Poppin' Cookin'

Poppin' Cookin'

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

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Life hasn't been very interesting lately except for the fact that January Induction Programme has finally ended (oh, and so have CCA trials and they all went terribly for me I mightn't even get into ANY CCA) so I'm just going to blog about a bunch of things I did not-so-recently, the first being Poppin' Cookin! :-)

I used to have an obsession with Poppin' Cookin' about two years ago, and I couldn't stop watching a ton of Youtube videos of people making them, especially RR Cherry Pie and here I link you to a playlist of all his Poppin' Cookin' videos! It's super intriguing how powder + water can become all these amazing things. I never got to try it though because at that time, it wasn't very popular in Singapore yet and I couldn't possibly ship them to me from Japan. About last year though, a lot of shops in Singapore started selling these candy kits, usually in those cube shops where people rent cubicles. 

However, I found it to be still quite expensive - they were usually $11.90 a box or 5 boxes for $50 which I'm sure is way above the cost price. This month though, I somehow stumbled upon a shop at level 4 of nex in Serangoon, called "Gifts Greetings" and they sold the kit for $6.45 so I bought it and was quite happy. I saw "Ministry of Cube" on the same level and they were having a promotion as well - instead of the usual $11.90, it was going at $7.90. But yup I still got the better deal and the shop I got it from sells it at $6.45 all the time. I got the sushi making one because it was apparently the most fun and I wanted to feel the "fish roe" myself too. 

The contents! :-) Powder, plastic containers, plastic spoon, and a cute little dropper.

It was really quite magical ahh :') Powder + water can still give me so many different textures I don't even know man! Just look at the fluffy rice. 

Seaweed heh. This one wasn't very realistic though - because I had to shape the seaweed myself from a playdough like consistency. 

What I was most excited about - the fish roe packet! 

MAGIC!!!! How does it retain its circle shapes omg. 

CUTE. 

The powder + water actually hardens almost instantly it was truly amazing to play with hehe the Japanese are insane geniuses. 

 My completed sushi! :-) They look really cute and the fun factor was quite high because you just get amazed every single time. 

Taste wise, everything was really sweet and I couldn't really take the idea of putting it in my mouth because it looked so realistic but didn't taste savoury. Also, I wasn't used to the fact that everything was made from powder. I took a few small nibbles and threw everything away. I suppose one will be paying for the process of making it :-) 

I'm just really happy that I finally got the chance to make my own Kracie Poppin' Cookin' after watching countless Youtube videos of them but I would admit that for an experience like this, one time is enough. It's not very worth it unless you're a small kid hehe (which I am). 

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Why I Write

Why I Write

Thursday, January 23, 2014

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One of my favourite past times would be writing, and I do it on a semi regular basis through blogging. Although most of the times I tend to just narrate about my own personal life with barely any insight, really just to share and keep track of the places and events I've visited and been to (these are posts which I don't really enjoy writing), I find a lot of joy in translating my thoughts into words. I love writing fiction as well and it's something I don't share, though I admit I find it more difficult to do so as I get older perhaps because my sense of childlike wonder and imagination is diminishing slowly. 

Sometimes, I do ask myself why I even bother writing. I mean, why do I even sit myself down and spend a couple of hours (occasionally) typing away when I can simply just think those thoughts? Why do I put in effort to craft something that's coherent from the weird jumble in my head when I can simply just tweet out any premise that pops into my mind? Okay, there are a few rare moments when I write due to the mere reason that I feel like there are actually people reading this space and I want to give them something to read when they happen to visit. However, that doesn't mean that I write for the sole purpose of attracting more people to read my blog, even though it's always nice to know that your writing is actually getting a certain amount of viewership. Even if I had zero blog views, I will still continue to write both online and perhaps on paper except that writing here truly immortalizes my thoughts, something which I appreciate a lot. So... why? Why do I even bother crafting this particular "essay" about why I write? 

