The Intermission

Some of the people in this picture are acting up.

Today is that last day of school.

Not technically true, since we're all coming back next Friday, and school doesn't even end til the sixteenth, so we've got those five days. But they dropped this bombshell on us so suddenly it feels like it really is the end.

The last day of school and we're trapped in double Biology, just cause Gina is relentless. I saw Sanjay and Wai Khuin run past our class, through the window in the door. It's pure torture, being chained to these desks while the other classes are flying wild, desperately taking in all the sights they'll never see again, and burning those images into precious memory or celluloid. Could it be some form of karmic retribution for my skipping all of Wednesday? If it is, the punishment is harsh.

Today is the last day of school.

I have no more classes to skip, only service and the farewell later. I wouldn't even be here but for the fact that I already missed this and she almost caught me for it. The lie I told to get out of it won't hold up twice. At least I've got a Mars Bar to make the waiting marginally more bearable... thanks Grace.

There's the bell.

- written at 9:20 AM during Biology in 5W, 26/10/07

I guess it's obvious we're not that good at group pictures.

It's been two weeks since I posted the Learning Seasons. The next one's coming... whenever. I plan to finish the series up before the start of the SPM. Which seems a lot more likely now that we've got all this free time.

Supposed to be study time, though. So I feel guilty even writing this. I've been taking way too many breaks, especially if I mean to be serious about nailing all twelve of my As.

! 22/10/07 - Monday

Made plans for Sha's birthday. I proposed a turtle.

We bought the turtle in the basement of the PWTC mall. We're not exactly sure what species it is (I forgot to ask at the time) but it bears a resemblance to the Indian Star Tortoise, which I found on Wikipedia.

"Raising these animals in captivity is extremely difficult and should be left to those with advanced tortoise experience. They are very finicky eaters and gain weight extremely slowly. Hatchlings would rather sleep than eat and most succumb in the first months of life. A typical hatchling in the United States costs about $500 from a reputable dealer and you should be prepared to lose this investment if you do not have significant experience with tortoises."

I don't know, it sure looks like one. But I bought Sha's turtle for seventy bucks, and everything I've heard about the species so far (from sources that are not Wikipedia) seems to contradict the above paragraph.

For one thing, Eugene's brother has a similar-looking turtle which, although mostly neglected by the family, has survived on - and I quote - "green beans, newspaper and poop" and grown to a size that requires both hands to illustrate in the process.

Grace's aunt has a pair of these creatures - enthusiastically described as hardy - which she allows to roam her garden like so many hounds. Every week, a head of lettuce is left outside for the turtles, almost like an offering, and by the end of the week it will be consumed.

Angeline's cousin has a variant that eats nothing but pink Lux soap.

Apparently it developed the taste after being allowed to forage through the house on a leash, and now refuses to sample any other food they try to tempt it with, to the point where it even turns up its snout at Lux soap of other colors, for example yellow.

Deciding on a name for Sha's turtle proved to be a challenge of unexpected difficulty. A variety of names were suggested and we filled four post-its with our handwriting. In the end, we shortlisted a few (dozen) possibilities, as seen in the picture below.

Yeah, I carry that much stuff to all my classes. So what?

On the list:

• Inspire
• Typo
• Jahil
  
• Linguini
  
• Lilsha
• Annoy
• Kiss
• Maths
  
• Babysit
• Stick It To
• Sexyback
• Respect
• Conan
  
• Apocalypse
• Multiply
• Ferrari
  
• Terminate
• Benefit
• Spank
• Emancipate
• Satisfy
• Demoralize
• Delight

Most of these names, as you may have noticed, are not nouns but verbs. This makes sense when you add the suffix 'the turtle' to each. Example! Stick It To The Turtle, Satisfy The Turtle, Spank The Turtle and so on are all such great names.

Jahil is on the list because Sha likes Sejarah; Linguini is on the list because she likes the big-nosed punk from Ratatouille; Ferrari because Eugene proudly declared the turtle would be "powered by shell"; Conan, Apocalypse and Terminate because Li Wen was obsessed with getting a cute turtle with a badass name.

! 23/10/07 - Tuesday

Sha's birthday. I think we actually surprised her with the present.

