this was supposed to be published on Sun, 1 June, 2008 @ 11:53pm, but my internet got cut off and i had to save it till now.

tagbacks!
val: Hi JAMIE! you forgotten to write that ***** is your middle name!
LOL. HI VALERIE! tt 1 dun need to write, it has long been my middle. x)

yuanzhi: walao no way man. i dun wan to support ssa
aiyo! okok.. then treat it solely as u r helping me. c'mon b a nice guy. please?

Huiling: you mean you all have dinner every week still?
eh... not regularly la.. if very lucky can arrange for 1 then will have lor.

clem: lol you're late for your lesson *whacks you on your arse*
LOL! actually i wasn't late. i reached exactly on the dot. xP wah! whack me on my arse. u tink i little boiboi issit? hahaha! XD anw i had a fun time with you on Fri. =D

SOCKLING: haha wahlao youre so not coolz im coolerz. we havent lunch together yet :O
it's ok.. u can be coolz. i'll gladly let you. coz i'm HOT! yay! xP yea... but it's like recently i was slightly busier. haix.


i so should not be here, but i really gotta blog down what happened recently.

Friday
went to AHS to collect my graduation certificate from the G.O., then waited for clement to be ready. as usual, the sec3s were laughing and going all eccentric over the word "buffalo". =_= when we were about to leave, i went to the G.O. yet again, but this time to ask for an a4-sized envelope to contain the NYAA registration forms. the lady was still as nice & friendly to me. =D clement commented that she was kp. o.O owells, guess it's cause i know her better. XD

we made our way down to NYAA HQ after waiting for a really long time. n at 1 point during the journey, when we were on the mrt, i kept shooting clement, saying he was lazy and chose to procrastinate. so bad of me. x)

we were a little lost when we exited from clarke quay mrt stn, even though i've been to NYAA hq before. =x oh! n we were also a little lost as we walked to our destination. but well, under my navigation and instincts, we reached the right place in a short time. met the same guy i saw last time, and he was nice. =D we explained to him that we wanted to register x people, but we only had x-5 forms n payment on hand. he then replied that he would register x people, but we would need to send in the remaining forms and payment asap. that's what i call good service. =)

as we were walking back to the mrt stn, i realised that clement's shorts were not the one from the den, so i commented on it. very soon, we were having a debate on design vs. size. no link right? lol! 'cause he said that the shorts my batch had from sec1 looked nice, n i said tt the size was too big. so it just went on. how retarded. XD

was nearly late for music, but thankfully i wasn't. =D


Saturday
Y Nature Walk @ Labrador Park. i was attached to APSN (association for persons with special needs). apparently i volunteered to participate in this event alone (not together with other ventures), cause i missed the 1st session of service.

we were supposed to meet 8am at the entrance of Katong Shopping Ctr, but quite a few people were late, so we waited for them. got to know this group of girls who were already at the bus-stop when i reached, and as we waited. when nearly everyone was there, we made our way (by walking) to APSN. i never knew there was an APSN centre for adults there. n honestly, i did not know what to expect. =X

the 1st thing that happened after we settled down was an introductary briefing. the person-in-charge, mr philip, started by explaining what are people with special needs, and the different range of iq level for the people at different places (eg. MINDS, APSN, metta school). after giving a few examples of the types of behaviors, mr philip then talked about the way they address such people in APSN - clients (those who are still attending lessons and training) & members (those who have gone through training and are already working outside).

soon it was time to pair up with the beneficiaries. following logic, those who had experience prior to this event were paired with clients who were slightly harder to manage. as for me, i was paired with Aaron, a really cute 22y.o. member. the 1st thing we had to do was to introduce ourselves to each other, something which proved to be difficult for some of the clients/members. however for me, Aaron actually asked for my name. i told him my name, but he said it was hard for him to remember, so i asked him to give me a name that he wanted to call me by. eventually, i suggested that he could call me James, n he replied something like "ok. james, tt's easy to remember, just like James Bond." we both laughed.

as there was still quite some time before the bus arrived, we played a simple icebreaking game. it was just a simple telematch, but it got the clients/members really hyped up. i had fun running alongside Aaron, tossing him the balls that missed entering the pail.

when we were on the bus to Labrador Park, I chatted with Aaron and got to know him better. he told me things like where he was working at, where he lived, what church he was attending and other stuff. he even told me that he was actually a very sensitive person (something i observed and concluded during the walk), n he was easily affected by comments from others. but well he was really innocent, just like a kid but with an adult's body. he loved to sing christian hymns and chant rhymes, and would constantly get me to fill in the missing words.

during the 1st half of the walk, we stopped twice to have a look at the "exhibit" and take pictures. unfortunately Aaron had no interest of taking pictures, so i stood at the side and chatted with him. we talked about different kinds of faces (happy, sad, angry, blank, monster, alien etc.) and he was really amused.

we took a break halfway, and played a simple game. we were expected to count the no. of snail pictures painted in the pavilion/shelter. even though it was just basic counting, Aaron and i turned it into mathematics. haha! instead of counting off from 1, we counted the number of snails on each pillar separately, then added everything together. i could tell that Aaron enjoyed it.

after we completed the 2nd half of the walk, we settled down for lunch. it was then that i met Jun Jie, another member who was working at the same place as Aaron. Jun Jie was very different from Aaron. he was very expressive and tend to get touchy with others. mr philip told us (at the end of the day) that he didn't have any ill intentions, but rather it was just his way of expressing himself.

one thing that really hit me was an incident after lunch. Aaron and i were together with a few other volunteers, singing christian hymns, enjoying ourselves. then my phone rang, so i stepped aside to pick up the call. however, we were soon called to assemble, but i was still somewhere aside on the phone. at that moment, i saw Aaron looking around, muttering to himself "where is my buddy?". so i walked up behind him n tapped him on the shoulder, letting him know i was there. he was so relieved to see me. although it may just be a small incident, but it allowed me to sense the bond he had with me.

on our way back to APSN, Aaron displayed his interest for maths by teaching me a trick involving all 4 applications (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) to derive the original no., n he also taught me the BODMAS rule using a jingle which goes something like this:
bracket is the no. 1
times and divide 2
plus and minus is the last
equals the answer

overall, the experience was great. i have learnt many things from this session. =)