Thursday, August 21, 2003

all hail the poet!

did i mention that i won some sajc singapore national day commemorative booklet poem thingamajig?

i could hardly believe my ears when my civics tutor told me the news. i mean, a foreigner winning? a bit the funny rite? hehe. the singaporeans never fail to amaze.

well, i told some of you about this and, due to popular demand, i present to you the winning poem!

a piece of my heart

the old malay kings - saw opportunity
sir stamford raffles - he saw gain
lee kuan yew - he saw potential
singaporeans see a 'fine' city

a foreigner like me - i see beauty
amidst the bustle of hurried paces
hidden paradise in a concrete jungle
of charming surprises in secret places

a nation of great diversity i see
held together by a common goal
pledging happiness for all
in the country they call home

a place of fine workers i see
where passion and responsibility are one
i hold my country dear
yet a piece of my heart is here

poet's comments:
one word - corny. on a corniness scale of 1-10, i'd say this poem is a well deserved 98. even the title is corny. "a piece of my heart"??? sounds like the title of a potential backstreet boys love song - that is if the group is not yet defunct.

and for those who know me well...yes, i did pen this in something like 20 minutes or so. my ct told us that we all have to hand in at least one piece of work, so i sat down on the day after the deadline (note the word "after") and wrote the above poem. of course, it was edited...i'm a bit pissed about that really. i'm not used to having my works edited. i'm used to editing other people's work...hehe.

well, the poem earned me a Borders (huge bookstore cum cafe in singapore) gift card worth S$30 so i can go splurge on a CD or some fascinating work of fiction, either which i will get tired of after 2 listens or one reading. heh.

i realised that i produce my best works during the most desperate of times. i wrote the crappiest (in my opinion anyway) gp essay on the functions of education at 3am the day after the deadline (again, note the word "after"), handed it up feeling totally lousy with myself and got the script back with a big 31/50 on the top of the page. to even get something above 28 is fabulous, what more a 31. and the teacher said she was proud of my essay.

wow.

i think i should start writing stuff at 3am more often, don't you think so? =P

lishun at 8:30 PM

|

Friday, August 08, 2003

i've got a fever! i'm hot! i can't be stopped...

that was what i smsed to my teacher mentor, civics tutor, housemistress and project work group leader yesterday morning at approx 6:40am.

okay, minus the "i'm hot! i can't be stopped!" bit of course.

yep, my wish to finally become REALLY sick (with fever and the works) came true yesterday when i woke up with a throbbing headache. i took my temperature and, to my horror, it was 37.7 degrees Celcius. great. that means i don't have to go to school.

for once i wish i did have to go school cuz it's the discovery fiesta, and i had three courses lined up for the day. but heck. at least i'm sick now and not two weeks before the finals.

so, i stayed in, recording my temperature every hour or so. it rose steadily, and when it went up to 38.3, i got scared. i mean, with the sars and all...who wouldn't be, right? but i knew it wasn't anything serious cuz i had a bad bad sore throat two days before and the fever's probably due to throat infection.

well...went to the doctor's for the sake of getting a MC for the day. it was unnecessary, really, cuz my self-diagnosis was true and i was once again cheated by a doctor. it's so syok being a doc at a polyclinic, you know. if the patient says cough, you give her cough syrup. sore throat, lozenges. fever, paracetamol. and then charge her S$8.60. sheesh.

but that wasn't the interesting part. once i got to the clinic, the nurse doing the sars screening thing asked me, "fever?" at my reply of "yes" she gave me a mask, pinched the mask at the bridge of my nose and said sternly, "do not remove this mask within the clinic, got it?" fine. she then went on to ask me the usual sars-related questions before giving me a yellow sticker (yellow! that was scary, cuz everyone else got green!) and directing me to the counter where i meekly pressed a button and sat down.

what came next was the registration clerk harassing me further with all sorts of questions. it irked me that she thought i was a MALE PRC!!! good gracious. later i forgave her cuz i guess she thought i was from china due to the fact that i spoke mandarin better than most singaporeans, and cuz i tied my hair and had a mask over my nose and mouth. yep, that must be it. it had to be. or else i'm gonna cry. i didn't grow my hair long only to be mistaken for a member of the male species you know!!!

being directed to a consultation room with "acute clinic" on the door was not very nice. the mask was bad enough. being seen entering the "acute clinic" room must have made people think i was gonna be the one ruining everyone's september holiday plans. anyway, i was in the room with the doc for a full 5 minutes (wow...5 minutes...so long, ya?) before i went off to collect my medication. yes, you guessed it, cough syrup, lozenges and paracetamol. heh.

being sick in a foreign country, even if it's just spore, made me pine for my mother. it reminded me of the time when i had a bad fever and my mother lay out a futon on the floor of her room and stayed up half the night wiping my brow with cold water to lower my temperature. i could almost feel her with me, fretting over me. and in the morning, when i felt at my worst, i wanted her to be next to me, coaxing me into eating white rice porridge, and gently scolding me when i refuse to drink the porridge water.

going to the doctor's alone also made me wish i were a child again, with my mother holding my hand and explaining anxiously to the doctor about how ill i was that night. looking at the clinic slip, i saw that i was to be treated as an adult. an adult! now, 18, i'm to be treated as an adult. no longer as a child.

and it made me a little sad, because i'll never go back to being a child. no longer does my mother need to be with me when i'm ill, as much as i want her to be.

sigh.

lishun at 7:03 PM

|