Monday, December 08, 2003

myths about...girl guides

this is the start of a number-not-determined-part series of "myths about..." by yours truly. i was, err, "inspired" to do this after digging out an old old article i meant to submit to the 73rd petaling troop newsletter a long long time ago. yih wen asked me to write a piece about guides, and i did. only i never really submitted it. heh. so much for my one-page moment of fame.

anyway, here it is...and as you're reading this, remember i wrote this about 2 years ago. it's unpolished, and exactly the way i wrote it. 2 years ago. as a very dumb 16-yr-old. so be nice when giving comments. heh. =P

The Truth About Guides

As everyone reading this knows, Guides and Scouts go back a long, long way. We're both founded by the same guy, we act on the same principles, laws and mottos and we basically do the same things. In other words, Guides is a female version of Scouts, and no less. Therefore, it is to my great annoyance that Guides are viewed as the weaker ones, the ones that do nought but sit around, be pretty and *shock horror* think up schemes to "menjerat" good-looking Scouts at gatherings and campfires. So, I would just like to clear up some myths and "legends" on the Guides; particularly the Guides and Rangers of SMK Damansara Utama.

Myth 1: Guides only know how to sing.

Well, excuuuuuuse me? Don't you lot sing as well? Louder too! Besides, you've seen us do other stuff like go hiking, practice stalking our seniors (hehehe) and doing a spot of "luxury" backwoods cooking, no? Heck, who cares if we use pots and pans - at least we KNOW how to start fires, keep 'em going and how to put them out. It's my guess that if we all participated in Survivor Thailand, Guides would survive just as well as anyone else. Plus we'd kick Clay's ass. Heh.

Myth 2: Guides are wimpy "puteri lilin"s.

In our defence, I would just like to say that the sun is as cruel to us as it is to anyone else. And, unless you love baking under its unforgiving rays, the most sensible thing to do is get out of the sun. The thing that annoys me most is that just because we try to avoid marching and doing stuff under the sun, we're labelled as sissies. From what I know, most of us are yearning to get down and dirty with proper activities, but we've never had the chance due to the horrible stereotyping of girls in our society. I'm sure even the female Scouts are not spared from the whole 'oh no girls should be at home knitting instead of out in the jungle' situation, no?

Myth 3: Guides are too "lembik" to go camping.

We are victims of this phenomenon called stereotyping. So much so that all of us can spell stereotyping. Can ALL Scouts spell "stereotyping"? Lemme spell it for you. S-T-E-R-E-O-T-Y-P-I-N-G. Besides, most of us have gone for other camps (prefects, societies, with friends) and it's been proven that we have the ability to rough it out when the need arises. When the need isn't there, who wouldn't wanna keep their nails clean? Broken nails can cause infection too!

Myth 4: Guides go to campfires with the sole purpose of snagging THAT cute Klang Sea Scout (*swoon*)

Not true. Absolutely not true. We go to campfires for the same purpose as the Scouts do, which is to get to know Scouts and Guides from other schools and to forge better relationships between the various troops/coys/units. Wait, do Scouts even go to campfires for that reason? Or is it really those luscious Guides from Sri Aman, eh? Dun lie lahhhhhhhhhhh. *wink*

Myth 5: Guides can't do diagonal lashings.

I really do not know where this rumour originated from. Oi. We DO do diagonal lashings, ooooooook? Worse come to worse we do what some Scouts do: a square lashing and then 'bengkokkan' the two pieces of bakau/bamboo to a diagonal cross. Oh c'mon, you're NOT denying it, are you??? Plus have you seen our miniature satay stick gadgets? They're very neatly done! And they bring a whole new meaning to 'The Strength Of String'. Lol.

Satisfied? I have a whole lot more of where those came from, but I don't wanna make anyone feel more sorry for having such wrong impressions of the Guides. Like I said earlier, at the end of the day, Guides are just female versions of the Scouts. I'll bet we're no less better than the female Scouts. It's very easy for us to say that we're prevented from doing a lot of things simply because we're an all-girls uniform body, and that we are not to blame for our lack of activities, but it's really the sad, harsh truth. Still, we try our very best to live up to our standards and trust me, our standards aren't any lower than the Scouts'. After all, we're just the same: a bunch of teens looking to learn new things, meet new friends, and perhaps better ourselves through various exercises.

So here's to better Scouts-Guides relationships!

*comments welcome. please be kind. haha. anyway, me wanna recommend more songs to download illegally and risk arrest. =P

Thicke - Brand New Jones
Josh Groban - Broken Vow
Josh Groban - You Raise Me Up
Remy Shand - Take A Message
Remy Shand - The Way I Feel
The All-American Rejects - Swing Swing
Ricky Martin - Vuelve
Blue feat. Stevie Wonder and Angie Stone - Signed, Sealed, Delivered

lishun at 8:50 PM

|