The Story of Stuff

Something which all of us should be concerned about. Do take about 20 mins to watch this clip.

The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard

Thursday, September 15, 2005

M2/05 Part 2



So, IMHO, one of the biggest thrills of orientation apart from Treasure Hunt, is the Variety Nite. It's a night where all the junior groups have to put together a sketch and select one guy member to be an IMCC - ie cross dress and perform on stage.
The Orientation Committee decides what sketch and which female celeb to impersonate. So then it's all up to the juniors and their OOs to come up with something creative and, of course, entertaining.

Well, we had to help out Prasad as he very sportingly volunteered to be our IMCC. So we decided to bring in reinforcements seeing as how both Chu-Chu and I can't dance for nuts and Eve claims she can't either. So we brought in Li Shien. She was our OO when we went in (us being Eve and I). And she's a really good dancer. Plus since we decided to go 'clean', we obviously couldn't have him going up and being all slutty.
I'm really glad Li Shien agreed to help. She was really quite enthusiastic (about the dancing part-remember the IMCCs have to perform, usually it's a dance...and usually most of them are really slutty).

While they were busy with the dance, the rest of the group were eagerly putting finishing touches to the play they had come up with. It was to be a parody of LoTR.
Count us biased, but when we saw the final product, it was actually quite good. Unfortunately for some unknown reason, the audience jeered and boo-ed throughout most of the performance. I think it was a blow to most of them, seeing how they put in so much effort into it. The worst part was that most of the humor was in the dialog...and with the crowd making so much noise, it could barely be heard...

But we had really high hopes for Prasad. Li Shien choreographed a really nice dance for him. And we went to rent his outfit for the night (he was to be the Swan Princess).
Now at some point during the dance, Li Shien wanted a guy to act as the prince, and twirl the princess around a couple of times, offer her a rose and who happened to walk in during the practice session but me...
...so I inadvertently became the prince.

We OOs were pretty worried about Prasad's performance, seeing how dismal a response we received for the play earlier. But we needn't have worried at all. It was a smashing success. From the moment he went on stage, right till the end, the crowd cheered almost non-stop! It was fantastic! A lovely dance, done quite well by Prasad and, not suprisingly, the only non-slutty performance of the night!
....I so want to watch the video of it...

And he won the contest! As you can see, we were really happy that night :) The night ended past 1am, pity poor Eve who had to go back to Klang. Fortunately Willy was around, so I did have company that night in Vista.

The next morning itself was the Telematch. I was pretty surprised at the group turnout, as even I was tired out after the previous night...and I'm not the one being oriented. Basically it involves playing some silly games in a muddy field. And ol' Willy here became our waterboy :)
Anyway, they were soo sporting that, according to Eve, we won the Telematch...there were two incidences that I clearly remember :)
  1. Involves a 'First-aid Station' cuz one of their SMs couldn't wake up (how sad is that?), so the First-aiders had to take over. Game involved two people carrying a 'victim'. Drop 'victim' at station to dab iodine on 8 parts of 'victim's' body (both big toes n thumbs, knees and elbows). Then carry 'victim' to another station.
    Florence (the girl on the extreme right in the pic) was worried that I couldn't carry her. So I asked her weight (which is politically incorrect to tell...anyway I've forgotten it :P) and told her not to worry....
    When it ended, she told me "It was almost like you're carrrying me all by yourself!"
    I just grinned at her and said "I told you so"
  2. Deva insisted that I get all muddy, said that I was a pain to which I replied "What have I ever done to you?". Her reply: Your Existence!...wah lau...how to fight that?
    Anyway I ended up chasing her across half the field....wait...actually it wasn't really chasing. She was running from me and I was jogging slowly >:D
I surely don't regret becoming an OO this time. Juniors were great. And we actually got a present each from them :) Did I mention the Treasure Hunt treasure was a cactus? Yeah, well they got each OO a similar cactus.
I was actually flabbergasted when I received mine..."What am I supposed to do with this?"
To which they grinned and said "Water it"......

....I admit defeat to the 'superiority' of my juniors.....how sad is that? :D

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

M2/05



After winning Treasure Hunt Orientation M2/05

Last Movie Watched : Silver Hawk - Michell Yeoh, Richie Jen
Now Listening : Eternity - Dreams Come True (Disney's Swan Princess)
Now Playing : Radiata Stories

And so Eve, Chu Kin and I decided to become Orientation Officers. To be sure I actually wanted to meet some juniors and make new friends (and I hope I did achieve at least that), not because Deva kept pestering us to....
(OOs are basically guides to the juniors, as someone put it, we're their surrogate parents for a week. And we usually suffer similar fates as they do during some events :D)

Well, when we met the juniors, it was predictably polite and formal. Of course that would be the case seeing how neither of us know them and vice versa. We told them what orientation would involve - that in almost all the past orientations things have been almost directly obscene and vulgar (for some really weird reason that the seniors enjoy it). Fortunately they agreed to be as 'clean' as possible because that was actually what we, as OOs, were hoping to do, in a (probably vain) attempt to change orientation...

