Paint Ball War Zone

Last Friday, I get to spend a day with my colleagues away from the office. We have an off-site meeting at Singapore Discovery Centre. The day was packed with activities and though a few colleagues left with minor wounds from the paint ball war fare, overall it was an enjoyable day for everyone.

The journey to Singapore Discovery Centre was a real killer! I have to start the day journey earlier than usual, taking the MRT from Ang Mo Kio to the newest and furthest Joon Koon station. Somehow I felt the MRT speed to Jurong was much slower than the speed I take daily from Ang Mo Kio to Raffles Place, maybe when the MRT is underground it goes faster. The good thing is I still managed to reach the Singapore Discovery Centre on time by 9 am!

We started the day with meetings and group discussions then break for lunch around 1215hr. After lunch, we watched a 3D Dolphins and Whales documentary movie and had a tour to an Army Museum then to the Paint Ball games. We broke-up into 4 teams for the game. The first objective was to move into "enemy’s" (the other team members) territory to burst a balloon. Of course, the enemy will ambush and try to shoot you down along the way to deter you from reaching your objective! The second objective was to retrieve a flag from the enemy’s territory and bring it back to your own home-base. Lastly, in the grand finale, we are to eliminate all the enemy in a combat war zone shoots out. The team with the most men alive, after 5 minutes of game time, wins the game.

Even though, this is just a paint ball game, it relates very much back to our daily live or work area. My team starts the game with some doubts and fears! As one of my team members relates after the game, he was very doubtful about winning when he saw the team member list. He is doubtful that two of lady colleagues could hold up to such rough game! Likewise, I went to the game worrying about injury after seeing all my colleagues dressed up in their army No.4 uniform, soldier boots, gloves and knee guards whereas I only have a t-shirt, a running shorts and a pair of running shoes. The fear was intensified after hearing the briefing by the instructor that if we get a direct hit at close range, we could get an open-wounds and bruise that would last for weeks!

Before the start of the game, my team recce the route and strategised the attack. We also assigned our combat roles and yet we failed to be the first to burst the "enemy" balloon and lost the first round of the balloon bursting game. After the recoup, we discussed what we have done wrongly and realised we concentrated too much on hitting the objective and let our "enemy" slipped by our defense to accomplished their objective first! Our team members also reviewed each other strengths and weaknesses and we re-strategised and re-assigned our combat roles. This has proved effective because we go on to win every game thereafter!

In reflection of the game, I find it relates very closely to my daily life and work experiences. Very often, I have to undertake new tasks that I was doubtful of success. Despite all the planning and executing it to the best of my knowledge and best self-efforts I could still fail in achieving my objectives! Many a time, I need to consult with my friends or colleagues and re-strategies my approach. Believing in myself and having a determination to success also very play an important motivational role in helping me achieves my goals.

Likewise, winning the games is not a personal effort. It is a combined effort of all my team mates! Well done - Team 1, hip-hip hooray! To the rest of my colleagues, thank you for making the games so much more challenging and hope all of you enjoyed the game as much as I do!

Diving in Pulau Aur

Last weekend, I went diving again after being absent from diving for six years! A friend of mine invited me for the dive and I reluctantly agreed because I have an equalizing problem. I couldn’t equalize myself during the decent into the deep blue and I will get a painful eardrum when I surfaced. Nevertheless, I agreed to go, to have fun and to take a break from my usual routine and to take an important photo for this group of friends of mine!

This group of friends was from NCHS and they have known each other for 24 years! They found out that most of them have learned diving yet they have never been on a dive trip together. This was how this dive trip was formulated and to commemorate their 24 years of friendship together, a banner was made so they could have a picture taken underwater with the banner. This is where I came into the picture, to help take the photos underwater!

The journey had a rocky start! During the planning stage, there were lots of argument as to where to go, who to book and co-ordinates and what date to set off. On the day of departure, our hired bus broke down and we have to take a bus to Johor Bahru to transfer onto a Mersing bounced bus. During the transfer of transportations, our banner was left on the bus that sent us to Johor and we have to make a stop along the journey to wait for the bus to bring back our banner. When we reached the Mersing jetty, we were about an hour late and the ferry to Pulau Aur has left without us because the low tide was setting in. We were put on a speedboat to catch up with the ferry in deeper water.

Upon boarding, we found out that the bunk area was fully occupied and we were forced to make bed on the roof of the ferry! Luckily during our stay at Pulau Aur, there wasn’t any issue, except my equalizing problem. Then came the ferry ride back to Mersing, we were caught in a sudden storm, there were surging tides and strong winds that rocked our boat from side to side and I thought we could never make it back to land again! Thankfully, our captain managed to steer us through the stormy sea and back to Mersing jetty safely!

Despite all the troubles, we managed to enjoy ourselves and made the most out of each situation. For instance, when we were caught in the jam at the causeway, we managed to crack jokes and chat about old times to entertain ourselves. Again when we were camping out on the roof of the ferry, we got to sleep under a night sky filled with glittering stars. We could also cuddle up together to keep warm when the cold wind was blowing against us as the ferry sped through the night.

In Pulau Aur, we enjoyed sitting around to have some food and sharing the sightings in the water after each dive and sitting on the balcony of our resort, basking in the warm afternoon sun and taking in the breath-taking sea view that stretches out in front of our bunker. Then watching the sky turned from golden dusk into dark night. Even though, I’m not a good drinker, I enjoyed the number games and having to bottoms up some red wine when I guessed the “right” numbers. Although, I felt really bad, ganging up with the rest to make HK drink, I should say that was really the heightening event of the whole trip! It was non-stop drinking and laughing until we finished all 3 bottles of red wine and retired to bed dead tired!

I really enjoyed myself in those two days and I really envy this group of friends for being able to maintain their friendship for 24 years! In the beginning, they were like a little tiny star out in the Milky Way. 24 years ago, due to some cosmic forces, they ended up in the same secondary and a strong friendship was formed. Over the years, despite their individuals and families commitments, they are still willing to make an effort to meet up and go on a trip together. Through all the ups and downs, this group of friends managed to keep each other companied and sail through the stormy sea together and their friendship grew stronger with each passing day.

We could never predict what the future holds for each of us, but I believed my friends will have a wonderful life knowing that they have each other to rely on when times are bad and good times are abound in each other company! Maybe in another 24 years time, they would embark on another trip as grandpas and grandmas!

Finally, I would like to thanks Janson and Bryan (our dive masters) for making all the necessary arrangement, ensuring our safety during each dive and making this a pleasant dive trip for us!

祝我的朋友 ：友谊万岁！