Laser Quest... Zap Zap!!!

Well, today I joined the Malaysian Singaporean Student Association (MASSA) event to go laser tagging, since it's a Friday and I just had my weekly quiz. Also my assignments and midterms are due next week, so... I ma go laser tagging lo. First time go there some more. Now for those that aren't familiar with laser tag, it pretty much the same as paint ball, minus the pain of course. 

So, once reached there, the 24 of us had to wait 25 minutes apparently since there were so many people playing also. So we chilled and talked around. When it was our turn, we were brought to a dark room, the guy there explained the rules and the players "Code of Honour". Made us sound like going to war only. Anyway, the equipment looks really simple, a vest with sensors blinking red and green at the front, back, shoulders and gun. Yes, there's a gun, a laser gun. Technology is so advanced these days. Hehe... and so, with the gear strapped on, we were unleashed into darkness, sort of. There's black light everywhere and the maze had trees and bushes that glowed. Thought that was kinda cool. So everybody holding their guns start shooting every sensor they see, since it is a free for all. I sucked at the free for all, one thing because I was feeling kinda uncomfortable with the gear. Another is that I still haven't gotten used to aiming properly. So I failed miserably in the first game. And also, when the first game was over, I was told by the guy in charge that I have my suit on backwards, kinda humiliating. Haha..

Scorecard for the first round. Ranked 20, fired 527 times and hit percentage is 6%

Next game, we split into 2 groups, 12 people each. My team was known as Hello Kitty (cute right? Haha) and the other team was team Kiasu (typical... ish ish..) So we strap on the gear, and this time, my sensor was blinking green only, indicating the teammates. No friendly fire here.. unfortunately. Haha.. just kidding. So we went in and went hunting. Since this is a team game, most of us huddled with each other, sort of like real infantry looking out for each other. But I kinda strayed from the pack and eventually went Rambo style. Also, in this round, I simply pulled the trigger every time, spamming the trigger so bad that my finger felt sore. I was thinking, since I can't aim, might as well increase the amount of 'bullets' I'm shooting, increasing the probability of the hitting my prey.. hehe.. Turns out, this strategy worked well, as I managed a much better score than the previous round. Set, my strategy is just to go crazy and shoot like siao lang. Too bad my team lost though, we didn't 'kill' enough people and we got 'killed' more.

Scorecard for second round. Ranked 2 (Hehe), fired 788 times, 7% hit percentage

Third round, same team, rematch! Chance for the Kitties to make the Kiasus lose kau kau. Hahahaha... I stuck to my usual strategy, ramboing all the way through. Shot a lot of people, and got shot a lot of times as well. The third game was more intense too, I walked more and pulled the trigger more. I switched hands and fingers a lot during that game. That's how much spamming I did to the gun. Feel kinda bad for the gun. Anyway, bang bang boom boom and there goes round 3. I realise that I did the 'shoot first, identify friend or foe later', so if you're my fellow friend during war, sorry mate! See ya later! Luckily there weren't any friendly fire. Third game, we won! Hurray~ So one apiece, we settled for a draw game. 

Scorecard for second round. Ranked 1 (Yippee!!), fired 813 times, 7% hit percentage

And that's the end of the laser tag experience. It sure was fun, but also tiring, hot, sweaty because of all the running. But it was definitely worth the 6 bucks per game cost. Definitely gonna come here again if there's another event like that. 

Dreams...

Dreams... It is a subject which has been on my mind for many many months. This is due to the fact that I have many dreams, most of them quite pleasant, but almost all of them seems to be out of this world. That's what got me to thinking, how do our brains form these dreams?

Previously, I used to think that dreams come from past experiences, from events that may or may not have happened, events that trigger the 'what if' question in our minds that we have not put to rest when we go to bed. Or so that was what I thought during my years of early teen-hood. Only the happenings of the day, should there be any regret, it will all be analyzed by my brain when I'm sleeping. Kinda like the brain is just too hardworking at that time. That's just stage one of the dream evolution. Because of me having these dreams, I thought that dreams are there due to our subconscious, over the things that we regret.

