not to
(a) Touch him
(b) Mention the words "chocolate" or "cheese"
(c) Sing (in my case)
lest we risk getting spewed on.

He's now beached like Free Willy on my bed. Oceanic wildlife, up close!

#510: all around me

Double digest of Weekly Captures this week, from the last week of May (i.e. the last week of Term 2), as well as from the first week of June (i.e. the first week of the not-quite-so-accurately-named 'holidays').

#1: This is one of the most adorable rings I have, and this shot does it no justice (I was on a jerky shuttle bus). Unfortunately, true to my accident-prone nature, I dropped it a while back and it's a little dented.

#2: This 2-hour Chem lesson was the very last lesson of the term, and an hour or more through, it became utter madness.

Due to the geological phenomenon of plate tectonics, the desks of our classroom eventually merged into 2 uberlong rows over time, stretching from one hemisphere of the classroom to the next. As a result, if you are seated at the far right of the classroom, chances are, you can't see much of what's on screen.

So halfway through lesson, the boys (i.e. Hong Xiu) started to get restless and stood up to (a) stretch his legs, and (b) cause more disturbance (as he is inclined to do). Because of this, the people in the back row couldn't see what was going on, and soon gave up. After a while, I realised that there were people loitering at the back of the classroom (i.e. not in their seats), straining to see what the hell was on the board.

The front row, to my right, was roaring with laughter. To my left, the girls were giggling and talking very excitably. The people in the back row were just being voluble. The people standing behind the back row just looked like little lost lambs. Mrs Tan (the chem teacher) still carried ahead with her lesson, as though everything was as per normal (well, maybe it almost was). It was noisy, it was ridiculous, and it was fun; I took photo.

#3: The Circle Line is the best thing that has ever happened to RJC ever since it got an I shoved in the middle of its acronym. No longer do we RJ kids have to go plodding to and fro J8 like a herd of (intellectually-inclined) sweaty cattle. Not only is the Marymount MRT station a mere 150m from our campus, it is thoughtfully air-conditioned to spare us from the scorching rays of the sun. Also, the escalators have been contructed at a strategically steep angle so that if you are a curious RI boy on your way up, you can easily upskirt someone above you.

#4: The Lost And Found in the PE department. Look at all the potential study-material left there to rot! :O

#5: These were the balloons that were meant for my birthday party a good decade ago. They surfaced when I was ransacking the house in search of balloons for Xuberxu's birthday.

#6: They would have been very pretty had they not been melted.

#7: Notice how the dark-colored ones have resolidified?

#8: Couldn't blow 'em up. Bugger. They were pretty.

#9: Meimei, on the other hand, is pretty. Sit like lady, please.

#10: Bangers and mash and greens. Absolutely delectable.

#11: Remnants of Hotdog Holocaust. Despite the sausages being half-cooked, I ate at least 6. They were free, after all.

***

#12: Abiho the Avidly Studious Student.

#13: The fallen popcorn, on whom I bestowed an identity.

#14: Rachel Yeo makes it a two-faced fallen popcorn.

#15: Godzilla moves in for the kill. (Translation: My brother digs into his ice cream.)

#16: Charles leaving fur all over the swivel chair.

#17: My school shoes, that unfortunately do not comply with the new regulation that takes effect in July.

#18: It's an institute with attitude, only because we want to give the spelling capabilities of our students/staff the benefit of the doubt.

#19: Nick Yun takes a walk (or two) in my court shoes.

#20: Abbykang and her minions set up the Hodge Lodge and its surroundings real spiffy.

#21: Hsien, from his finest angle.

From next week henceforth, I shall limit my rotting-online allowance to 45 minutes per day. I must be more disciplined, focus, conscientious and diligent. In other words, I must stop being myself. ARGH.

Run, run.

"Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart."

- 2 Timothy 2:22, NIV

It's not that the desires of youth are evil, but the overpursuit of lust, materialism and whatnot can be destructive. Knowing this generation, we never know what's enough and when to stop.

#509: Who's A Lazy Abi

Keep your head still / I'll be your thrill

I would have done up Weekly Captures had it not been for the facts that: -
(a) One photo is still in my phone
(b) I am too lazy to retrieve it
(c) I am too lazy to hype about the photos now, because -believe it or not- there is actually stuff to hype about
(d) I wanna crash now

RMUN Day 2 tomorrow, I wonder what wonderful surplizes will be in store for everyone; Hissy Fits, wayward SMSes, tiny scraps that pass off as "official notepaper", mass G-chatting from LTs and delegates who don't sit properly.

#508: You'll Never Laugh Alone

I never fail to find hilarity in ridiculous situations.
(Sidenote: The noun of "ridiculous" is either ridiculousness or ridiculosity.)

Irony comes a close second on my list of What-Makes-Abigail-LOL, and slap-stick gets placed third (Because these two usually lapse into ridiculosity/ridiculousness anyhoos). Sarcasm and wit amuse me, though they don't usually elicit rambunctious bouts of hyena giggles that characterized the general actions of my upper-secondary class.

I miss the rollicking laughter of my teenhood; I would laugh till my eyes teared and my face flushed, till my sides hurt with a 2.4km-worthy stitch, till I lost a measure of control over my limbs and crumpled onto the table, body racked with laughter. The best part was that laughter was spontaneous and as infectious as e-bola and back then, and I would never be laughing alone.