2008 发发发 for AJCAACO...

October 24th 2006 marks the day when the AJCAACO blog - Euphony of Bonds Across Time was created. For the past 1 year plus, the 3rd batch AJCAACO has espoused several activities and events for both the alumni and the juniors. It was a tiring year for both the EXCO and many of the CO alumni members. Today is January 1st 2008. It is a new year for everybody and also a new year for AJCAACO. As a start, let me sum up what we have achieved in 2007 so that we will set new goals and resolutions in the year 2008.

2007 Work Year - Our Achievements

1) Launching of AJCAACO Blog: Euphony of Bonds Across Bond
2) AJCAACO Trip to Kukup
3) Chen Laoshi Farewell Gathering
4) Pre-University Sharing Session
5) Support the AJCO SYF Project
6) AJCO Heritage Exhibition
7) AJCAA Cultural Performance - The Reunion
8) AJCAACO Chalet
9) AJCAACO Christmas Gathering

2008 Work Year - Our New Goals

1) Chinese New Year Gathering
2) Rabobank Performance
3) AJCO Preparation Concert
4) AJCAACO KTV "SYF" Competition
5) AJCAACO Olympics
6) Chalets
7) Establishing AJCAACO Ensemble
8) More to come...... (Feel Free to Contribute Your Ideas!!!)

As the representative of AJCAACO, I wish all members of AJCAACO and AJCO a very happy new year. May the new year be smooth sailing. =)

@@@ AJCAACO - 2008 发发发@@@
~~ Liang Ah Lucas ~~

2007 Xmas Gathering...

Jingle Bells Jingle Bells Jingle All the Way... to Chunming's house...

It all begins at a lunch with Chunming and Lilian whereby they suggested having a gathering at Chunming's empty house in Serangoon (he has two houses; one for living and one for storing stuff). For a few weeks in December, Lilian, Chunming and Chunming's parents helped to clean up the house which was left abandoned for 5 years. They bought Christmas decoration (which includes a a Christmas tree) to liven up the festive mood , a mahjong table, a mahjong set and plenty bottles of soft drinks. Without Chunming, Lilian and CM's parents, this gathering will not be possible. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

When we first reached CM's house, we watched AJCO's past years' concerts i.e. 15th/16th batch and 17th/18th batch concerts. We laughed our heads off, while staring at our old fashioned hairstyles (centre parting hair) in disbelief. Nevertheless, we felt a sense of nostalgia and a longing to return back to our JC period. We are also looking forward to be involved in another one of such outstanding concert (especially pertaining to the 17th/18th batch concert). After watching the videos, it was time for MAHJONG. Yeah!!!

In the 2nd storey where the rooms are, we found a bookshelf of ancient Chinese books e.g. Chinese versions of Reader Digests (读者文章) dated back to the 1970s. It seems that a hidden wall will open when one of the book is taken out from its original place. Anyway, from the shelf, we managed to find a very special book written by the author called 白中发. We laughed like crazy when we saw the author's name. I think it is easy for anyone of you to guess what the book is all about i.e. 白(板)(红)中(青)发... Yeap. It is on Mahjong - 麻雀必胜战法 (see picture below). Anyone who wants to borrow the book by 白中发 can give Chunming a call. Hee...


In the evening, we went for dinner at the famous Chomp Chomp. We ordered stingrays, satays, hum, satay beehoon, bbq chicken wings, hokkien mee, sugar cane drinks etc. It was a wonderful dinner until it rained heavily and a few of us were drenched.

(Top): I was drenched after eating at the semi open-air Chomp Chomp.

(Top): Xiuhua, Shihui, Lilian and Serene with the super big sugarcane juice servings.

(Top): Erik, Chunming, Zhiliang and Mervin

The second batch of our friends came at the night when it was raining. Xiao Ting, Peiling, Chee Yong, Wei Ning and Jianjie only came at night. Due to the rain, they have to tabao the food back to Chunming's house. So nice of Jianjie to pay for most of the tabao food. =D

(Top): Cheeyong, Puay Leng, Jianjie, Qi Ling, Wei Ning and Xiaoting eating at Chunming's dining table.

When all of us finally gathered at Chunming's house, we exchanged our Christmas gifts randomly. Our names were written on pieces of paper and dropped into a bag where all of us will take turns to pick up a name. The name we picked up reflects the whose Christmas present we will get.

(Top): Lilian, our organizer telling us how to exchange our presents.

