Thursday, January 31, 2008

Hullo again to all BBians!

Just a brief recap of what happened during our Buckle-Buckley Combined House Meeting on wednesday at the amphitheatre for all those who didn't manage to make it down! :)



First up, a quick welcome back for J2s and introduction of our house teacher, Mrs Olivia Tui! Following which, a quick video recap of all the initiatives we've had so far, and a brief run-through of our BB initiatives by Nicholas and Kovan!



Up next came a wonderful publicity stint by the Dramafeste Cast! For all interested in helping out with props, costumes, makeup, etc etc, do contact us at bucklebuckley@gmail.com, or contact Ye Wei, AJ, Hannah or Felicia, or simply just any of the BB House D members!

Shihua and Felicia then continued on with Interhouse Championships briefing - below is the calendar for the upcoming IHCs in the months of February and March. Interested participants for any of the below IHCs, do email us at bucklebuckley@gmail.com!



Grassroots recruitment was up next! We've received a very enthusiastic response from the J1s for grassroots signups! :) Signups are still open - any BBians interested in joining grassroots, do email us your full name, class, handphone number, home number, and your preferred first two choices of committee (IHC, welfare or publicity) at bucklebuckley@gmail.com! :)



After which, the BB collar pins were distributed out to the J2s, and we ended off house meeting with a bang with house cheers! :)

We sincerely hope everyone enjoyed the house meeting! Keep on loving BB, and see you guys around school! :)


Love, BB House D!

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Sunday, January 27, 2008

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Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Hullo to every single BB-ian out there! Here’s a special on the BBq House Party that happened just a couple of days back, for those who couldn’t make it down, and for those who were present to remember the fun that we had! :)

First up, before the BBq even begun, we had the J1 OGs coming down to the parade square for OMG [One Month of Games]! Frisbees were flying around everywhere, while some chose to stick to squishy balls which were less inclined to fly off the parade square and down to the canteen.







We had DJs in the house [PING & PONG YO] and song dedications all around!



As the afternoon went on and OGs were happily playing up in the parade square, preparations had already begun for the BBq down in the canteen below!







The food arrived, canteen tables were moved aside, pits were set up, and soon enough, throngs of BB-ians came streaming in, a sea of green! OF course, the OGs immediately got down to starting their fire and cooking their food!







Music blasting in the canteen, smoke rising from pits, a loud chatter throughout and laughter everywhere, the atmosphere was totally high in the canteen on Friday night! :) The random catastrophe of pits collapsing and newspaper catching fire just served to bring the noise and excitement level up a few notches, even though it did send all of the teachers and HouseD members into a flurry for a little while! Certain OGs were very skillful indeed, and their pit did not burn through at all! Most were not as fortunate, sadly.









The BBq didn’t just end after the fires in the BBq pits died out though, the best was yet to come! After a very swift clean-up with all of the BB-ians help, they were all ushered up, back to the parade square, where more games of CATCH THE OGLs awaited them! A less intensive but nonetheless humorous and entertaining round of Indian wrestling followed, and then a final round-up with the J1s’ batch song singing, and a bout of Raffles cheers! :)





Everyone got shooed home after that then as it was really getting quite late, and that was the end of our very own BB house party, BBq! We do sincerely hope that every single BB-ian who came down enjoyed themselves tremendously at BBq! :) Of course, if you have any comments or feedback, do feel free to email us at bucklebuckley@gmail.com! Hope you’ll be looking forward to all the other BB events coming up soon as well! :)


Love, BB HouseD! :D

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Sunday, January 20, 2008

The Confession
For three days, a fierce winter storm had traveled 1,500 miles across the North Pacific from Alaska, packing gale-force winds and torrential rains. In the foothills of the Sierras in the town of Grass Valley, California, the streets were flooded, and in some parts of town, the power was off where trees had fallen. At the small church in the town, the heavy rain and high winds lashed against the windows with renewed violence.

In the tiny bedroom upstairs, Father O'Malley was writing his sermon by candlelight when the phone rang. As he picked up the phone, a hurried voice asked, "Is this Father O'Malley?"

"Yes," the priest replied.

"I'm calling from the hospital in Auburn. We have a terminally ill patient who is asking us to get someone to give him his last rites. Can you come quickly?"

"I'll try my best," the priest said. "But the river has flooded its banks, and the trees have fallen all over town. It's the worst storm I've ever seen, but I'll be there in two hours."

The priest made his way out to his 20-year-old car behind the church, and started a long hard drive to the hospital. Not a single vehicle was out and about at this late hour, and he made slow but steady progress towards the hospital.

I hope I'm not too late.

With his tattered Bible tucked deep in his overcoat pocket, O'Malley pushed the door of the hospital open.

"I'm so glad you came," the night nurse greeted him. "The man I called you about is slipping away fast. He's been an alcoholic for years, and his liver has given up on him. In all the time he's been here, he hasn't had a single visitor. No one knows who he is; he doesn't seem to want to talk much. We've been treating him on and off for the last few years, but this time it seems as if he's just given up the fight."

"What's his name?"

"The staff just call him Tom."

In the soft night-light of the room, Tom looked as if he had already stepped over the threshold of death.

