My name is Ferran!

Hello! My name is Ferran! I opened my big mouth to Su Fern so I'm here as a punishment! I'M SORRY! So anyway, 5 interesting things about me ( actually 5 is not enough cause I'm like damn interesting pls ). I'm going for the longest blog post award!

1. My name is quite unique!

FERRAN

Not Ferranhide, Ferranheight, feilunhai, FarRen, Fairren, furran, Ferret, Ferrari, fatren(i was fat). These are some of the names that I have been called since primary sch and the best one was in army where one of the enceks couldn't pronounce my name and just ended up calling me Frank. Henceforth, was known as Frank in camp.

So I'm always very impressed when someone is able to pronounce and spell it correctly the first time.

My name has many origins and meanings so I shall choose a few of them.

Ferran \f(er)-ran\ as a boy's name (also used as girl's name Ferran), is of Arabic origin, and the meaning of Ferran is "baker".

Read more at http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Ferran#DJTqlge1mlF34hzy.99 


 Ferran - German origins. Means Peaceful Venture.

So yup. Thats my name! Oh and I don't have a chinese name. Or rather its not reflected on my IC which I thank God for. If not I would need to write another paragraphs for all the variations of my chinese name. 

2. I was in Band. FOR 12 YRS

Yup. I was in Band for 12 yrs. Since Pri 1 till J2. You would think that after 12yrs of playing, I would be damn good like in 'open men finals all the time' but NO! I GOT LITTLE OR NO TALENT IN MUSIC AT ALL. like seriously. I can't catch the rhythm or sight read for nuts. I would like cheat and go home to listen to the music first see how it was like ( look at ppl's beta ) then try to copy. But okay la, I wasn't that bad. Maybe like 'inter-men'? 

So like I said I was fat last time and my brother always teased me saying that caused I joined band and always sat on chairs thats why I hardly exercised and grew fat. Seriously. I was in the TAF club in primary sch. I think it was called 'Trim and Fit' club. Sigh. All that skipping rope and shit. Did not work at all.....I'm still short.....

You must be wondering why I stuck with it for so long ( if you are not just shut up and listen ). Well in primary sch, I needed to join a cca so band was the first to approach me. Then join lor. Actually, my parents signed me up for sailing in p4 and I was quite good at it, like seriously, I was in the 'A' squad (the squad they select young national sailors from). But both of these activities were time consuming, so p6 PSLE had to choose one. So I chose band. Yea. If I had chosen sailing, I think my life would have been significantly different. I always like to think about what might and could have been. Secondary sch thought I would nv join band again, saw them perform, POOF, was in band again. Actually, the truth was I tried joining the basketball team but I was too short and I kinda sucked. YUP. MOVING ON. JC was cause I had shit O'lvl results so I applied through band to get into NYJC. And POOF. was in band again.

Oh yeah. I play the Flute. Teehee. People usually think that girls are suppose to be the ones the play the flute as it is seen as a more feminist instrument. ( Symbolic interactionism - attaching meanings to objects ) eh edmund, not bad right! But in reality, most professional flautist are men. Just smt interesting to share.

So here are some pictures.

So here is me playing the drums. Actually no. I can't play the drums. but this was a cool pic so yeah.

Thats me.

3. Why I joined climbing

Cause it is therapeutic. Haha. Am I the only one that feels that way? Like all my problems seem to disappear whenever I'm in the gym. Not that I have alot of problems but I like to think alot, sometimes too much then it gets annoying. Then I go to gym then I climb then I feel so much better. Some people like to think that the gym is their second home. I would like to think my gf is the gym. Protecting me from all the worldly troubles. Using her tiles to wrap around me and telling me everything is going to be alright. But then again she is sometimes quite smelly so its good that we clean her up once in awhile. GOOD JOB PEOPLE! Sigh you guys think I'm weird right?

Moving on, I joined climbing cause its really fun and I love it. They say that times passes really fast when you are having fun. Thats why climbing sessions always passes so fast! cause they are fun! Like you go in at 4pm then POOF. its 10pm! Like omg where did the time go!