(Left): Jianjie giving Choya to Lilian. (Right): Huiling giving a hamper to Serene.

(Top): Shihui, Zhiliang, Xiuhua, Serene, Huiling, Erik, Xiaoting, Lilian, Puay Leng, Wei Ning, Mervin, Qi Ling, Chee Yong, Chunming and Jianjie

(Top): Chocolates, Clock (送"钟"???), Matchbox (with match sticks), Middle finger hand-held fan (Kaoz... Who got this?), a bottle of Choya, Books, Cute Photo Frames, Mini Hampers (that were nicely wrapped), Dustbin, Candle Holder etc etc.

And guess what the President of AJCAACO got? What a special present!!! -_- (see below)

As darkness falls, it was time for mahjong and drinking... Something that should not be missed out during festive season. The highlight of the night was marked by Mervin getting dead drunk, with a few others high on alcohol though still sane (Enjoy listening to mervin's screams when you 'listen' to the video below). Thanks Mervin for making it so hard to sleep at night =p!!!

(Top): The "Huiling Jia Jia Footage". Taken in an unlit room.

(Top): Serene with her rosy cheeks.

(Top): The most happening bunch of CO alumni posing
(as their faces got redder and redder into the night)

In our second day, we watched "Final Destination 2" whereby a few of us got very paranoid after that. Finally, the gathering ended with a 4 hour KTV session with our KTV queen Yang Tze Shing (and her bf who got a superb voice).

Thank you (especially Chunming and Lilian) whoever have made this gathering fun, crazy, wacky, high, delicious and enjoyable. Merry Christmas to the 24 Batches of AJCO Peeps!!!

@@@ AJCAACO - We Work Hard... We Play Hard... @@@
~~ Liang Ah Lucas ~~

Christmas Gathering Update

Details of the Christmas Gathering is as shown below:

Date: 22nd December 2007 - 23rd December 2007
Time: 2pm (22nd Dec) - 4pm (23rd Dec)
Venue: Chunming's House
Exact Address: 26 Li Hwan Drive (http://www.streetdirectory.com/asia_travel/travel/travel_id_19687/travel_site_1/)

How to Get There:

For buses coming from amk, bishan or yishun: 22, 24, 45, 53, 58, 133, 135, 136, 156, 159, 156, 853. Stop at bus stop right after CTE expressway.

Activities include:

Watching DVD and VCDs
Play Mahjong
KTV at Serangoon Gardens
Meals at Famous Chomp Chomp Food Centre
Christmas Gift Exchange ($5-$10 Gifts)

People Going So Far (19 people):

xiuhua, zhiliang, lilian, chunming, serene, xiaoting, peow ee, weilin, huiling, jianjie, zeyi, baohe, shihui, erik, tyng feng, peiling, chee yong, weining, qi ling.

Featured in Kukup's Official Website...

Remember our Kukup Trip organized by Lilian and Chunming? Of course right? That was a really fun AJCAACO outing we had last January. When I was surfing about Kukup again (to reminisce the good memories), I notice that our tour 'guide' has uploaded 2 of our photos on their official website. Probably, our photos are used to advertise the Kukup tour package because of the shuaige meinu in the photos. Haha! Here are the photos and the URL of the website's photo album:

http://kukup.bravehost.com/group_album.html

I hope that many of us can go for the upcoming Christmas gathering on this Friday and Saturday. Details will be confirmed again by Monday. We will have a team of people to contact individuals to remind them about this potentially fun gathering.

@@AJCAACO - Reminiscing The Good Memories @@
***Liang Ah Lucas***

AJCO Preparation for 2008 CCA Carnival...

As CO alumni of AJCO, I believe everyone has done banners for AJCO before when we were in AJC (I really dun remember my batch's banner liao). During the yearly CCA carnivals and open houses, AJCO peeps will design and paint a banner to hang somewhere prominent in AJ to attract new CO members. As for our current AJCO juniors, they have come up with a very cute banner. Designed by Diana (our cellist from AJCO), this banner depicts the fun and cheeky character of AJCO despite the seriousness during practice time with Huang Sheng.


Basically, the banner features characters from "Journey to the West" with Tang Sheng playing the erhu, Sha Zhen playing the suona, Zhu Ba Jie playing the pipa and Sun Wu Kong playing the cello. So innovative. Hahaha. Cute right?

Similarly, their CO T-Shirt will be based on Monkey God playing the Dizi. Here is the design sample (that awaits approval from Miss Chua Bihe). This is obviously not a clear picture. But I believe it will be very nice when printed on the T-Shirt (See below).

