What's on Shenji's Mind: Completing Operation Hydra Slaying only to be Welcomed by a Nice Halloween Party

Indulging the dark side on the night of Halloween in hell with my Hong Kong and Japanese friends

That's it! The 3rd and last target executed! Mission accomplish!Time to wrap up and prepare for evacuation. In case you're wondering what the heck am I talking about and what in God's name is Operation Hydra Slaying, allow me to explain them to you to dispel any confusion you're experiencing. Operation Hydra Slaying is the operation codename for my 2nd midterms in TRU. The reason behind this codename can be illustrated by 3 midterms I had on the same day 2 days ago. Seeing that a hydra is a vicious and scary monster, just like my exams and also it has 3 heads, just like the number of exams I had on that day; thus, I call my midterms a hydra. Since it was my obligation to perform or execute (my kind of Special Forces jargon) these 3 exams as best as I can, I added the word "slaying" to the operation's codename; hence, I call my midterms Operation Hydra Slaying. Preparing for this ops wasn't easy; it was physically and mentally tormenting like any other special ops. Nevertheless, after a long day in the operational theater, a nice Halloween party was what I needed to unwind myself from a stressful day. The Halloween party that I celebrated on the 31st of October this year can be described in a word: Awesome!

As the alarm clock struck 5 am, it gave a loud buzz insisting that I get my lazy butt out from cozy bed. After disabling the clock's alarm, I thought about sneaking in a few more minutes to sleep. However, realizing that this undisciplined act could cost me my last minute revision for my exams, I struggled to pull myself out from my blanket that has been keeping me warm, cozy and comfortable for the past 5 hours. My early morning was greeted harshly by the cold winds of the dawn that forced me to shiver in discomfort; although, I had the choice of closing the window in my room, I decided to let it stay open as the cold uncomfortable wind will keep my sleepy butt awake. I then dragged myself who was still half asleep to the kitchen of my apartment before reaching for a bowl and a cereal box. After preparing myself a simple breakfast, I immediately wolfed down the cereal as I know time was on the essence. Although my first paper which was Calculus begins in 7 and a half hours time, I decided not to underestimate the required preparation time. Besides, I had another 2 more subject to prepare which was Organizational Behavior and Intermediate Sociology. Immediately after the last drop of milk went down my stomach, I quickly washed up and took a nice hot shower. As usual time was on the essence, so I limit myself to a 5 minute shower instead of a full 10 minute shower (you have no idea how a nice hot shower can keep you in the bathroom forever especially on a harsh cold day). After a nice hot shower, I felt more alert which was what I needed to start my revision.

As I got into my clothes, I quickly grab my Calculus notes and began my revision. An hour later, I was convince that "taking out" Calculus later on wouldn't be a big deal. Next preparation: my Organizational Behavior (OB). This subject is one of the most feared subject this semester. My last midterm for OB which horribly went wrong resulting 70% only terrified me a lot. This OB adversary wasn't an easy one, therefore I paid additional dedication for my preparation. As I completed 4 chapters ( one more chapter to go), it was already 12:00; 30 minutes more before my Calculus exam and at this point I stopped studying and listened to my favorite songs on my laptop while getting ready to load up for my first "head hunting". My roommate then approached me and wished me all the best for my Calculus. After thanking him and telling him that I will miss him and his Hong Kong friends if anything bad happened to me during Operation Hydra Slaying, I strapped on my bag and put on my jacket before I left for the "operational theater". My roommate who was clueless and awkward didn't know how to respond to my exaggerated words, so he awkwardly gave me a military salute seconds before I left. As I was deployed into the "battlefield" with the rest of my "comrades", we armed ourselves with our pencil, calculator and eraser. The moment our Calculus instructor handed the exam paper to us, I told myself that this was it. All the techniques and skills for "engaging" mathematical questions better work for my sake. An hour of pencil slashing, eraser rubbing and calculator mashing the first head of the hydra was severed; 1 down, 2 more to go. Although I could do my first paper, something was telling me that I made some careless mistakes back then.

Couldn't be bothered much seeing that there was no use on dwelling over the past, I immediately went back to my apartment and finished off my last chapter for OB. In the middle of my final preparation for OB, Calvin, my Hong Kong friend dropped in unexpectedly. Fuck! What a bad time to visit me! He was carrying some shopping bags and he said that he needed a room at my apartment seeing that he wanted to try on his Halloween costume he just bought. After convincing me that he won't hinder my exam preparation, I let him in. Just like Calvin promised, I managed to study without any interference and as a result, I completed my final chapter for OB. An hour more before my OB exam, I thought about reviewing my Sociology notes. After completing 2 chapters of Sociology, it was time for my OB exam. Like my roommate, Calvin wished me all the best for my OB exam before I got ready for "deployment". At the "operational theater", my comrades and I were trembling in fear and nervousness. Gripping onto our pencils tightly, we feared of getting "ambushed" by unexpected questions that might appear later on in the exam. The second my OB lecturer handed us the exam sheet and informed us to start "engaging", we immediately ripped open the first page and started stabbing the multiple choice questions with our pencils. As I finished "killing" all 10 multiple questions, I waited for the next wave of "enemies" with utmost caution. As the next wave of enemies appeared in the form of short answer questions, I started charging at them with my pencil. Ha! those questions looked familiar; immediately I attacked the questions with my answers. Like the multiple questions, the short answer questions all died at the edge of my pencil. After "reloading" my pencil with a fresh new pencil lead, 3 essay questions appeared and snarled at me. Each of them were worth 6 marks therefore I knew this fight wouldn't be easy. However, after reading the questions carefully, I knew how to answer them. 30 minutes remaining in the "battle" and I knew that exceeding more that 10 minutes on each essay question is unacceptable. Consequently, I kept my answers short and simple and the next thing I knew, time was up the second I finished the last essay question. Phew...just in time. The battle was over and another hydra's head was severed. 2 down, last one to go.