"Hello, Tom. I'm Father O'Malley, and I was just passing by. I thought we could talk a bit before you go to sleep for the night."

"Don't give me that garbage," came the fast reply. "You didn't just stop by at 3.30 in the morning. I asked that dumb nurse to get someone to give me my last rites because I know it's my turn to go. Now get on with it."

"Patience," said the priest, and began to say the prayers for Tom.

After the "Amen" had been pronounced, Tom perked up a little and seemed to want to talk.

"Would you like to make your confession?" the priest asked.

"Absolutely not. But I would like to just talk a little before I go."

So the two sat there and talked about the Korean War, and the storm, and the grass and flowers that would soon follow. Occasionally O'Malley would ask Tom again if he wanted to confess, but he always got a refusal.

After a couple of hours, Father O'Malley asked the same question for the fifth time. Then Tom replied, "Father, when I was young I did something that was so bad I never told anyone about it. It was so bad I haven't spent a single day since without thinking about it and reliving the horror."

"Don't you think it would be good to tell me about it?"

"Even now, I still can't bear to talk about it," Tom whispered sadly.

"Even to you."

But then the first shafts of early morning sunlight shone into the room and threw gentle shadows about the floor. Tom watched the radiance of the morning dawn, and then looked at the priest.

"It's too late for anyone to do anything to me now, so I guess I might as well tell you."

"I worked as a switchman on the railroad all my life, until I retired a few years ago and moved up here to the woods. Thirty-two years, two months and 11 days ago, I was working in Bakersfield on a night kind of like tonight."

His face became intense as the words rushed out.

"It happened during a bad winter storm with lots of rain, strong winds, and almost no visibility. It was two nights before Christmas and to push away the gloom, the whole yard crew drank all through the shift. I was drunker than the rest of them, and I volunteered to go out into the wind and rain and push the switch for the northbound 8:30am freight."

Then the haggard face creased into pain, and tears began to roll unchecked down his sallow cheeks.

"I guess I was more drunk than I thought I was, because I pushed that switch in the wrong direction. At 45 miles an hour, that freight train slammed into a passenger car at the crossing and killed a young man, his wife, and their two daughters."

"I have had to live with my being the cause of their deaths every day since then."

There was a long moment of silence as the full weight of that confession hung in the air. Yet after what seemed like an eternity, Father O'Malley gently put his hand on Tom's shoulder and said only this:

"If God can forgive you, then so can I, because in that car that very night were my mother, my father, and my two older sisters."

Labels: botw

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Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Room With a View
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band - he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Days and weeks passed. One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the world outside. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it for himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.

The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

Epilogue
There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled. If you want to feel rich, just count all of the things you have that money can't buy.

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ANGEL MORTAL GAME FOR J1s!
Well well! The launch of a very exciting game for the J1s is coming up!
Angel-mortal game! :)

Here's a very brief outline of how the game goes, for those who weren't there/didn't catch it at the BB House Meeting! :D

1. You pick a name - that person is your mortal! (For simplicity, assume your mortal's name is APPLE for now)
2. You write a letter to your mortal
3. You address the letter to "APPLE"
4. You post the letter in APPLE's OG's mailbox! (Your mortal is from your buddy OG, so just post it in your buddy OG's mailbox! Say you're from BB01, post it to BB02's mailbox!)
5. You wait.
6. One fine day, you find a letter addressed to "APPLE'S ANGEL" in your OG's mailbox (your mortal replied to you!)
7. HURRAY! :D

Remember, you are someone's angel, but dont forget you're someone's mortal at the same time! So, you have to figure out who your angel is! So basically, (assume your name is orange)

1. You find a letter in your og's mailbox addressed to "ORANGE"
2. You write a letter back
3. You address it to "ORANGE'S ANGEL"
4. You post it in your buddy OG's mailbox (because your angel is from your buddy OG)
5. HURRAY!

So the point of this Angel Mortal game is to promote intra-House bonding, for more BB-ians to know more BB-ians! :)

But! There's a catch to this game - you don't tell your mortal your name! Mortals are supposed to figure it out for themselves who their angels are! So whatever you do, just don't sign off your letter saying LOVE, [insert your name] :)

Yup! This goes on for a while, until some external force (that's us!) decides to reveal all your angels and mortals on a certain day! If you find out who your angel is before then, you can still keep writing! If not, you'll get to find out who your secret pen-pal has been all this while! :)

The Angel-Mortal game will be officially launched TOMORROW (14th Jan)!
The mailboxes for each OG are already up in the BB T'own, you may start posting letters whenver you like! :) T'owkays and T'aitais of all BB OGs will be meeting up with the external forces (us!) for a very short briefing tomorrow morning! :)

LET THE GAME BEGIN! Enjoy :)

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Thursday, January 10, 2008

The Cab Ride
Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living.

When I arrived at 2:30 a.m., the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, then drive away.

But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself.

So I walked to the door and knocked. "Just a minute," answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

"Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she said.

I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness.

"It's nothing," I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated."

"Oh, you're such a good boy," she said.

When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, then asked, "Could you drive through downtown?"

"It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly.