For one, I believe that thoughts shouldn't be contained in oneself. Especially negative ones such as this particular one I wrote about. I remember feeling a lot better after pouring everything out and somehow, tweeting 140 letters about the situation does not work for me at all. Instead, it may even clog someone else's timeline and you end up making another person feel lousy. The act of hollowing out is sort of a triumph in itself because one is required to come to terms with the particular situation at hand and think clearly enough to put their thoughts and experiences into words, which to me is something insanely therapeutic. That's really the main reason why I write and why I love it so much. 

Another topic closely linked to writing would be inspiration. There are times when I feel like the things I write don't even stand out or that there are similar pieces of writing floating out there in the vast Internet - articles with the same line of thought. Perhaps I myself have gotten inspired by these things but why do I still bother writing such things then? To me, inspiration is sort of an external manifestation of your own internal state of mind. Even though I may have been inspired by something else, the idea and the words still comes from yourself and writing it out really does help you to understand certain concepts with more depth. You will inevitably add in your own thoughts and it'll become something of your own. 

I don't write well, but I enjoy writing a lot and it's one of the things that makes me very happy. These few days, during January Induction Programme, we were exposed to the subjects we were going to take and it's no surprise to me, but it really just hit me that I'll be writing an insane amount of essays this year, taking three humanities subjects that requires at least three essays for each paper in addition to General Paper. And I don't know, but it makes me a little nervous yet incredibly excited too. The mere thought of writing essays of differing and broad topics is amazing but yet I'm also afraid if there'll be too much restriction or essay conventions we'd have to follow. Or that my right hand gives up on me. I'm really happy though, that I chose subjects for the next two years that I will probably enjoy doing more than the others! :-) Let's just see how this goes. 

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Art Stage 2014

Art Stage 2014

Thursday, January 16, 2014

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Hello friends :-)

So the first day of Junior College life was pretty... meh, for the lack of a better word really. It was basically just talk after talk with barely any breaks at all so we were sitting in the Performing Arts Centre for four plus hours straight and the air conditioner was at full blast so all of us were freezing, unable to absorb any of the information they were throwing at us. We'll have to sit through many days like this throughout the entire January Induction Programme but I do hope there'll be less administrative matters to settle from now onwards. 

The entire environment and atmosphere will take some getting used to and I sure hope I get used to it fast enough because honestly I feel like the pace of the school will catch me by surprise when everything starts for real. Sometime this evening though, I had this sudden wave of energy and motivation and I really want to ignore all judgement I may be faced with this year and just focus on my goals that I'd like to achieve at the end of these two years. I did a bit of research today in a few minutes and I came up with three plans I am hoping to head towards at the end of everything and I feel immensely proud that for once, I actually have a concrete direction and a real motivation to work with. I actually can't believe I settled on these three routes in barely half an hour but I am somehow so set on these paths. 

That scary "future" thing aside, Wang You and I headed to Marina Bay Sands Expo Hall after school today to attend  Art Stage Singapore 2014, an event showcasing art pieces from various South East Asian countries and I later learnt that it's a bit more of an art market for art collectors and buyers. Shermaine volunteered/ volunteers there, which was how I personally got to know about it and at first, she actually gave us free tickets (thank you so much bb) but we didn't think we should waste them on ourselves so we wanted to visit the Art Science Museum instead but the museum was unfortunately closed when we were there. 

Stranded outside the Art Science Museum :-( But she's with me so she's still smiling! 

Of course, the pretty pond outside the museum :') 

Hehe yay :-)

After we hung out a bit outside the museum, we decided to just go for Art Stage 2014 anyway since we travelled all the way there and students would enjoy concession tickets at only $11 per person, which is a great deal, considering the usual price is $30. I would say that for the pieces we managed to view, it was pretty worth it and the whole experience is definitely worth a go! The event runs from 16 Jan (today) till 19 Jan so if you happen to not know what to do with your time. And I don't think you really need to know how to appreciate art - I don't, for one - but you can just go there and be awed by the amazing creations. Afterall, art is really about your own personal interpretations and how the particular piece of work makes you feel. I am definitely not in a position to do a commentary about the pieces I saw there but here's just a really small part of the things we saw and I shall let the photos do the talking from here. Pardon me for my less-than-professional-nor-accurate captions! 

