2k word count

2k word count by the end of tonight.

This would probably be the longest yet until I decide to go for 3k or more. Let's begin..

Today is the 2nd day of work since I came back from reservist yesterday. I am beginning to pick up the momentum which is probably a good thing right? I was doing tower duty today with Brandon at zone 7. The sun was bright with it's rays nicely diffused by the clouds, giving it a nice warm feel and the breeze was blowing nicely that it would put a baby to sleep peacefully. Such weather is perfect to be lazing at the beach and it is quite often nowadays which makes working quite a challenge if you understand why.

The open water lifesaving competition is happening on the 24th and 25th of this month and I am competing in the board race. 1 event only and it is going to be my 1st time competing in this competition. I believe I am quite competent on the board but anything can happen on the race day itself. I was told that the heats would be on the 24th and the finals would be on the 25th. Competition will be tough. There would probably be those who competed last year and did not went up the podium and will try their luck again this year. As for me, I will try my best to reach the finals. Going up the podium would be a bonus and it is probably going to be tough but not impossible. Miracles can happen right?

Today is Teacher's Day! Happy Teacher's Day to all the teachers! I just sent out SMSes to 3 of my teachers. They're Mrs Crothers, Mrs Ruth Tham and Cikgu Asnida. These 3 teachers have helped me to be a better person. Each have taught me many invaluable lessons. I never really caught what they taught me back then, but when I look back, it became so clear. Let me just tell you what each teacher has given me.

I was in the normal academic class in Commonwealth Secondary School and Mrs Crothers was my class mentor when I was in secondary 1. She's married to Mr Crothers who holds a position in the local entertainment industry. You would hear his voice on the radio and television advertisement often. I met him very few times and I do recognize his voice then over the radio and television but not now. Maybe I can guess but I am not able to predict it correctly. She taught my class English language and boy, she was very strict. She was probably the firstborn child and definitely a choleric. I definitely got a a number of scolding from her when I did not finish my homework. Even though she was strict, she was a very fun teacher. Her real influence was in her real passion - Drama.

She graduated with a degree in drama and something. I cannot recall the whole degree but drama was in there, somewhere. Her drama plays are very abstract. Nothing like the average Joe plays. She would play with heights, use different colors and uses lines that I could remember till now. I consider myself very fortunate as my batch of secondary 1 classes have drama as a lesson and have Mrs Crothers as our drama teacher. That means she was teaching us in 2 different lessons. Drama was not a CCA, Core Curriculum Activity yet then. It was still an ECA, Extra Curriculum Activity. Drama lessons were very fun! We learned the basic drama warm ups and some short skit to probably learn some acting skills. We were given a tasked to do our own play and show it to Mrs Crothers before the end of the year to be graded. Along the way during the lesson, Mrs Crothers would help us to improve our scripts and even our plays. My group play was about The Adam's family. Was it a coincidence? I don't know but I was the Frankenstein. It was probably the best role for me and I really had so much fun during that class. How many people can say that they had drama as a lesson and not a CCA?

I joined drama as an ECA. My CCA was international chess. Chess sessions were boring but it was quite relaxed. When I first joined the chess club, they had a coach and they were competing in competitions and I was not into that. I just want to lay low and it happened. The coach disappeared. I am not sure till now if he quit or was fired which left club aimless. After his unknown departure, the teacher in-charge inform us that the club will be disbanded. All of us were shocked! My 1st year was ending and we have to leave and find a new CCA? It would not be easy for most of the secondary 2 and 3 people. They would lose out on the CCA points as they would not be able to get a 75% attendance per year which some of them would depend on. In the end, the club would still run but will not recruit anymore.

The best part of drama started when I was in secondary 2. There was some activity in the drama club but I did not attend much. I always find excuses not to attend and it was an ECA so there was not much importance.Like any other day, I was in class and doing my work as per normal. Then came a girl who went into the classroom and asked for me. I think she asked for Emmanuel too, whom was classmate of mine. We followed her as she told us to. I only knew she was my senior then and that is all. She brought us to the dance room. Outside the dance room, there were some seniors doing some stuff. I cannot recall but I know there was a big scrim. Inside the room, I saw Siva and Marc who were my classmates too, rehearsing with the other cast. All I remembered from that day was the comment by one of the senior that I was very tall and I was now a member of the drama club SYF team. That's when life in secondary school became very fun.

