Track Chalet on 26th November

On this special day, I spent a night with my fellow track members at the Aloha Loyang chalet, in Pasir Ris. Ms Tan booked us the bungalow. It was huge! She is always so generous. Thanks Ms Tan! Anyway, we were celebrating the seniors' farewell. Although the opportunity could have been better spent bonding with each other, the only activity actually planned was the BBQ. Before and after that, we were left to do whatever we wanted. Of course, the boys went to play cards in their rooms, while some went cycling in the rain. I took the time to stay in the girls room, alone, looking through the pictures in my camera, again and again, while listening to the radio on my MP3. I was almost shivering under the air-conditioning as I waited for the other girls to come back from their 'meeting' and 'date', respectively. May I emphasize again, I was alone. For hours. Sad and pathetic? Tell me about it. I even resorted to taking pictures of myself, using self-timer. That was fun. Sad, but fun nonetheless. Then I showered and watched television with Sharon. That was nice, as we sat in the living room at 1am in the morning watching random shows, whatever that was on, basically. In that moment, we started to really miss cable. Told some ghost stories, slept for a bit, went to have breakfast and home sweet home.

Yeah, there were a few laughs here and there thanks to the guys. There are really sweet actually. They barbequed everything under the light drizzle with an umbrella over them. Then they came into the living room to serve the girls first. Honestly, I did not even have to lift a finger. I was put in-charge of photo-taking, which was fun, I must add. However, that resulted in me not being in any of the pictures except for the group photos. So that was ALL I did. I was like a pest, or paparrazo (you say to-may-to I say to-MA-to), asking politely, 'Would you like to take a picture?' They entertained my annoyance with the acknowledgement that I was just doing my job.

Before the BBQ wrapped up, we presented the seniors with tokens of appreciation. We customised batons with their names spray-painted on it. We really put in a lot of effort into making them and we hope the seniors love the gifts. We also celebrated one the seniors's birthday that night, Nelson's. There was a delicious cake and singing, of course. It was so sweet as they switched off the lights and everything.

All in all, there were a million and one things I would have done differently in the chalet to make the experience more meaningful for everybody. However, with that said, for me, it was a pleasant night of rest and 'alone' time. Not fantastic. But pleasant. And graciously, I shall take that.

Know this: Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.

Escape Themepark for CIP

On the 17th of November, 9 of us from 08A04 volunteered to accompany the kids from Evergreen Primary School to Escape Themepark. In essence, we had to babysit the students and watch after them. Certainly it was an opportunity not to be missed, considering chasing after kids under the scorching sun, entertaining their nonsense, and waking up early in the morning, were small prices to pay for an all-paid-trip (including lunch) to the themepark. Most of the kids were the same ones we played with during our Service Learning. Based on that experience, I thought meeting them again would be nice. I was very touched when one of the kids, Yee Kang, actually remembered me from our earlier meeting. However, I was attached to 3 malay girls, who I did not meet during the Service Learning. 2 of them were Primary Threes, and the other one was Primary 5. They were really adorable kids. Very hilarious and witty, especially during lunch at Burger King. Amalina and I made conversation with them by asking them questions about school and life. Bill Cosby was right, kids do say the darnest things. Amalina and I were laughing in between bites of our burgers and french fries. The girls just looked at us curiously and shrugged it off with satisfaction and the erroneous notion that we were just plain crazy to be laughing non-stop. I must add, they were quite the dare-devils too. They tried almost all of the rides, and even went on most of the 'scary' rides more than once! I was impressed and utterly embarrassed that I was too scared to accompany them on some of the rides. With them, you are obligated to go on the rides, firstly to protect them, but mainly (and sadly) to protect your own pride. Of course, there were tears of fear now and then (No, not mine! Gosh, give me some credit.) but all in all I had a great time, and I hope they did too.

After, I had to rush from Admiralty to Toa Payoh to Potong Pasir for Track training! I was exhausted from the day at Escape and the rushing to catch the buses and mrt surprised me with a new-found stamina. I was quite the superwoman that day, I must say. I wrapped up the whole day halfway while watching Desperate Housewives and crashed onto my cosy and warm bed with a huge grin on my face. A meaningful and productive day it was, indeed.

Know this: During pregnancy, the average woman's uterus expands up to five hundred times its normal size. (A dedication to those who are baby-crazy at the ages of 17 and 16. You two know who you are.)

A Night of Ketchup

On the 16th of November, I met up with Nurul and Aqila, my secondary school gal pals. We desperately needed a night of catch-up to update each other about the on-goings of our college lives. It had been a long while since we last met up, therefore there was plenty to share. In a way, distance and time did us a favour, as the night was never at any point halted with a pause of awkwardness as we constantly had something to say. However, I should have been there for them when they shared about their not so happy times. There were indeed 'shocking' news and some not so shocking news. I guess some things just never change.

Anyway, it was a blast being with them, laughing and gossiping, and just hanging. We should definitely do this again. Love you girls, and till next time.

Know this: If you rubbed garlic on the sole of your feet, it would be absorbed and eventually show up on your breath.

Rihanna's Concert was Awesome!

