On the Neptune ;

Sunday, June 29, 2008

~ 6/29/2008 09:10:00 PM ~

We were mugging for JCT.

The Alpha Warrior Icon.

Trinity and Teck Kian were playing with the sparklers.

So concluded the June Common Test. I did well in Mathematics Test, and I was really in a good mood on Friday. I had a House Committee meeting, which followed by having lunch with Ben. I took my leave at around 1 PM and went back to watch Transformers again. It still gave me the splendid sensation, and certain scenes were still incredibly hilarious. At about 5 PM, I left for gym which was not far from the Bedok Swimming Pool. It felt brilliant to train after not having any exercise for more than one whole week. And it did have some effect, because after one hour my muscles were all bulged. But I knew it would not take more than a few hours for the muscles to return to their initial states, unless I train everyday. But I did not have the American time. So be it. I went back and watched a Hitchcock movie Dial for Murder. Hitchcock was one of the most successful directors in the film history and his movies were famous for suspends created.

Junior Treat Senior (JTS) Day was on Saturday. We were told to meet in school at 12:30 PM. I got up at 10:00 AM. Since I did not have many things to do on that day, I went to school straight away and waited at the stage. I brought a book so I would kill the time. I met Theen Yew soon, and we went to the school gate to meet Adrian. When we reached Pasir Ris Park, we had five people: Theen Yew, Adrian, Crystal, Tiong Wei and me. We prepared the first activity by pumping sea water into balloons at the beach. I was tanned during the process, and I wore a sleeveless T-shirt.

The Ten united at 4:00 PM, and we started to take a glance at each other’s presents for the seniors.

Here came the seniors. Our star Trinity Teo Jia Wei also came. We thought he could only come after dinner. But it was wonderful that he could join us earlier. Now, we were walking towards them. The path was narrow. The 16th was in one line. The 15th was gathered in a group. We tried to greet them, but they did not stop when the two groups of people met. They marched pass us and continued walking. Perplexed, we spun around and noticed that they had switched their House Committee jerseys with each other. For example, Annabelle was wearing Trinity’s jersey. “Trinity is smart today.” Annabelle declared later. But no matter what the prank was, we were half way through the first game ten minutes later. And half of the balloon burst even before the game because the seniors took them to play around. The captain water ball (“It sounds damn wrong eh!” Trinity chuckled) did not seem to work out, the evidence was that I, a defender, was still chatting with the captain Ashwin when the game had continued for ten minutes and had nothing else to do. Forget it, now came the water bomb attack, and we ran out of ammunition in 15 seconds.

Trinity left after the activities. Zul joined us with her new hair cut. We changed before dinning and we led the seniors to a restaurant near the beach. It was a low wooden building. A combination of pub and café. Everyone dined in the open. At about 7:00 PM the restaurant turned from premises of tranquility into a domain of cacophony, especially when there was a couple who got married in a bizarre way in the restaurant adjacent to ours. They arrived by a motorboat, and the band performed from afternoon to 10:00 PM at night. But that was the minor episode that I cared about, because Ms Thangam had come. All of us stood up, and she quickly gestured us to sit down. There were naughty grins on our faces. Theen Yew and I left when they were still eating. According to the plan, we were supposed to pretend to leave in order to prepare for them the surprise.

It was drizzling. And we feared that a heavy rain awaited us. So we quickly abandoned to have the surprise on the beach and switched to the wet weather plan. We transported the sands under a shelter and started drawing the Alpha Warrior Icon. It was hot in the shelter as wind could not reach here. And out of desperation and anxiety, we perspired profusely. Large drops of sweat trickled down, blurred my sight. We continued working on the Icon. I tried to make the Icon perfect. Theen Yew informed me that it had stopped raining. But both of us did not regret, because the shelter was actually a better place than the windy beach. The candles that we lit around the Icon could have gone out very easily there. Theen Yew also used a Chinese proverb which made me chuckle. A fine horse does not eat the grass behind it. That was the spirit.

But the thing followed was frustrating. Theen Yew rejoined the dinner while I had to wait under the shelter. This was not the plan. Aren’t both of us supposed to stay? I was really upset and bored. And what would the seniors say about my sudden departure? Only I “left”, and Theen Yew returned. I remained at the place for a damn one hour in solitude, with the candles in the darkness, walking around the Icon again and again. I worked on the Icon to kill time. But it did not work. It was almost perfect already. I chatted with my parents over the mobile so I would not bore to death. But since my mobile was running out of battery, the conversation was adjourned very soon. Signed, I stared at the flickering candle lights. Shi Yan and Krystal happened to walk pass, and I talked with them for a short well. They told me that the seniors thought that I had left. It seemed that our plan had withstood seniors’ scrutiny. But Shi Yan and Krystal could not stay long because the seniors might grow suspicious about it. I was disappointed as we bid adios.

Eventually, as reconsideration to my message, Theen Yew sent my good friend Tiong Wei to the shelter. Or maybe I was mistaken, he decided to come himself? I knew not. The conservation was short as well due to the same reason, but I was cheered up a bit by the irregular visits of people. At last, Mat, Phay Key and Krystal returned with bags of presents and cooked Tang Yuan. I helped them for preparation, and the seniors, accompanied by their juniors, arrived.

Eyes closed, the seniors stopped in front of the Icon. Trinity had returned. I led him to the very front of the Icon. The rest stood at other three sides. Still eyes closed, Theen Yew began his speech, and we fed the seniors Tang Yuan, and gave them presents. Then, we held their hands which had been gripping a sparkler, given by me, and lit the sparklers by the candles. Only by now, the seniors were allowed to open their eyes. They were ecstatic about the surprise, and for the following hour, all of us played with sparklers, tried to swish them with lightning speed and took photos of the patterns. We had successfully formed “SPORTS”, “DCP” and “α”. Ms Thangam watched our naïve deem in calm. Perhaps with half-closed eyes, indicating lameness.

We caught the last bus to Pasir Ris Interchange and parted there. Crystal was playing with her new toy dog on the MRT train. We had a good laugh. And then, Crystal was finally bored about it, while Teck Kian was trying to strangle Safwan’s Kung Fu flat faced monkey. Crystal let the dog lay on her lap, making me to think of “Let the sleeping dog lie”.

The train came to a halt. Bedok.