Body parts ooo 

Wang being really intent - art student indeed :-) 

"The Kiss Was Beautiful" 

The girl on the top right hand corner is called Wendy - pretty fitting in my opinion. 

Realistic! 

There was this entire portion filled with China-centric artworks. 

Not exactly sure what this was about :-( 

This piece was insane in real life - at first I thought it was an ordinary rocket statue till I saw it from far and realized Mao Ze Dong's face was embedded in it and it was amazing. 

This piece was titled "Land of Hope" or something along those lines if I'm not wrong and it was so sad because the picture looked nothing hopeful at all. 

Well, it made for a great background :') 

I was literally stepping on a masterpiece. I loved this piece - I was surrounded by colour and it transported me to a new dimension (sort of). 

Oops security checks! 

This bear statue looked really familiar and Wang pointed out that it resembled the bear from Brave, the animated movie :-)

The reflection in the mirror is really pretty but the one smeared on the mirror itself was all uneven - I'm not exactly sure of the exact meaning but I thought this art piece was cool. 

"Packaging makes food tastier" - oh dear, that's quite true accompanied with the visual of the unappealing looking meat and the appetizing burger. 

This is definitely my favourite piece of the entire exhibition - the bust sculpture is made entirely of many pieces of paper, sort of like a notepad and the entire piece could be pulled apart like a spring, even the head which looks untouched in the photograph above. When it was put together, it looked seamless and exactly like an actual clay sculpture. It was phenomenal. 

Just look at that oh my goodness I can't imagine the work that went into perfecting an art work like that. 

"Hello, I'm on the top of the world"

Pink giant inflatable elephant :-)

It was quite hilarious because Wang bumped into three different groups of people that she knew there - RGS Special Arts Programme people together with the RI Art Elective Progamme people who were there on a school visit, RJ seniors probably taking Art as a subject also there on a school visit and finally, some older seniors which Wang was very distracted by. 

I had a fun time exploring the huge art galley with Wang You - thanks for today! :-) Even though she keeps calling me a layperson - which is well, kind of true - I still actually enjoyed myself because art can be quite fascinating when you look at it in the right way with the right mindset (i.e. wanting to take something away from it). Honestly, do grab the opportunity to visit the event because I personally feel it's a good way to spend one's time and come on, it happens only once a year! Plus students only pay $11 so that's truly a steal. Have fun! 

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Unwritten

Unwritten

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

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"Live your life with arms wide open

Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten" 

Tomorrow, a new chapter of my life is going to begin. And I only have one thing to say, as seen in the picture above, COME AT ME BRO.

No, but seriously. I don't think there's any way I'd be able to avoid it and since it's here, why not embrace it? What am I talking about - if only I could be so brave as to face Junior College with an open mind. Truth be told, I am worried, I am nervous and I am scared. There isn't any other way to put it and honestly, it's driving me insane. There are so many uncertainties and it's not even about the future but the present. I'm not even sure what's going to happen from here but I'd still have to face it.

Then again, I'm a great believer of one being able to control one's own fate and destiny. I suppose no one knows what's going to happen from here but I guess I'm the only one in the position to steer my life towards the things that I would want to happen to me.

It's so scary, though because admittedly, I have completely no idea of where I'd like to be going for during my two years in this education institute. One of the most important things would definitely to work towards good grades and to place more emphasis on my academics because it's been taking a backseat for the past 4 years, especially last year but I need to buck up and get down to serious business (HAHA up and down do you get it) because the A Level examinations are a real thing and something I wouldn't want to screw up.

However, I'm one who can't sit still wherever I go - not literally - and I love to get involved with lots of things, mostly leadership and community based stuff, at the expense of my academics. So I'm at a lost as to what I should do with my life over the next two years. I know, there are some people who are brilliant at juggling their commitments but I'm not one of those people and I know I have to choose. Good A Level grades will probably mean good courses in a local university but good CCA/ leadership track records will probably mean a higher chance at overseas universities and perhaps scholarships? I really don't know. I'm just hoping everything will work out eventually and when I look back on this blog post two years down the road, everything would have been great and I wouldn't be regretting any decision I made.

