blog/enigma

Friday, March 14, 2008

10:58 AM

WELCOME, CHICKENINTOASTER!!!

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because nothing beats the randomness of an undue welcome. But actually I have something more important, if not obvious, to announce:

I AM BACK FROM BAND CAMP.

(Then this post is left like that for a few hours, due to my slowness at arranging, renaming and uploading the blurry band photos.)

Okay band camp was tiring. But fun. And rewarding. And with lots of cool bondage. And a moderate success, thanks to a lot of people.

Now let me look at the schedule to refresh my memory.

Day 1.

Woke up with a horrible, horrible (note: this word has utmost importance] sore throat. I felt like there was an ant nest inside. They were swarming around my larynx and biting and crawling all over. I kept drinking liquids (milk, water, milo, juice) and then I almost had a stomachache. I reached school at about 6 plus, where Jeremy was there. He brought a super gigantic bag that could fit a tuba inside. It turned out that he had a sore throat too, so we went to the nearest petrol station and bought strepsils. It was a pretty walk back.

Weiqi's sick so there was only 3 people in Eupho, including Wang Zhi. The only indoor prac in the morning was pretty boring because Leng forgot to bring the school song he just arranged. So it passed rather uneventfully until lunch, where we had the pleasure of drinking [insert someone's name here]'s pee:

Actually it could be pee or oil. Observe the foam.

More likely oil la.

(This picture is so artsy.)

Yeah so I was like telling everyone it's [someone, I can't tell you who]'s pee and watching them choke at their drink.

Then band camp was weird with the rain (another important word) and stuff. Then after such a tiring day, we went showering. Which is when I realized I forgot two important things:

1) Towel
2) Slippers

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! Yeah. I can't too. But anyway that was how pathetic my shower went. I went to the toilet barefoot with the you-know-what's-on-toilet-floors sticking to my feet and being all wet when wearing my clothes.

Oh, and Aikhwee flashed us in the toilet. Until I threatened to take a photo and send it to [insert junior's name here].

Aikhwee: (later) So did you take a photo of my cock?
Me: Uhm. No. My camera couldn't zoom to something that small.

(And uh, no, I really didn't take a picture. Because I don't bring my phone to the toilet.)

So a bunch of us went to Coro for dinner. There were no seats left, so we were camping outside the eatery and eating our lemon chicken rice like paupers.

Presenting the Hwa Chong Band Beggars:

We could be construction workers, too!

In our Bilabong clothes and Op slippers

Concentrated pee/oil.

Then it was time for... the.. ARENA

The drum rolls. The spectators sit in a wide circle, with bated breath, for the gladiator(s) to hit the guts out of them with a SLEEPING BAG.

Yes, our band version of whacko.

The circle.

The hunting ground.

Why is Jason standing? Or is that Jason at all? Questions to ask my 1.3 megapixel.

The marimba is neutral.

Run for the kill.

Jeremy is distracted... to his disadvantage.

Huiyao looks bored.

Now he doesn't.

Notice what Chengyun is doing with Caleb.

Onlookers, petrified.

He approaches.

Waiting.

Bufan is waiting for the *coughs* insertion. But the sleeping bag is teasing him and refusing to *coughs* complete him and grant him what he wants.

ZOMG Fangxu is floating. With his super-concentrated PSI powers.

This looks like an OSIM advertisement.

On your mark... get set...

Meanwhile, Jason... x)

Get set... GO! He runs.

The timpani laughs. Or should it be called timpanus? I mean, what is the singular form of timpani?

The trumpet section strikes.

In action.

So after the weird whacko game, the inevitable continues. The exciting tradition of band bonding starts. Where people screams as their clothes are forcefully ripped from their bodies.

Edwin goes first. He seems to be enjoying it.

Elliot is the next sacrifice to our needs.

This picture is seriously scandalous. It really looks like the cover of some gay porn vid.

Post coitus bliss.

Okay I have to stop posting pictures of bondage. Or else weird advertisement will appear on my tagboard.

The night was complete with Huiyao's and Tee Zhuo's mutual moaning for each other. And impromptu made-up ghost stories about abortion and broken heads. And L. Siao's snores.

Day 2.

Half the band outing was devoted to going to Bugis to buy gloves. Then I (stupidly) cabbed to Vivo to join my section. Thanks Lionel for taking care of Eupho juniors. We ended up walking around and buying chocolates for the section gift tomorrow..

Our section gift. Not. It's funny la, since CGS actually gave us 5 apples. But that was after we bought the chocolates x|

It says Finest Selection. Yes, by me, of course.