Other than showing off their nicely designed banner and AJCO T-Shirts (which they will be wearing), they will be distributing calendar cards with picture of AJCO performing during one of the concert. Here is the picture of the calendar card:

AJCAACO wishes AJCO all the best in recruiting plenty of good, quality, responsible and committed members for the 2009 SYF competition. This is a crucial time for recruitment because 2009 marks AJC and AJCO's 25th anniversary.

@@ AJCO - Recruitment with Innovative Ideas @@
*** Liang Ah Lucas ***

Rabobank Performance Is Back...

Rubber band? No. It is Rabobank - A Dutch bank with a lot of specialized international offices. For the younger AJCAACO peeps who do not know about the 'affiliation' between AJCAACO and Rabobank, AJCAACO has always been regularly invited to perform in Rabobank's annual Chinese New Year (CNY) function held in a colonial bungalow owned by the regional General Manager of Rabobank.

Due to 'unknown' reasons, AJCAACO wasn't invited to perform in the CNY event in 2007. Most fortunately, I have just received news that we are going down to the giant bungalow to perform again in Feb 11th and 12th 2008 (7pm onwards).

It was ages ago when we were first invited to perform for Rabobank. Was it in 2003? (Somebody help me with this). The performance is always a two-night event - one night is catered for the staff of the company while the other night is for V.I.P.s. It was quite a new experience for us since that was our first major 'lobang' to earn money for AJCAA(CO). It was also because of that performance that AJCO received their first batch of quality music stand (rather than the metallic silver music stands). If I am not wrong, $1000 was allocated to buy those music stands. Aren't we nice to AJCO? HAHAHA...

We performed very 'orbit' CNY songs during our first performance. Slowly, we started to incorporate more sophisticated pieces such as 三六. As for our 2008 Rabobank performance, we hope to explore into new areas. Our dear Kah Yong has willingly provided some of his arrangements on top of the typical CNY songs:

1. 歌声与微笑
2. 云河
3. 但愿人长久
4. 菊花台
5. 风真透
6. Don't Cry For Me Argentina (Quintet Piece)

For memory sake, here are some photos of our maiden voyage to the house of Rabobank regional's GM:

(Top): Our nicely built tentage.

(Top): A view of our bow-string section

(Top): A view of our plucked string section.

(Top): The performance continued into the night with the lion dance troupe at the background.

(Top): Peijun, our Yangqin player, attracts the attention of the V.I.P.s.

(Top): One of the Rabobank staff showcasing her unforgotten yanqin skills by playing 风筝乐.

(Top): First row; Left to Right - Zixing, Xue Xian, Lilian, Teresa, Shuwei, Zhiliang, Guoyong, Yiwei, Siqiang and Mr Wee. Second row; Left to Right - Kahyong piggy-backing Fengyi, Peijun, Shujing, __________ (Sorry. Please tell me who this is?), Minyi, Weilin, Liyan, Tat Kuan, Sihui, Shumi, Zhongneng, Liping, Jianwei, Jianjie, Adrian, _________ (help me with this as well), Wanying.


It is really my wish to see the old faces back for our Rabobank performances. Also, we hope to see new faces as well because the Rabobank performance is probably a different form of performance for the freshly graduated AJCO peeps. Let us all make this coming performance a success.

@@@ AJCAACO - We Still Get Good Lobangs @@@
***Liang Ah Lucas***

AJC(AA)CO Christmas Gathering...

The Colourful Message Below is Written by Our Dear Lilian:

Hi ppl.. it's me again!

as some ppl had missed out on the previous chalet, like our Missy huiling who is away in auzzie, there's been suggestions that we have another chalet.. well, the bad news is, all the aloha chalets are fully booked.. so i cant help to book one for the next one..

however... i have another suggestion, not sure if you all agree..
let's have a xmas chalet at cm's place!

Cm's family has this old, little home opposite their home now, which used to be their first own house. his parents had not sold it even after they moved after a few years. thus now it has been vacant for ard.. 10 odd years. it's a bit dusty, but after a bit of cleaning up, i think we can have a gathering there, and also stayover. what do u think? his parents are ok with having us over, and they have even started clearing the mess in the house for us.

if everyone doesnt mind, then tentatively i propose the dates be set on:

22 to 23 Dec 2008
Weekend before Xmas.

