Technically not a fantastic day to do any photoshoot outdoors...
But still took a long drive back to NTU... Not sure what exactly was the reason... But the thought just came into my head, and I just felt like a homing missile... No explanations were needed...
Chinese Heritage Centre
Hall 4
Hall 4
Hall 4Returning to NTU is always a very heart-warming experience... 3 years of my youth was spent here... 3 great years...
Much of my life's vision and principles took root and were shaped here... It's not just a place where a degree was earned... It's way more than that for me...
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Hall 4 & Nanyang LakeNanyang Lake has a special place in my heart... I remembered in Year 1, one fine night, a few of us freshies were invited to our seniors' room for a birthday celebration... It was loud, rowdy and good clean fun... But never at the back of our minds did we realise that straight after the singing of the usual songs and blowing of candles and blah blah blah, the common ritual in Hall 4 Block 24/25 was to dunk the birthday boy/girl into the famous Nanyang Lake... That night, the few of us freshies received the block initiation of sorts... We were dunked into the lake together with the birthday boy...
Of all the fun we had at Nanyang Lake, I'll never forget the incident at the beginning of my 3rd year...
Hall 1 TreeIt was the 2nd day of the Orientation Camp for Freshies... We did something no one in the Hall had done before... We constructed our own Flying Fox across the Nanyang Lake...
I was the Ex-Officio for the camp... Just wanted to be sure that the obstacle course could work before any freshies went onto it... So up I went...
And straight down I came...
It was the most excruciating pain I've ever felt in my life... Crashing straight into the green metal railings by the side of the road, instead of "Flying" across the Nanyang Lake...
Looking across the lake today, I could still recall the accident very vividly...
"I curled up my legs... up to my chest... my shins hit the railings... my glasses flew out of my face... pain... great pain... my body was tensed... tensed up in hope of making the pain less hurting... and the pain did go away after a while... only to be taken over by numbness... my lower body turned numb... my friends came... shouting my name... footsteps... running footsteps coming closer to me as I stayed motionless... I was unhooked from the safety line... my friends didn't want me to look at my wounds... without my glasses, I only saw a patch of white over on my two shins... thought it was just superficial cuts... was sent to the NUH... realised that the skin on my two shins were torn apart due to the impact... the white I saw were the bones of my shins..."
Looking back, the accident changed the way I looked at life... things could have turned out nastier... apart from the open wound, no fractures...
Great lesson learnt... take risks, but don't take your life... Life's short... listen to your heart and do what you believe in...
The most beautiful thing that happened from this incident was that it further affirmed the kind of friendships and bonds I had with my Hall 4 pals... Throughout the entire afternoon I was in NTU today, lots of images filled my head... all the late night suppers, block suppers, chit chat sessions, playing-guitar-in-corridor sessions, JCRC meetings, prank calls to disturb upstairs girls, water fights, unhappy security guards, flip-flapping sounds of slippers along corridors, roof-top gatherings, lantern festivals, mooncake festivals, darts training, CNY steamboat re-unions, Mao Mao, feeding Mao Mao, catching Mao Mao, rescuing Mao Mao, searching for Mao Mao, talking to Mao Mao...
Block 25Seems like I spent more of my time having fun than studying...
But all those, ironically, shape the minds of undergraduates... And that, is truly what Education is all about...
Many of my social skills were learnt during these 3 years... Networks were formed, visions of our future were formed, values were incalcated as well...
85% of my 3 years unversity life was spent in the Hall... happenings about a decade ago still stays in my mind even as I drove around in NTU today... I get this feeling everytime I return to NTU... I thought they'd fade away as time goes by... But it doesn't...
In fact, whenever I'm back in NTU, I felt safe... Safe because I feel like I'm shielded from the fast-paced world out there... Feels almost like returning to a mother's womb... where precious nutrients were received before we went out to the society to contribute whatever we could...
But more often than not, the world out there is quite unforgivingly harsh... and sometimes we forget why we exist...
Today, I was reminded of my purpose in life again... the lessons and experience right here in NTU were the beginning of my journey of contributing to the society... and at this point in my career, it's a timely reminder...
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I remembered the night when I packed my last bag out of my Block 25 room after my final exams, walking along the corridor, away from Hall 4... I was crying...
Today, driving away from NTU,I felt a little uneasy again... I felt like going out into the wild safari...
But I felt recharged... my heart is warm again... It's such a wonderful feeling knowing that there's this safe santuary out there in the far west that I can always come back to to recharge my soul...
The buildings and surroundings in NTU have changed drastically... but these aren't the only things that warms one's heart... It's the people whom I have the honour to know and live with for 3 years in our lives that completes the beautiful picture...
Hey Hall 4 guys and gals... it's been some time since we last 'da you' liao right? It's also a long long time ago since we last heard our Block Song too right? How about coming back to NTU for our next gathering? Bring your kids back too... show them where their daddy and mummy had all the fun...
Too bad we don't have a recording of our Block Song... so the second best option is to read the lyrics and sing it in our hearts...
Cougar's Roar...
"Solidarity Forever (x3)
For Block C Never Die.
Block C in Hall 4 is the finest in the land,
Even though we may look like a sleazy drunken band,
But if you ask us nicely we might jump in without fear,
We'll help you drink your BEER!!!
(Give that man a TIGER!!!)
Solidary Forever (x3)
For Block C is the Best.
We'll scratch (*ape) your women,
Scratch (*ape) you men,
And then we'll bong your cat,
Then we'll burn you block down while we finish up you BEER,
For never will you find a Block so divinely Blessed,
For Block C is the Best!!!
Solidary Forever (x3)
For Block C is the Best Best Best!!!"
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