~Raven Outdoor Consultant Sdn Bhd~

On the 25th June 2005, Justin, Limin,Billy Shuyen & I went to the HSA or the Health Science Authority (just in case some of my mountain tortise singaporean frens do not noe wats tat) at outram for blood donation.

I went down to Base to meet up wif Justin, then we proceed to Petals to look for Limin. We went for lunch at the Tanjong pagar market then proceeded back to base to wait for the rest of the angels.. We "da bao" a packet of soya bean curd for shuyen who came dwn to Base from his hse jus to contribute to the society.. Then after that came Billy. Once after everyone arrived, we head for the HSA which is just 10mins walk from Base.

We entered the building and head straight to the counter to collect the declarartion form. We all filled up the form and i was the 1st one to hand in the form.. So blah blah blah…

Then " Foo XXX XXX" i heard my name being called. I proceeded to the screening room for medical screening( by a beautiful doctor). She looked fierce at 1st sight, but then when she started questioning me, she was not as fierce as i tot.. For those who didnt try blood donation before, The questions she asked are: "Have u have any sexual contact with any prositudes?, Have u been to Batam within these few weeks? Have u share any needles etc.." Hahah.. i was wondering "Do i look like those kind who go to these places?" haha.. but well, hey.. Stop it hor.. i noe wat ya thinking rite now… I’m clean hor.. haha.. Its the SOP for the docs la.. so no problem.. anyway she’s so cheo.. wat more can i expect?? ahaha..

Once everything is done, I submit my form to the 2nd counter nearer to the center for blood test. This test is to test for blood Iron. Procedure? Pierce my middle finger.. (no particular reason as i’m pointing my middle finger at her tat time so she just grab it and pierce it.. It can be any finger la..) squeeze some blood out and drip it into a blue solution, if it sinks, good to go. If not, u can go…home of cos.. Cos iron is heavy ma.. so it sinks.. Get it??

Once i’m cleared from the counter i was directed into the center. I was ushered to an empty bed at the far end, then the Missy came to attend to me.. Gave me a free snack coupon then try to find my main artilleries.. She found it but its not very obvious, so she advice me.. in this case if i were to use the artlleries, i cant carry heavy objects for a few days as it’ll cause bruise arnd the area. So i as a low risk taker, decided to use the capillaries instead, but i’ll be slower.. but wat the hack..

Then i was given an anaesthetic at the entry point of the main needle. Then came my favourite part..Where the needle entered the capillaries. I enjoied watching the blood flowing from my body thru the pipe then enters the pack waiting thirstily under the bed..

Things were going all well.. Then came a situation where a donor opposite me who is a 1st time donor(got sticker on her la) was attended by a few nurses, then a doctor.. tat really amazed me.. her entry point was being dressed with a ice pack for cold compression.. suspect of severe brusing i guess.. Moments after her, i am done.. Then came the 2nd part of my favourite procedure.. Getting samples of my blood for examinations. They cut off the transfusing pipe and let my blood flow into the test tube prepared… 有被放血的感觉!! haha.. But strangly i kindy enjoy it.. haha.. under controlled environment tat is of cos..

Then came a SMS from limin, "I prepare 5 cakes and 5 milo for u ya, wat flavor u wan?" hmmm… "tat was fast" i think to myself.. Then the nurse bandaged my point of entry and i left the room, trying eagerly to locate the rest of the 4 guys in the room… Hmmm.. i was wondering, they came in later than me, yet they managed to complete the donation before me.. tats really fast.. Then just outside the room, i saw the 4 of then.. Their arms were not being bandaged up!! Wat the?!?! "Wat happened!?!?!" i asked in great amazment.. It happened so that the rest of the guys r either sick or in medication, so no donation allowed.. So sad..

Well, the i go get my free drink n cake n we chatted there.. I was given a soft toy as a gift too.. haha.. tats a surprise.. Its a crocodile mann.. "Buaya" haha.. then ppl start makin fun of the soft toy liao..

Then we decided to head to Maxwell Food Ctr to have "Ham Zim Biang"/咸煎饼 & some soya bean milk n curd…

                                                                     To be continued…..