Let's go Li Yin (and everybody else embarking on a new journey - be it my batchmates, my friends from other schools heading to a new JC/ Poly/ anything else)! :-) Nothing has been decided, it's literally a blank slate for everyone to start anew. We hold the pens/ paintbrushes (if you're the more creative kind)/ pencils (if you're the more careless kind) of our own blank pages!

I think it's kind of fitting that this is my five hundredth post on this blog. I mean, it's half of a thousand? I can't believe I've been keeping this blog for about 4+ years now - I'm actually pretty damn impressed with myself because I'm the kind of person who never could properly keep a diary for an entire year and I usually give up halfway (note: diary means the kind where you write thoughts, and are not to be confused with planners because I rely on my planners 24/7). So it's pretty cool that my last post as a non-JC student is my 500th post - the next time I write, I'd probably be all grown up already! No, no not really.

Okay, wow - writing this post was actually pretty therapeutic and believe it or not but I'm actually feeling quite excited for tomorrow. Hopefully, I'd be able to get my life sorted in time for everything before actual classes start officially.

To end off, here's one of my favourite childhood pop songs! Most people identify this song with the Pantene shampoo TV commercial but honestly it's a really uplifting song and if you've never heard this song properly, please do :-) 

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you 
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else 
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself with words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

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Crashing Orientation

Crashing Orientation

Sunday, January 12, 2014

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Hello friends :-)

So this past week has been pretty eventful, especially on Thursday and Friday (9 & 10 January) because I went back to RGS to crash Year One Orientation 2014 with a few other old, graduated kiddos. It honestly felt quite surreal and strange to me because this marks the fifth Orientation I've been through/ witnessed and every year, it's a special process. From experiencing it myself as a Year One, to slowly stepping up and inducting the new ones into the family to really leading everything and finally taking a backseat and watching everything from an "outsider's" perspective, in a way. 

Every minute in this school compound as a graduated girl makes me feel genuinely old and it makes me miss the school and the people to an even greater extent. It just scares me how quickly we were being "replaced" as soon as my batch stepped out from the school a few months back. I know, it's an immature and weird analogy but it was really how I felt and I can't believe that I myself will be going through another round of Orientation, this time as the new ones of the school, soon. I wish I could cling on to RGS forever and even though it's been a pretty long, rocky and tough journey, the wonderful times undoubtedly made up for it. 

Look at the pinafores of the new Year Ones - it's a different shade of blue (a lot brighter compared to the usual one) and I personally do not like it/ am not used to it.

Anyway, back to Orientation itself! :-) This post is going to contain a whole load of photos because that's what observers usually do (take photos) when they are not involved in the activity itself. Or they really just like to camwhore, as much as I hate that word. So, Angie, Cheryl and myself (SIMU 2013) decided to come back to watch and participate in the very last Raffles Initiation (RI) Session where the school cheers are taught to the Year Ones. 

Up in the gallery! :-)

Great job SIMU 2014 - so sorry I don't know the Year Threes but Alex, Michelle & Beatrice, you guys are doing wonderful! It must have been quite difficult having to work with only three RI sessions when we had around 5-6 last year and were already struggling a little but you guys did your best and I can tell that the Year Ones do appreciate the Raffles cheers and spirit, especially Unite. That cheer never fails to wow the little ones. Oh, and thanks for drawing attention to the three of us at the back of the hall all of a sudden - we were very touched that y'all actually mentioned us even though we were in the midst of um butt slapping each other. Hopefully the new Year Ones still think we are cool seniors (of course, in their eyes, you guys will be the coolest seniors forever!) 

