Is everything the same

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

back from EJ3 Camp

havent been blogging for about close to 2 weeks by now... cause have been occupied and been away to Malaysia for DARE Encounter Jesus Camp 3... i shall talk about the whole week where i have had been occupied by, basically, church activities for every single day

24th December 2007, Saturday

sound ministry has organized this outing to fellowship with the people we've been serving together with in church... since most of the time we only come to church, serve, and go off... this one is called Bowling for Jesus... lol... basically an event held at Marine Cove the bowling centre there lah... obviously, we're there to play bowling together... overall it's a good effort put in together lah... with i think about half the ministry strength attending the outing... it's fun... look forward to the next outing... haha

afterwhich Foon, Eugene and I took Foon's car to go and visit Mjay's dad... he just entered the hospice like last week or something... went to fetch JieYing and met ChiaHwa at the hospice itself also... talked darn lot of crap on the way and at the hospice also... in a private room of course... good to see Mjay still strong and film... hanged around till about 0130... then no more public transport already so Foon offered to give JieYing and I a ride home... hehe... good for Eugene lor... house just beside the hospice only... next day still no need to serve leh

25th November 2007, Sunday

needless to say... i'm serving in church again... what else... sound ministry... muackzz... was doing monitor for 3rd and 4th service... nothing much to say about this day... it went by pretty smooth with nothing extraordinary... except that Angie said my hair was funky... first time i heard that kind of comment... o.O

26th November 2007, Monday

went over to Eugene's place to stay over that late evening... cause was thinking that would make sure i do not snooze the next morning to leave for camp, and also a ride to suntec... hehe... not just that lah... was also thinking of visiting Mjay's dad that night after dinner... since the hospice he's staying in is just beside Eugene's house... however to much of both of our shock... i tried to call Mjay to check if he's at the hospice... just when i found out he was actually in his estate's multi-purpose hall... that rings the bell for itself... so Eugene and I were thinking that we had better go pay our last visit or no chance liao... so we made our way there... ChiaHwa from sound and Esther from video was there too... as it went deeper into the night and most of the people had left... we were bored and starting playing "zhong ji mi ma"... people who guessed the number get to eat the leftover food... haha... what innovative way to get rid of the leftovers... we played and chatted and hanged till about 2am+

27th November 2007, Tuesday

yea the first day of camp... woke up at say about 0630... ZzZzz... reached suntec at about 0730... we had to take care of the sound for both 4th floor and 6th floor auditorium... just nice... our respective waiting venues to board the bus... but how darn forgetful can i get... i actually left my jacket at the 6th floor sound console area... thank God for Laurence manz... i quickly sms-ed him on the bus and he just reached his office... so he took my jacket and past it to Coach Julian, who happened to still be the last group waiting for the bus to come... phew... and there we had our 5hours ++ of boring bus travel... of which we did stop by a chinese restaurant to have lunch... their service is ultra ultimately sucky... and i seriously do hope that it's just because they're stressed by the many people they're serving and not because they're just bad to start with

upon finally finally FINALLY reaching the hotel... the rest of the campers had to gather at somewhere... when i started to hear kick drum sound... then i was thinking, "sound check is starting somewhere...somewhere"... so i went earnestly searching for where the sound came from... upon finding Lionel and the soundboard i pluck my roots there... haha... not long after, Eugene also found his footsteps there... later then i realized that the other campers had been gathered to have their handphones collected for safekeeping... or in other words, "confiscated"... oops... probably God directed my footsteps to the sound console area to avoid that moment of "disaster"... soon after when the musicians came in as well... we proceeded with sound check... i was the stage manager and Eugene the monitor engineer... hehe... afterwhich i'll go back to the board to conduct housecheck

service started... and the mix was thrown to me... and honestly... i started like SHIT... then Lionel was like beside me telling me what to do and stuff... but my mind was seriously kinda too pre-occupied to decipher what i should do to fix my mix... but after a while, Lionel did the sarcastic version of saying, "bye... i'm going off"... then really went off... that's when i started to clear my mind and start isolating what i should do on the fly... after like 1 or 2 or even 3 songs... cant recall that... Lionel came back and said like, "wah i've only been gone for a while then the mix suddenly become so nice ah... what happened?"... then i just threw my answer at him lor... i said, "cause after you left... i felt less stressed"... haha... shhh... but i guess he kinda took it personal though... i hope not... cause for the next two days... he disappeared from the soundboard during service time... he says he's just somewhere in the ballroom lah

for the camp... am bunking with Eugene and Joasseph in Room 628... =p

28th November 2007, Wednesday

had a two-piece band and a worship leader in the morning... just two acoustic guitars playing... but it's just a men's and women's meeting kind of thing lah... the men are taking the ballroom... haha... and what did we talk about... DONT TELL U!... it's our secret... haha learnt that from the girls one

afterwhich there's station games... i obviously had to join my group lor... but was just being kinda aloof lah... just kinda cant clique with the group leh... but i think that the grads level is the level with the most number of aloof and "dao" people... haha... oops

at night had service again...but that night... the band is seriously so not tight lor... had a hard time trying to gel the musicians together but just cant... so i conclude it's the stage side lor

29th November 2007, Thursday

that morning we upgraded to a four-piece band and a worship leader in the morning... lol... bass, drums, keyboard and acoustic guitar... this time it's a level service... which means the whole camp is separated according to the levels and will conduct their service similarly... only thing is the levels 1 which are taking the ballroom has a four-piece band while others probably have an acoustic guitar... but come to think of it... even without electric guitars... my mix can still sound nice... so this goes to show i dont rely that heavily on electric guitars to make my mix sound shiok... =D

afterwhich had games again... this game is totally indoor... it's something like we have to solve a murder case... so we've gotta go to different people to collect statements and stuff... haha... initially went back to my room lah... wanted to rest... but soon got out to join my group... this game is not so much physically challenging... just mentally... haha

then at night... got praise and worship again... ok this time the band regained their standards... yoohoo praise God... but on the flip side of it... i lost my phone... yes you heard me right... LOST... manz... it's brand new leh... use less than one week and now it's lost... what's more... that place is Malaysia leh... damn it... Lord I pray for restoration manz

