Gabriel's shared items

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Closure.

Went back to SAJC yesterday during their National Day Celebrations. Met Mr Ong, and for the first time, I wasn't there to bug him for a Reference Letter or Teacher's Recommendation :P Instead, I went with a little souvenir from Cam thanking him for helping me through the applications process, and writting the recommendation that would granted me 7500 pounds a year! It felt like I was closing a big successful project, that is my admission to Cam, and there was a celebratory mood, thanks in part to the National Day events.

Also spoke with my GP teacher, Mr Lim. He related his university experience, and urged me to make the most of my uni life, cautioning me not to be a recluse, as i have the tendency to... After speaking with him, I rediscovered why I've always enjoyed talking with him - He has this ability to analyse a situation and find the precise words to accurately articulate his analysis.

Well, I had a good chat with him, and recounted how just a few months back I wasn't even sure whether I would find myself in Cam after all the trouble, and now it's confirmed, and I'm 50 days away from living that life.

Also related my impression of Cam. How, before I visited the place, I thought it was this disneyland like utopia where university students played. With impeccably mowed lawns, beautifully kept historical buildings, inhibitted by friendly and intelligent people. How we'll be running our own little lives, living in little appartments, with cooking facilities so that we could play masak-masak for real if we fancied; and we'll get around this beautiful little town on bicycles in the perpetually air-conditioned environment. Well, after visiting the town, i realised that it wasnt that perfect image i had, but it still is heaven compared with the other 'Camp' I've been through.

So much for my utopic image of Cam. However i belief that the experience in Cam would be invaluable. I feel that Cam would be a very good/sheltered place to learn to be independent, learn to take care and be responsible for every aspect of life. From tidying up the room, to doing the daily admin, like banking and what not... to laundry, and perhaps cooking, and on top of that going to work (school actually), and making friends, serving in church, having fun... It's like having a practical course on living independently.

Ok, after visiting SAJC, I decided to go down to orchard road to make my ISIC Card. I looked through the brochure, and found only one address - "33A Cuppage Terrace". I ran through Mr Lim's street directory and found that it was near Centerpoint, so i took the MRT to Somerset. To cut a long story short, I reached Centerpoint, and found a lot of buildings named "Cuppage", and one short row of shop houses called "Cuppage Terrace" I could see the entire building at one glance, but the only shops i saw were eateries, restaurants. No sign of any travel agency. Called the number on the brochure, call answered by a machine, got clues like 7th floor, Orchard Towers, basically got clues pointing in every direction and could not make out anything... A failed trip.

Met up with scouts friends to play games a while later. One game we played, Munchkin was particularly funny. Spent the afternoon playing. Then adjourned to eat at Billy Bombers. The meals were quite expensive, but having worked so hard the past week, I decided to treat myself.

Then took a slow walk down to the Fullerton building to watch the fireworks festival. We got a good place, under the image of the Merlion, was a bit wet though, as the wind was blowing the water gushing out of the merlion into us... Waited a while for the fireworks which went off at midnight, but when it happened, it was quite specticular... Actually the fireworks itself cannot be compared with that of the NDP, but the exciting part was watching it with friends... it's been a while since I went out with friends specially to watch a fireworks display.

Returned home by MRT, but missed the last bus home, dont know by how long thou... so took a cab back from the station. It costed me $5.40! But well, figured i should enjoy myself now when the prices are still affordable. The total amount of money i spent for the outing was approx $40. About a day's savings.

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