the raffles hall experience
*there's a beautiful sunset outside my place now...
sunset farrer 1
sunset farrer 2
staying on the 23rd floor does have it's perks. =)*
yesterday, i watched a vcd that was incorporated in the raffles hall year-book from my second to last year in the hall. it brought back so many memories from the hall...both funny and and emotionally draining...so much so that i almost felt tears welling up in my eyes. that's what the hall does to you.
i loved raffles hall. i used to play handball, basketball, sepak takraw, football and softball for my beloved raffles hall. 3 of my 5 ex-girlfriends i met in my beloved raffles hall. rh will always hold a place in my heart.
i stayed in a single room my whole time there...the final few years being in an air-conditioned single double room (a double room for one person)...so i didn't have any roommates during that time...which on hindsight, may have been for the better (looking at joseph and kk...jwoshi and what's-his-name...and goon and the chinaman...).
my room was damn cool. i hung jerseys of my favourite football teams all over the place...i had dim lights for the chics...i had the best mp3s to blast when i'm happy or sad...i had the coldest air-con with the thickest quilts...it was fucking awesome.
raffles hall was all about friends. you will always remember the first person you met in the hall. mak was a stout and robust figure when i first entered the communal hall...so i stuck with him throughout the days of orientation...aka hell...but more on that later. the friends that i made in raffles hall were my family. but then again, communal living with friends and actual family members is very different. staying with another human being takes a lot tolerence with much giving and taking...but you can't exactly shout "take your fucking laundry out lah you cheebye chinaman!" to your dad, can you?? i had a lot of fun. i remember the first few days that i had the freedom of staying away from home, i actually slept in joseph and kk's room instead of my own room cuz i was so excited...i preferred sleeping on the carpeted floor in their room instead of on my own lonely bed...that obviously changed when i got a girlfriend (but that's another bedtime story altogether).
orientation in raffles hall used to be very regimental. meaning that we used to have to perform army-like drills (not that i've actually experienced one...) and degrading activities, in order to learn how to "work as a team", "live cohesively", and not to mention "satisfy your seniors' egos". but obviously, after your freshman year, orientation was always more fun. i even became the "block head" of block 3 during my 3rd, 4th and 5th years (yes, i loved the hall that much)...and became the very person that i hated and despised when i was a freshie. while i admit that it may seem unnecessary and ill-conceived to outsiders, i think that everyone who had gone through raffles hall orientation came out a better person...whether they liked it or not...except for "gargamel", who apparently only came out with a new and improved name. he used to be known as yong k@#...oops! no real names now, moby...people law@#@ leh...oops! i did it again...anyway, nowadays, the hall orientation programmes are ridden with boring shit, like outings to sentosa and orchard road, where they embarrass themselves in front of strangers to build camaraderie...gone were the good ole days of freshmen-ragging and power-to-the-seniors! sigh...
the inter-hall games (ihg), were the main focus of my life in nus. girlfriend relationships were secondary, followed by my engineering course. i was crazy about sports back then. in the video, i watched myself throwing myself around the courts, having no regard whatsoever about my own well-being...i injured my wrist while diving in and shooting the ball during a handball match. it still aches a bit when it's about to rain...but on those days, i just look inside my cabinet to admire all the gold medals and let the memories take the pain away. haha. sounds egoistic, but they're my pride and joy..the one thing i got out of nus that shines. sad but true.
trophy cabinet
i used to play sports every single day when i was staying in the hall. if it wasn't hardcourt football, then it'd be sepak takraw. we used to chase all the basketball players off the courts to start the hardcourt football...which was all good cuz the footballers had more people...except for the fact that i was the basketball team's captain. i could sense the mutiny a mile away...no wonder i never won a medal as the bball captain...haha. but alas, bygones lah hor? right jason? right jwoshi? right kiat?
