Start of Track Camp (Friday, March 12, 2004)
I had a hard time squeezing all my camping stuffs+books in my campro bag, and an even harder time walking to school. Thankfully, not many books were required on friday. I received back my physics test, which was unexpectedly horrendously lousy. Even He who should not be named had a better grade. All hopes of a pass grade was dashed----I realised an hour of just glancing through the textbook was not enough (plus the fact I went for Maths S the day before the double tests when everyone else decided to skip). Dingjie said that the best way to start is to try Physics TYS. I decided to follow his advice from now on and start doing every single possible question---until my physics get a satisfactory "A". Told myself I must study physics for 2 hrs every night before I go and play warcraft.
My mood went down and I decided to chill out at the 3rd level hall after physics practical. Ruth and Esther came there as well. Ruth was about to leave for Russia, hence she started to call her friend and well, talk for a long time. Bio Prac was short, but Mr Chan made us stay back for extra tutorial, in which our class (except Ruth who left at 1530) almost ended up locked in the lab.
Around 5, I went to the canteen to meet my fellow trackers. Realised that the canteen was almost empty. I chilled out for a while before Justin told everyone to meet at the indoor gym. After changing to our PE kits, we had to scrub the mats, the floor with rags and Dettol. (us= free labour). After that, we had some ice-breaker games as usual. I was assigned to Debra's group, along with Nonis, Wei Xian, Jon Chen, Bernice and Vivian. Had dinner at Ghim Moh after the games. I met whitney, vanessa and co. touch ruggers there...they must have had a long day as well.
After our heavy meals, we went back to meet at the basketball courts. Our seniors (almost all males except 1) began to tell us the other side of RJ's history. (=ghost stories). Debra was quite scared of ghosts, as she covered her ears in vain. Apparently, the toilet at 1-5 was locked for some reason, which I do not wish to elaborate. Another was about the tunnel linking the back of the canteen to the field outside LT 2.5. What it was built for none of us knew. The seniors told us that 2 guys went into the tunnel a long time ago. One of the guy tied a string to his leg and went in, the other held the string. The other guy waited for a long while and still felt no tug. Losing his patience, he pulled the string only to find nobody at the end. The guy that went in was never found again....
Adding more spice (haha), Miss Poon also added her personal experience at RJ toilets just below the PE dept. By then, it was already 930, where everywhere else was almost shrouded in darkness. Hence, the next (sadistic?) program commenced----Solo Night. The track team was to be split up and each assigned to a spot throughout the campus. We were warned also that if anyone called our names, we should not turn our heads back, as this would put out the "lamps" of our bodies, making the person vulnerable to ethereal attacks. The patrolling trackers told us that they would say "cheesebuns" before calling our names. Hence, we were not to respond to any other voice that calls our name. I was assigned a dark spot at the staircase near 3--5. Tried not to recall all the ghost stories, as I had 1 and half hours to go. Began to think about many stuffs---the Desert Rose , goals for Track, studies, friends etc.At the end, I struggled not to sleep in the monotony of the silent night, occasionally punctuated by the noise of the patrolling trackers.
At the end of it all, we went back to the indoor gym. After washing up, I went back to the mat and began to sleep....(to be continued)