Saturday, April 13, 2013

102/365

Today is perhaps my most fruitful saturday ever.

Participated in the CDL E-Generation Challenge 2013 (#egen2013 hashtag all the way)with my classmates and it was really fun yet tiring at the same time.

Woke up at 5am in the morning (almost killed me) so I wouldn't be late since I was supposed to meet janice at Dhoby Ghaut at 6.40am but I was still late (by a bit) in the end. The bright green #egen2013 shirt was so striking I could easily spot participants from a few mrt cabins away. It was of good material though (plus it's free so oh well). Met janice and then we strolled towards the red line where we met florence on the way. We weren't the first to reach for registration though (seriously guys, why are y'all so efficient kiasu) but all was good when some of my group members settled down while the others went to register with me (I'm such a useless group leader hah!). The registration process was so tedious, I was glad we finally registered and got our 'survival' kits. Decorated the banner as soon as we got our pack (I saw other groups peeping over haha too bad for them) and took some photos before the race began.

Set off at 8.26am at the starting line and was the only group that ran around and in the opposite direction (because our bus stop was at the back). Thank god for linyao and valerie who know the bus/mrt routes so well!! Found the bus stop, took some photos, took the bus and reached the Marina City Gallery. And we also figured out our positions in the team: Linyao & Valerie as the route directors, shi hui as our galloping unicorn mascot, Janice as the 'real' leader, Rachel as the photographer and I as the timekeeper. Anyway, at the first station, janice, valerie and linyao took the skipping section of the game while rachel, shi hui and I took the quiz part. A little upset because it was only at the last minute that they informed us that there was actually a stretch of wall (with most of the information we needed) at the place where we thought was the toilet. Did quite well for the quiz though, only had one wrong answer.

That station ended and we ran back to the mrt station, boarded the train to Vivo where we took a bus to the Henderson Waves (tbh I didn't know this place existed if it weren't for this race). Climbing the stairs up to the Henderson Waves already took half of our energy. The station game there was crazy I swear, my legs almost died from all the running. The stupid map did not help at all so we wasted quite some time trying to figure that out. Took photos with 4 landmarks and had to run back to report within 4 minutes (which is impossible considering we all had 2.4km run yesterday for napfa and hence muscle aches all over). Exceeded by a minute in the end, which is actually a pretty good result (although the game masters couldn't see that), and so we scored a 0 for that station. Heartless people. We got slightly demoralised and wanted to quit the race and go home since there's no way we could win now but we decided to complete it still so we headed to the bus stop.

Headed to our third station (Kallang Riverside Park) for dragonboating which turned out quite fun and hilarious. I'm glad I can put my bowling arm to use because the paddling isn't easy at all. Reached the opposite shore to complete and short game of completing a given phrase (e-v-e-r-y-d-r-o-p-c-o-u-n-t-s) and so during the game I was basically frantically running around trying to find the letters. Went Paddled back to report to the game masters and headed back to City Square Mall for the final station.

The final station was much easier I guess since we already completed our banner on the way back (which was part of the criteria to begin the last station). We had to get a stranger to post a status on his/her facebook and screenshot it (completed it as soon as we begin because this guy wanted to give our uniqlo flyers to us and in exchange help us complete the task), use recycled items to make percussion and wind instruments (which shi hui, rachel and janice desperately ate up the snacks to get the packets) and search for a phrase in the mall and memorise it. Reported to various game masters and we completed the game 2 minutes before time was up. So the race officially ended and we sat around eating our lunch while waiting for other groups to come back and also the prize ceremony.

The other group from my class returned and lunch together was fun. Before the prize ceremony, there were some stupid percussion activities and the class basically made fun of it haha (best part of today I guess). And also throughout the prize ceremony, we were hoping to win the iPad mini in the lucky draw and of course, get a prize at least. Sadly and as expected, no iPad mini. And unfortunately, our groups didn't win any award too. BUT surprisingly, DHS won the 'Institution Challenge Award' because we had the most number of groups joining (which is kind of a lousy award but it's still an award so I don't care even though we cannot keep the 1000$). Cheapthrill to the max, we squealed and screamed and laughed and took a photo with the huge cheque on stage. Dream come true.

So after the entire event ended, we went for food and just chatted which was good. My brain was too tired to function to say much and left for home after we finished eating and when they decided to head to the arcade to use the vouchers given in the goodie bags. So all was good and today was really a day to be remembered for life.

p.s. I'm prepared to get another round of muscle aches tomorrow and I think I wouldn't be able to run long distance considering the state of my lousy leg (alliteration intended)