However, as I grew older, my dreams started to change. It was no longer the 'what if' questions only, but there were also dreams involving a certain level of emotion. Often times, when I have these dreams, whether or not if I remember them, I can wake up with heart pounding or even at times, a teary eye or two. Even if I don't remember it, I can wake up out of breath, feeling a bit scared, sometimes jumpy. It could be a nightmare also, who knows, since I couldn't remember my own dreams. So that's stage two of my dream evolution. So with the addition of these dreams, I summed up that dreams are there to, one, tell us what might have been should we have chosen a different path during that day, and two, to showcase events that might have deeply affected me emotionally, perhaps events that I have consciously suppressed emotions during the time of it happening.

Lately, I have a lot of dreams that somehow, just doesn't add up. Before this, all the dreams still hold some sense, some logic in them. However, recently, my dreams are more towards.. erm... unexplainable things? Just two or three nights ago, I had a dream. I was in front of my apartment building, walking back from somewhere with a few friends of mine when I was called by my name by a girl. That girl was a total stranger to me, and she was on a Harley. My friends did not hear her calling, but I kept hearing her calling my name, which was a surprise for me since I did not know her. So as I approach her, I kept asking her, "How did you know my name and why did you call me?" When I was near enough, the girl started up her Harley, revved it up and drove the Harley up a wall and crashed (as expected of the logical world)

But after that, it all starts to go a lil bit weird, because after she crashed, there was something that looks like a spirit, a white apparition if you will, seeping out of her body and beginning to take form behind me. I rushed over to the girl but all she said was, "Be careful, it will kill you." I know its a cheesy line from some movie but then again, its just a dream, a movie for me... hehe. So I turned around, and saw the ghost(?) take form. At that time, if it was the real world, I would have freaked and ran for my life, but somehow in my dream, I had the audacity to even warn the ghost, to not disturb anybody. This warning was followed up by the apparition lunging at me, which for some reason, my right hand grabbed a white shining knife from my left pants pocket (Heck, I can even remember which hand and which pocket, it was that vivid in my mind after I woke up).

With one slash down the front, and onto the apparition's head, it shrieked and disappeared. So me and my friends planned to take her back to our house to let her cool down, relax, but when we entered the elevator, I saw that she wasn't in the elevator. For some reason, I only saw my friends around me. So I went out of the elevator and they went up. I couldn't find her and so I went up another elevator and reached my floor. It was when I came out that I realize that I was all alone, my friends had not reached the floor yet, and the girl is still yet to be found. So I waited for my friends to come up but when their lift arrived, the door opened, revealing no one. At that time, I looked around and saw a hallway different from mine. It was a never-ending hallway, kinda like those hallways you see in horror movies. At that time, I just stood there... till I woke up.

When I woke up, everything was fresh in my mind. Its the first time I can recall so much detail in a dream, and yet it puzzled me. For the day and night before, there weren't anything that I would consider as having any effect on me, no decisions that I made that said, what if. Heck, I can't even remember if I made any decisions on that day. And there weren't anything that was emotionally draining. So I was feeling kinda doubtful about my understanding of dreams. It made me rethink how my dreams are formed, the types of dreams and such. I believe that these dreams appear for a reason, and if we can remember them so well, it must have been a darn good reason, yet somehow, this dream, makes no sense in this real world that we live in. Is it a sign that I want to run from this world and live in a world that I can create on my own? Or is it just that my mind is too idle and starts to think of nonsensical things, just to play around? Until now, I still have no answer. Perhaps, I might want to take up my housemate's idea of having a dream journal, and noting down every dream that I have every night.

For now, I'm settled on the notion of idle mind giving birth to these dreams. I'll put this topic of dreams to a rest and go get some sleep. Who knows, I might be able to have another dream. =)