Stakes at high...

Started off the day with a bang. Literally. After purchasing a bottle of Ice Mountain from the Oaisis stall in the SAC, I walked towards the Central Staircase infront of the Amphi Theatre. But in great unknown excitement, I forgot that the door to the stairs was a Pull door instead of a Push. And so I walked straight into the door, intending to push it open with my body, only to be pushed back by the door. A great slam sounded, and I was almost sent back on my back with a small bruise on my left cheek. And since the stairs is exposed to the Back Carpark at the back of the school, this scene was played out infront of a few cars that were alighting students. Ah, well. So after stammering about for another few seconds, I straightened up and strolled with dignity towards the door, pulling it firmly this time.

After Assembly/Morning Duty, I was informed that the postponed date for the debate (Hey, that rhymes!) was to be tomorrow, the same day I was suppose to start off my tution with Auntie Kamhar a couple of blocks away. I explained my situation, but also ensured I'll see what I could do about it. Mr. Tay wanted me to go desperately - He wouldn't allow the momment when Kirby represents our class to pass. Not on his watch.

Next was PE, of which had to be spent on NAPHA - 2.4km. I ran somewhere in the front along with God, the ussual fast people and Calvin (Cal's never been at the front of the line during PEs, if memory serves), and so I achieved a 4th Position in the class, using a 10.54 timing! Glory be to God! If I may quote ZRong, "w00t! w00t!". But speaking of ZRong, he was a little touchy during the run, and everytime I tried to encourage him with a little, "C'mon, ZRong!" or, "God bless'ya, ZRong!", he'd snap back with the typical, "Shut up, Mig!" and walk on. My, he's got no ideo how much God loves him, even if he rejects His blessings.

Once the records were taken down by Mdm, we were dismissed and I was walking with Tim, Matt Ch'ng and JKit, with me heading for the classroom and with the other two going to make a right later and head for the SAC. And somehow, we ended up talking about how we've witnessed car accidents in our lives. Wanting to contribute to the topic, I shared that I was just a few minutes late of witnessing a 'Domino' accident which involved a car and a few traffic lights toppling over one another. I must have sounded very enthusiastic, so they said I was sadistic.

Sadistic? Not really, but I can't blame them for teasing so. I hid a small detail from my recount. Did they know why I was a few minutes late from the event? Let's just say my Last Grandmother could have died from shattered glass if it weren't for God's grace. Truely.

For Life Science, we couldn't hold a practical in the lab so as to be fair to the other classes who might have their practicals cancelled on Thursday to make way for the Dr. Lee Suan Yew Speaker of the Year Awards, so we had a lecture instead. But I still got'ta admit, L Sci lessons are starting to get very entertaining now, with Mr. Soo relaxing the tone by a few knotches and adding a few funny comments here and there. So things are geting easier to understand now, although now as comprehensable as required yet. But still, there's progress...

ePOD was rather empty, as Ms. Luah had MC and wasn't present in the school. So for the next hour, we did our own thing(s) in the middle of a heavy thunderstorm where lightning was striking as close a range as a 750m radius, and of which Shil claimed a lightning bolt struct a tree somewhere next to Class 2.1. Hmm.

Later, we had ISO, where we continue to assess the remaining people who haven't done their Oral Defence presentation. I had to do mine today, and so I thought I could entrill my audience with a good presentation, but in the end I did rather badly, although I don't know what I scored. Nevertheless I could tell from the teachers' faces that I did badly. ZWei's presentation went better off than mine, and after seeing what he's gonna do, I can say I support his motion and wouldn't mind helping out in anyway possible.

After the presentations, it was Mother Tongue and I was a little annoyed with the way Justin on the way he behaved during CL'B'. I mean, he was trying to act as if he was like the 'rebels' in the class and intentionally behaved like them, even as far as dare to say infront of the teacher that all their actions, from making fun of the teacher's accent to disrupting momments when we're trying to read the textbook, "shi hen hao xiao de! (Is very funny!)" But knowing that everyone, including Justin, is God's beloved, I held back my peace. And by the end of the lesson, I was calm again. But I just want to leave a small note: Justin, even if you're trying to follow the majority by not appreciate the teacher, at least don't make it so obvious or intentively insultive. Show some respect, even if the lesson's too easy for you.