Eve asked them, whether they would rather win the orientation events or have fun. The result = Have fun but must at least get better than 2nd last place (the last part was thanks to Eve). Then it was pretty chaotic deciding what to do, what to wear, who to wear what, what to perform etcetc. We were all really surprised at our group, as the soon enough took charge themselves, referring to us for guidance mostly. Haha, most of the work was done by them (as it should be) but that didn't stop us OOs from feeling a little useless too :)
The usual crappy stuff happened on the 1st few days - dress codes, signature hunts, ice breakers. And I'd like to think that the group really did bond over the few days they were together...and most of the time they seemed to have fun too, and for that I'm really glad, as that is how orientation is supposed to be - FUN.

The fun parts were on the last few days, especially Treasure Hunt. This is the day when the students are allowed to run around Bukit Jalil, heading to a station, doing some silly things the SMs (Station Masters, not the other one) asked and in the end receive a clue to the next station and 1/15th of the treasure map. Of course this is also the day when you would get really dirty and, unfortunately, complaints have been made before...but that's another story.
Chalk it up to a stroke of luck or whatever, but I'm inclined to believe that mostly it was the team's strong spirit and Eve's constant(ly increasing) hyper-ness that kept pushing us on that led us to win the event. Whatever the seniors threw at the group, they took it with great sportingness and were having fun too. And from station to station I hardly heard any complaints or whines about how far it was and having to run etcetc. In fact they just kept running...
...the scary part was Eve. People normally get more tired the further they go. She got more energetic and hyper the further she went...
After all the stations we pieced together the treasure map (thanks to Wei-Yen and gang for extra lighting) and rushed to the spot. We were the 1st there and eagerly pestered the SM for the treasure. He, with some flair, made a horizontal wave with his arm and proclaimed that "The treasure is somewhere in this area!"
Soon enough another group came in hopes of grasping the elusive treasure before we could and hopes (well, mine at least) fell. Fortunately, shortly after their arrival, Chu Kin found the treasure!

...we were told, as we were looking, that the treasure is really obvious (even at night for it was dark then), it's green and organic. So most of us were thinking along the lines of a dead frog or some such. Well, it was nicely wrapped in white cloth so it was obvious. And the 'green and organic' part turned out to be a cactus, which was in the box in the pic above. Hahaha, well we can't really be blamed for thinking that way since from our experience, pasts treasures included lingerie and a bull's heart (which the winning team had to kiss - yeuck).

Btw yes that is a tofu we're holding. It gives us some points at each station we go to...as long as it is intact. And yes, you are perfectly entitled to whatever opinion you're having at this point.

We were absolutely elated. For us OOs, having won the Treasure Hunt is a big thing. Even more so for the group that actually worked for it. We definitely earned some bragging rights :)

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Final Fantasy is a RPG...

I am Bahamut
You are Bahamut! You are King of the Dragons, and
rightfully so, for few can stand up to your
Mega Flare. Everything about you simply
screams "bad ass."

What Final Fantasy summon are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

OK so i haven't been blogging for quite some time now but I blame it all on the exams which just finished today. So...without further ado...

Now Playing : The Bard's Tale (PS2)
Last Movie Watched : New Police Story (Jackie Chan, Nicholas Tse etcetc.)
Last Book Read : A Darkness At Sethanon (3rd and final chapter in the Riftwar Saga) - Raymond E. Feist
Now Listening : Ore wa Tokoton Tomaranai!! (Opening theme of Budokai 3)
Completely useless info : I have a cow-bone comb

Anyway, the other day we were talking about FF and tried to come up with limit breaks for some of us uni people.

Umm....RPG fans and FF fans pls skip this paragraph. For the uninitiated, FF=Final Fantasy, a super selling series of games produced by Square Enix (formerly Squaresoft). Basically it's about saving the world with a party of 'endearing' characters who run into monsters, win, gain experience and increase in power. Simply put, when a character takes a certain amount of damage, s/he will be able to unleash a deadly/weird special move known as a 'Limit Break'. Usually it's enough to take out most lesser monsters. Some characters can also summon beings to aid them in the battle.