After RI session, we finally got a chance to have a proper SIMU Year Four lunch... in the school canteen. At first, we planned to go out but we were all too lame (or at least Angie and myself were) so we stayed and had great food here hur hur. The company was lovely though - I sometimes wished I got to spent more time with SIMU because apart from Orientation last year, we rarely really met face to face properly. 

Following that, it was time for House Challenge (i.e. station games) but this year, they had individual house time first, which was definitely good and useful for the Year Ones to get to know Waddle House Comm personally. Again, thanks for drawing attention to this old senior here as well :-) I must admit, though, that it feels really different when they introduce you as the "ex-House Capt" or the "ex-SIMU member" or anything like that - you feel so much older and wiser and it just feels strange to suddenly have all the attention on you again for 5 seconds when you've already let everything go. It was also surreal seeing YINGfinite (Karyn & Jiaying) really take charge and talk to the new batch of Waddlians! Oh my little babies, so proud of them :') 

With Karyn! :-) Whoop whoop my successor keke all the best you're already doing amazingly!

The new batch of Waddlians are insane by the way - definitely the loudest bunch compared to the other Houses so I'm extremely happy for them. They'll have a wonderful time at House Practices, hopefully. 

Normally during House Station Games, I'd be running around trying to mingle with Year Ones but this year, I took a backseat (of course) and lounged in the canteen, catching up with a few of Wi5ever (House Capts + V Capts of 2014). Oh and I don't think I mentioned this earlier but Mel and Huiying came for Station Games as well :-) 

We decided to imitate a Hi5 (our House Capts) shot when they came back to visit for House Practice - except it was only the three of us so :-( 

5ever conducting debrief at the end of House Challenge! 

I think House Challenge went really well so well done you guys :-) It was quite hilarious because I actually brought the butterscotch & chocolate chip cookies I baked for Waddle House Comm and Karyn gave it out to them at the amphitheatre where they weren't allowed to eat and they were just trying to hold it in their hands because it was crumbly too. The moment debrief ended, they all got up and started running towards the canteen :') It was such a funny yet heartwarming sight. 

Just look at them running oh my goodness when the other Houses are all still sitting down (and watching them) HAHAHA I'm so sorry guys. 

The cookies :-) 

Oh dear I think Annette dropped her cookie on the floor or something and she started tearing up and laughing at the same time - she was probably really high from everything in the day. Everyone was crowding around her and it was quite a funny sight :') Waddle House Comm is so full of nonsense but that's really why I love them so much. 

Yay Waddle House Comm'14 photo - not full though :-( And one extra addition on the floor trying to get attention hur hur

Apart from Huiying and Mel, several Fries (VCapts'13) came too after Station Games, namely Richelle, Jasmine and Ragini and we headed to Far East to have dinner before we head back to catch the Night Surprise for the Year Ones. 

This is probably the prettiest Far East photo I've ever had to be honest :-) 

Before going back to school though, Ragini and myself went to ION to get a cupcake for Weiting (it was her birthday that day! :-)) on behalf of 5ever and also Miss Cheong's breakfast for the next day. 

Jing En came for Night surprise YAY :-) My favourite yellow buddy! 

Barney photo! We actually imitated the exact Barney photo but I shall not upload it here. Oh, and at this point in time, Minglu and Van were also in school for Night Surprise. 

I thought that the juniors pulled off Night Surprise really well judging by the constraints they faced such as stricter rules and tighter regulations (I was sneaking around their Orientation documents). It was still incredibly entertaining and I think the Year Ones absolutely loved it! Jing En and I also felt like it was very Guides-ey because of the fact that it was held in the amphitheatre and there were glowsticks and candles. No surprise, considering three out of the four head prefects are Girl Guides themselves, though I don't think that's the main reason. 

After night surprise, nope - we didn't just go home! We had more exciting things planned for the day and that's our very first Channel 5 sleepover at Van's house. It's quite funny how we only got to having a sleepover after our term ended because if we did it before, I have a feeling we'd be able to get more work done and pull all-nighters together. Then again, we might have digressed a lot with each other's company. It wasn't too late anyway, hopefully we'll spend more time in future together! 