the dinner and dance marked the end of the year's activities. it was also an occasion for the hall to congratulate and thank the final year students for that year. in the video, i was reminded of an incident when i was paired up with the most beautifully-challenged girl in our batch for a "buaya / buayee" contest that was being held on stage. i remembered watching the other contestant couples doing all sorts of nonsense (one girl was bending over showing lots of ass, and another guy was trying stupid pick up lines, etc etc...), as if they really wanted the title of "buaya of the hall" and "buayee of the hall". which was when i turned to my beautifully-challenged partner and told her that i'd just do a simple peck on her cheek, and we'd get this thing over and done with. in the end, when it became our turn, i did my part with the peck, and was turning around to go off already, when my beautifully-challenged partner grabbed me back by the scruff of my neck and started taking off my tie and dancing agonisingly close to me...WTF!!! i was totally grossed out and probably blacked out after that...cuz on the video, it showed me taking off her scarf too. i nearly fainted again while watching the replay. but in the end...i was unanimously voted:
buaya prize 1
buaya prize 2
i think my beautifully challenged partner got second runner-up position for buayee...i'll be a gentleman and not reveal her name...after all, she WAS the most senior of the 3 girls that were up there...haha.
i'll update more on my hall experiences in future blogs...too much to write already...ex-girlfriends and all...aiyah...anyway, enough of being a bastard for tonight...it's dark already outside...
sundown farrer
time to hit my watering holes again...jaime's been waiting since 6pm. muahaha.
sunset farrer 1
sunset farrer 2
staying on the 23rd floor does have it's perks. =)*
yesterday, i watched a vcd that was incorporated in the raffles hall year-book from my second to last year in the hall. it brought back so many memories from the hall...both funny and and emotionally draining...so much so that i almost felt tears welling up in my eyes. that's what the hall does to you.
i loved raffles hall. i used to play handball, basketball, sepak takraw, football and softball for my beloved raffles hall. 3 of my 5 ex-girlfriends i met in my beloved raffles hall. rh will always hold a place in my heart.
i stayed in a single room my whole time there...the final few years being in an air-conditioned single double room (a double room for one person)...so i didn't have any roommates during that time...which on hindsight, may have been for the better (looking at joseph and kk...jwoshi and what's-his-name...and goon and the chinaman...).
my room was damn cool. i hung jerseys of my favourite football teams all over the place...i had dim lights for the chics...i had the best mp3s to blast when i'm happy or sad...i had the coldest air-con with the thickest quilts...it was fucking awesome.
raffles hall was all about friends. you will always remember the first person you met in the hall. mak was a stout and robust figure when i first entered the communal hall...so i stuck with him throughout the days of orientation...aka hell...but more on that later. the friends that i made in raffles hall were my family. but then again, communal living with friends and actual family members is very different. staying with another human being takes a lot tolerence with much giving and taking...but you can't exactly shout "take your fucking laundry out lah you cheebye chinaman!" to your dad, can you?? i had a lot of fun. i remember the first few days that i had the freedom of staying away from home, i actually slept in joseph and kk's room instead of my own room cuz i was so excited...i preferred sleeping on the carpeted floor in their room instead of on my own lonely bed...that obviously changed when i got a girlfriend (but that's another bedtime story altogether).
orientation in raffles hall used to be very regimental. meaning that we used to have to perform army-like drills (not that i've actually experienced one...) and degrading activities, in order to learn how to "work as a team", "live cohesively", and not to mention "satisfy your seniors' egos". but obviously, after your freshman year, orientation was always more fun. i even became the "block head" of block 3 during my 3rd, 4th and 5th years (yes, i loved the hall that much)...and became the very person that i hated and despised when i was a freshie. while i admit that it may seem unnecessary and ill-conceived to outsiders, i think that everyone who had gone through raffles hall orientation came out a better person...whether they liked it or not...except for "gargamel", who apparently only came out with a new and improved name. he used to be known as yong k@#...oops! no real names now, moby...people law@#@ leh...oops! i did it again...anyway, nowadays, the hall orientation programmes are ridden with boring shit, like outings to sentosa and orchard road, where they embarrass themselves in front of strangers to build camaraderie...gone were the good ole days of freshmen-ragging and power-to-the-seniors! sigh...