On the 13th of November, my sister, her best friend and her best friend's sisters and I went to the Rihanna! concert. It fell on my auspicious and favourite number, so I just had to go. I must say, I had one of the best times of my life. I danced my ass off and sang my heart out. I waved my hands from side to side, just like Rihanna told us to, and jumped when she jumped. Rihanna was so beautiful. She looked as flawless as she does on television. I was so mesmerized. Her sweet and sultry voice filled the Indoor Stadium.
Of course, there were some undesirable events that happened along the way, all the more making the day a memorable one indeed. Firstly, my sister and I hailed a cab driven by a typical old man, who was not in favour of the night life, nothing of the partying and 'let's have fun at a concert' sort, unfortunately. He was bitter throughout the trip, complaining that there might not be space for him to park his cab since it was going to be crowded with teenagers who were only looking forward to having a good time. He also almost got into a fight with another cab driver next to us, who was on the verge on scratching his 'million dollar' taxi. He cheated by sister with the cab fare, of about $4. It was horrible! He was horrible.

Then when we reached the North Entrance of the Indoor Stadium, we were greeted with good news, as we were upgraded to much better seats than we actually paid for. And it was free seating too so being early birds, we got hold of the best seats in our area, the centre block and centre seats. It was perfect. Of course, it was too good to be true, when a lady, who was actually quite well-mannered, albeit calculative, demanded that 3 of the seats we took were hers. The ushers must not have informed her that it was free seating, so first-come-first-served, or rather, you-snooze-you-lose, we all thought. Except for this other lady who decided to 'express' her unwelcomed opinion on the situation and protested that the seats be surrendered to the other lady. Lucky for us, the usher that 'attempted' to mediate the situation, panicked and solved the problem by moving us even further up to the stage. It was unbelievable! We were so near to the stage, yet we paid for seats on the last row of the whole entire stadium! Gosh, talk about a blessing in disguise. Of course, we all were nervous as we sat in those seats, worried that more people might come in and claim that those seats were theirs. In the end, all was good. The ushers signalled the closing of the doors and the best time of my teenage life officially began.

However, the mishaps did not stop there. The opening song was 'Disturbia', which we were all so excited for. Then her microphone stopped working! She was so mad. She stormed to the side of the stage where the technicians were and gave them one hell of a scolding, while the song was still playing. She then marched to the centre of the stage after rolling her eyes at the technicians. It was all caught on the big screens! I was terrified, thinking that she would no longer be in the mood to continue with the concert, considering her opening act was a total mess. She ended up just dancing and waving to the beat of the song, while the back-up singers continued singing. Fortunately, she was cool about the whole technical glitch. She was smiling to us and the audience sort of sang the song for her. It was amazing. When her microphone did work, she apologized on behalf of the crew. She even had a sense of humour about it, and I was glad that it was HER people that screwed up, not Singapore. It would have been a bad first impression if it were to have been Singaporean technicians in-charged of the microphones, considering it was her first time performing on our island.

After all the madness, Rihanna performed all of my favourite songs, including those that I am just beginning to be very fond of because of the concert. It is so difficult deciding on a favourite performance as I enjoyed every single one of them. The upbeat songs were great to dance to and the slow ones were nice to sing-along to. I had the time of my life during all the performances. She even sang Live Your Life, "ain't got no time for no haters, just live your life". I especially loved it when she held her microphone to the crowd and they began singing. It was so sad to see her wave goodbye after performing her smash hit 'Umbrella'. Strangely, I miss her so much. And, I know it was awfully silly of me to actually expect my boyfriend, I mean her boyfriend, Chris Brown, to somehow jump out and surprise us all with a performance of his own and then after, a duet with Rihanna. I did not put my hopes up too high inspite of all the tempting rumours spurred on by the radio stations, about Chris Brown travelling to Singapore alongside Rihanna. It did not happen. I was disappointed, just a tad bit. But the awesome-ness of the whole concert pretty much made up for it. The glaring and colourful lights, the blasting sound-system and THE Rihanna, for crying out loud! It was surreal. Maybe next time, Chrissy boy, dear, my love, forever!

The concert lasted for an hour and then the stadium emptied. Outside, there were other celebrities we chanced upon who were also apparently fans of Rihanna. We met Nurul Aini, Nurfasarie and Shan Wee! I was so star-strucked despite having been in the same room as Rihanna just moments before. Well, it was different. We got to be so close to these people, we got to talk to them and even took pictures with them, not of them. So it was a different kind of excitement. Nurul was so funny and friendly. They both were very gorgeous. A pleasure meeting them both.

I shall end of with a declaration that I, indubiously, had a blast during the concert, all thanks to Rihanna and my sister, who generously sponsored the wonderful opportunity for me. Thank you!

Have a nice one...

In the 'Bad' Cab

Our view from our First Seats

The Beautiful Rihanna enters...

Shut Up and Drive

Rihanna waves goodbye to Singapore

Mummy, it's over!

Me, My sister, Nuraini, Siti and Haslina

Us with the Model-esque Nurul and the Stunning Nurfasarie

Still star-strucked. Can you tell?

Anyway, my 14-year-old cousin headed off to Hong Kong today, for a CCA leadership training camp. So proud of him for being selected. It will be his first plane flight. I wish him good health and good luck. Have fun lil' cuz!

Know this: If you lock your knee while standing long enough, you will pass out.