Odac chalet

Hi, its me.
I am finally back after like such a long time.
Reason being that i was pretty busy with a couple of things at hand.
Ok, so let me share them with u.

Many things happened over these past 2 weeks, obviously.
If i had to track back, i would start with the odac chalet of cos.
That was a hit, one i did not saw coming.
Yuan lin deserves all the credit for bringing this whole gathering together.
Before the chalet, to be honest i was a little reluctant about attending it.
Reasons were plentiful, ie, its more comfortable to sleep at home than squeeze with others, i rather go shopping over the weekends, ehh, humanphobia and more.
The most important one was, i was very hesitant towards the whole idea of night cycling.
I have been skiving at home for far too long, the and prospect of a long and arduous night riding along deserted streets was unimaginable.
Nonetheless, things went ahead as planned.
And believe it or not, i had a great time!

It wasn't as painful as i had imagined, instead, i was an eventful night.
In fact, i would propose to all the couch-potatos at home to try it and rediscover the odac spirit in u.
Everyone has an outdoor spirit, i believe.
During the course of the sleepless night, we started from downtown east, went changi where i had nasi lemark( the famous one) in the wee hours of the morning, then to some ulu area which i didn't know where i was myself and finally back to Mac at white sands for breakfast before heading back to chalet to rest.
Okay, about the changi nasi lemark, ya the one at changi village, i have to be honest that it was NOT as fantastic as it appears to be.
All the publicity and rave about it on tv shows seem to only suggest that the host were good actors and liars(which they had to be), cos it tasted normal and punggol nasi lemark was so much better.
In my opinion, punggol nasi lemark was the best nasi lemark i ever had.

Another distinctive occurrence during the night had to be the mysterious white figure some of us saw.
As we were cycling down this deserted stretch of road at some ulu area (i donno where), there were these tall bushes along the road which were so tall that they were able block off the light from the street lamps when were enter its area of influence.
When i entered the AOE(area of effect) of one of this bush, i saw this white figure which i could not make up what it was right at the center of the bush from the tip of my eyes.
Obviously, i wasn't interested to find out what it was as i ain't no daredevil.
My mind was focused solely on catching up with the bike in front of me and making sure i get out of this darkness alive, my eyes were set straight on the flashing red lights of the bikes before me and not once did i turned to have a second look at the figure.
We were cycling in a straight line and i was the last man so if that "thing" grabs me no1 will know.
So i just "chiong-ed" and held my silence until i got out of this stretch of road.
Strangely enough, when we discussed about it later we found out that only every alternate one of us saw it.
Spooky or paranoid?
U decide.

More people poured it the next day when we had bbq, celebrated yl's bdae too and we had quite a night.
Went home on sunday morning feeling like a zombie.
Well, it was a fruitful chalet as i felt i got to know so much more people better.
That was by ultimate take away.
I felt really pleased at the end of it, like how one would feel when one truly enjoys oneself, and there wasn't any unpleasant memories to bring home with.
I shall elaborate on this.
This goes back to my appointment as the chairman of odac in my jc 1 and 2 years.
Its both a boon and a bane.
I have a "big" post and of cos it sound nice.
But along with it also comes a sack of burden or responsibilities if u call it.
Never once can i truly "da chen yi pian" or immerse myself in merry making with the rest of the odacians.
In the regime i was it, he made a conscious effort to segregate the heads from the lot.
We were suppose to see and ensure the success of each and every event and at every point of time we had to be aware of what was happening and prevent anything from getting out of order.
This was so to preserve the name of the club as he didn't want anything bad to happen when we had group events either formal or informal, because as long as we are together we would carry the name of the club whether we like it or not.
So for 2 years, i had this "thing" in me where i had to picture myself distant from the rest, overlooking everyone to ensure their safety as safety was his motto.
I could not let my hair down and blend in with the group as that would be considered inappropriate by him, for we are supposed be constantly looking at the big picture and never be caught unaware of any tiny detail that was going on.
That was his expectations, and for 2 years i hardly enjoyed myself in any of the activities planned.
Everyday in odac was like a job to me, i am there to work and make sure people were happy(which i always fail to do so), something happens(as he never plans for us, we are suppose to plan for ourselves), and anything that happen ends smoothly(or we have to go for questioning).
So more often than not, i would go home feeling unhappy inside for various reasons, ppl not cooperating, kena scolded, unexpected problems occurring, felt unhappy with how some behaved or just felt that my job wasn't done well for the day.
I donno, i think my job(or the job of any head of an organisation) is to always spot problems, prevent it or solve it and improve the next event.
Thats why there is such a thing called AAR(after action review) right?

Anyway, being an odac chairman or president had been something one and the half years ago.
And i had shook off of that "chairman" thing in me.
You may not believe this but i had forgotten i was odac chairman until someone unintentionally reminded me of it a week ago.
As in, i knew and i had always knew that i was ex-odac chair but when i read the word odac chairman(which was referring to me) i paused.
I was like , huh?!, then i remembered oh i was once in-charged of a club.
Lol.
I dont think anyone knows what i am talking about but what i meant was that i had "thrown" this part of my life away.
Sometimes people do tell me, "i didn't know u were like this when we were in odac."
Like of cos!
I had a post in odac and obviously i had try to live up to the expectations of it.
But now i am just me, i no longer have to live behind that mask, i can be who i am.
The restrictions and down.
Arh, and this is why i dont wanna go to ocs(in army).
I dont wanna live behind another facade, with great power comes great responsibility, there is so much stress and misery behind the so called fame and honour.
Furthermore, its not like i dont like leadership, its more like i dont like this kind of leadership where u still have to report to a higher authority when u are a leader.
Is like u are a fake leader.
You cannot do what u really want and there is pressure coming from above, thus the need to put on a mask.

Wow, this was quite a long string of crap.
Anyway, i was saying that i felt really happy about this odac chalet.
Yup, because i its now me mixing with the rest and not "chairman" juggling an event of cos i get to enjoy myself.

And i am really glad i got to know people better, like know them personally and discover how fun they can be.
Tear down the barriers.

This ends here for now as i will move on to a next topic on a separate post or this post will be too long.
Cya.
Scott signs off.