The day ended off with E Science, where Mdm came in as an angry Mdm as she wanted to hunt down the students that haven't handed in some work. But then when we left that aside and started the lesson, we cheered her up with our enthusiastic responses to the subject and she became her happy self again. We were being introduced to the topic of Agriculture and concentrated on Shifting Cultivation for today. So to help us remember what we learnt, Mdm, with our help, summarised the points into keywords (Select, Fall, Burn, Plant, Harvest), taking the first letter of every keyword (SFBPH) and made a sentence using the letters (Some Funny Bunny Phailed Horribly), something like how'd people remember the planets before Pluto was regarded as a Dwarf Planet. It was fun, but it soon had to end.

We were dismissed, and I was thinking of making one loop to the Tracks so I could drop by the SAC and buy a couple of Tao Sar Baos. But when I checked the time, which was 2.48pm, I decided to just go straight to the Tracks and buy a Hot Dog Bun at the Swimming Pool Cafe instead. What a coincidence that both food items have three words, and each word requires three letters. (Hee hee)

Once I finished my meal, I ran to the Pull-Up Bars to meet up with the other Canoers, only to find out from Kenneth that all of us owe Mr. See LOTS of push-ups, thanks to Kenneth's foolish mistake of leaving the keys on the floor back at MacRitchie. Acording to him, Kenneth says he never heard Mr. See use the term "screw" in such a fierce manner ("Tomorrow, I'm so going to screw you all!"). Uh, oh.

To start off Land Training, we did some running first. And my legs were still aching from NAPHA earlier on, so you can imagine the pain and strain put to the test. Then we had Gym! And I brought my towel! But for the gym gloves, which I also brought, I forgot that they were snug deep inside my bag and so ended up forgetting I brought them altogether. We finished off with Medicine Ball Tosses and then got our bags. But did we get our bags to leave, that's another question.

No. Instead, we went downstairs to the Swimming Pool to do some Dragon-Boat practice! Yay! (Gasp!) But the 'B' Div were being trained first. So for the 'C' Div, the people who forgot their trunks and had to wear their PE shorts stayed on land, while those with trunks were told that they "could have a dip in the water." Thinking that he was just going to allow us to swim about in the pool, we quickly jumped in and played around for a little while. But then once everyone was in, Mr. See suddenly said a series of swiming styles and intervals of push-ups, and we had to follow them! AHHHHHH!!!!! *gasp**cough* Was rather tiring, and since I didn't bring goggles it was also painful for my eyes. But after a few minutes of being dictated comand after comand, the 'B' Div had finished their training and it was our turn to paddle. Ah, well. That's training.

Once everyone had their share of both swimming and paddling, we had a debrief that included Mr. See announcing that we owe him the total price of all 5 sheds! In other words, for every dollar every item in every shed every key his keychain holds, whether life-jack, paddle, seat or boat, we owe him 1 push-up. And a good thing it's not a canoeing push-up, but nevertheless.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! (Kenneth...)

He expects it to be fully paid by the end of the year. And how much, well, about hundreds of thousands? Millions, maybe not, but still, that's a lot. And coming from a Canoeist. So once dismissed, I changed up, bought a fish burger from the Swimming Pool Cafe, ate it and ran off to the bus stop. Met up with a few friends before catching the 74, of which I also boarded with Mr. Dave Tay. I was at the back of the bus, and he was walking towards me. So he came o the topic about the debate, hal-way stopping bcause he hit his head against the low ceiling of the double-decker bus. I reassured him I'd do anything I can do to arrange for things to go as planned before he left at his stop at Dover MRT Station.

After a long journey and two buses, I alighted at the stop outside my home, to meet up with Nicholas Fung, who later claimed that I was sitting beside him all along during the last bus ride. We then had a small chat and caught up with our lives before splitting off to the different blocks we lived in. Good ol' Nick.

When I came back home, I asked my parents at the dinner table if I could postpone the tution and the reason for so, and they agreed, telling me that school always over-rights tution. So I gave Auntie Kumhar a call and politely asked for the change, which she did to next week. Now that that's settled, let's see what happens tomorrow.

Pray for me...

Oh, and my Mom told me that my Dad already promised that if God could make the money earned in my Mom's tution centre reaches 6 digits, he'd start praising God. A great move for him towards God, maybe not by will but certainly by distance. So pray for him and my Mom too...