| o d a c 19 |
| Sunday, May 23, 2004 challenge by choice. one of the first things we heard when we came in as odacians in J1. "everything we do is a challenge by choice." used to motivate and manipulate. passed down through btc from the j2s to the j1s as a form of threat. nonetheless, it holds true. the challenge that faces every single one of us today: whether we deem it possible to continue an outdoor lifestyle while maintaining a consistency in our work. aka whether to go for expedition or to mug. yes for some of us the line complicates and blurs: parents have a very big say, while the latest common tests results influence our decision. and of course there is peer pressure. but i feel that whether we finally take up this challenge in the end is up to ourselves and ourselves only: if we want something bad enuf, parents suasion/peer pressure usually takes a back seat. well for most people at least. hmm the outcry of wanting to go for a june expedition was considerable immediately btc/cluster. but how quickly people forget? and then came batch expedition, and combined expedition, and how hard chew fought for us to go. and when the time comes for us to make the decision on whether to go or not... who will have the moral courage to raise their hand and say "i am willing"? instead, we ask "who's going?" or "how many?" and finally, after much deliberation, "oh u are not going, i guess im not going either". multiplier effect. batch ex fell thru cos of lack of support. if we just had a little bit more support during that few crucial days, or as i say, as long as we want something BAD enuf, it will pull thru. ditto this time round belumut: if no one is willing to stick their heads out and say for certain "i am going", everyone is going to deliberate until the last minute to see who is going! and the result? pulling out en masse. if u have bothered to read until this far, which means u probably have a certain palate for my ranting, it appears to me that i am sounding a bit "holier than thou". pls do not take offence cos 1) i am scum, and 2) i dont really feel like criticising ppl right now. just ranting a bit about the general attitude. anyway from my current point of view, the chances of a june expedition for our batch are zilch. as much as we previously wanted to go, it cannot materilise. enraged/disappointed/insulted when u read that? probably no, or not as much as u would have been after btc/cluster. which is the precisely the problem. we seem to have very short-term memories. what if this attitude extends to after A-levels expedition? my oh my, what will become of batch 19? the most uneventful batch in the history of raffles odac? belumut has reminded me of a number of things. once again i get to feel the "roughing it out"-ness of the outdoors, the coldness while sleeping ala ATC, the oiliness/dirtyness ala BTC, the GA ala a lot of things. one thing that struck me particularily was the facilitation ala sikkim (and atc/btc/cluster). funny how i missed facilitation after how much we deplored it... but its nice to learn about yourself, your peers, your environment. just reminiscing a bit really fans the fires again... hoping to inspire ppl a bit. belumut was uneventful on the whole, but the memories it brought back - priceless. i do sincerely hope someone, or a few, prove me to be a fool for shooting off my mouth like that. pretty please, guys... |
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| TIFFANIE. JAYCE. YUANXIANG. SAUYEE. CHUENKANG. EUGENE. JOSHUA. JAMIN. CHEECHONG. ZHENGYUAN. NIZAM. YONGLAI. NITA. KIT LING. DARYL. RUIMING. MELODY. MINGHENG. KENTOH. SHIHUI. TIFFANIE. JAYCE. YUANXIANG. SAUYEE. CHUENKANG. EUGENE. JOSHUA. JAMIN. CHEECHONG. ZHENGYUAN. NIZAM. YONGLAI. NITA. KIT LING. DARYL. RUIMING. MELODY. MINGHENG. KENTOH. SHIHUI. TIFFANIE. JAYCE. YUANXIANG. SAUYEE. CHUENKANG. EUGENE. JOSHUA. JAMIN. CHEECHONG. ZHENGYUAN. NIZAM. YONGLAI. NITA. KIT LING. DARYL. RUIMING. MELODY. MINGHENG. KENTOH. SHIHUI. TIFFANIE. JAYCE. YUANXIANG. SAUYEE. CHUENKANG. EUGENE. JOSHUA. JAMIN. CHEECHONG. ZHENGYUAN. NIZAM. YONGLAI. NITA. KIT LING. DARYL. RUIMING. MELODY. MINGHENG. KENTOH. SHIHUI. TIFFANIE. JAYCE. YUANXIANG. SAUYEE. CHUENKANG. EUGENE. JOSHUA. JAMIN. CHEECHONG. ZHENGYUAN. NIZAM. YONGLAI. NITA. KIT LING. DARYL. RUIMING. MELODY. MINGHENG. KENTOH. SHIHUI. TIFFANIE. JAYCE. YUANXIANG. SAUYEE. CHUENKANG. EUGENE. JOSHUA. JAMIN. CHEECHONG. ZHENGYUAN. NIZAM. YONGLAI. NITA. KIT LING. DARYL. RUIMING. MELODY. MINGHENG. KENTOH. SHIHUI. TIFFANIE. JAYCE. YUANXIANG. SAUYEE. CHUENKANG. EUGENE. JOSHUA. JAMIN. CHEECHONG. ZHENGYUAN. NIZAM. YONGLAI. NITA. KIT LING. DARYL. RUIMING. MELODY. MINGHENG. KENTOH. SHIHUI. TIFFANIE. JAYCE. YUANXIANG. SAUYEE. CHUENKANG. EUGENE. JOSHUA. JAMIN. CHEECHONG. ZHENGYUAN. NIZAM. YONGLAI. NITA. KIT LING. DARYL. RUIMING. MELODY. MINGHENG. KENTOH. SHIHUI. TIFFANIE. JAYCE. YUANXIANG. SAUYEE. CHUENKANG. EUGENE. JOSHUA. JAMIN. CHEECHONG. ZHENGYUAN. NIZAM. YONGLAI. NITA. KIT LING. DARYL. RUIMING. MELODY. MINGHENG. KENTOH. SHIHUI. TIFFANIE. JAYCE. YUANXIANG. SAUYEE. CHUENKANG. EUGENE. JOSHUA. JAMIN. CHEECHONG. ZHENGYUAN. NIZAM. YONGLAI. NITA. KIT LING. DARYL. RUIMING. MELODY. MINGHENG. KENTOH. SHIHUI. TIFFANIE. JAYCE. YUANXIANG. SAUYEE. CHUENKANG. EUGENE. JOSHUA. JAMIN. CHEECHONG. ZHENGYUAN. NIZAM. YONGLAI. NITA. KIT LING. DARYL. RUIMING. MELODY. MINGHENG. KENTOH. SHIHUI. TIFFANIE. JAYCE. YUANXIANG. SAUYEE. CHUENKANG. EUGENE. JOSHUA. JAMIN. CHEECHONG. ZHENGYUAN. NIZAM. YONGLAI. NITA. KIT LING. DARYL. RUIMING. MELODY. MINGHENG. KENTOH. SHIHUI. TIFFANIE. JAYCE. YUANXIANG. SAUYEE. CHUENKANG. EUGENE. JOSHUA. JAMIN. CHEECHONG. ZHENGYUAN. NIZAM. YONGLAI. NITA. KIT LING. DARYL. RUIMING. MELODY. MINGHENG. KENTOH. SHIHUI. TIFFANIE. JAYCE. YUANXIANG. SAUYEE. CHUENKANG. EUGENE. JOSHUA. JAMIN. CHEECHONG. ZHENGYUAN. NIZAM. YONGLAI. NITA. KIT LING. DARYL. RUIMING. MELODY. MINGHENG. KENTOH. SHIHUI. DREAM. DREAM DREAM |
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