After we had the 咸煎饼 and the soya milk we went to bought the waffer biscuit from a store nearby… After that we went over to chinatown to do some shopping of a famous egg tart…

We headed back to Base after tat… Had the biscuit in Base.. it tasted really nice.. Then after tat came the most fustrating part… Billy’s car was being wheel cramped in the carpark.. Tat was totally out of the world.. we were not informed abt the wheel cramped thingy ever n they cramped his car.. But things were resolved soon after tat.

After tat limin n I went to Queensway SHopping Ctr to scout for running shoes.. Found 2 New Balance model tat suits me.. so going back when my current New Balance fails me… Its been quite some time since i’ve got the NB704.. Think its arnd 4 or 5 yrs..

Signing off,

Raven Foo 

This week’s jog was the ususal route we took, which is from Clark Quay, passing by the Parliment house towards Esplanade, where we met up with shuyen who works in the Esplanade…

We met up with him and we carry on with our jog… Back to the same old route towards the KLSSC… As usual Justin n Shuyen ( Both from the Commando) was gone in just a matters of minutes… so left wif Limin and me… Really got to praise Limin mann… Her endurance never fail to impress me… She was having a high fever the day before and was resting at home with a valid Medical Certificate; and the next day?? she’s happily jogging wif us as if nothing happened the day before…

We were both pushing each other along the way and we finally came to the ending point… we were told by Justin tat we were only 1 or 2 minutes behind them tats all… We were very happy wif the timing and tat our stamina and endurance improved alot from the time when we started our unconsistant jog… But now… hmmm… really glad tat the guys were there to train together weekly…

Then we headed back to the esplanade for our dinner  from the path we took… skipping the fitness station this time round… We sat at the breakwater to wait for shuyen to change into his slippers… we had Fishball noodles n Ba Chor Mee n a cup of Sugar cane juice…

Then we return back to base for wash up and we jus sat inside base to tok cock and plan the events for the next few weeks… One of the new plans is to increase the training days to 2 times a week as more events r coming along the way like for example; Army 1/2 Marathon, NB REAL Run, Stand Chart Marathon, Poly 50 and our proposed Mt Kinabalu Expedition… It was so cosy in base(too bad we don not have coffee in base for us to "lah", if nt i’ll be even beta!) tat we didnt wanted to go home till we haf to catch the last train…

When i reached home, i on the PC n i found that both limin n justin were also on line.. so we chatted online till we were tired and went off…

Yours-In-Everything,

Raven Foo

Raven Outdoor Consultant Sdn Bhd                                                       

    I was back to Pulau Huntu once again after another year. My 3rd trip to huntu was a nice one due to lots of reasons.. 1stly, cos I don have to kayak there… 1st time so relak go huntu sia… Ha-ha… A lot of ppl asked me why I wasn’t in the Charlie team, here’s the reason. I was supposed to be working on the sat & wasn’t able to make it… but the job was postponed the last minute and i was still able to catch the last ferry to huntu to join u guys… What a relief mann…

We reached the island just minutes after the expedition team beach up on the shore. The rest of the alumni unloaded the equipment while I ran across the island to the beach to film the “beach landing”. I know tat everyone is dead tired from the expedition as I’ve been there many a times so I know how it feels…

As I was filming, I can see from far that the alumnus is busily carrying the equipment to the QM Hut and our lodging hut. Our 1^st mission for the day is to tie up our hang beds a.k.a hammock. Mine hammock was on the 2^nd level as the places on level 1 were all taken up. So I’ll have to do some climbing before I could get into my hammock… Luckily my training in rock climbing helped..

