being in a rather introspective mood for the last couple of days, the year 2006 had been on my mind constantly.
and i still struggle to comprehend how something that started out so very brightly could end up all in tears. and if there's one day that summed my year up, it would be the 28th of july, and i'm going to do something that i've never quite done before - re-tell the event of that day from my point of view. whatever for? i feel like doing so, and since this is my blog, i think i can do whatever that pleases me.
like how 2006 was for me, the 28th of july started with much optimism. for 2006, i was blissfully enjoy my time in pjc, slacking around, doing stupid things with my new classmates (our game for the open house was a complete disaster), oh and i even managed to win the inter-house football tournament (something that i would go on and win again later in the year, this time post-jae. that's got to be some kind of record, i think, someone winning the inter-house football title twice in a year.) moreover, i did astonishingly well for my 'o's. i was settled among my new friends (i admit that i thought nick was a prick, all of us did, but that's because of his constant whining about how the rice from the food stalls is uncooked or something.), i was enjoying my football, i did well academically.
likewise, the 28th of july looked all bright and cheery when i first began my day. it was my secondary school's speech day, and i was going on stage to receive an award for doing well for my 'o's, something that i had never even thought about simply because i had never dreamt that i would do as well as i did. but i was proud to head back to my secondary school for this speech day, because looking back, secondary school does seem like a really good place. also, i had my day planned; i was going out after the ceremony. what could go wrong on a day like this? as it turned out, everything, again, with the 28th of july displaying almost uncanny similarities to my 2006. hell, one could even argue that it foreshadowed how 2006 was going to end for me.
i can't remember much about what happened in school that day, except that my chemistry tutor threw a hissy fit about me not doing my chemistry tutorial. oh, as well as something about me not attending her lecture the day before, and the following hilarious exchange ensued:
"why did you not complete your tutorial? do you have any problem?"
a little nonplussed, i replied no.
"and why did you not attend my lecture yesterday too? and now you don't do your tutorial. really, do you have any problems? any relationship problems? you know, BGR?"
at which the whole class laughed, and i was most tempted to reply saying that yes, i i confess, i do have a problem; i think that i'm gay, but for the so very stern look on my tutor's face.
not a time to try and be funny, i thought to myself, and i settled for a succinct "no".
the next thing i remember, she threw me into detention and that was it, no more speech day for me.
poof, there it goes, something that i will never experience again became something that i'll never experience. just like that.
the rest of the day was a blur, but by the time that i managed to reach my secondary school, the ceremony was over, but my friends were playing street soccer over at lamsoon, the place where we had spent countless hours over our past 4 years, and i was asked to join them. surprise, surprise i declined, for something that i thought was more important than football (really can anyone fault me now for 'playing too much football'?). and it is only until recently that i got a chance to play ball with some of these friends again, more than 2 years after the 28th of july, 2006.
i too was asked to join another group of friends for dinner, but needless to say, i said "no", and many of these friends, i have not met since.
the thing that i thought more important than football with friends that i haven't seem for about half a year or more, some of whom i will not see for another 2 years, never happened.
but here's the irony, at bukit batok, i ran into yet another friend, one whom i played football with on sundays. he said that he meeting a few of my other football friends for dinner and asked if i would like to join them. left stranded, with nothing to do now, i joined my other group of football friends for dinner.
i declined playing football for something that i deemed more important, risking the wrath of the guys saying that i'm just like 'one of those guys'. and apparently because i wasn't quite as important, that something never happened, and i was having dinner with my other group of football friends. almost poetic ain't it? damn, i should have taken literature in jc.
much later, i received a call from someone that i've come to think of as not having enough tact, or perhaps it's just plain stupidity, to fill an egg cup. oh the failures of our education system. and if there's one thing that i detest more than stupid people, it's meddlesome fools. and if there's something that i dislike more than meddlesome fools, it's having a third party dragged into my affairs. that's quite a trifecta that we have here.
and i got the blame for everything. it's almost like football is a scorned girlfriend hell-bent on punishing me for ever having the temerity to think that there could be something that's more important than her, and at the end of the day, she got me by the nose, when i had no choice but to join my football friends for dinner, begging her to take me back.