"Oh, I don't mind," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice."

I looked in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were glistening.

"I don't have any family left," she continued. "The doctor says I don't have very long." I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.

"What route would you like me to take?" I asked. For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing. As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now."

We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico. Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her. I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

"How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her purse.

"Nothing," I said.

"You have to make a living," she answered.

"There are other passengers," I responded. Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.

"You gave an old woman a little moment of joy," she said. "Thank you."

I squeezed her hand, then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life. I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly, lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk.

What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away? On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.

We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware--beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.

Labels: botw

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Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Day 4 of orientation comes along, and it is The Last Day!

J1s reported to the hall nice and early in the morning and got to know their Civics classes! As the J1s tottered off, OGLs moved off to prepare for the very next segment, WAR GAMES!

House T-shirts were distributed to the J1s to be worn during war games, and the ISH was a sea of green blue yellow purple red! A quick briefing by the ICs, and off the OGs went, all ready and eager to do their best for their house in order to gain the lead in the INterhouse Championships!

War games was a blast - OGs shouting themselves hoarse, running around like crazy, laughing all the way! Strip Me If You Can, Tower Rush, The Uprising and Pacman rocked :)







After all that high during war games, OGs left for Free & Easy! Some stayed in school for auditions for o'nite, others decided to have a game of Captain's Ball; a couple of OGs went out of school for lunch instead!

At 5pm sharp, all the OGs reported back to school at the MPH, just in time for... o'nite! All the OGs were dressed up in costumes! Some chose the nerdy look, some went for Ah Bengs and Ah Lians, others even coming in pyjamas!

O'nite was a blast, and orientation was nearly reaching its end, with the ending of Storyline, IHC closing (Buckle Buckley currently ranks in third place for IHC!), and OGL dance and OGL skit!

However, there was one last segment - FINALE!

As the J1s poured out of the MPH and onto the parade sqaure, highlights committee was all prepared to end off orientation with a BLAST! A round-up of all that the J1s have gone through in the past four days was done, and their beautiful Batch Tapestry was presented to them, together with the burning flames of T'SPARANZA.



Orientation finally came to a close with the closing speech by our Principal, Mrs Lim, and Orientation ICs Hwee Leong and Linxi, and of course, the college anthem and a bout of roars and screams as we brought the house down with Raffles Cheers!

Orientation has come to an end, but this is only just the beginning for the J1s, the start of so much more! So here's wishing all J1s all the best in your journey in RJ, make the best of your time here! :)


Love, BB housed!



Psssssst this is really quite anti-climatic, but here's the Picture of the Day!

Labels: orientation

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Sunday, January 6, 2008

We've come to the third day of orientation, a fun-filled day of cheers, songs, dance and EXTERNAL ACTIVITY!

The morning was buzzing with excitement, all the J1s all excited and raring to go! A round of house cheers that served as warm-up to Raffles cheers, led by the CCA Department from council. After everyone started losing their voices, we moved on to the school anthem, and soon after, batch dance PART 2!

Then came storyline, and finally, the start of EXTERNAL ACTIVITY! OGs grabbed their bags and poured out of the hall, swarming their T'own areas and practically all around the school in search of their very first clues! Within minutes, many OGs found their clues and set off to their destination, SENTOSA!

OGs had to find their way around Sentosa and complete tasks in order to obtain clues which would eventually, lead them to their final destination, Tanjong Beach. The very first OG to arrive would earn the most points for their house!























And the very first OG to arrive at Tanjong Beach was...BB 12! Congratulations and well done BB 12! :D



Even though rain come soon after more OGs reached Tanjong Beach, External Activity was still a blast! Many OGs took the opportunity to bond together :) and most OGs went for dinner at Vivocity after EA ended for another round of madness and bonding :D



Thus marks the end of day 3 of orientation, and as OGs rush and meet over the weekend discussing costumes, OG item for O'nite, the last day of orientation looms closer, and closer.


Love, BB House D

Labels: orientation

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Thursday, January 3, 2008

Hullo again BBians!

End of orientation day 2! A very tiring day for all, packed with station games and song and dance!

First up we had IHC Opening, with raps performed by all the House Captains! An excellent performance was put up by our very own Anna Lee, and the entire MPH was totally hyped up by the House Captains!



After which, station games commenced!



Lunch came, and it was time for House Meeting! A simple introduction to our House Directorate once more, followed by introduction of our house councillors and well as our Teacher-In-Charge, Mrs Olivia Tui! A preview of the House Dance which everyone is going to learn soon, as well as an overview of all the initiatives carried out last year and to be carried out this year, and of course, IHC!

A round of cheering where OGs very enthusiastically volunteered themselves to lead their batch, and they did a very fine job indeed!





Ending off with a bang thanks to our mass games, everyone was all hyped up, just in time for BATCH DANCE!



Following which came batch song and then storyline, and that marked the end of day 2! (even though many OGs did still go out for dinner after that!)





It was a tiring, but fun day! So rest well everyone, much more fun awaits you at Sentosa tomorrow! :)

And finally to end off, today's PICTURE OF THE DAY!





Love, BB House D!

Labels: orientation

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