After that we all gathered beside the hut to have an unofficial meeting; to decide what to do next.. All agreed on cooking before the skies turn dark. We found ourselves a good location and started to cook our dinner. We had a very sumptuous dinner with BBQ bacon, marshmallows, deep fried chicken patty, jelly,

Taiwan

sausages and plenty more… Then Justin, Zeng Rong n I went to the beach to capture the nice sunset which I’ve been waiting also for 1yr… Last yr’s sunset wasn’t as nice as this yr’s… We enjoyed ourselves by taking photos on the breakwater till the sun was long gone and we headed back to the cooking area to clear up our mess…

After dinner was the dramatic "Worse Case Scenario" starring non-other than our stunt-double Mr. Darren Ong n Guest starring Ms. Wong Toon Ying… ha-ha… So many years in Kayaking Expeditions, 1st time I witness such a dramatic case… (But still not as bad as the huntu kayaking expedition in 2000/2001 where we endured the perfect storm with the freshies) Mr. Ong was lying on the ground when an unknown insect bit him on the leg… He was terrified as he did not know wat is the thing that bit him… so he approached the 1^st Aider for assistance… He claimed his leg feels numb and it’s very painful… He was being attended by a self claimed nurse from the SP Adventurers, who attended to him… after further discussion from the alumnus, calling in the Police Coast Guard was the final option as it might turn out to be a snake bite case as the source was unknown… Moments later, PCG Papa Tango 37 arrived at the Huntu II jetty… The strong search light pierces thru the night sky… The jetty was crowded with on lookers from every where… After abt 20 minutes later the PCG vessel sweeps towards Portside for a distant of abt 30meters, then made a Starboard 180 degree turn to head west. It then speeds off in to the dark sea… Then shows over!! Ha-ha…

Night time was bad as it was really freaking hot mann… But tat got the Alumnus to sit along the beaches and chat our hearts out or did we not… Ha-ha… had a bottle of wine under the moon lit night was indeed a good way to relax yr soul after all… After a while Justin, Zeng Rong, Ester n me felt hungry… we then decided to head back to the “Fridge” (Ice box) to grab a bottle of alcohol and ate some jelly… to tahan our stomach… Then we headed to bed. We had to fan ourselves to sleep through out the night… time passes very slow that night…

Then dawn came… I went to take some shots of the sunrise. Then came the rane in the mornin.. Why u guys brought rain along?? When she’s there there’s bound to be rane!! hahah..lol luckily it’s jus a passing one..(I’ve got a junior named Rane, it sound like Rain, so I always ga jiao her la by singing Rain Rain go away to make fun of her…) It rained for a short but it carried with her quite abit of water mann..  It was quite a stupid idea to actually go wash up when it was raining heavily.. haha.. eventually Zheng Wei, Kwan Lin n I went. I even brought a ground sheet over for some rovers who r trapped in the toilet… After the rain subsided, we headed back to out hut and everyone were busily dismantling their hammock to make room for our kitchen… We cooked all the food we had left over from last night’s dinner, but still we r not able to finished it… So plans were made to reserved them for BTC 2005…

On the returning trip was a little sad tat I didn’t get to go back with the rest of the bum boat party… But it wasn’t really that bad after all… Being on the power boat was a real great experience for me too… That’s how I’ve done it for my 1st time… Even got to pilot the craft mann… Really got to thank the guys from SP Adventurers for giving me a chance to try out the power boat… Hmmm… Anyone want to join me for pleasure craft license?? Ha-ha… Too bad did not have the video cam with me… Btw… Can anyone help me get the phone no of the SPA gal who is in the tail boat wearing the snoopy long sleeves shirt one… think her name Adeline or something like tat one.. Ha-ha… Oh no me getting naughty again liao… ha-ha… but Andy n shuping agreed with me after expedition tat she got the sae of my Ex mann… ha-ha… Looks like I still prefer these kind of gals mann… Tan tan one, nice pair of legs, dimple when she smiled, friendly too… she jus look so cute… ha-ha… oh ya.. did i mentioned tat she asked me my name?? hahaha.. so happy…

Well, as this is a kayaking expedition, it’ll be bad if I didn’t get to put my fats… Err… I mean my muscles into some paddling mann… so I volunteered, myself to replace the end Charlie Mr. Andy Loh (we used to worked together in most of the kayaking expedition. My great sweeper buddy!! He was the one who asked me to be in the Charlie team this year round again, too bad I had something on…)

