LwEi’s World

dear fellow flaggers

juz read the posts by yilynn, mui^2 and thyeheng, whilst searching for past info in compiling the KG report, as the constant activities and meeting up then made the checking of yahoogrps redundant in a sense. so i guess this last post of mine wun be seen by many of u there and tt’s why i’m putting it on my blog

it’s been a long 2 weeks after the initial exhilaration of winning set in, and so i can safely say i tt i realli miss most, if not all of you, and the times we spent together. and i regret not having joined Flag earlier, nor being able to join in the crunch time before FWOC started due to exams. trust me, even though it may not be obvious, it was realli the happiest period of my hall stay thus far and definitely my most constructive hols so far. the friendships formed with all, and a certain few in particular, have been my best in hall thus far.

realli have to thank thye heng for that; i was jokingly indicating interest in joining flag after the exams to angeline, and u immediately followed up with a lengthy call to me abt the reasons i should join and what it all entailed. i was convinced, and indicated tt i was willing to help as a invisible member as and when i could (not entirely due to yilynn, btw), but then u happily announced tt i was an official member on yahoogrps and tt was how it all started. that first day with vincent gan and the car insurance seems like so long ago now.

IC with thye and josh where we got negative (lol) collections. planning for KG and logistics with vic in his rm whilst discussing WoW. KGs with jack/dilys a.k.a chang&eng who keeps reminding me abt my ’swimming everyday, since ytd’ quote. the KG recce with vic & mui^2 who said i looked shy and demure then later told me to shuddup cos i was saying too much non-shy and demure stuff. angeline and josh with ‘mr thomas’. liwei, yilynn and michelle in the MPSH when the freshies moved in and we were writing and drawing dumb stuff on their slips. zhijian & josh who amused me with jokes and quips throughout the counting. yilynn for further amusing me with her magnetic tendency to be verbally abused by others for being m’sian, horrible counting n e orange "Kenny" jacket amongst others. mingjun and e free bubble tea. shiyun for being such a thoughtful ’sis’ throughout. chwan sang and his ‘chipmunky’ face and constant suan-ing of yilynn. josh, xiaowei, angeline during the ‘i bid 5 clubs’ incident. and the long, long list goes on..

thanks to all of you for helping out tirelessly for the KG which i realli enjoyed planning and typing long posts for. and for contributing to the many wonderful memories i’ve had in Flag for the past 3 months. be seeing u pple ard

cheers forever

ShawN

Finally the Dating Game is over. I no longer have to expend effort on getting the other party small gifts nor leave stuff at her door. I no longer have to design cards and write on it cutesy stuff with my vast assortment of coloured glittery pens so as to brighten up her day. However I will also lose the sense of anticipation of seeing cards or whatnot at my door. But it was wonderful while it lasted .

On the final day of the event we were supposed to dress up formally and pick up the girl at her door ard 6pm for a mass organized dinner with performances and such. And thus began the most frantic 2 hrs of late. Ended lessons and reached hall ard 4, to realize I hadn’t bought ANYTHING for my date. Worse still, I had omitted to bring my formal belt and my pants (from JC time) were plummeting at any given time.

So I gathered 3 male freshies from my block that were similarly unprepared and we took a taxi to Vivo. Were literally running about getting chocs, flowers, soft toys, gifts and such. And the belt was a damn hassle given I already had belts of my own and din want to get a costly one at Zara. Usually I take my time shopping and get the item I really want but this time was a gross exception. Finally got back around 6, got prepared in 10 mins (guys are so fortunate) and rushed over to my date’s room in the other block.

And when we got to the meeting place with another couple, it was apparent from the milling crowd that the event was gg to start late. So after taking a few photos of us she disappeared for 5 mins to take photos with her friend, during which I was forced to joke that Rachel went after both me and Ezekiel hence the 2 guys 1 gal combination. And so when she came back I borrowed her camera and happily scooted off to do the same with the many cute gals around the area. I swear I could feel her exasperated gaze on me during the whole process.

During the dinner I played the part and constantly paid attention to her and served her food. And also took pictures of the dishes as she had requested. And she constantly amused me with digs at how inadequate a date I was and kept serving me inedible stuff like bones or such. Once when she mentioned I hadn’t taken photos of the previous 2 dishes, I replied that I would make up for it by taking something more aesthetically pleasing. She agreed readily. And I proceeded to take a photo of myself.

I must say, the entire experience has been a totally enjoyable one indeed.

Went out recently to watch the Thai movie, Alone; no, I don’t watch movies without company. Found it amusing how me and josh actually convinced xiaowei that it was a family comedy in the mould of Home Alone, and that she was actually so gullible as to believe us. At the movie theatre, we even positioned ourselves subtly and cracked lame jokes to distract her from the gruesome poster depicting that very movie behind us, whilst angel was getting the tickets.

During the movie, I thought it unfortunate for her that she was seated between us. Even though she was cowering and covering her eyes every moment or so, we made sure she was updated on the proceedings sufficiently throughout. During a certain scene where the main character heard heavy breathing behind her but always saw nothing when she turned around, we made sure to emulate the heavy breathing in her direction. Surround sound, indeed.

