Sorry for the long hiatus, but recently I've been so busy that I've not been blogging. Not for lack of interesting experiences, just because there's so much to write about I really don't know where to start.

But let me share my ODAC selection camp experiences and my resultant adventure. Three days ago, on Friday, I had my ODAC selection camp, which lasted till the next day's afternoon. My adventures throughout the camp I will write about later, but lets start from the end.

Saturday afternoon was the last part of the camp. After an approximately 30 kilometre hike from 3 am to 1 pm through virgin and secondary forest, we were down to our very last activity of the camp: a six part high elements obstacle course. Needless to say, we had loads of fun climbing them. Now fast forward to the fourth rope obstacle which was by far the easiest as it stood at only half the height of the previous ones( which stood roughly at about 16 metres?). My team was eager to gain points and when we discovered how easy it was, we started to cheong. Once everyone had a go, they decided to send me up again as I was the most experienced cheongster among them. I duly obliged and in less than a minute was up, across like a monkey, and coming down. Now here's the interesting part.

Perhaps it was the merciless, oppressive heat and glare of the afternoon sun. Or perhaps it was due to my adrenaline as I had belayed the previous two climbers and was climbing immediately after them, and we were cheonging, as I said. Or perhaps it was the long trek and lack of sleep. Whichever the case, I was on a high, and in my hurry to get down and score additional points for speed, I inadvertedly missed the climbing metal loop I was aiming for and my left hand's fingers slammed perpendicularly against the smooth wood. Right into the sharp tip of a 1 cm long splinter.

I cannot tell you just how lucky( or unlucky) I was. The climbing poles of the high elements are smooth and maintained regularly for the safety of climbers. Even scraping them with your fingers will probably do no harm. Yet my fingers did not even scrape the wood when they hit it, and the splinter went directly under my index fingernail. Yes, underneath the nail, 0.5 cm into the quick(thats the pink part). Not just the flesh at the tip of the finger, but underneath the nail, where I could clearly see it.

That promptly ended my climbing cum racing and I had to seek first aid. But upon seeing the 1cm long splinter protruding from under my nail, I instictively panicked and did the worst thing possible in such an event. I had been trained in first aid for 4 years already and I did the most daft thing: I pulled the splinter out.

In case you think thats the right thing to do, it is not. NEVER pull out a splinter with your bare hands. Ten to one the splinter will break and some fragments will be left under the skin, making it nigh impossible to remove the fragments stuck right inside. That was what happened and I was already berating myself when I realised what I just did. Too late though, the damage had been done. And all this happened even before I hit the ground.

To cut it short, the splinter had broken into two and one of it was stuck and sealed under my nail like a artefact on display. All efforts of the First aid dept was futile and I had to wait till Sunday to get it out.

So yesterday afternoon I found myself perambulating around Yishun Central trying to find a doctor to remove my 'artefact'. All the clinics were closed. After 40 minutes of wandering, I decided in desperation to circumnavigate the place one last time. Finally I found one.

The doctor attending to me was reassuring enough and in 15 minutes, he had injected local anaesthetic, used a needle to dig out the splinter and pluck it out with tweezers. And all this while I was silently praising the country's medical service for being so efficient and assuring. That is, until I saw the bill.

It was 72 bucks. Can you believe it? An anaesthetic and a sharp needle was all it took and all that for 72 bucks? Wonderful. Of course, I should have expected it, this is still Singapore, where nothing is cheap.

Well, at least its out, but I'm 72 bucks poorer. And I could have easily done it myself, altough with pain and the risk of infection. I could run a service removing splinters with just needles and tweezers and charge quarter the price and I'll be rich.

Apart from that, the camp was still very fun and I'll blog about it later. Before I fall asleep, let me end on a positive note: I wasn't the only casualty on Saturday. There were about 15 others who got injured. And compared to some of them, my splinter wasn't that bad. So count your blessings.

Adios!!

Finally found time to blog again.

My schedules been packed lately, no time to even sleep well but It all has been worth it thus far.

Updates: I participated in the AJ Speak EZ finals last friday and got only a consolation prize. Not bad, considering I'm among top ten in 830 plus students, but still sad because I lost to Geena, who came in 3rd, and Grace, who came in 1st. Oh well, I can't be good at everything...

Physics challenge on Monday was also a flop. Our toy swerved off course and rammed the lampost, but surprisingly, it won the most creative design award. Actually its nothing more than a plastic bottle and wheels, no decor, but since judging criteria was on recyclable materials, we won.

On a more interesting note, OGF workshop was held on last Sat and it was quite exciting.... Not the games, which I assure you are quite boring, but the cheering and the dances later on. We AJCians have proved that we can make our own fun even if our activities are restricted. Don't believe? Wait for Orientation 2.

This coming Sat will be even more interesting, coz we will be doing mambo and one other dance. Yours truly here has already been booked by a gal to dance together with harharhar... and quite a pretty gal too...

In case you don't know, I'm also a killer dancer. You'd better believe it....Welcome to multitalented Jeremy

But perhaps the most crazy things of all has got to be AJ ODAC. Our finale today was so much fun la, in fact all the ODAC trainings were super fun...

1st week, we had games and bonding. 2nd week, we learnt knots and lashes and had a pretty wild time building our own catapults and firing water bombs.

By the 3rd week, we were kayaking. By the fourth, we were doing rock climbing and bouldering.

Because of AJ and ODAC, I've discovered a whole new side to myself that I didn't know even existed before. The old, hot-tempered, sullen, easily bullied, bitter and self-concious Jeremy is gone. In its place is a new, passionate, enthusiastic, friendly, confident and hyperhigh madcap me. Ever since I joined AJ and ODAC, I felt as if life has been renewed for me. No more pretending, no more hiding my emotions and insecurity under a mask of self-confidence and pride. No more trapped in my cocoon of percieved failure, unfulfilled hopes, people's expectations, and false impressions. The butterfly is emerging. This is the real me.

One thing ODAC has that Zhss BB doesn't: camaraderie and unity. In BB whole squads including my peers used to jeer at me when I asked them to knock it down. In ODAC all the JC1s and 2s cheer me on for something as simple as reaching the top of the rock wall or doing a cheer. They cheer me not as part of any team, but as an individual. In BB I had 95% criticism and 5% encouragement. In ODAC I have 101% encouragement, 0% criticism.

Praise God I've been given a chance to start anew. I've been blessed by God so much, it would be unfair for me to hog all the glory and adulation. This two years will also be the time of most active ministry for God. I wanna bear fruits for Him. And it will happen. By God's grace.

All that I have, all that I had, all that I ever hoped to be is all in His hands.

Truly, God's love and grace exceeds all known boundaries.