After tat we reached PM… Nothing more liao cos I left while the guys r still washing the kayaks n tents… sorry… ha-ha… went makan wif Andy, shuping n Janice.. oh ya!! Still got!! I saw this cute little gal who is very familiar to me… Smiling to me… "Why r u still here!?!?" I asked. She’s non other than shuping, we exchanged bum boat seats with the power boat as she got something urgent to attend to… Yet she’s still happily smiling at me when I reached PM… Ha-ha… but it was good also la… Thanks to her I manage to try the powerboat… Thanks gal… No regrets…

So tats the overall of the Huntu Trip I had from 18-17 June 2005. If u guys wan more stories and view some video footage of the trip can feel free to drop me a msg ya…

Signing off from Pulau Huntu,

Raven Foo

Raven Outdoor Consultant Sdn Bhd

On the 16/6/05 thursday, i was assigned to conduct high angle activities in the Ministry Of Education, May Adventure Centre for Northbrooks Secondary TAF Club Students.

I met up with the Chief Conducting Office, Mr Justin Koh at AMK. We went to 7-11 to buy some bread for our breakfast before we set off to the centre.

Upon reaching there, we found the gate locked. We waited outside the centre and had our bread while waiting. We were told tat only 22 students turn up for the activity. We then move to the nearby play ground to wait. Abt 10 mins ltr, the care taker finally came to open the gate, but we were nt able to go ahead with anything as the person-in-charge is nt here yet. We waited once again and saw a van turning into the compound.

Justin then headed to the office to collect some doc for the activities. We checked the climbing equip in the store and once everything is correct, we start to set up the rope course for the students.

My duty only starts in the afternoon but i was there early because i donoe how to go there la.. haha.. and also can get to try out some high angle techniques learned. I help to facilitate some students too..

There was this gal named Simin who wanted to give up while climbing up to the platform, we were trying hard to encourage her but with no result shown.. I coaxed her by telling her to move 1 more step up n i’ll let her down, but then after she made tat 1 more step i told her to make another. This time she don buy it. Then after discussion with the CCO, i’ll give a last try to coax her up to the platform. "Simin!" I shouted from the ground. "I ‘m going to let you dwn, but i can’t let you down from there, you’ll fall n hit yrself on the staples and tats going to be really hurt!" Well, obviously tats not the case la.. in fact i’ll be easier for us to let her dwn from her position… But well…, i die die also must let her get up to the platform then i can rest in peace… So a little bit of white lies will be put into good use this time round… So as a participant u don wan to hurt yrself in such an event ma.. So the mind will register " Better be safe than sorry, i’ll rather take a few more climbs before i hurt myself…" heehee.. a little psychology helps too…"I need u to go up to the platform before i can let u down!" As soon as i finished my sentence, she started to stretch out her hands trying to grab the staples higher up the pole, step by step she climb, till she reached the platform. "Simin!" I continued, "Do you wan to attempt the course?" She shook her head,"I wan to go dwn…" She replied in a shivering voice. Realising tat my goal had been hit and Simin had stretched her limit i decided tat its time.."Okay.." then i slowly guided her to a standing position while stanley take in the slack of the rope. And she’s dwn in jus a matters of seconds. This is the main reason in why i’ve choosen this line. I believe its in the passion of outdoor where i get to expose myself and also thru outdoor, pepole get to experience the challenges to be taken out from their comfort zone and attempt things tat they never get to experience before.

For simin case, all i could say is well done, she stopped short before the platform, if she would haf given up, she would never know how it feels to be standing on top of the platform, eventually she didnt gave up and made it up to the platform.  

Then we went for lunch.. the lunch was a simple one but it taste good.. after lunch justin n i proceed to set up the activity on the Tower, namely, Zip-Line & Abseiling. Justin is incharge of the Zip-Line while i’m in charge of the Abseiling.. Plans were made tat Justin will "lobster" himself up to the top of the tower to start rigging up the safety cables and the 2 activities. While i’ll be rigging up the belaying line for the participants, and also to sort out the equip to be brought up to the tower. Once everything is done and cleared from the ground, i proceed up to the top of the Tower the same way Justin did..