The title of our first SYF play was called - The Swing. We had little props but these props were probably our signature props as we used them in our future plays and the coming SYFs. They were black cubes and there were six of them. Each were similar with only one side without a panel thus it can be used as a box too. I think they lasted for 7 to 8 years or more till it gave out and broke. We used big sets instead. For the first SYF, we used a large scrim which was a very big white piece of cloth to divide the stage into 2, front and back. We used blowers, like those you would see when janitors wet the floor and use it to dry the floor, and angled them at forty five degrees up to make the confetti create a cool effect. We even use flood lights to make silhouettes on the scrim from stage back and there was the swing. The swing was an ordinary swing but one of the rope was adjusted so that it would slip when one of the cast was suppose to pull it down and fall on the floor as cued.

Practice sessions were intense! Mrs Crothers would barked at the cast for the play to be right and the backstage crew to be on cue for the sound and lighting. She was much stricter than she was in class and I was beginning to be afraid of her. She took notes during every rehearsals. She pointed out mistakes. She left no stones unturned to make the play a success. By the time we were near the competition, a lot has changed since the first script was written. There were some changes to the cast and new additions to the backstage crew. I was in the backstage crew ever since I got involved. We rehearsed more often at the school hall after school as the competition came closer. Thankfully, our school hall was air conditioned. I believed not many school halls were air conditioned at that time as far as I knew.

The SYF was held at The Chinese High School theater. We went there a few times to get familiarized with the surrounding and do all the sound and lighting check and get them right. We did a couple of full runs and we discovered that the stage was different in size. We took some measurements on the first visit and we went back to adjust our stage so as it would be similar to that at The Chinese High. A lot needed to be changed but most of it are where the cast would be at on stage due to lightings. By this time, everyone knew their role. Backstage crew would guide the cast out from the backstage and the cast would help the backstage crew to move and clear the stage as quickly as possible when our play ended for the next school to play. This was even rehearsed. Everything was rehearsed.

During break or before rehearsals would start, we would gather in our own groups and have a good laugh and enjoy each others company. There was one senior, his name was Chee Kaur and he was from NCC, whom a lot of juniors like myself like to be with because he tells a lot of jokes! Remember my classmates Siva, Marc and Emmanuel whom I mentioned earlier? They were from NCC too. NCC were their CCA and drama were an ECA for them. The seniors were also the pioneers of the drama club. They joined and created the club first when Mrs Crothers started it. What I was really proud was that even though we had our own small cliques, we all cared for one another. It was something that I really liked about the drama club.

We had the privileged to be able to stay overnight in school before the performance day. We had rehearsals till like 9pm. As soon as the last rehearsal was over, we packed all the stuff to be ready for tomorrow. I don't remember what happened that night but all I knew was that it was fun. We had some games and we had dinner together before we all rested for the night. I think Mrs Crothers went home. There was Miss Lena Ng who was a music teacher in our school. She also helped out with the backstage and the play. Miss Ng was joined us later stage during the rehearsal periods and she was with us till the end. We left school the following day when the school was gathering for the assembly. We were on our way to create history.

It was our first SYF. We were new in this competition and we did not know what to expect. Being new in this would make us the underdogs. After we unloaded our stuff from the bus and placed it at the storage area, most of us fell silent. I believe most of us were nervous. I went around to help one of the seniors check if all the items have been unloaded and accounted for. As we were cued to be the next play, Mrs Crothers gathered everyone to form a circle and hold hands. As we held the hands of the ones beside us, Mrs Crothers began prayers for us. It became a ritual for us. Before every plays, Mrs Crothers would make us stand in a circle holding hands and she will pray for us. As far as I knew, she hasn't stop doing that. After that, we made history.

We won that year the Gold award and The Play Of The Year award. The next 3 SYFs, we continued to win the gold before we got a silver. We had other productions that were not for the SYF but I sure hell had a lot of fun.

I've done it! I've done a 2k word count entry! I'm waking up later at 5 am but I'm satisfied! Goodnight!