So anyway, I came home and thought up of more stuff....and here we go...(there's a bit of D&D mixed in though)...I added some new stuff like 'Ultimate Limit Breaks' which only work if the individuals' ultimate weapon is equipped :)

Female char, martial arts prowess. An outspoken, hyperactive young lady who blushes quite easily when teased. Enjoys teasing her friends though...favours a Fighter-type class.
Weapon of choice : Fists n Feet.
Ultimate Weapon :
Megaphone
Limit Break : Omega Whine - points at a certain enemy and goes "Nguhnguhnguhnguhnguhnguhnguh.....NGUH!!"
Each whine does damage and might result in enemy getting Confused.
Ultimate Limit Break : Omega Whine AMPLIFIED!! - refer above...only now it affects all enemies and enemies WILL be Confused, Pained and Deafened. Allies in line of fire affected.

Male char, favours swords. Sarcasm and lameness personified, knows how to irritate certain people/monsters. Enjoys eating....a LOT! Favours a Fighter/Mage class.
Weapon of choice : Gunblade (this sword roxx!)
Ultimate Weapon : VERY aromatic food
Limit Break : Tremor - at point of reaching Limit Break, character becomes VERY hungry. Stomach growls emits waves enough to cause a minor earthquake > Damages all enemies
Ultimate Limit Break : Richter 10!! - as above but a party member runs across screen purposely carrying the 'VERY aromatic food' aforementioned. Resultant growl causes massive earthquake and summons a lightning storm!! Can cause Petrify and Chain Lightning.

Female char, favours heavy paper-binding files. Peace-loving and fun-seeking. Favours a Healer-type class.
Weapon of choice : Tome of White Magic (attacks by bashing enemies with file)
Ultimate Weapon : +5 File of Holy Death
Limit Break : Super Heal - charges up and throws the file at an enemy, after damaging it falls open and mystical words appear and heal party.
Ultimate Limit Break : Angelic Demon/ Demonic Angel - same as above but when book opens, the mystical words summons a fusion of an angel-demon. 1st form does light damage to all enemies and fully heals/resurrects fallen allies. 2nd form does minor damage to all allies but reduces all enemies HP to 1 (does NOT work on bosses)

Male char, martial arts prowess. Under permanent bloodlust to the extent of occasionally attacking allies. Cannot hit females and will do nothing if hit by one. Favoured class = Berserker/Barbarian
Weapon of choice : Fists (occasionally Feet)
Ultimate Weapon : err....(Fist Upgrade?) Either magical powers of the famed Ehrgeiz Gauntlets.
Limit Break : Dance of Death - unleashes a flurry of attacks on the enemy with a chance to Stun and Pain.
Ultimate Limit Break : Berserker Limits - same as above but bloodlust still fills his head. Runs to nearest male ally and grabs him. Holds the ally above his head as he starts to charge all his energy into the unfortunate ally. He then throws the ally to the aforementioned enemy head first, and as contact occurs, all the stored energy is released in a massive explosion damaging all nearby enemies (and the unfortunate ally too of course...really now, how would you like to hit an enemy with your head?)

Male char, asks enemies questions thus forcing them attack him. Knows all the latest songs and worldly updates. May 'buff' (improve stats) of allies by singing/dancing. Most likely 'victim' of character mentioned above. Favoured class-Bard/Songster.
Weapon of choice : Portable Microphone
Ultimate Weapon : Latest-model cameraphone
Limit Break : Selfless - Taunts enemies into hitting him so all other 'in-battle' allies get a free instant attack on enemy without wasting their turn.
Ultimate Limit Break : Blackmail - Takes a horrible (demeaning) photo of enemy with his cameraphone and blackmails the enemy who then pays the party a certain amount of cash (depending on character level - higher level = horrible-er photos :) and then enemy runs from the battle ashamed.

Female char, reserved type who talks very little. Has expansive knowledge with plenty of reference material. A Sorceror or Mage class.
Weapon of choice : Armful of books (casts spells on enemies...can also be thrown and summoned back)
Ultimate Weapon : Pathologic Basis of Disease, medical reference book.
Limit Break : Spell Chain/Spell Fusion - in the 1st version, she channels the energy from multiple books to strike the enemy(s) with spells, one after another for a certain time limit (depending on character level and available books). In the 2nd version, she channels the energy and fuses them into a new, formless spell which she unleashes upon the enemy(s) for an entirely random effect.
Ultimate Limit Break : Ultimate...ly Random Curse - opens the book to a random page and releases an energy blast from her outstretched hand (think Dragonball). The blast hits the enemy for moderate damage and hexes the enemy with all the diseases on that particular opened page.