Yes I know.
I have not been updating. Don’t blame the IT man, it’s my fault.
Go on, go ahead. Yell, scream, shout at me.
*runs and hides while covering ears* Done fuming?
Okay, now hear me out.
Sorry guys, I’ve been tied up with uni work lately that I never properly sat down to write the recaps for MSA’s recent (and not-so-recent) events. And before uni got busier, I was procrastinating. Ooops. =P
But while I was absent from my writing,
MSA did organise a number of events since my last recap.
Listed below in reverse chronological order are MSA
events that have taken place in April and May (so far):17th May – Dragonboating 3rd May - Paintball 11th April – SIN Dance Party 5th & 6th April – Sports Carnival (Also, the ADND Committee organised their Slave Auction and Dance Party on the 9th of May, and Blink on 16th May.)
See…I remember that MSA has events lah! Just haven’t written the recaps yet. =P
Hmmm…I’ll pick number
1 and 3 from the list to do first.
Rewind to last Saturday, 17th May… “Paddle, paddle, paddle your (dragon)boat…” Lucky enough, the
weather was good and the
water was pretty calm that Saturday morning. Participating members of the Malaysian student bodies from the
four universities in Sydney (
Macquarie, UNSW, UniSyd, UTS) started to gather at
Anzac Pier (near the Fish Market) at about a little past 10am, all ready and raring to go… No lah, just kidding. Most of the people had drowsy looks and sleepy eyes. =P
But everyone woke up soon enough. We were
briefed on the basic safety procedures by members of the
Naga Sprit team, and they also showed us the right way to use the paddles to move the boat. Then, everyone grabbed a paddle and off we went into the boats!
It was difficult in the beginning. On the MSA boat, most of us, myself included, were
first-timers at dragonboating. Everyone was awkward at handling their paddles and the
timing was out, not synchronised. Water was splashing everywhere and almost everyone on the
boat was soaked with seawater. Hair, face, bright orange MSA shirt, pants, hands, arms, thighs, feet – all drenched.
After being corrected by the Naga Spirit representative on our boat and having a few rounds of practice,
we started to get the hang of it. There was still water splashing around, but lesser.
Our boat started picking up speed and we were now
working better as a team. Yeah, baby! On to the race! We raced against
MASA first, and
we won! It seems we won because we started off well on our first paddle. Woohooo!
Mr. Galven “President” Chia was so happy that he announced,
“Okeh! Since we are in the top 2 teams MSA sponsor your trip back to Macquarie also!” Hahaha.
This meant that
transportation costs to and fro from MUV to the city were covered by MSA. =) Whee! I’m always up for freebies, aren’t you?
After that, we
raced against SUAMS because they were the winners from the other race.
Everyone on the MSA boat paddled. And paddled. And PADDLED. Furiously.
Like no tomorrow. Like saltwater-got-into-my-eyes-but-I-don’t-care-just-keep-paddling
. *dramatic background music* Unfortunately,
we lost the second race. But hey, we came in 2nd place! And
we gave it our best. Not too bad ey?
There was one more
final race where all the four universities raced at the same time. We came in 2nd too!
Improvement from last year! (or so I’ve heard =P)
After all that, we had to help keep the boats, and my goodness, the dragonboats are sure very heavy! But with so many people,
all the 4 boats were put back to its original place. Then there was the
thank-you ceremony and photo-taking.
Free pizzas next for lunch! There were more than enough pizzas for everyone. After all that hard work,
pizza never tasted so good haha.
It was a
good outing overall. Although we went home with wet bottoms and white specks of salt on our faces, arms and hair, we had so much fun! We learnt that
TEAMWORK is very important, every single person had to paddle their part on the boat, or else the rest of the team will feel the effects. That was one lesson that we all went home with that day. =)
Rewind some more: SIN Dance Party – 11th April 2008 It promised to be
BIGGER, and
better. So big that it had to be held in
Space on Liverpool St. There was gonna be both Trance and R&B.
Did it deliver its
‘sinful’ promises?
I think it did.
I enjoyed the party, what about you?
The party only started to kick off around 10-ish to 11pm. Guess everyone was busy dressing up.
If you noticed the red SIN posters with a hot chick on it around campus, then you would have guessed that
the theme was ‘Sinfully Red’. But hey, red or not, no worries, everyone who attended the function partied the night away! =)
The place was packed with people! Either at the bar, or working up some moves on the dance floor, or playing some rounds of pool, or getting lost in the music (and among the people) on the other dance floor. (There are 2 dance floors at Space, in case anyone’s wondering.) But I’d have to say, the
R&B section was more popular compared to the Trance one. =P
I didn’t stay till the end because I wanted to catch the last bus at 3am back to Macquarie. Don’t wanna sleep on the streets of Sydney, yo! But I had my share of fun that night. And
the timing was perfect! Right at the start of the 2-week mid-sem break.
Great night out,
perfect excuse to dress up, and
good opportunity to de-stress. Pretty much sums it up.=D (at least in my case, haha)
Gosh, this is getting so long. Hope it will keep you guys happy till after my exams in June yah! Will submit the remaining 2 recaps then. (oh, but that is if I manage to survive my exams, so wish me luck people!)
Meanwhile, all the best for exams guys! But still,
keep a lookout for MSA’s upcoming activities so you don’t miss out! Yours truly,
Selina Tay