Nicely wrapped and decorated by yours truly xP

Okay the BBQ was something that pissed me off quite badly. After coming back from Vivo, the food arrived so Huiyao, Jiexuan, qfnn, Tee Zhuo and I went to carry the boxes of food up. Then a lot of things went wrong like the pathetic size of the grill and a lot of food and other stuff. So Tee Zhuo, Jeremy, Gideon and I were like helping to make things work, while the others just stood around complaining, standing around when we were fanning our hands off, and sticking their paper plates in our faces.

The most maddening thing was some people, especially the big shot ones, just stood around and passed depressing comments.

E: "This is really screwed."
L: "Where is my food?!"

I don't want to name people, just I want to let you guys know that until the end of the BBQ, the people who are actually doing work didn't eat a single morsel. When I'm choking on the charcoal fumes, wiping my tearing eyes, shaking away the burns, and trying to respond to the thousand calls to my name, and then I see you laughing in your exclusive clique, laughing with Leng and ordering fried rice with him, because "the food duo can eat ar", you know how it feels?

Like I said, I'm not complaining, but I'm complaining.

Okay away from the depressing stuff. After showering, we watched Drumline. Well, I watched half of it. I was like "I don't want to watch Drumline!" but in actual fact, I haven't watched it before. I left at the exciting part (when the characters were kissing) because Huiyao didn't want to stay.

Third day. The most horrible and rainy one. (See? I warned you.)

Well the section competition was HORRIBLE. HORRIBLE. HORRIBLE. I screwed up incredibly. I was muttering "I feel horrible." to myself the whole day.

Then the exchange. Which was spent helping a disabled supporter from TK. I have mixed feelings about this supporter, because of some reasons, so I shan't talk about him anymore.

Oh yeah we were talking about how TK would arrive, because they were late due to the rain.

"By air. We'll see a plane flying over and there'll be a synchronized parachute troop coming down. It'll be raining TK band members."

"By car. They'll send 40 cars (TK has around 160 coming over), and another 40 for instruments. Then they can form formations on the road."

"By foot. They'll march here, with perfect 90 degrees and stuff. Then they'll do formations also."

So when they did come with 5 buses, it was kinda disappointing x)

Anyway their band was BIG. BIG. BIG. And the drum major is super tall and intimidating. And he's sec3. And I don't recall seeing him smiling at all. They totalled pwned us (to expectations).

I was super pissed about our performance because I wasn't ready. Sorry Ming Yi for snapping at you. I was really in a bad mood. The band was horribly wrong. It felt really tragic. The rain was coming in, and my vision was blurred with sweat and raindrops. I just felt really sad doing the formations and breathing hard, watching the TK people watch us, imaging how they're holding back their snickers (It was only my imagination - they're super nice, which adds to the guilt) and pointing at us.

I just felt really lousy.

But anyway. Managed to be okay. I wasn't my most cheerful, but at least I didn't emo during the section games part.

The thing I notice about TK band is how they're all very willing to do things, without complaint. They honour bandship and treat everyone as their family. They might not (figuratively) speak our language, (which explains the awkwardness when we tried to know more about each other), but they have a bond tells me why they're the top band. I can see that, really.

I'm ashamed and inspired at the same time. Which I guess is the appropriate emotion for exchanging with a good band.

I'm not saying they're simpler in nature, and more easy to 'control'. Because they're not. It's just that the Hwachongians are too wrapped up in our little worlds to really give their all. I hope that would change, because if someone who hates outdoor to the core can feel inspired by an outdoor band, then I hope the rest can. I just hope my enthusiasm will last a little longer.

I know what makes TK band successful. But I'm also fearing that HCIB will never get TKB has. Worse, I feel that I would never be able to make the band better, because DM or no DM, it's everyone's responsibility. I understand that only after the exchange. I'm not running for DM because I fear the responsibility. But the big R is always there, no matter what post you hold, or if you don't hold anything at all. It doesn't matter if Gideon would be DM, because even if he's still holding to the passe idea of reform, he still surpasses me in spirit. And not only me. The others too.

I'll talk about this another time. I hope I won't burn out.

The band camp has really been rewarding. Thanks to:

1) The organizers (Huiyao, qfnn and Zi Qian)
2) The people giving instructions (Edwin and Zong Xian)
3) The teachers for their tremendous help in administration (Mrs. Chan and Mrs. Lai) and food (Ms Quah)
4) People like Tee Zhuo, Jeremy and Gideon for taking initiative.

Yeah so.

It feels like the end of the post right.

But it's not because I have more (random) pictures to post x)