Once i’m up on the tower, i established a secondary inspection to make sure everything is in running order when the participants r to arrived on top of the tower. I also rigged up the remaining safety cables and also the safety belay for the abseiling with the equip i’ve hoisted up. After all the system had be set up, I took a break and also do a dry run in my mind. I even managed to film some footage from the top of the tower..

I was being baked under the hot sun for arnd 2 hrs before the participants finally came. The tower is an open concept kind without roof n safety barriers, tats why safety cables r there to rig up every single living & non living thing up on the tower to prevent falling of object and human.. haha..

Biao yong was the test dummy for the zip-line and lilin was the test dummy for abseiling. Everything went on very well on top of the tower and we enjoyed ourselves even though we r stuck up there for so long. I was very glad tat those gals with height phobia like simin actually did came up to the tower and tried out the Zip-Line. eventually at the end of the day every single participants managed to try out at least 2 high angle rope course.. The objective for the activities was hit.. Oh ya.. did i mentioned tat Simin went on to finished the Challenge Rope Course before she came up to the tower… Was very happy tat she tried out the CRC…

We packed the equip up on the tower at the end of the day and undo all the rigging for all the high angle rope course. we checked all equip and return them to the store before we set off. We even managed to took some photos wif the students..

 

Raven Foo

Ministry Of Education

External FreeLance Instructor

This so call trip or should i put it as challenge was a last minute decision after our jog on 14/6/05.

We met in base at 1900hrs before we set off to the shop which is situated in Geylang. The people involved are Justin, Limin, Lilin, Ryan,Leon and ME!! hahah.. Mostly are the same old jogging kahkis..

Upon reaching there we could smell of the bean curd.. we all agreed tat it wasnt really tat bad after all… We sat dwn inside the shop maybe they r trying to get a closer smell of the bean curd.. We placed order for 2 Smelly bean curd, 1 pork intestine and some drinks..

Then came the interesting part.. The bean curd was served… " Comon lets tuck in before we think too much" i said while opening up the packet of chopstick.. Right before our chopstick could reach the bean curd, a pungent smell slammed our brain!! "It smell just like SHIT!!!" claimed everyone..

We were trying to describe the smell and some were trying to associate it wif some dried human shit baked under the hot sun while they were serving NS and were shitting arnd in the dense bushes some where in the island.. My concept of the smell?? Try this experiment: us a thin piece of tissue or best if u use a single ply toilet paper to wipe yr arse. Do it real hard so yr finger punture the piece of toilet paper and in contact wif yr arse. Then put the finger near yr nose.. Walah!!! You’ve just created the smell of smelly bean curd… hahha..

We did eventually finished the food… As usual, plans were made to include this in Urban Amazing Race.. After the challenge, we jalan all the way to the famous Yong He soya milk for their famous food… Soon after tat we walk to Kallang MRT and went on our way..

CCI Makansutra rating:

Smelly bean Curd - ***** Die die must try

: Yong He Soya Milk - *** Must try

Okie gtg now, ltr gota wake up at 0500hrs to prepare some abseiling stuff for the sec school camp..

Yours-In-Everything

Raven Foo

14/6/05

Dark clouds were clearly visable as i was leaving my place to meet up wif Justin & Limin(TFC2 Participant). After tat we proceeded to esplanade to meet up wif Shu Yen(TFC1 Photographer). It was an real eye opener for us as we were shown to some undisclosed areas in the esplanade..

After all the running kahkis had arrived, we headed to the waterfront for warm up. The southen skies was lighted up by the lightnings as if some beautiful fireworks were on display.

After the warm up we headed toward our distination: Kallang Sea Sports Club.

The run was very relaxing as the weather was cooling after the rain, and the sound of the waves slaming onto the breakwater along the sea seems to haf lighten our pace.

We hit the turning point @KLSSC and head back to esplanade to wash up. Along the way we stopped at the fitness station to do some static, actually more of playing with the logs than doing statics.But eventually we did some constructive exercises too la..