Climbing is officially my first sports cca. Okay. technically basketball was my first sports cca but I joined only in J2 and trained for a few months for A'div and that was it. SO NO COUNT. I like how climbing has no running involved cause I REALLY REALLY HATE RUNNING. which ironic cause i like basketball which has alot of running. But running itself is so boring. Sorry to those who like it but I just can't run UNLESS I really need to cool down or vent my anger in the past then I would run. But now there is climbing to cure that! so yay! Sian still got ippt.

4. I have a dog named Keira

I love animals but I love dogs the most. So I have a dog! I named her after the actress Keira Knightley. Sigh which on hindsight seemed like a good idea but now, I will never be able to look at Keira knightley without thinking about my dog. Keira is a mixed breed of something and something. Her father and mother belongs to my uncle and her brother belongs to my cousin so sometimes we would have family gatherings like CNY and everyone will be there!

So this is Keira. Don't be fooled by her sweet innocent look. She likes to lick and spread her love around. And if she is angry she will shit and pee near you. Maybe I should have gotten a cat.

Like this...

She, like me, hates to run. I took her out to run once. and that was the last time. She literally just lied down on the floor and refused to move. So I had to carry her all the way back home. Lazy ass.

And we sometimes sleep together............hmmm

5. Lastly I had one of the best vocation (imo) in army

Basically, I was a spy. Is what I would like to tell people who ask what I did in army. Haha but what I did was kinda similar to that. I was a UAV specialist, one of those once a year intake kinda vocation. Whats a UAV? It is Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Essentially, it is a remote control plane. Like those you see at East Coast Park with their little propellers but bigger. Very much bigger.

The Searcher!

So there is like a camera attached it and we will be somewhere else looking at the live video feed. See! like spying. Just from the sky. So sometimes we will fly around HDB areas and try to see what people are doing at home. Cooking. Washing Clothes. Naughty things etc etc. HAHA right.

So yeah. The government is watching you. 

But honestly, air force damn tough. Its 8am-5pm. 8am breakfast 10am tea break 12pm lunch 3pm tea break 5pm go home! Most of the time we do mental training. Like we will close our eyes in office and imagine ourselves flying and carrying out missions. Its really no walk in the park. Sometimes we need to practice how to communicate effectively with one another so we engage in strategic roleplaying like Monopoly and Risk. All really hard stuff.

Oh and something really unique about my vocation is the vocation badge. Its a pair of wings. Both officers and specs get it after completing the course. 

Our Wings.

My friend and I after an exercise. Seriously, we are good at what we do. That look of confidence unparalleled by anyone.

So yup! thats the end of my post! 

Denise! I choose you!

5 things about Su Fern!

Hello!!! Sorry to keep everybody waiting! Here are 5 things about me:

1)

I love animals but I like cats the best!!! When I was younger I used to read tons of books about animals- anybody remembers the Animal Ark series?? Anyway, I like cats so much that I used to carry about cat treats in my bag and I would offer stray cats a little bit!! I got thejumpy neighbourhood stray to eat some out of my handhaha many mornings were spent sitting patiently at the staircase so as to gain its trust. When I picked up climbing earlier this year, I realized that many of the climbing gyms had cats residing within the gym/ in the vicinity!! At ClimbAsia I fed Grumpy (who ignored me after the food was gone) and at Yishun SAFRA I fed a stray on the way to the gym and at Onsight I fed the kittens!!! I’ve yet to find a cat lurking around NUS but if you do see one tell me k :)

2)

I like sports!! I’ve been through phases of different sports ranging from short stints with sports like muaythai, windsurfing, kickboxing etc. to my ‘staple’ sportslike running /swimming! I used to swim a lot when I was very young. Then I spent a good part of secondary school to JC running long d. Like siao hahaha Everyday run runrun!! I pushed myself quite hard then!! Haha back then I was young so I possessed the ample energy required xDThe most memorable running experience in J1 was finishing 21km without stopping!! I don’t even know how I did it now haha. Okay but the thing is!! Somehow I always end up signing up for the wrong category for marathons!! For the 21km run, I actually signed up for the 10km run. So I flipped my race tag over and justrannnnnnnnnnnn and tried to avoid all the officials in case they decided to ask me about my tag. And this year’s Runus- I signed up for the open category when I was supposed to sign up for the Nus category with myfriends hahaha.

