Some screenshots of my past few visits to Silkroad.
[Today's long post below...just keep scrolling...]





VS Giant Devil Bug


In the distance is this freakin' big mob of bugs. o_O

Hello? Where's my drink? I ordered a Coke®.
1st time I've seen these stall decorations. Kinda cute. =]
Crystal Wall

The way these soldiers die is not a pretty sight.
Heheh.
Blood spray. =S
In the process of total pWnag3, a double zerk tag team on a giant devil bug.
Cerb's dog taking on 1 Giant Chakji, 1 Chakji, and 2 Devil Bugs. By itself.
Solo giant =]
I'm a trader!


o_o
o_O
Freeze!
I completed my trade run! ^^
Completed my 2nd trade run today. I am slightly richer. Which is lucky cause I am like freakin broke. And I died again on my 2nd try. It's complicated but there's always this stupid combination of factors that gets me killed. Utter suayness. After that I felt damn sian so I just logged off and went online and played Rammstein. Damn idiotic. Waste my money again.


Anyway today was our CIP at IMH. Was a pretty hot day. Wish I hadn't worn black. =.= Managed to find out how to get there. I understand that the place has gone through a makeover to make it more appealing. And it looks pretty ok from the outside.

In fact it looks kinda like a resort or club. Trimmed lawns, flowers, an air of peace. But inside its different. I understand some people feel they have gone through a life-changing experience after visiting IMH. I also am not trying to scare people, nor am I telling them to suscribe to the usual IMH stereotype. It is not. I don't want to discourage anyone from volunteering there, this is just a personal account of my experiences as I saw them. But...the place could use a little government money. The main exterior is ok, looks like some hospital. After a talk, we went to our ward where we were supposed to visit the patients and interact with them, and play games.


The walk there was quite a distance. The place is actually pretty big. Some areas were dim and deserted with doors leading off into strange and unknown places. We passed a heritage garden when was kinda interesting with bit and chunks of what I think was the old IMH building. One problem. These consisted of a concrete chunk with what looked like a cell door, some small windows with grilles, and what looked like thick pipes embedded in concrete. And some other chunks of stuff.


When I entered the ward, I was a bit unsettled. Not all of the people there are so-called crazy. Some are basically ok, and at most eccentric. But the atmosphere was so gloomy and depressing...maybe they just don't have the kind of money hospitals do, and I understand that, but the place has a cloud over it. A nurses station, timed auto locking doors(I suspect), puke green vinyl cushions on wooden chairs. A small television, VCD player, tables and lot and lots of chairs. Grilles over all the windows, and some murals of a lake, swans, and greenery. Somehow they further contributed to the institutionalised feel of the place. I wish someone would come along and brighten the place up. A while after we came in, someone tried to hit Diana.


This guy who was sleeping in a corner woke up, went behind her and raised his hand like he wanted to hit her. A few of us saw, but we were in a group of which Diana was outside and I think it was too fast for us to do anything. We were kinda suffering from culture shock. Then he made as if he wanted to hit her with his elbow and shuffled back into his corner. Diana didn't realise what had just happened.Then we kept hearing yelling and screaming from the inside of the room, which was pretty disturbing. Especially after we just entered.


Later after signing in and surrendering our handphones, we went to the tables to help out with the games. Some of them put on a karaoke VCD which consisted of old chinese songs and footage of western women. =S I noticed some of the patients have to be tied down to the chairs. Later they carted the yelling guy out when he started again...Half the time you couldn't get what they were saying so we just smiled and nodded our heads. I played a lot of table tennis with this quiet guy who was darn good at it. Haha. Ben did also. That guy kept playing for very long. o_O Then there was another guy who kept koping candy from us. Lol. Sweets are the prizes for the games.


Then there was this Indian guy in a blue t-shirt who like to stand behid girls. Like He would quietly move behind them and go right up behind them. He did this to a few of them, so they were quite wary of him. I have to say Diana was really a totally great person today. She interacted with a lot of the patients, even the blue guy. Some of the girls thought she was really brave. Lol. Some people are built of pure good and Diana is one of them. Not like the rest of us. Sometimes she's too good for her own sake though. =S


And there was this guy who came to a group of us who said something incomprehensible. We "huh?"ed and then later he said something like do you all like cancer? no right? Then I just said ya, no, and he walked off "ya you all won't like cancer.." or something like that. Oh, but he's nothing compared to the guy in a yellow shirt. Geri said he started a conversation with her about her shirt which had the devil's name on it and the number 666 on the back.


Afterwards, he kept staring at her face. Apparently according to her, he wasn't like normal guys in that he kept staring at her face only, nowhere else. o_O And he was doing it throughout the entire thing so she tried to avoid him. I think she was seriously creeped out by the whole thing. His behavior was already kind of eccentric. And you know what? I thought he was a patient. Later he took the same lift down as us, and waited at the same bus stop as us.


Then he asked us if we were the poeple from MJ and gave a long monologue about the benefits and joys of volunteering. The strange thing is, a usual person would probably feel akward trying to start a conversation with something like close to 20 strangers, some of which are ignoring him, much less give a monologue. Some of us closer to me (Diana, Ben ,me) just smiled and nodded. The others ignored him and carried on talking. Geri was surrounded by Edison, Chris, Dan, and Gladys in a small circle around her. The yellow guy went behind them and stood VERY close between Edison and Chris, listening to their conversation, and staring at Geri.


Later Geri was going to the nearest MRT station to go to town, and I sugggested Sengkang, cos Buangkok was kinda remote. So, I just said that 156 terminated at Sengkang MRT, and she asked to go with us. Then came 109, and I said that goes to Compass Point too. And she said something like then can we take 109 too please please please? ANd I figured that guy really did freak her out badly. The thing is actually 159,159,109 all terminate at/reach Compass Point, and since a few of us are headed there too, so its ok. However, she was even more freaked out when she realised that 43 (which the guy's taking) stopped at the same stop as us. Oh yeah and he's about the same age as us, maybe older by a few years.


Later Geri, Ben, Syahida, and me dropped off at CP, and we waited for her to top up her card, before she entered the MRT, and the 3 of us went for dinner at BK. (I was dman hungry and thirsty by then)Syahida went to walk about, Ben and I went to buy some long pants (black) for my com tomorrow. My sec sch pants are still wearable but a bit too small. Zzz. What a waste of money. Basically I only foresee using it for 'A' divs and maybe prom night. Oh did I mention? We;re going back to IMH in a fortnight. Cheers.