After we washed up we went makan @the Makansutra. It is a nice place to la teh wif yr frens mann.. nice environment.. We also get to know this pretty lady named Grace.. Such a nice name for a pretty lady like her.. Too Bad!!! SHe’s married!!! haiz… Beta luck next time justin..

For All those who like to join us for a jog or be part of our weekly jogging kahkis can feel free to drop amsg here.. We welcome feedback or suggestion also.. Its a good way to relax yrself from a long day of work or studies, jogging can help u maintain yr stamina n also keep yr body in good and healthy shape.. SO far we’ve been to, Labrador Prk,Tanjong Pargar train station, Merlion prk @ the spore river, clark Quey, Esplanade, Kallang Basin..n many more… all Our distination r being selected carefully to suit ppl from all walks of life.. Hope to see or hear from u soon ya… In the mean time we’ll still be running every week…

Yours-In-Everything

Raven Foo

Well, haven been updating my blog for quite some time liao… been sort of busy recently… Going for hoildays and enjoying myself in camps.. hahah.. Went to Anthonys’ Canossian Primary School to conduct a 2 days camp for the kids who report sick, total of arnd 60 of them. It was a really fun camp as we mixed arnd with the kids… I personally wasnt really involved in the camp, but i am the video cameraman for the camp. Was a really good exposure for me also. Went to our playground - MacRitchie Catchment reserve the 2nd day with the kids to do topography. I was like a mad man running all arnd the reserve trying to flim the program and games the kids r playing… Realy tired job. but for the sake of good video, i believe it’s all worthwhile… Had a wonderful campfire but still nt the best i guess and i’m very happy that the facilitators are very bonded and they shown team coordination n team work thruout the camp.. Maybe its becuse of the SHIM la.. They communicated to each other and i believe tat is a very impt pt in being a team player.. Now the video is with our MITA chief editor Ms. Loo LiMin to do the editing.

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Then came the Yishun sec TAF Camp. This camp is targeting students who are so call over weight. They are hafing amazing race in our playground also. but program are talior to meet the camp’s objective - to loose weight.. so lots of physical work out also.. The feedback from students was good eventhough they had a tired day… Special thanks to a very special grp from the central support base - Aaron and his grp of frens who set up the Temp HQ @ the Jelutong Tower.

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Then came the amazing rac @  sembawang park. Its a camp conducted for the Uniform Group or UG Camp for short. Its really sad to see that UG don even know how to set up a tent mann.. Haiz.. They eventually managed to do it with the help from 2 trainers from CheersCI. Haiz.. Wat can i say more? hahah.. Did a National Geographic Video shoot regarding weather changes in the park.. it rained soon after that.. event was call off due to cat 1 storm warning(Thunder storm) We all headed back to the school for debrief and stayed back for the campfire. We commented on the firepit and stuff regarding the campfire to the IC, from our pt of view or years of experience in dealing with campfire, we confirmed tat the pit will nt light up. True enough, it did  not light as suggested. The IC was busy trying ways to keep the campfire going. Everything seems to had gone wrong for the IC. Campfire cant work, students not participating, teachers don gif a damn… Trainers from CheerCI decided to step in. Advices were given on relighting the campfire and it worked. we just stand back after tat and carrying enjoying ourselves by commenting on how bad the campfire was and laughing away… Haiz… Things would nt turn out this way if the teachers or seniors are more involved in the daily discipline and teaching the right things to the students.. This is a very disappointing camp to see UG behaving this way… Haiz… Too Bad me not a teacher.. I’ll cane them one by one hahahha…

Eventhough its not a good campfire, but i believe we as CCI trainers did learn quite a few good lesson or thing there…

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Coming up this thursday is a camp with northbrooks sec. Justin n i will be advance party at the Dairy Farm Adventure Center to perform External Freelance Insturctor duty. Mornign will be high ropes and afternoon will be Abseiling n Zip-Line at the tower.. hmmm….

Friday going to Pulau huntu!!!! Yeah!!!   

Raven Outdoor Consultant.