3)

Somewhat related to point two- I do yoga. There’s this misconception that yoga is boring!! But it’s not!!! I really like it! (Even if I can’t do all the moves) Especially when we do cool stuff like arm balances! I’m not so good at stuff that requires straightening/ stretching of legs cuz my hamstrings are tight from all that running.Maybe one day I can do the posture where you can suck in your stomach all the wayyyyyy. I wanted to put a picture of the pose but it’s too creepy and I don’t wannascare anyone xD

4)

Ok I looked through my old photos and realized that over the course of my life, I have done a lot of stupid things which have (unfortunately) been caught on camera.Hahaha so embarrassing but I will share nevertheless. There are more!! But these are the least embarrassing ones…… so that I will still be able to retain a semblance of my dignity next time I see you all. K this leads me to my point- I am quite shy with people I don’t really know but once we hit off  hahahaha I promise you we will have the time of our lives xD 

Left: me at 6 being stupid with my bro. but it’s okay. Cuzwe’re kids. Kids are allowed to do dumb stuff. Right: 11 years later- not much has changed……

My friends caught me at the Chinatown Heritage centre trying to pass of as a fortune teller

5)

MY LAST POINT IS ABOUT ALI CHOW. I’ve known Chow since secondary one!!!!!!!! We’ve been through thick and thin (and more, I daresay!!!) together. We used to be in guides back in secondary school and now I’m very excited to be in the same CCA together with her again!!She’s also the person you can thank (or scold) for my being in climbing.Haha the very first time I went bouldering was when Chow brought me to Yishun!!! :) She is a very goodshifu!!! Here are two pictures to sum up the evolution of our friendship.

                                            to

 to

HAHA done finally!!!!! Ferran it's your turn!!!!

5 things about geraldine

omg i spent the last one hour trying to figure out how to post this.

 HIII my name's geraldine.

1) i look like i'm perpetually pissed. but then right. i'm not. hahaha it's just my relaxed/dazed face. got it from my dad:] you'll see soon. people say i should smile more but i think i'd look really strange and my facial muscles will start to twitch(no i'm serious)

 2) my family loves to travel. we try to get out of the country at least once a year. there was this period when we were going to australia every year for some reason. i think we really liked it there. and that was when i developed a desire to marry a farmer:] this is us in switzerland! we went there in june this year omggg it's such a pretty place really.
 
imagine my dad not smiling.you get a damn fierce looking uncle who looks like he sees through you. scary right. 

3) i've been playing tennis for most of my life. i still am but not competitively anymore. but i still love the sport cause you don't get dirty and i loveeee the sun. we got really black during season period. this was my team in sajc:]
 

 4) i'm a dog person. if i could, i'd get a border collie and name it summer. i really like sheepdogs. unfortunately my mom doesn't fancy dogs much. my dad had 3 dogs and a parrot growing up. gahh jealous. if rachel and i were to get one it'd be a husky and we'll call it geraldchel cheong hahahaha. but we would have to hide it somewhere.

 
future summer:)

 5) i really love potatoes. all forms of it (baked, fried, boiled, roasted, mashed, etc) it's the yummiest vegetable on the planet.

 k i'm done next upppp heng tiong!

5 things about Andy

Yo! I'm Andy but people do not usually call me that. That leads to the 1st interesting/stupid fact about me...

1) My various Nicknames

My various nicknames centre around certain characteristics (at least that's what I think came behind the thinkings behind my nicknames) about me that older men usually possess.

My vjrc teammates call me "ah pek".

My vjrc seniors call me "uncle"

while my BMT sectionmates called me "lao pei".

For syafiq's sake, I shall translate "lao pei" as a hokkien referral word to "my father" when used in a context where you are talking about your father to your friend.

As for why I have been given these nicknames, I really do not have not much of an idea. However, the following facts about me may provide some insights to the thinkings behind my nicknames.

