Christmas @ BV

Time to post about christmas @ BV. first of all, it came at a rather bad timing, when my project group is all in singapore and ready to chiong through the projects. i had to plead with them to let me off on saturday, but i really had to go on sun. not only that, it had to be on the last sunday before christmas, which is when the mood is highest among the church, and whatever christmas events can be held. fine, C@BV is a christmas event, but it had to be secularised because its for the general public. it also took 2 days off my time for doing projects, card writing and blogging. still, i had to give that up cos i knew C@BV was gonna be worth the time.

So, i was supposedly in the committee for this event but i missed a few of the meetings, then there was a long silence before it until suddenly i was told i am in charge of one out of the 20+ groups helping out at c@bv. and i didnt have to prepare anything. so i was kinda relieved i didnt have extra work to my load to rush, just go there on the day itself to help out like all the rest.

i was posted to look after the Slide. was kinda sian at first cos i wanted a games stall. but it turned out that the slide is actually one of the most fun activity to handle. a far superiority over its counterpart, the bouncing castle. i understand why the castle is unpopular in the first place just as it is - its small, dark and boring; all you do is jump around. interest expires before the time limit. only to make it worse, it had the added feature of aromatheraphy inside it, which obviously didnt appeal to many ppl, including me. i could smell it from the slide. some kids actually got out of the castle after a minute complaining of the smell, and the parents would demand refunds. but no can do, coupons already torn and dropped in. solution? transfer over to the slide! just as well anyway. whatever u can do at bouncing castle, can be done at slide too. they should have figured it out..

being in charge of the slide, i had full rights to be on it, and at the same time play with it. i could play all day on the slide and still not get fully bored of it. just wish it could be higher. and i think its the only activity that i can play all i want without seeming like im exploiting it. unlike all those game stalls, where the helpers arent allowed to play at all, or risk getting scolded by the Ringo uncle. other activity stalls which were not so interesting or had poor business (its interrelated), had its helpers come over to be calefare at the slide. so i always had more helpers than needed, and i could go on break whenever i wanted. in fact, more than 2/3 of the manpower put into the slide came from those not in slide groups. several jymers came over and wanted to play... i made some of them pay and they did, others who pestered me to let them on, gave them discount. but those who offered help, i let them in free. then i went off to sip some mango lassi...

the bad side of being in the slide - sunburn. headache/dizziness from all the bouncing. abrasion from slide. got abrasions on both elbows and knees.

on to overview of the activities. games were way overpriced. no way i would wanna play them. what, $3 to roll 3 balls on an uneven panel, with (assuming equal probability) 1/81 chance of getting 9 points, for which u just get a stupid monkey. the block buster and rifle thing aint any better. but the worst is the wheel of fortune. its $3 for one spin, and theres just so much probability of getting 1 point, for a really dumb SHAMPOO SAMPLE or small toy worth less than $1! getting 3 points is like.. 1/16 chance? then again, just a stupid monkey. these poor BV citizens just dont realise how much theyre being cheated. no offences.

bouncing castle and slide, to think of it, its really expensive. for previous carnivals it was $2 for 5 mins and it was already ex, now worse! still, it had really good business and the parents paid so willingly for the child play. unexpected of these supposedly needy BV residents... but i understand why they would still pay for it.. $3 for a fun new experience isnt so bad after all.
the boat thing was not worth though. its not even fun.. the boats are slow and have to peddle it yourself. such a small play area also, and no tricks and stunts to do. gets real boring. the water ball is ok though. relatively. sustainable interest, maybe even repeated. if i could, i would go in with another guy and play wrestling. would end up like tau pok instead. the motor car thing... boring. but would be good if the car was faster and had a bigger 'race course'.

food.. some were ok, some cheap, some really ex and unworth. good buys were mango lassi, intanbul chicken, honey aloe vera, maybe ramli burger. bad buys were doner kebab, (fake) sharks fin soup, jelly at drinks stall, and worst of all.. fried durian! the rest were quite ok. both days, spent all my coupons on those good buys, except for $2 spent on books.

talking about the 2nd hand bookstore, i think its a really good idea, a win-win situation for stall owner, book donator and book buyer. too bad im not a bookworm, if not ill really swipe up all the books there. (ivan didnt go there i believe...judging by the books remaining.) but i managed to get 2 chicken soups with the price of 1 miserable fried durian. kept it there for safekeeping, but forgot to collect it =.='

as for all the other stalls, didnt pay much attention to them cos aint interested at all. those like sand art, henna, engine oil (dunno whats this about), balloon sculpting, CDs and the eraser art pieces. more a family thing.

performances were quite entertaining some of them. such as the yoyo, spk choir, some of the bands and choirs. the rubbish bin hitters were fine, but by the third time i had to cover my ears. i can see alot of preparation went into the performances, but the audiences were really few, and mostly our own people. no complaints though - i get to enjoy them.
as for the lucky draw.. i dont know how people get so many. but one thing that really spoiled it is that the contents were never cleared out. so even at the last draw, the very first ticket still stands to win. like this, it only encourages people to buy all the tickets they can before 3pm on sat, and none on sun. i was suddenly given like 10 tickets at the end of saturday.. which had to be put into a box already half full with tickets.

not forgetting, the street soccer competitions at the other side. the NTSS team was fighting over socks with some other team... watched for a while, not very entertaining though. cause im not a soccer fan. but i got nice free 100 plus. if it were so easy

ok thats all i have to say about C@BV, guess i covered it all. in conclusion, it was a great event, a good idea. would be great to have something like that again next year, at another place, but earlier! not so dangerously close to christmas.