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.