4o1o4 Outing - June 2005

Veronica and I have planned this outing a few weeks ago and hoped people would come. I was the first to arrive at the HarbourFront MRT Station. Continuing to wait with an empty stomach (I intended to have breakfast out), the final head count was 6 - Pei Ying, Veronica, Wee Cheng, Chii Yeh, Kegan and I. Fang You told us he would be coming later because he just woke up. Also, Veronica told us that most of the other 4o1ers were coming to meet us for dinner later. So basically we were planning to hold out at Siloso Beach on Sentosa for as long as we could until a few hours past noon.

After having breakfast at HarbourFront Centre's McDonald's we headed to the bus terminal to take the shuttle bus into Sentosa. We then boarded the Blue Line to Siloso Beach and headed to the shore. Since the pavilions around us were occupied, we placed our bags and belongings under a tree. I had a stomachache and so had to use the toilet. After coming back the rest were already in the water. I waited until Fang You arrived (strangely without paying the admission fee, since he chose to walk to Sentosa instead of hopping onto the bus), and both of us got into the water.

We hung out in the water, losing our sense of time even. Wee Cheng dug a deep hole in the sand near the high tide shoreline; a pretty commendable effort. We even helped him to build a 'dam' to prevent water from entering the hole and possible destroying it. We got out of the water just as Abraham and Delia showed up, which was about 2pm. After a quick bath at the nearby shower facilities, we headed back to mainland for a small lunch (effectively wasting Abraham and Delia's $3 admission fees). At the Seah Im Road Food Centre, Clarence and Samuel joined us.

A short discussion in HarbourFront Centre later (where we also hooked up with Zhi Yuan in his NJC T-shirt), we decided to have our dinner at Marina Square. We took bus service 97 to Marina Square and headed to GV Marina. We were contemplating whether to watch a movie or play at the arcade or play pool or go bowling. Eventually we decided to head to the arcade where I almost detached my hands playing Bishi Bashi with Kegan and Pei Ying (Kegan was overall champion; I was second). A couple of people joined us at the arcade too (Siang Yong, Sia See, Ai Pheng, Shiling, Ming Hwee), and after we were done we headed to the food court. Even on our way to the food court we picked up people (Yan Chen, Juliet), and at the food court, while having dinner, even more people (Jin, Yan Ting, Brenda) came.

After dinner we headed to the open space outside Marina Square to chill. As night fell some of the girls went to eat ice-cream while 10 of us played Captain's Ball at the open space (with lots of screaming). After I called for a water break, we sort of stopped. We decided to head home, but then decided to have a little game of Dare or Dare before heading home. So we walked to Suntec City Mall and went to the Sky Garden. The three victims for the night were Jin, Ming Hwee (both victims of the game Veron taught us, involving passing down signals of some sort) and I (number-guessing game; Ming Hwee set the number and I, the first to make a guess, hit the number immediately).

Throughout the day after dinner people left group by group. Eventually the people remaining on the MRT were Juliet, Veronica, Jin, Yan Chen, Shiling, Chii Yeh, Fang You, Kegan, Ming Hwee, Samuel and I. Guess it was a not so bad outing after all; (counting back) 21 people were present for the dinner. ;) Perhaps the next gathering (December 2005) will be chalet. ;)

Skipped all the way to today. Been slacking a long and playing Pokemon Emerald. Went back on a coupla of days for remedial lessons, and headed to Changi Naval Base on 9th June as part of the pre-seminar programme for the Temasek Seminar. Coming up, the 4o1o4 outing on Monday and the dreaded Term Exam when school reopens.

Morning: As part of the Temasek Seminar series, MINDEF has organised site visits for participants. Today's visit is the first among others, but participants will only go to one place. ACJC, together with some other JCs like VJC and SAJC, headed to the Changi Naval Base together. The bus ride from school to the site wasn't exactly eventful, but I enjoyed the scenery as we got closer to the naval base.

We arrived at the naval base on time (9am). We alighted and moved to stand in a parking lot near the entrance of the place. Security issues delayed the whole process, but eventually we got through. We then headed to another bus and were told that we would be sharing the bus with the SAJC participants, so we could make friends if we could. It was a little easier for me, since I spotted another NHrian, Huang Yu (originally from 4/11).

We boarded the bus to the auditorium first for a short introduction on the Navy and their roles, for instance in the defence of Singapore and also in humanitarian aid, especially seen in the December tsunami crisis. We then headed down by bus to the harbour to tour a Landing Ship Tank (LST), RSS Endurance. (Did you know: the 'RSS' stands for "Republic of Singapore Ship".) After the tour we took a ride on the Fast Craft Unit (FCU) around the harbour. The wind was so strong during the ride that I needed to hold on to the side of the FCU. Nope, I'm sure it's not seasickness.

Following that was refreshments, and the ACJC participants shared the bus with the SAJC people back to our schools, first to SAJC, then to ACJC. After that I went home quickly, ate instant noodles and went down to Clementi CC in appropriate attire for badminton with the 4o1 people. Well, supposedly. When I arrived at the badminton hall only Wee Cheng, Yan Chen and Kegan were around. We played doubles until Juliet joined us at about 4pm. We continued to play until 5.30pm, after which we hung around Clementi Central for a drink and chatted until probably 6.30pm. Headed home later, buying dinner on the way (parents in Malacca, will be back tomorrow night).