the sports complex and everything along with it.
well, well. the last exam paper in nus high turned out to be some kind of a killer, but i'm not too worried about it, i guess. at least, for now. i still have some hope in my CA grades. haha! the savior of all my modules here. *wonders how badly i'm going to die when i go to uni and they have a 70% exam grading thing.* then again, i'll find out soon enough, when that dreaded cm1131 exam comes to kill me in 1.5 months.
anyway. i went back to the acjc sports complex for the first time in years today, for my last SAT. walking down the long walkway towards the basketball courts/swimming pool, i remembered the times when jie/sean/i used to go there twice or three times a week for our lessons. for a moment, i pictured meng jiao lian on his bicycle, cycling along the track and jumping off it just a few metres outside the apsc office. haha, jie remember that guy in our first swimming class, that ruliyah named yuki or something, who was so much older and taller? i bet he's not really that tall - we were just tiny little kids, then. maybe we're taller than him now! :D
i hadn't been there in so long that it took some walking around for me to remember the general layout of the place again. i'd forgotten that there was the other staircase just next to the basketball court that we always used as a shortcut when we didn't feel like getting sweets from the office. while walking along it, though, i was reminded of the many times that we took the stairs while talking to the others from our various training classes. there was soon yeong (haha, cherm that's how his name's spelt, right?) from half-squad, who i always made sure i beat in our trainings, and i remember he was the one who said i looked pregnant in one of my dresses and subsequently got a whack on the head from his dad. he left before getting through to competitive, though. then, there was grace, probably the closest friend i had in my trainings, 'cos she was the only one who was in both my half-squad and competitive lessons. sadly, she left swimming to concentrate on horse-back riding, i think? of course, there were others like sasha and petra, who left due to other commitments, too. those were the days when lessons were great not only 'cos i love swimming, but also 'cos the people were really nice.
amazing how everything seemed so small just now, compared to what i remembered from the past. when i walked past the pool, i saw the benches where we would put our bags and get read for lessons. random flashes of memories passed by, like how jiao lian would blow his whistle and shout 'exercise, exercise!' and we'd run behind the benches to do our stretching, and the times when sean and i went for early morning trainings at 6am and stoned at the benches while waiting for training to start. there was another set of benches, right in front of the cafe next to the pool. that was where we'd sit during time-trials, while awaiting our turns. hahaha i remember once when one of the coaches gave us one of those safety talks while we sat there, he kept reminding us about the importance of not eating before trainings, if not we'd end up like the merlion - throwing up by the pool.
well, after finishing the sat just now, i contemplated listening to my mum and going into the apsc office to look for aunty wendy - ang peng siong's wife - just to say hi. haha, i soon realised i don't even remember how she looks like anymore, and that i wouldn't know what else to say ("i miss swimming"?), so i dismissed the idea. i suddenly had an image of myself, running towards the office after most trainings, to try to get there ahead of sean so i'd be able to get the nice light green gummies. i could also remember the elation and excitement i felt, as i stood in front of the office, staring at the noticeboard the day i found out i'd passed the time-trials and gotten into blue sky, the competitive swimming group for the 11 and 12 year olds.
there're many times when i wonder how on earth i managed to give up all this. swimming was a form of escapism from the tons of homework i'd always had waiting for me at home. it was an avenue for continual self-improvement - bettering previous personal bests by 1s at every single competition, gaining the muscles/strength to carry heavier weights at the weekly gym sessions, or even just trying not to be the slowest in the group for the competitive trainings. from being the fastest in half-squad, to one of the slowest in competitive, i'm proud of my younger self for never giving up, and for never losing hope. in the end, i didn't manage to reach that ideal of being one of the fastest in the group. i think that's understandable, though, since the others could afford the time to attend training 9 times a week (i got scolded for jiao lian for only attending 3). besides, i was one of the last to join the competitive team, since i started swimming lessons from the basics when i was already p3 - roughly the time the rest joined the competitive team.
well, i wasn't well-liked in the competitive group - i was the only GEPper, the only one who actually put in effort into studies and so couldn't come for all the trainings; the nerd. i attended lessons only because i love the sport, and because i had a great jiao lian who had faith in me, and that was enough. if not for the fact that i couldn't handle so many commitments, and i was already in HMP so i couldn't choose to quit piano, i don't think i would ever have given it up. but, maybe, if i'd been closer to the people there, i might've tried harder to juggle everything.
