Yes, I know I haven't blogged in a while. And that's why I'm writing this long post to make up for those days when I didn't blog. Haha.

Last Friday 'till a few hours ago I was in school for the SDP Camp. For those of you who aren't in PJ, no, it's not some sort of youth-targeted propaganda by the oppostion party. SDP = Scholar Development Programme. Anyway, here's what happened.

On Friday, at around 5 pm, we all assembled in our assigned groups at the Concourse. At first I was quite disappointed to find that I didn't know anyone in my group that I had seen so far. I'm quite a loner in SDP, having only Ji rong with me. I know some people, like Melissa and Alice (OG) and Jason and Jeremy (S16), but to me they are merely acquaintances. The "Hi & Bye" sort of people. Lol. But anyway, turns out that Xiao Han and Jesmin (I know them from Gerald's and Shi min's OGs respectively) were in my group. Yay.

Basically, all we did was have a few icebreakers and short games within our groups and debriefs about stuff like NYAA and the activities that would take place in camp. The debriefs lasted so long. By the time it was all through, we were given time to bathe and settle down before sleeping. And that was at, like, 11+ pm. So I slept with wet hair. We all slept in the grandstand, on the PE mats. Girls on one side, guys on the other. In the middle of the night there was someone around me snoring. Lol.

We all awoke at 5 am to the shrill, piercing calls of a whistle. Yeah, you guessed it: fire drill. It took us 4 minutes to get assembled in the Parade Square. And some of us didn't bring either their torch lights, whistles or shoes (slippers worn instead). Hence we were all scolded severely and punished 'till we were half-dead. Push-ups, jumping jacks, crunches, the like. But multiply it many times. We had to "go back to sleep" and redo the entire drill and the second time around was much better. Took us 1 minute and 50 seconds.

Then at around 8 we arrived at Bukit Timah Hill for our hiking expedition. It was rainy at first, but it stopped quickly. Our group was one of the three groups that managed to get to all the 10 stations (huts all around the hill). Between the 6th and 7th hut, the ground, aside from having many ups and downs, was so muddy and slippery that we had to move along very slowly so as not to get caught in the mire. The hike was fun, though tiring. I had mud all over my pants and shoes. Haha. We ended at around 11:30 am and there was a photo-taking. And we did the SDP cheer. In public. Lots of people were eyeing us warily. That was on the 6th, the day of the General Elections. Go figure.

Then, after coming back to school, we ate lunch and took a bath and freshened up. Then we were told to come up with fundraising projects for financially needy students. Our group's was so lame. Something about a wishing well. But no one can blame us. We were exhausted from the hike and the fire drills and we didn't get enough rest the night before. Then when we were told to come up with performances for the night's BBQ, I couldn't suppress my yawns. While short videos of Stomp! were being shown as examples we could get ideas from, my brain started switching off. My eyelids felt like 10-tonne weights. MPR3 was so nice and air-conny. But I forced myself awake.

Then was the BBQ. 'Twas alright, I guess. Then we had our presentations. Our group did the Banana Dance with a twist. So funny. Other groups did their own versions of the Stomp performances. Some paid tribute to the below-one-minute-timing for the fire drill. Our Holy Grail. One group came up with a skit they entitled "Why we were so slow" and another group came up with a song about it sung to the tune of "That thing you do". Lol. The food was good, especially the marshmallows. But there were lots of leftovers.

This time we were given more time to wash up and settle down for sleeping. It was quite rainy and there were rumours we were sleeping in MPR3, but since there wasn't any strong wind, we still slept at the grandstand. Same thing happened again, only earlier: fire drill at 3 am. As usual, we came late, but not very. And this time we weren't severely scolded and punished. But we were told to do it over again. And we did. Then we were told to go back to sleep and wake up at 5. But how were we? Once awakened during a fire drill, it's not easy getting back to bed. So, while some of us tried to catch a few more minutes of shut-eye, others just chatted outside, ate or did their homework. Such hardworking people. SDP isn't called SDP for nothing.

We had morning exercise which involved push-ups, jumping jacks, crunches and squats. We also jogged two rounds 'round the track. It was so cool, running around there in the dead of night. Afterwards we were given a treat: Mass Dance and Fun Dance in MPR3. Woopee.

Then we had our breakfast, which was the same thing we had the day before. Bread with Kaya spread and Milo. Then we had Amazing Race. The games were okay, but no one was really in the mood for play. Everyone was counting the minutes 'till 11, our dismissal time. We were all worried about our unfinished homework and how there was no time left to do anything. But it wouldn't make much difference for me, since I usually start my homework late Sunday night. Haha.

After, we had a short rest. Then was clean-up time. Our group was assigned to clean the toilets: mop the tiled floor and empty the wastebaskets. When I was taking out the trash, a lizard suddenly popped out of nowhere. Haha. Then we were released after a final debrief. Finally. I took the bus home and promptly took a bath after arrival.

I'm so tired right now. Gonna go hit the sacks. Then I'll start on my homework. Early. Well, maybe not early, but earlier than usual. I'm feeling motivated by Jesmin. She's SO hardworking. She's already doing the Reaction Kinetics tutorial, having finished the tutorial on The Gaseous State. Those of you taking H2 Chem, you know what I mean. We haven't even gone through The Gaseous State tutorial. And she's not only hardworking in Chem. The rest of the subjects as well. I told her, "You're my hero, man". And that's true. I wish I could be more like her. So now I'm striving to do my best. Motivate me, people!