What would you have done if you saw someone crazy? What would happen if he walked up to you and uttered something which you don't understand? Would you be scared? Would you shiver and walk away? That guy was seriously mentally ill...
It was like practically every morning at the bus stop on the way to school, at the same time, I would see him pacing up and down and talking to himself. Well, of course like normal people, when I first saw him, I did not really bother although I felt a little uneasy and concerned for him. However, as time passes like a streak of lightning, this incident was as though it had became a routine. A routine for me to see him pacing up and down and whispering to himself.
That was when trouble came ringing at my door. He got more serious and serious. From mutters to talks to shouts. He was muttering at first, then he was talking and the most serious was when he was shouting to the air, as if someone owed him a living or someone infuriated him. Fear engulfed in my body, my heart was palpitating with the fear of him harassing me or harming me in any way.
Then, there was this time when he walked up to me and said with his hands stretched out towards me, "Boy, could you lend uncle some money? I have no money for food."
Could you guess what was my reaction? I pushed his hand down gently and said, "Sorry uncle, I am a poor bloke too." Luckily after I said that, my bus arrived. Just in the nick of time, I thought. I had a feeling that he was going to follow me up the bus, but luckily he did not. On the contrary, he stood anchored to the ground and stared at me,without saying a single word, as the bus drove off.
For the next few days, he was missing in action. I did not see him at the bus stop at the usual time anymore. Wait. Actually, I did - only after a week or so, but not at the usual bus stop, at another one nearby. I wonder where he went that week and whether what I said to him affected him one way or another. But anyways, I now know that he has "changed targets" and I don't think I would have anymore "dealings" with him.
However, there were a few questions that kept haunting me. What actually happened during the one week? And why did he move to the other bus stop? IT'S STRANGE, RIGHT?
Doesn't it feel good to reminisce the good or bad times in the past? Like being able to say to yourself, "Oh Darryl, that was a nice thing you did!" or maybe, " I should have done that, then the accident would have been avoided." Now, one may feel that memory is all that it takes to do that, however, I, personally, am a 'visual person'. Thus, I use photos to recall the good and the bad times. To me, I feel great when I look at those exciting photos, especially those photos of when I was having a whale of time. I would then somehow naturally laugh to myself, thinking of the joy and happiness.
That time - afternoon. That day - Sunday. That place - at home. During the weekends, my family and I were doing some early spring cleaning for the upcoming Chinese New Year. That was the day where images flashed through my mind and many incidents were being 'replayed' at the back of my head. (In this case, replayed means reminisced.) Positive or negative, they were all racing through the brain of a 14 year old guy and mixed feelings squeezed its way into my body. That was it! I had found my family's long-lost treasure, the photo album!
Well, maybe it was a little exaggerated but my family had not been pasting the photos into the album for a year already. Should that be counted as long-lost? Anyways, back to the point. The photo albums contained of the photos of the different family outings and the photos taken of me and my sister since young till now. We can certainly see from this album how much have we grown!
Don't you readers agree that spending an afternoon alone, looking at photos that bring back good and treasurable memories are very meaningful? I just like the peaceful surroundings and the atmosphere where only the tranquillity of the room could be heard as we entertain ourselves with photos to reminisce the memories. Others may say or feel that they would rather play computers, PSP or any other leisure activities. However, on the contrary, I just feel that the experience of browsing photos while having solitary time to yourself is even tough to explain it in words. Thus, I have tried my best to show how it felt!
Photos - this word meant a lot to me, especially after I remembered about the existence of the long-lost treasure. It has became like the family heirloom! The photos gives one the image of the happenings and allows one to recollect the feelings and emotions of that particular incident, at that particular time!
So after my tough elaboration of my family's collage of photos, do you readers want to pick up this hobby of collecting photos in an album too? I do hope so! Maybe sooner or later, I would not be viewing the photos by myself, but with my whole family!
How does it feel like to be ranted at? Angry and frustrated. What about being chided at, because someone betrayed you? Unjustified and vengeful. Then, how about being repimanded because a secondary one student complained about you? Disgusted and embarrassed. That moment was one of the few most embarrassing times of my lives. I actually lost to a secondary one! What an embarrassment!
It all began during reccess. The mouth-watering smell of the food wafted through my nostrils. This movement of the smell particles caused my stomach to vibrate,and in that sense, grumble. Meaning I was hungry! As the saying goes, a hungry man is an angry man. Thus, like normal, I decided to take the shortcut - that is, to cut the queue! How smart of myself, I thought to myself at that point of time. If only I knew what was awaiting me...
There, stood my friend in the middle of the queue. I walked up to him and squeezed myself behind him. Unexpectedly, the secondary one actually spoke up for himself and told me not to do that. Well, of course like a typical victorian or any student in any toher schools, I said: " I did not cut the queue. I was standing in front of you all along. " That was a lousy one!
At that point of tiime, I literally hoped that he would just shut up. Why? It was all because at the corner of my eye, I saw the man. Yes, it was him - Mr. Chia. To my utmost horror, he rebutted by saying he would report me and my friend to Mr. Chia. Desperately, I stood there anchored to the ground.
One half of my heart wants to eat and continue cutting the queue, while the other half wants to walk away after a failed attempt of my "brilliant idea" and prevent myself from getting into trouble with Mr. Chia.
I made a stupid decision. A really stupid one. The odds were all against me yet I had to stay in the queue. I remained planted in the queue and asked my friend to help me buy my food. But unluckily, it so happened that Mr. Chia was walking past the store of which I was "committing the crime" at. Death slapped me in the face. The secondary one informed him and I was called out.