You guys can come over from Fri till Sun. No probs.. we can even go ktv during night at serangoon gardens, or go chomp chomp for supper. we can also all bring a small present, then have a random exchange, like lucky draw lidat!! hehe..

so i need to know these..
1. who is going? - LL, CM, ZL, XH, huiling, TK, QL, (hahaha i juz include u guys.. =p)
2. bbq again? - juz need to buy a simple temp bbq stand. or we can go out eat. or order in. anything oso can..
3. anyone who can lend mahjong set plus table? we dun have any..

ok! dats all for now... gg to sleep... reply me as soon as u can!! huiling, TK QL.. u all help me jio ppl can..? den tell me how many coming.. hehe.. or if anyone has managed to book a chalet, den no need his place le.. juz let me know =p

Hope All of You Will come~!!
The more the merrier!

Love,
Lilian

Dramatic AJCAACO Chalet Outing...

The AJCAACO chalet on the 20th - 21st October is never the same as any of those we had in the past. Initially, it was as usual... with BBQ, with Mahjong etc. However, some dramas were added to heightened the novelty value of this particular chalet outing (stay tune for the dramas). Anyway, these are the people who went to the chalet. We are planning to get more people during the next chalet. Will try to book another one in December.

Lilian Chunming Zhiliang Xiuhua Shumin Zhongneng Jianjie Teresa Xue Xian Shihui Weilin Tat Kuan Lijia Xiuqin Qi Ling Erik Baohe Hui Ping Nigel Fukang.

(Top: NETHERAVON Block C with Qi Ling at the door)

(Top: Lilian and Xiuqin with the Chalet interior as the backdrop)

PREPARATION EXPERIENCES: HARD WORK IN PROGRESS

The BBQ preparation was divided into two groups. The kitchen people and the BBQers. When all the food was prepared and placed on the table, flies started hovering around our food. We tried to cover the food with whatever things we can find. Anyway, we had different types of food; Ah Moh sausages (two types of cheese sausages and the normal ones we used to eat), Taiwan sausages, ham, marinated chicken wings and corn.

(Top: The backs of our four BBQers )

(Top: Yeap. They are Chunming, Erik, Qi Ling and Fukang)

(Top: Shy Xiuqin using the wire gauze as a veil)

(Top: Qi Ling pointing to his ham)

EATING EXPERIENCES: PEOPLE AND CAT EATING

Just as we were preparing, we noticed a lot of small cats. We started 'accidentally' drop our BBQ food on floor to give ourselves an excuse to feed the cats with those food. =p The cat feeders include Lilian, Weilin, Qi Ling, Xiuhua, Xiuqin and me. Initially, there were only 4 cats. When the sky turned dark, the cats multiply to 9. The few of us kept laughing at the Mother Cat because she is pak4 jiao4 (See photos below)

(Top: The lucky Changi cats eating the cheese sausage)

(Top: The Changi cats drinking plain water)

(Top: CO ppl enjoying their food)

(Top: Huiling will remember Kah Yong's marshmallows upon seeing this pic)

(Top: Nigel staring at the cat. I think Nigel will be
"oldified" by us due to overexposure to seniors)

(Top: Lovely Chunming and Lilian... Woo Hoo!!!)

(Top: Teresa, Lilian and Zhiliang reminiscing their lousy
"Chemistry in Space" module they took in NUS)

Jianjie, Teresa and Xue Xian left at night. The rest of us went for supper in Changi Village at around 1230am after playing Mahjong (sorry Fukang for winning your money =p), "Blow wind blow" etc. Fukang did not follow us because he needed sleep as he will be giving tuition the next day. In the end, Fukang was left alone in the creepy chalet (Maybe Fukang can tell us whether it was a scary experience?)

(Top: Having supper at Changi Village. Delicious!!!)

EERIE EXPERIENCES: SCARY CHALET

Our chalet is probably a conserved building from the past. That explains why it looks kind of eerie. Xiuqin said that it is supposed to be haunted. When she went to this chalet with her NTU friends, one of the guys was disturbed by "something" when he was sleeping (find out more from Xiuqin). Her horror story led to some implications. When we returned to the chalet after our supper, Fukang asked me a weird question - about the weird door in his bedroom. It is actually a door to the balcony. But it looks kinda eerie. Probably he was disturbed by that weird door when we were not around.