30th November 2007, Friday

whoa.... camp seems to fly past so quick... already it is the last official day of the camp... not counting 1st December since it's mainly just checking out and closure of camp and to begin another 5 hours of travelling back... so in the morning it was another Men's and Women's meeting... but this one is slightly different... Pastor Dan requested for everyone to gather in the ballroom first and to have the full-band to conduct praise and worship... then the guys and girls to go into separate rooms to conduct the meeting... haha... Lionel has kicked Eugene and I into the congregation for the Praise and Worship... lol... good thing lah... will need to join the congregation and stuff also

after the Men's and Women's meeting... we had DareGroup time-out... this part i shall skip... cause Eugene and I went to our rooms to sleep... we woke up at around 1700... and just in time when Christon and Joshua and gang came knocking on our door, saying they need a soundman... manz... at the moment i was thinking they could have knocked on the room 1039 manz... fyi that's Lionel's room... so anyway did sound check for the youth bands who would be performing for the last night... well i dont mind waking up to do the sound check leh... i just didnt like it that my dinner time kena cut off big time... lol

so after a quick dinner... gotta go back into the ballroom conduct sound check for the main band... sound check started at like 1920+... and doors gotta open at 1930... but thank God... it was later announced doors would open at 1945... and later announced to open at 2000 instead... phew... first it was some theme nite activities, themed MISMATCH, MISFIT, and MISUNDERSTOOD... not so bad after all... had a good time laughing at people's dressing... but quite of a disappointment... one or two of the youth bands, out of 4, did well enough during sound check... but come to the actual performance... one word to describe... SCREWED... and also because the first band started out sucky... it robs me of the chance to play with effects for those better bands... which i tried out at soundcheck and it was superb... cause if i had done so it would make me look stupid... after that was praise and worship... thrown the mix to Eugene... lol... turned out very good sia

01st December 2007, Saturday

it's pretty much past midnight then already... so then after that we were dismissed from the ballroom... Eugene and I went to our room... watched Catwoman on TV in our room at 0300... and when the show finished at around 0500... Eugene was already asleep with his ass cheeks facing me... tried poking him a little with no reaction... then i turned in too... lol

slept for about 3 hours and gotta get up... not to sound check but to check out... manz the camp felt so short... but it was supposed to be an extended camp... since other camps was 4D3N but this one is 5D4N... had brunch and we were ready to set off to start on another 5 hours travel back to Singapore... hmmm... but i felt so hesitant to leave... not so much my heart is still stuck at the camp experiences... but the question still remained, "where is my lost phone?!"... sighz... and nonetheless... the question of how to answer to my parents... sianz

and another thing... the bed is seriously damn shiok lah... i cant overemphasize this but the bed is superb and damn comfortable... those kind you lay your heads and will fall asleep in 3 minutes or less while waiting for your instant cup noodle to cook... lol... and even if you are not tired... you'll be forced to slumber once you throw yourself upon those beds

that's about it for camp... camp was overall good lah... though most of the times was spent serving... hehe... and great news to all glory to Jesus... Robin commented that this was the best sound they have heard thus far for youth camps... grace grace... the system was good to start with... and needless to say... it was Jesus in us just flowing as we mixed the sound... grace grace

oh ya... just got reminded of yet another incident... this one must highlight... but this one i'm not very sure which day it happened... so i shall just put it here... there was a time we, consisting of Eugene, Benjy, Lionel and I were eating dont know lunch or dinner together... then Benjy went to take a big plate of desserts for us to share... at the moment Lionel went away to take another serving of food lah... so we purposely put the plate of desserts at where Lionel is sitting... then we were betting among ourselves lah... without money of course... we were betting what will Lionel's response be... Eugene said it was, "WOW!"... I said it was, "eh move the plate away leh, i got no space to put my plate."... Benjy said it was, "wah who take one?"... so the moment came when Lionel returned... his response was exactly what Eugene had anticipated, "WOW!"... so the three of us burst laughing out loud... really loud... no doubt people turned around to see which table is that "siao gi nah"... and no doubt the reverberations were very obvious as it is acoustically post-fader... and needless to say, Lionel must be thinking, "what the heaven is going on man?"... but he didnt say it out lah

oh ya... and just reminded of yet another incident... also another time must highlight one... Lionel and SianHwa were bunking together in one room at the 10th floor lah... but they are not alone... cause that floor is dominated by all the girls in the camp... haha... one thing about the hotel is that the stairs are out of bounds except for hotel staff... so when it's time to gather for games or service or whatsoever... the lift lobbies would be uber jam-packed... so Lionel and SianHwa met such an incident... then Lionel went like, "excuse me... make way for senior citizens!"... then the girls turned around and really made way for the both of them and they walked through... but after a few seconds, a few of girls were like, "no way... ladies first!"... then close up the space... kena jacked big time sia

02nd December 2007, Sunday

well... the bad part comes on the day after we arrive back in Singapore... that is that i'm serving monitor for 1st and 2nd service... haha... i actually woke up at around 0715 and went like, "oh SHIT!"... quickly showered and flashed through the door and cabbed down to suntec... thank God i had Anthony's assistance and i reached around 0755... how nice

that's about the week... pardon this super long blog though... it's cumulative anywayz... tata

spoken adhesives at 00:30

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