"Hey Boy! Come out here!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "What class are you from?! What's your name?!"
"Darryl Sim from 2C, sir," I answered firmly.
"Were you cutting the queue?" he questioned.
"Yes sir, but after that I asked my friend to buy my food for me while I just stood beside the queue awaiting my food," I explained.
"Go to the back of the queue and start queuing again!" Mr. Chia ordered.
However, disgusted and frustrated, I went to the other store to queue up. Apparently, this time I looked for the one with the shortest queue. That was my debut of getting a scolding by him, after 1 year. What a shame!
Was this day really my unluckiest day? What went wrong? The secondary one, or was it just me? That would have to leave you guys and for me to think about it... After all, everyone has his own perspective, right?
(other celebration of my grandmother's birthday, not the one mentioned in the post.)What beats having a nice and minute family gathering once in a while?
The heartwarming feeling where all of your relatives get together at a certain period of time, have dinner together, and talk about the happenings of their own lives. Isn't it very welcoming? Even now as I write about it, I can sense a tinge of happiness in myself. I personally think that every family should have their own outings or gatherings. This would allow us to cherish each other even more. No one would be able to forecast the future. If unfortunately, one loses a family member, then that would be too late for regrets. Thus, I feel that we should build a rapport with each other right from the start. (Although I like these gatherings, I sometimes feel that they come too often, especially once every week, which gives me little time to do my own revision.)
Well, back to the main point. That day was my grandmother's birthday. She was the most respected person in my family after my grandfather passed away. My uncles and aunts booked a chalet and we went there to celebrate her birthday. The children went to swim at the nearby swimming pool while the adults sat around and made themselves comfortable in the chalet. We were having a whale of our time at the pool enjoying ourselves totally. Especially at the tall and long slide into the swimming pool. After like a blink of an eye, it was dinnertime! Reluctantly, we (my cousins and I ) went back to the chalet and took a bath before dinner was served.
As far as from the inside of the bathroom, I could already smell it! The mouth-watering smell of the widely spread barbecued food wafted through my nostrils and made my stomach grumble. I was like a person who had not eaten for days! (or maybe even months!) I had no choice but to succumb to the temptations of the appetizing food.
After the magnicifent dinner, it was time to devour the birthday cake! Chocolate flavoured, my favourite! Too bad, the cake was not meant for me. There everyone gathered behind the "birthday girl" and awaited her to cut the cake. Next we took a photo of everyone.
There was this moment a minute later when the eldest brother, which is my eldest uncle, gave my grandmother a kiss and took a photo of it! How heartwarming! I was like Aw.. my grandmother must be the happiest woman in the world, with so many children and grandchildren all so filial towards her.
That incident really left a deep impression of my eldest uncle on me. Why did I not see that side of my uncle before? These little family outings could really help to bond the family, especially in times of need like the financial crisis. Don't you readers agree?
Obstacles and challenges.
Do they have a special connection with you guys? Do they come ringing by your door every few weeks, or even days? People say that they are part and parcel of life and that for one to mature mentally and physically, they have to face them with utmost bravery and beat them hands down. But how do you do that? This, would definitely dumbfound me and probably some others too. I personally do not think that there is a correct or incorrect method to dealing with the obstacles and challenges in life. What I feel is that the mindset is all that matters. And this would bring me to my story...
It was the day of reckoning. It was the first official tournament that I played for the school in my CCA, floorball. Even until now, the name of the tournament still gives me the shivers- The Under 15 tournament. On my way to Choa Chu Kang stadium with my floorball mates, I was engulfed in mixed feelings of adrenaline and nervousness. My heart was palpitating non-stop like as if there were ten huge chinese gongs in it beating vigorously. Flaming missiles of negative thoughts besieged my mind. What would be expecting me at the stadium? I really did not know at that point of time. I just merely hoped it was something positive. Well, I mean who would want their debut at a tournament to be a negative experience?
There, the time had come. we prepared ourselves with the huge amount of matches that were confronting us. The first few matches were of a breeze. We won majority of them. However, towards the ending we were all pretty much exhausted.(I am not sure about the others, but I sure do feel tired!) The match lasted from afternoon till around 8pm at night. Soon, I had little energy to chase after the ball and my passes went astray and so on and so forth.
Suddenly, my team mate shouted, " Come on Darryl, you can do better than this! "
I shook, literally. I came to my senses and got out of my semi-conscious mind. I could not just go on like that without any fighting spirit at all. I had to change our 'fate'. I had a sudden gush of energy from somewhere unknown to me that kept me running. Thus, due to our teamwork, we played very well during the last few periods of the game, which allowed us to win the last match against Hillgrove and emerge as overall third in the tournament. (actually, there were only 4 teams playing in the under 15 tournament. 2 teams from VS and 1 from Hillgrove and the other is XinShang Alumni.)
This tournament was indeed an eye opener for me. It allowed me to gain more experience and it taught me that whenever I go for a tournament, be it my opponents are 4 times bigger than my size or 4 times smaller than my size, I should go there with a positive winning attitude and give it my all! Thus, mindset is all that matters. (Of course, we also need to practice to hone our skills too.) Be it the obstacles harrassing me at my door every few period of time, I would gladly open my door and challenge it, for I know that to overcome it I would have to face it like a man. Hence, we might as well get it over and done with, don't you think so?
photos taken from www.google.com