2) Drinking coffee

Unlike some of you who may like nothing more than to be able to chillax in a corner of starbucks or some cafe, enjoying a nice brew of coffee,

what I enjoy doing on most days, or even everyday, is to just grab a cup of kopi from the nearest kopitiam and chillax at the kopitiam.

In fact, I'm an "ah pek" with a sweet tooth, just kopi for me, no kopi-o, kopi-o-kosong, kopi-bo or whatsoever combos.

On days where I'm too early for school and I'm going to school from clementi MRT, I'll drop by clementi hawker centre, grab a cup of kopi pua seo (hokkien for "half hot" a.k.a. coffee with milk, served warm), grab a seat, stone & enjoy my kopi & watch the world go by before reality sets in again and I proceed to school. So anyone who's early for school next time, if you're interested in drinking some kopi or teh, can come join me!!

3) I'm a very slow person & I'm a sleep person

Most of the time when there isn't any need to rush, I'll take my time to do stuff. I feel that its therapeutic to take things slow but my mum always scolds me for being slow. She insists that none of my dad's and her genes have been inherited by me since they're all very "fast" while I like to take my time. My slowness "translates" to my studying and doing my homework as well. I find that it usually takes me much more time to study and/or do homework as compared to my peers. I find that that's ok as long as I understand whatever I'm studying except that...

I'm a sleep person, I need at least 6 hours of sleep on 1 day and then at least 7 hours of sleep on the next and the cycle alternates, while I need at least 8 hours of sleep on 1 day of the week. If not, I'll be stoned-faced, more unresponsive and generally listening with my ears closed to the lecturer on the next day.. yah so anyway I sometimes worry if I'll be able to catch up on course material since I need to sleep but I cannot study fast!!

4) I'm a rather chinese person

I speak chinese at home, I listen to chinese songs and I can process my thinking in either english or chinese (I think..). and I think one reason my vj teammates called me ah pek is because I'll occassionally use a 4-worded chinese idiom during our conversations that they have either not heard of or do not understand (because most victorians jiak gan tang (hokkien slang for eating potatoes?? a.k.a. westernised) ). Anyway, I also came from a chinese SAP school Dunman High School which may account for one of the reasons why I'm a rather chinese person..

5) I love playing sports

Besides climbing, I enjoy playing soccer and tennis as well. I still get occassional soccer sessions once or twice a month on weekends but I haven't had the chance to play tennis ever since school's started. I enjoy playing different sports as well as trying out new sports partly because of the adrenaline rush due to sports and maybe also because of the new skill sets you pick up when you learn a new sport. So anybody who wants to play sports next time can jio me lol..

If you haven't realised by now, I've typed more words as compared to most people and some people especially my vj teammates say I'm long-winded.. So there are times when I embark on a long explanation on something and my teammates will just close their ears and walk away or refuse to listen to me because I have some long long theory explaining the situation when the situation actually deosn't need explaining. Like now lol.. So I hope that in the long run, my NUS climb team teammates do not become like my vj teammates and shut their ears to me or I'll be very sad... no lah just joking..

Anyway abrupt end to this, but next up, GERALDINE!!!

5 things about Novia

Hello! My name is NOVIA not Nokia, notice the difference in the spelling? And if anyone's wondering I'm using an iPhone not a Nokia. This is how I look like (not the picture posted by Jie Hong!):

5 Things about me:
1. I was the vice-captain of VJRC and ah Joy was my teammate in VJ!

Oh Irwan (the climbasia guy) was my coach in VJ and we use to train in Asia all the time because VJ didn't have a boulder gym. :( Here's our NSSCC team photo!

See a familiar face in the background? Aaron Tan was our coach too and it's so weird being in the same team as your coach! haha. NSSCC was really quite a crazy time because it was right before our prelims and we were training during the holidays instead of studying for prelims. :S But it was all worth it! :D

2. I loveee adventures! The most crazy thing I've done so far is bungee jumping in New Zealand which I did twice because my dad said it was more worthwhile to go for the 2 jumps package.