Sociology was my final paper and it didn't take long to prepare for it. What even surprised me about the exam was it, only had 85 multiple choice questions and 3 short answer questions. The lecturer was kind enough with the questions as there were "easter eggs" everywhere. The paper was 2 hours long and I manage to finish it within and hour time. Although I could leave the exam hall earlier, I decided to spend the remaining time going through all of my questions again in order to prevent any silly mistakes. As the exam completed, joy struck me good and I was thrown into a state of relief since I completed all of my midterms. Operation Hydra Slaying completed. Mission accomplished! After returning from the "war zone", I was welcomed back home by my roommate and Calvin. It was now time to prepare for the Halloween party.

This year was my very first time celebrating Halloween, therefore; I was pretty excited about it. Like me, my Hong Kong friends were also excited about it. Calvin was trying on different costumes (more like girl's dress) while my roommate on the other hand just decided to try the different scary masks, Calvin bought for all of us. Earlier that day, Robin got a plastic bloody looking machete from a one dollar store for his Halloween accessory. It looked very real and the fact that it had pieces of meat and smudges of blood over the knife freaked me out at first sight. As for me, I just thought about dressing casually. Calvin persuaded me to put on a dress as my Halloween costume but seeing that I didn't want to look like a fag, I passed on his offer. An hour later, Maaya and Shelley dropped by to my room as they were going to follow us to the Halloween party as well. Like Calvin, the both of them persuaded me to at least do some make up or put on a costume since it was Halloween. As usual, I declined their suggestion as I just wanted to look normal. Conversely when my roommate told me that looking normal is against the Halloween theme which I have to say he had a point; eventually, I decided to do something about myself. At the end, I decided to put on a military camouflage face paint to join my weird friends. Calvin gave me this black make up paint he purchased from a one dollar store which I couldn't help but to feel skeptical about it. For all I know that cheap face paint might give me rashes or something worst. Since there's not much time because the Halloween party was about to start, I just used the black paint Calvin bought for me. Shelley volunteered to paint my face and I really have to give her credit for the great job she did. Maaya did a great job on her scary appearance as well; she looked like a Japanese pontianak that night. Minutes later on, Cindy, another Hong Kong friend of mine joined us; she appeared with her casual outfit and a devil's horn on her head. She brought additional make up supplies for her and all of us made sure we used every drop of it. After an hour of making up, we all looked horribly ugly which was a good thing and we then snapped photos together.

Since we were running late, all of us immediately rushed to the venue of the Halloween party which took place at the university's Campus Activity Center. The party was just like any ordinary clubbing night only with people in weird freaky costumes. Pizzas were provided for us and I immediately grab as many slices I could since I was damn hungry. We bumped into our friends at the party and we snapped several photos together. Friends weren't the only limit to our photo taking activity as we also decided to take photos with strangers who had nice Halloween costumes. As the music grew louder, all of us dance wildly and violently together and it seems as if everyone at the party were in a stage of trance. The 6 of us spend 4 hours partying that night and we really enjoyed ourselves. After the party ended, we went back to my room for a while to take a short rest before everyone headed for their own home.

The Halloween party that I celebrated on the 31st of October this year can be described in a word: Awesome! Despite having a rough morning that day, my patience and my preserverance finally paid off when I managed to enjoy myself with my friends at a Halloween party later on that night. I didn't expected that my first Halloween celebration was going to be that great.

Staring at the mirror, the 5 of us were planning to summon Bloody Mary by saying her name 3 times. However, we were still afraid to do that despite there were 5 of us.

Shelley volunteering herself to help me with my military camouflage face paint

Surviving an attacked by my roommate.

...fortunately my Teep Khang ( that is side kick in Thai) saved me from the mad butcher.

...then Maaya, the Japanese pontianak appeared next to me.

Thirsty for blood, Maaya then mutilated me starting from my neck

Fueled with redemption, Shelley immediately "repaid the favor" by severing the head of Maaya

Revenge begets more revenge, the butcher then hacks Shelley up into pieces for severing Maaya's head.

After getting massacred by the Japanese pontianak, my soul wonder aimlessly around the corridor only to be guided by the devil's minion who had shiny horns to "hell".

Like me, Shelley's wondering soul was also escorted to hell. That is how we bump into each other.

Upon reaching hell, I bumped into a variety of characters. (From left to right) Cindy the devil, Maaya the pontianak, a Soviet Hazmat trooper, Shelley, Calvin the pussy boy , a female firefighter and me