Let's start with friday. friday was the first time i was late for school since getting into NJC, and what a "first" it was, because i arrived in school 90min late. and the most epic thing was that due to a series of fortunate coincidences, nobody noticed that i was late. i wasnt running the road run that day, but was instead supposed to take charge of the charades station for the total defence day amazing race. my personal mentor thought that i had reported to my amazing race station, while the people at the station couldnt be bothered if i was there or not, so basically that's the end of that. epic win, yes? :)
there was an impromptu OG10 outing after road run (organised by the orientees no less! really pleasantly surprised by their initiative), but none of the ogls could make it due to one reason or another. i myself had to go for chem spa, so while they were eating and talking cock i was adding grey powder to colourless liquid and watching bubbles form -.- after that i had to go for H3 physics practical, which by the way is probably the most boring science practical ever. my first practical on wednesday involved using an atomic force microscope, which basically meant i stared at a practically stationary needle hovering above a piece of a CD for 3 hours. friday's practical was slightly better, because at least there was some hands-on activity for me. and by that i mean shifting a magnet away from a small black sensor in 0.1 inch increments ([sarcasm] how fun! [\sarcasm]). and i used to think that watching a pendulum swinging was a boring physics practical.
saturday's training was a joke. we were supposed to have perfectly normal NIE pitch training, but all of a sudden coach told us to go for a 6-on-6 full-day hockey tournament at the Padang. it was obvious before we even began that we were way out of our league - the participants were all international representatives from around the world, including such hockey powerhouses as australia and holland to name a few. the only reason why such small-fries like us were even allowed into the tournament was because the royal thai air force forfeited in the last minute and coach put us down as a replacement team (so everybody referred to us as the royal thai air force team the entire day). we were totally ownded at first, but then coach called down a few of his star students to join the team and we managed to win one match out of four by the end of the day (and mostly it was because of their effort and not ours).
after getting sunburnt the entire day, i went over to yiyin's house for the ignis ogl dinner. first and foremost, her house is HUGE. seriously, it has 3 levels and a basement, a swimming pool, a home theatre/karaoke system, and a toilet in every bedroom including the guest rooms. you know you've made it in life when you can even afford to have an air-conditioner in your storeroom. so anyway, the night was spent stuffing myself with steamboat staples, making over-exaggerated comments about yiyin's house and wealth (or maybe i wasnt that far from the reality...), and watching lucas, zikai, yuanzhi and boonbin get high over karaoke. dammit, it's precisely stuff like this that makes me miss Genesis so much...
and today was the continuation of yesterday's tournament. we ended up being eliminated at the semi-finals of the plate tournament, even with the best efforts of coach's star students. if i knew how to contact them again i would definitely say a huge "thank you", because there was no way we could have gone half as far without their help. so basically, nearly my entire weekend was burned away, when i was supposed to be doing gp and econs and maths. so... good game to me T_T
i wonder how they can smile in the face of a dead end. is it ignorance which grants them such cheer as they walk head-on into a collision? or is it a false optimism which they exude, to mask the fear and despair which they must feel? i weep for them, if they do not weep for themselves, as they happily, obliviously throw their effort down the drain with the false hope that it will grant them success.