Sha's turtle lived up to all expectations of being a fighter, poking its nose into every corner of our classroom and devouring the leaves I brought up from the canteen (Jimmy gave them away for free) within the day, all of which were several times his size.

As for the name, well, in the end we couldn't decide and gave it one name for each day of the week. The idea was that eventually Sha would stick with the one she liked best, and forget all the others. Or else she would learn to use all the names and that was fine too.

• Monday - Inspire
• Tuesday - Typo
• Wednesday - Multiply
• Thursday - Maths
• Friday - Kiss
• Saturday - Emancipate
• Sunday - Delight

I slept for nine hours that night. It was an accident. I fell asleep on the floor at nine after trying to do my homework, and I woke up at one in the morning all confused and disoriented but there was nothing for it but to go back to sleep until six, when I got up for school.

! 24/10/07 - Wednesday

This was a pretty cool day. Guess how many classes I didn't skip?

One.

You heard me right. I skipped the whole day. Doing this wasn't actually as difficult as it might sound, but it was pretty fun. See, I kept a timetable of my activities.

• 8.00 - 5K (spent homeroom here cause like eleven people from my class came that day)
• 8.30 - lecture hall (inadvertently sat in for the 5M/C ceramah here cause Yow Hwui didn't know where exactly we were going)
• 9.30 - 3M (played chess with Wai Khuin after we found an abandoned set on one of the tables, ended up losing by one piece)
• 10.00 - 5P (free english, Wen Juin produced Maltesers)
• 10.40 - Break
• 11.00 - 5M (free add maths)
• 11.10 - 5L (free BM)
• 11.20 - corridors (watched volleyball with miscellaneous Form Fives)
• 11. 40 - above ping-pong court (watched Form One football with Wai Khuin, Nathan, Nick, Serene, Wei Li)
• 12.20 - above ping-pong court (watched Form One football with Anish and Jayson)
• 12.40 - 5K (free sejarah)
• 1. 00 - football court (played football with Wai Khuin, Dass, Nathan, Adi, Nick)
• 1.20 - office (sent to Matthews for playing football in uniform during lunch)
• 1.40 - 5M (free english, played football in class)
• 2.10 - 5W (free moral, let out by Selva)
• 2.20 - corridors (watched volleyball with miscellaneous Form Fives)
• 2.30 - 5W (add maths, the one class I didn't skip)

You see? It was my most fulfilling day at school in months. I can't even remember exactly everything that happened, but I think it was Wednesday when Aza tried to trap me behind a door. Why do these things keep happening to me every time I go to 5L?

Last time it was the broken doorknob at the back of the class.

! 25/10/07 - Thursday

I didn't skip too many classes today. But I placed bets on volleyball with James and Tze Kang. Thanks to Zhou Wei's efforts I won a dollar from James and nine from Tze Kang.

! 26/10/07 - Friday

The first thing they did on Friday was tell us we'd have study leave for two weeks, making it essentially the last day of school. Which was a shock, to say the least.

Another thing that happened. Mrs Matthews made us laugh.

Matthews: And he told me, the Japanese make the best condoms in the world.
Tze Kang: That's what my host family told me.
Matthews: I think you're hardly an expert on the subject matter.
Jun Ian: She actually said something funny.
Brian: There's a first time for everything.
Jun Ian: Too bad it's almost the last day of school.

So what if she mispronounced condoms? It's still a pretty monumental achievement. Remember the last time when she felt obliged to explain what whiskey was?

No, I don't mean that.

About the school leaver's service. Esther's persistence eventually won out and I agreed to say a few words about my experiences with the school's CF. Which I'd always found rather ironic, since I'm Buddhist.

In any case, I didn't really think about what I was going to say, but inspiration struck.

...And as for religion, or spirituality in general, I think it's important for all of us to find some form of Grace in our lives. Obviously it wouldn't be the same for everyone, but regardless of our beliefs we all need balance, and for me that's what Grace means. It was here in this school where I found Grace, and that's been crucial to my life ever since...

The look on everyone's face was priceless.

That's it for now. Our next post will be about what it actually feels like to be living out your last days of high school in the way the school's making us do.

It didn't all begin this way, but this is how it ends.