Went to the arcade thereafter. When I suggested playing the cutesy bishi-bashi game, angel and xiaowei happily acquiesced, commenting aloud that they could humiliate me in one area finally. I think I won about 13 of the 15 games hands down. Oh wells. Just goes to show that appearances are deceiving indeed. But seriously, I have yet to find anyone who can come close to my timing for the flower-growing component of bishi-bashi where u’re supposed to mash 2 buttons as fast as possible to aid the plant’s growth. I doubt I’ll be playing it much tho when I become a teacher after graduation. Haha.

Glutton’s Bay beside the Esplanade had some great-tasting food, the hokkien noodles being one of them. Thought it was one of the best I’ve tried thus far. But they really should consider helping to peel the prawns before serving as it’s rather troublesome to have to do so oneself. The stingray and satay were tasty but nowhere close to exceptional.

Then spent the remaining time in hall playing bridge till morning, during which they had a good laugh at my expense as I just started to learn how to play that very night. And I had to take pictures for the beach event later at Sentosa. I really should have catched a few winks. But luckily I wasn’t exactly shagged out thereafter and my pictures turned out fine.

Quite an eventful day, I must say.

It’s upsetting that things don’t turn out as they’re expected to be. Checked my results for my special semester exam moments ago and it would suffice to say that I stared at the screen in dismay for a considerable period of time and was left in a depressed mood thereafter. And to think I had high hopes for the coming semester to be active in hall activities, to take up leadership roles and even specially set aside a free day in my timetable for dance, guitar and bowling.

The cumulative system employed in the calculation of the final results has ensured that I’ll have to do ridiculously well to obtain my 2^nd upper in the end. In fact, so well that I don’t see any way I can achieve it save for relentless studying and forsaking a meaningful varsity life. At times, I’m tempted to just do enough to fulfil my scholarship requirements.

It’s a good thing that I’ve been kicked into the conscientious mood even before school reopens, but the cost was tremendous indeed. From prior experience, it’s likely I’ll be tempted to just focus on studies, keeping fit and hanging out only with those who matter. But then again, I’ll have to weigh my priorities; if doing the above would prove most beneficial to myself, I’ll gladly do so even if my heart tells me it’s not what it truly desires.

The one-week hall orientation is finally over. Wasn’t as active as I had hoped to be due to various commitments. But I did enjoy the cheering, the activities, the mingling and obviously the babe-ogling. Especially memorable was a warped version of Captain’s Ball called Captain’s Chicken. As the name suggests, the object being hurled around was a chicken. A raw and featherless one, at that.

It was amusing at the start to observe the squeamish expressions on the freshies’ faces, but I was soon grimacing and feeling unwell myself when the poor animal was accidentally dismembered and occasionally split into separate pieces in mid-air. I swear I felt the disgust welling up within me culminate in a thunderous wave at a point when the chicken plummeted onto the ground from high above with a horrendous splat, as no-one was able to catch it.

I must say the highlight of the entire orientation would be the Dating Game, where freshies would write letters, pass gifts to and perform in public to vie for their chosen seniors’ attention and eventually hope for their acceptance. Obviously, I wasn’t open to the idea of having no one attempting to date me, however I could do nothing about it this time, being a senior and all.

Was pleasantly surprised when I came back from dance the other day and this freshie approached me near my door. Apparently she had noticed me since Day 1 and wanted to date me but circumstances that day forced her to do otherwise – peer pressure had made her choose someone by dinner that day cos I wasn’t around the whole day. Basically I suspected that she just wanted to make me feel good then cos she could have simply refrained from making a decision before I got back, but then I decided thereafter to just accept her reasoning and feel honoured about being so highly valued.

Life is wonderful indeed. lol.

Just moved back into hall a few days, and I was pleasantly surprised that my unpacking and clean-up only took around 3 hours, as I vaguely remember the first time I entered hall a year back, it took roughly 3 days. Quite an evident difference.

The initial excitement of having a personal space to call one’s own certainly led to me spending a lot of effort into planning the allocation of items into different areas and especially in the cleaning department. All the drawers, windows, walls, ceiling, and basically every nook and cranny had to be not only dust-free, but wiped with a wet disinfectant cloth. Even pulled down the roughly 5 by 5 m blinds to scrub, such was my thoroughness.

No wonder I incessantly heard comments about my perfectionist nature, I realized thereafter. I went minimalist this time round, doing away with the carpet, air cooler, novels, soft toys, ornaments and whatnot. But of course, the overall cleanliness was not compromised in any way whatsoever. That was the main reason I never considered double-sharing rooms. It is nigh impossible to find another guy that matches my standards. In tidiness and cleanliness, that is.

I guess I have to get used to the concept of having to divide my belongings into my two abodes. It sure is inconvenient to not be able to obtain a certain apparel when I go out from hall just simply because I left it at home. Furthermore, I won’t have the comfort of 2/3 bolsters in which to aid my precious beauty sleep. Troublesome, indeed.

But it’s worth the trouble. It will be. I wish it will. Hopefully.