There are two toilets in the chalet. One is located in the chalet while the other one is located outside the back door. Since we have around 16 people, it will take a long time to bath at the first toilet. Thus, the guys decided to do 'guard duty' outside the creepy toilet located at the 'backyard' (see photo below). Just near the creepy toilet is a separate small block with 3 locked doors. Gosh... They really look creepy especially at night. Even the girls gathered outside the toilet in the chalet so that the girl bathing inside feel safe to hear conversations from outside.

(Top: Xiuqin's scary head behind Tat Kuan)

(Top: Tat Kuan and Qi Ling doing guard duty outside the creepy toilet)

(Top: Tat Kuan kena 'possessed'?)

DRAMATIC EXPERIENCES: LOST-&-FOUND DIAMOND RING

The drama starts in the middle of the night. Erik was dead drunk after drinking Martell VSOP with Chunming and Baohe. However, this drama was nothing as compared to the morning's drama. And what was that? XIUHUA LOST HER DIAMOND RING!!! Gosh. It was a really scary experience. I was kind of lost also... Don't know what to do... It happens like that. Xiuhua took out her ring and put it in her handphone pouch when she was preparing food for BBQ. The next morning when she went to Changi Village with the rest for breakfast, she dropped the ring when she called me to ask what I want to eat (I was still sleeping). When we were about to check out, she realized that the ring was gone. The atmosphere was really tense. Everyone was searching for the ring. Luckily, Shumin found it at corner of the hawker centre. THANK YOU SHUMIN!!! THANK YOU EVERYONE!!! I guess it was this "Lost-and-Found" drama that makes this chalet extremely memorable (Maybe Xiuhua wants to thank some ppl at the tagboard?).

After that, Xiuhua and I decided to treat everyone at pizza hut in Tampines Mall. The next drama happened while we were eating. Nigel and Erik was drenched because a waiter spilled water on them on two separate occasions. Other services were also below standard. Even the restaurant manager failed to respond appropriately. Here are the details of the feedback I have sent through their online form available at their website.


Dear Sir/Mdm,

I will like to address a few unpleasant incidents which I have encountered with 15 of my friends in the Tampines Mall branch (21^st October 2007 between 12:15pm – 1:30pm). We were supposed to celebrate a joyous occasion together at the restaurant but our moods were dampened by the very poor services.

Firstly, one of the waiters spilled the glasses of ice water, not once but twice (once with 1 glass, the other time with 3 glasses), on two of my friends within a five minutes interval. My friend needed to blow dry his t-shirt sleeve while the other was very drenched as the waiter toppled off three glasses of plain water on his back. Though we understand that it was merely accidental, the Pizza Hut staff did not respond to the situation appropriately. The waiter simply apologized twice over the two very unpleasant incidents without even providing towels for my friends. In the end, we have to use all the paper serviettes available to wipe his top. There is just simply no follow-up to check if my friends are fine, or if we needed any help.

Initially, we intended to forget about that incident and carry on with our food since my two friends did not complain. However, the subsequent bad services are unforgivable. Since we have used up the serviette, the staff did not replace our serviettes and clear the used serviettes on the table.

While one of the waiters served a large Deluxe Cheese to our table, my friend kindly lifted up one empty pizza pan to clear the table (our table is already full of empty pizza pans that there is no place for the waiter to placed the large pizza) so that the waiter can place the pizza on the table. However, it was shocking to see that the waiter simply placed the pizza and left without clearing the empty pan (and with both hands empty) which my friend was holding on to.

Finally, when my friend gave feedback to the restaurant manager about what can be improved in terms of the services, the manager apologized and ‘asked’ us to “understand their situation as many of the staff is new and this is only their second day of work”. Neither does he show empathy to what we feel and the poor service that we received, nor is he taking responsibility (by his emphasis that we have to understand their circumstances). My friend asked whether it would be possible for a wavier, at least to take away the service charge (since the service was so bad), but the manager said it cannot be done. He offered instead some desserts as an apology but we were too angry and disappointed to even continue to stay in the restaurant. After I have footed the bill, he repeated that we must understand their situation as “Singapore has a lack of manpower”. My friend was so angry by his ‘excuses’ that she responded by saying “and who is going to understand us”. After that, we stormed out of the restaurant after footing the bills.

I am very disappointed with the Tampines Mall Pizza Hut branch due to their extremely poor service standards. Thus, I hope to receive a reasonable follow-up on our unpleasant experience in the restaurant.

So was the chalet dramatic enough? Hahaha. I bet this chalet will be an unforgettable experience for everyone. I hope more new faces can join us for our next chalet.

@@ AJCAACO - A Chalet Full of Drama @@
~~ AH LIANG ~~