That's me hanging on the edge of the cliff before the jump and before my face turned as green as the trees.

3. I just passed my 2B TP test on the 10 of October! :D UNBELIEVABLE RIGHT? Can't believe it myself too!

This is my......dream bike.Unfortunately, my parents won't let me get a bike to ride around so... anyone out there who has a spare bike to lend me? haha.

4. I was in the basketball school team in secondary school. Most people can't believe I play basketball but being small has its advantages. (Eg. Running under the tall people arms when they try to defend you. True Story.) Oh and I always play the same old position specially reserved for the shortest player on court... pointguard.

5. I love reading! The library used to be my favourite hangout until school came along. :( I could read 4 novels a day? But now... gotta finish my stack of lecture readings first.


YAY! I'm finally done!! Next up... Ah Pek Andy!

5 things about Jie Hong

Hey people, my name is Jie Hong, and here's a picture of me!

1) I have an elder sis 2 years older than me. I love my family too! 

And the irony comes searching through my facebook/ phone and realising that I do not posses a family photo.. so it comes in 2 photos :)

Oh, my mom's a hairdresser, she owns a small, humble salon in potong pasir, if u go there cut hair got discount hahaha

2) I absolutely love buffets! Jap/Korean/Western/Dim sum/ ANY TYPE! Just not vegetarian though, i'm a carnivore :D

I don't have a picture for buffets I went to simply cause you don't go in a buffet and take photos, you just eat & EAT more!!!   Btw, the Takoyaki at Ion is good too! And nope, I never once felt guilty after a buffet :D

3) I like to travel to places with cool weather & good food! At the same time collecting mini figurines of iconic structures too!

Only two for now, but sure to expand my collection in the future!

Din Tai Fung mascot at Tapei 101! The xiao long bao there taste better, or maybe its just a psychological effect :)

Escargot in France! Taste quite good with the sauce actually..

4)  I'm an owl. I sleep damn late at night and had trouble getting out of bed VERY morning...and that explains why this post is going up at 4am.

Somehow i just got the feeling that I'll be sleeping in lecture tomorrow..

5) Bouldering>>> High-Wall climbing

I took up rock-climbing in srjc, with just the intention of joining a sports cca. Well, since then, I develop a deep interest towards bouldering, partly because its simple. partly because of that sense of achievement when you complete a route you been working on. There are people who would climb even if he is the only one climbing in the world, not me though. I would not be climbing if there are no companions around me, without someone to share your experience with, both ups and downs, though it makes things competitive at times, it is what that makes me want to improve myself and that's what climbing is to me. But at the end of the day, I love climbing and I do it because it is fun, and therefore I will always be looking for people who believe the same way too =)

Next up is Novia!

Just so that I can put this :)

5 things about rachel :)

Okay um..
my name is Rachel Ch’ng :)

5 things about me:

1. I love my family! Hahahaha.. ☺ yayyyyy. My dad, mom, three sisters & my dearest, dearest maid (we call her yati. But her name is actually supiyati. Like super-yati. Heh shes really super! ☺☺)

My elder sister isnt inside cos she studies overseas, but here is my elder sister and me! :>

2. Okay um, I have a cat! ☺

I love animals!!! :3 Actly I like dogs moreeee but my maid scared so nvmmmm I love my cat tooo ☺☺ And um basically I rly really like animals…. :3 Like bears and lions and horses and wolves yup yup ☺ I went to the zoo alone twice this year and once with my friends!! ☺ YAY and I cant wait to see jiajia and kaikai ☺☺

3. And another place I loveeee going alone is science centre! c: Sometimes I go with two other gd friends too but sometimes I go alone! to stargaze hahahaha they have telescopes there and stuff its free and rly cool ☺

4. Hmmmmmmmm I really like reading…… like really, really. Haha. :3

5. Ummmmmm……….. I like to eat? Haha.. partly cos I get gastric all.the.time…. haha.. so I gotta eat breakfast snack lunch snack dinner snack ☺

Andd.Coffee has a hugeee impact on me haha.. which can be goooood… like when im rly sleepy and need t study. Haha. ☺

its a bear!!! :)