Anticipatory Hiking

Recently, the Catholic church (I'm not sure if this applies to the Singapore Archdiocese only or worldwide) changed the term that was used to refer to masses on Saturday evening from "Sunset Mass" to "Anticipatory Mass". The rationale given was that as years went by, churches have been having different mass times, sometimes before sunset and sometimes way after sunset, so terming it "Sunset Mass" was inappropriate. Since Christian services are usually held on Sabbath Day (Sunday), that is the official day to celebrate mass, and Saturday services are only held to cater to those who cannot make it on Sundays. Thus, Saturday masses are celebrations that are held in anticipation of the Sunday masses. Hence the new name "Anticipatory Mass".

Tomorrow, I'll be going hiking with people from school. I've never gone on a hike voluntarily before coz of my intense fear of UFIs (unidentified flying insects), and I suppose lack of a good hiking companion. Most of my hikes take place in shopping areas - good exercise, good terrain, good sanitation. The last time I went on a hike was during my secondary school days where I was "specially selected" by the teacher in charge of Library (for goodness' sake, it's Library, and I have to go to OBS?!) to take part in the week-long OBS training. It was good eventually coz I did things I normally would not do - flying fox, rock-climbing (I actually liked it quite a bit!), jetty jumping, kayaking during a thunderstorm, building a raft and taking it out to sea, and camping overnight by some clearing in the bank. The hike that I went on was pretty cool despite the weather elements that pounded rain and ants into my eyes. The only things I abhorred about that was 1) the only thing they brought along for food was a can of sardines and I don't eat sardines (no, thank u); 2) the only sanitation was doing your business with a group of friends standing around you with their backs turned on you and a bunch of disgusting pervy cat-high boys trying to shine the flashlight your way so to get a glimpse of you doing your thing; 3) walking past a seafood restaurant on the way to your camping destination only to have no money with you (wallets and phones were confiscated the entire week). Well, I suppose all those things do not apply for tomorrow's hike, and I daresay I am pretty excited about it! It'll be nice to take a walk through nature and see for once what Singapore was like 180 years ago (okok, I confess, I got that line off the Bt Timah Nature Reserve official website but hey, it's true!). Now that I've said my piece, I'm gonna start packing!