A flying fairy helped us take this photo near the main gates of RG while we were waiting for Van's mum to come and pick us - I love this! 

And the craziness started at night when we were all clean and fresh! Channel 5 got to see how insane I was at night - I'd literally roll around everywhere in laughter and it's probably 10 times worse than how I act in the day. Even they were quite shocked by me and I can safely say that they are a group of people who have probably seen the worse of me. Our friendship was definitely taken to a whole new level :') 

Yay! 

And then, Minglu came along.

Full Channel 5 after-bathing shot! 

Midnight supper - the butterscotch cookies and chocolate mousse cake I baked! :-) 

We had a really long night and when we finally got to sleeping, Mel still kept talking which is super typical of her and Huiying kept her company, listening attentively to her life story (which I've heard a few times because of our long 132 bus journeys together). In the middle of the night though, after futile attempts to cover my ears and covering my entire face with a pillow, I suddenly got up and snapped "WHAT THE F DAMN NOISY I CAN'T SLEEP" which I regret very much (I'm so sorry Mel) but it was effective and I managed to go back to sleep. After I shouted that though, Minglu suddenly stretched and hugged me and mumbled something incoherent which was so weird and in the morning, she said she was dreaming. It was quite hilarious though but Huiying and Mel decided to steal all of the blanket and left me freezing through the night :-( How naughty of them. Also, I'm not being a party pooper okay - Van and Minglu were sound asleep/ dreaming already. 

Apart from that, we had a good night's sleep and woke up pretty late at 10am. This is how we look immediately after we get out from bed - plus a bit of washing up but yes this is ALL NATURAL CHANNEL 5 ;-) 

Mirror shot whoop whoop. 

Van actually lives pretty near my favourite food area to be in - Upper Thomson! So we took a nice morning stroll there to grab our breakfast plus lunch. It feels so great to have them as company right from the start of the day! 

:-) 

Since Old School Delights & Habitat Coffee both weren't open for business yet (wow we were actually early), we headed to Yi Jia Bakery House Café to grab something small and to hang out for a while. I've always passed by the place but never really gone in to try anything but we ended up eating quite a bit because of the lovely owner (I'm assuming) who kept giving us free food. 

We only purchased three bun items (Van's walnut muffin & Mel and I both had a cheese and sausage bun) and four drinks (I didn't get any) but the owner came over to our table and gave us some items on the house. 

Oh, Van and Huiying somehow got their house coloured straws so that was pretty cute too. 

He gave us these three buns! 

He also poured some snacks for us - these fried tapioca/ sweet potato sticks as well as cornflake & honey cookies! The service was definitely amazing and I think the owner is quite good at getting return customers. I, for one, will head back there for sure just because the people there were so friendly. 

When Old School Delights opened at 11.30am, we made our way there and were the first customers for the day! 

Lookin' great guys ;-) 

With Mel & Huiying!

Somehow, none of us felt like eating main courses - perhaps because we were well fed at the Bakery House Café we patronized earlier so we ended up getting just sides and drinks. 

Mel's lemon lime barley (which I usually get) and my iced Milo! :-) 

Four servings of tuckshop wings (insanely insanely good chicken with the best sauce ever) and crinkle cut fries. Anyone who visits Old School Delights needs to try their tuckshop wings - not the other variations of their fried chicken - just tuckshp wings. You won't regret it, really. We were definitely very satisfied at the end of it all. 

Love them so much - we had such a lovely morning/ afternoon together, reminiscing about the past year spent together and also what was in store for us in JC. Quite a few of us are against joining Council but we were fantasizing the possibility of the five of us all being House Captains again over there - it would be such an amazing yet surreal thing to happen. We were getting all excited about it before shooting the idea down because it's impossible. 

Once our tummies were filled, we headed to this alley along the stretch of the shop houses and it was the perfect spot to take self-timer shots.

Then, when the self-timer was still running, Huiying spotted Beatrice Ng, one of my Waddle House Commers walking home from school and I decided to chase after her. The camera of course, still captured the shot and this was the result: 

"erm what?"