the inter-hall games (ihg), were the main focus of my life in nus. girlfriend relationships were secondary, followed by my engineering course. i was crazy about sports back then. in the video, i watched myself throwing myself around the courts, having no regard whatsoever about my own well-being...i injured my wrist while diving in and shooting the ball during a handball match. it still aches a bit when it's about to rain...but on those days, i just look inside my cabinet to admire all the gold medals and let the memories take the pain away. haha. sounds egoistic, but they're my pride and joy..the one thing i got out of nus that shines. sad but true.
trophy cabinet
i used to play sports every single day when i was staying in the hall. if it wasn't hardcourt football, then it'd be sepak takraw. we used to chase all the basketball players off the courts to start the hardcourt football...which was all good cuz the footballers had more people...except for the fact that i was the basketball team's captain. i could sense the mutiny a mile away...no wonder i never won a medal as the bball captain...haha. but alas, bygones lah hor? right jason? right jwoshi? right kiat?
the dinner and dance marked the end of the year's activities. it was also an occasion for the hall to congratulate and thank the final year students for that year. in the video, i was reminded of an incident when i was paired up with the most beautifully-challenged girl in our batch for a "buaya / buayee" contest that was being held on stage. i remembered watching the other contestant couples doing all sorts of nonsense (one girl was bending over showing lots of ass, and another guy was trying stupid pick up lines, etc etc...), as if they really wanted the title of "buaya of the hall" and "buayee of the hall". which was when i turned to my beautifully-challenged partner and told her that i'd just do a simple peck on her cheek, and we'd get this thing over and done with. in the end, when it became our turn, i did my part with the peck, and was turning around to go off already, when my beautifully-challenged partner grabbed me back by the scruff of my neck and started taking off my tie and dancing agonisingly close to me...WTF!!! i was totally grossed out and probably blacked out after that...cuz on the video, it showed me taking off her scarf too. i nearly fainted again while watching the replay. but in the end...i was unanimously voted:
buaya prize 1
buaya prize 2
i think my beautifully challenged partner got second runner-up position for buayee...i'll be a gentleman and not reveal her name...after all, she WAS the most senior of the 3 girls that were up there...haha.
i'll update more on my hall experiences in future blogs...too much to write already...ex-girlfriends and all...aiyah...anyway, enough of being a bastard for tonight...it's dark already outside...
sundown farrer
time to hit my watering holes again...jaime's been waiting since 6pm. muahaha.
5 comments:
once a buaya... forever a buaya lah.... haha... only now, you're a wiser buaya so you dun go around kissing beautifully-challenged 'buayee' runner-ups.
embarrassing situations?!?!? buahahahahahaha.....
those were the days...
tell them how we ninja our way around Engine Fac & Raffles Extension, procuring new furniture hahahahaha....
fayeth...like my buddy jo said, we've been caught in embarrassing situations on one too many occasions...i wouldn't know where to start. but i'll keep that in mind for my future posts. =)
shoezgal...yes, yes...you were the person who organised that stupid contest...thanks for the reminder to give you a good scolding when you get back from london. haha. =)
munnster...your brother was actually the emcee that night. he didn't help my cause much either. some friend he was...fye, no more jokes about b$! y@#% ok? haha. =)
jo...you mean those chairs and benches weren't "first come first take" meh??? (p.s. - i still have a cabinet at home that still has the engine fac sticker on it...muahahaha.)
wah, you're a real jock!
Hey " Sky is the limit "
Somehow thru the current rh forum, i ended up here because someone found your blog.
Anyway, hope you can remember me. I was year one when you were in your final year?? or was it fifth year?? Haha
Anyway, 5 times it is. Liverpool !!! And i totally forgot about you, cause i was going around asking everyone i know if they will go with me to Istanbul to watch it. I had a pair of tickets and i went with someone i didnt really know. :(
Keep it cool, Sky.
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