hahah. i was thinking, though. that if i hadn't stopped swimming, i might've ended up a jack of all trades, master of none. i wouldn't have been able to spend more time on violin to get it to the standard that it is today, and i probably would've been too tired to stay up late to study/finish homework. well. we can't get all that we want, i guess. i'd better appreciate everything that i have today, if not one day i'm going to regret not having put in my best effort and wasting these years spent on them. =)
anyway. i went back to the acjc sports complex for the first time in years today, for my last SAT. walking down the long walkway towards the basketball courts/swimming pool, i remembered the times when jie/sean/i used to go there twice or three times a week for our lessons. for a moment, i pictured meng jiao lian on his bicycle, cycling along the track and jumping off it just a few metres outside the apsc office. haha, jie remember that guy in our first swimming class, that ruliyah named yuki or something, who was so much older and taller? i bet he's not really that tall - we were just tiny little kids, then. maybe we're taller than him now! :D
i hadn't been there in so long that it took some walking around for me to remember the general layout of the place again. i'd forgotten that there was the other staircase just next to the basketball court that we always used as a shortcut when we didn't feel like getting sweets from the office. while walking along it, though, i was reminded of the many times that we took the stairs while talking to the others from our various training classes. there was soon yeong (haha, cherm that's how his name's spelt, right?) from half-squad, who i always made sure i beat in our trainings, and i remember he was the one who said i looked pregnant in one of my dresses and subsequently got a whack on the head from his dad. he left before getting through to competitive, though. then, there was grace, probably the closest friend i had in my trainings, 'cos she was the only one who was in both my half-squad and competitive lessons. sadly, she left swimming to concentrate on horse-back riding, i think? of course, there were others like sasha and petra, who left due to other commitments, too. those were the days when lessons were great not only 'cos i love swimming, but also 'cos the people were really nice.
amazing how everything seemed so small just now, compared to what i remembered from the past. when i walked past the pool, i saw the benches where we would put our bags and get read for lessons. random flashes of memories passed by, like how jiao lian would blow his whistle and shout 'exercise, exercise!' and we'd run behind the benches to do our stretching, and the times when sean and i went for early morning trainings at 6am and stoned at the benches while waiting for training to start. there was another set of benches, right in front of the cafe next to the pool. that was where we'd sit during time-trials, while awaiting our turns. hahaha i remember once when one of the coaches gave us one of those safety talks while we sat there, he kept reminding us about the importance of not eating before trainings, if not we'd end up like the merlion - throwing up by the pool.
well, after finishing the sat just now, i contemplated listening to my mum and going into the apsc office to look for aunty wendy - ang peng siong's wife - just to say hi. haha, i soon realised i don't even remember how she looks like anymore, and that i wouldn't know what else to say ("i miss swimming"?), so i dismissed the idea. i suddenly had an image of myself, running towards the office after most trainings, to try to get there ahead of sean so i'd be able to get the nice light green gummies. i could also remember the elation and excitement i felt, as i stood in front of the office, staring at the noticeboard the day i found out i'd passed the time-trials and gotten into blue sky, the competitive swimming group for the 11 and 12 year olds.
there're many times when i wonder how on earth i managed to give up all this. swimming was a form of escapism from the tons of homework i'd always had waiting for me at home. it was an avenue for continual self-improvement - bettering previous personal bests by 1s at every single competition, gaining the muscles/strength to carry heavier weights at the weekly gym sessions, or even just trying not to be the slowest in the group for the competitive trainings. from being the fastest in half-squad, to one of the slowest in competitive, i'm proud of my younger self for never giving up, and for never losing hope. in the end, i didn't manage to reach that ideal of being one of the fastest in the group. i think that's understandable, though, since the others could afford the time to attend training 9 times a week (i got scolded for jiao lian for only attending 3). besides, i was one of the last to join the competitive team, since i started swimming lessons from the basics when i was already p3 - roughly the time the rest joined the competitive team.
well, i wasn't well-liked in the competitive group - i was the only GEPper, the only one who actually put in effort into studies and so couldn't come for all the trainings; the nerd. i attended lessons only because i love the sport, and because i had a great jiao lian who had faith in me, and that was enough. if not for the fact that i couldn't handle so many commitments, and i was already in HMP so i couldn't choose to quit piano, i don't think i would ever have given it up. but, maybe, if i'd been closer to the people there, i might've tried harder to juggle everything.
hahah. i was thinking, though. that if i hadn't stopped swimming, i might've ended up a jack of all trades, master of none. i wouldn't have been able to spend more time on violin to get it to the standard that it is today, and i probably would've been too tired to stay up late to study/finish homework. well. we can't get all that we want, i guess. i'd better appreciate everything that i have today, if not one day i'm going to regret not having put in my best effort and wasting these years spent on them. =)