"what's happening? where they'd go?"

"hey guys let's still smile!"

I don't know what happened but Minglu ended up chasing after me chasing after Beatrice and I even crossed the road halfway which was really weird and it left Minglu laughing like mad on the road. 

And then we were back :-) Huiying's in the foreground looking on too. Back to taking self-timer shots whoop!

BEAR HUG. 

Our typical Channel 5 pose :') 

Mel had to leave "after 5 more shots", in her words but yes she had to leave then so that was sad. We still went to our usual ice cream haunt - Salted Caramel and stuffed ourselves even more with ice cream and good conversation. 

My single scoop peppermint brownie ice cream (which wasn't that good, in my opinion) & Minglu and Huiying's salted caramel & chocolate ice cream. 

Van bought herself... a waffle without anything inside. Talk about going on a diet ;-) 

Group photo - with self timer again of course!

Yay :-) 

I look gross here but yup at this point after our ice cream, Van Chen had to leave (sadface) so it was down to Huiying, Minglu and myself. We took 132 to RGS because we wanted to catch the Orientation concert which is WiFive's first emceeing stint and also hang out around for a bit. 

We went to 406 (my old classroom) and started planning for House Comm Camp and we were super excited and came up with so many wonderful plans that would be amazing if we could really execute it. As what Channel 5 is known for, we intend to push for everything and talk to the teachers as much till we finally get what we envisioned. Honestly, part of the reason why we felt like 2013 was a great year for House was because we kept pushing for things really obnoxiously to go our way. During Orientation alone last year, we pushed for House Practice to be held within the Orientation week, we pushed for House Station Games (of course), we pushed for House Dinner and even pushed for School Tour to be done by House Commers. Looking back,  it's insane what we did to ourselves but it was worth it because we granted House a lot of time with the Year Ones :') 

With my partners in crime! 

At 406 yay so many memories honestly :') 

We headed to the canteen to have dinner but as most of the stalls were already closed at that time, we had some sandwiches from the vending machine. We also peeked at the Orientation board filled with Post-its that the Year Ones wrote. It's always the place to see if any seniors were being "fangirled" - or rather, well-liked, as I much prefer to call it but this year, there wasn't an overwhelming number. It's always quite an interesting part of Orientation heh. Oh, and then Mr Faizal came by when we were reading the Post-its and pulled my duckie bag, saying "whoa even your bag is a duck?" It's quite funny considering I have been carrying that bag since last year and he didn't see it when he was my form teacher! 

Afterwards, we headed to the gallery to get ourselves a nice spot to watch Orientation Concert from. Jiaying came along :') 

Yay hehe I'm super proud of you and 5ever! :-) You guys organized House Challenge & Orientation Concert really well - it's amazing! You go gurl! 

And of course, here's what we always do - take photos while we're waiting! 

I must say, it was quite tiring having to sit through the entire concert possibly because the fatigue from the two days spent crashing Orientation was kicking in. It was mind-blowing though, seeing the passion the Year Ones had and how seriously they took their performances and everything. This is really just the start, young ones. Also, WiFive did an excellent job emcee-ing :-) It was quite a feat considering they even had to go through school after sleeping over there the previous night. Great job guys! 

At the end of the concert, Mrs Poh, our principal went up to say a few words and she said something like "Let's put our hands together to thank your PSLs, your prefects, your House leaders and even your House Captains from last year" and she pointed to the three of us sitting at the gallery. We were truly stunned and shocked because during the concert, the entire hall was incredibly dark and we never expected that Mrs Poh would notice us, much less recognize and acknowledge us in front of everyone so that felt quite amazing and insane. We were freaking out a bit when everyone looked up and started clapping for us because honestly, we didn't do anything - we just showed up but the mere act of her acknowledging us meant a lot. 

It ended our two days crashing Orientation really well and it has been so eventful. Thank you RG for having me and for allowing me to grow so much! You have been such a blessing. To the new Year Ones, even though none of you will see this, let your light shine. 

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