Monday
Monday was phototaking of all the CCAs, and all Uniformed Groups were allowed to wear their uniforms to school, to save time, since the uniformed groups were first to take photos in the morning. That was interesting, especially cuz NCC took so long, that all the other UGs were held up by the combined company (Air and Land)… Anyway, lessons were all disrupted with students and teachers alike walkign in and out of classes at different times, and each class three-quarters full at most… Leigon was last in line, the biggest Catholic society (with QOAS making up more than half of the photo)… Anyway, I played a part in getting the Legionaries organized, together with Mr Ang’s powderful voice, and the helpful portal service of Eugene, Edgar, Joel Yee, etc…. haha =P, I got them to help me carry the Leigon altar down from the cenacle to put in the photo as well… And that’s about all for a very interesting Monday…
Tuesday
Other than a not so bad discus final, I got to meet Ric and Bryane, ppl who I’ve seen before, but not know of my existence… So now they know me, and I know them (since long time ago)… I got 5th postition… Not too bad, but not that great either… Anyway, some guy named Chedwin was the student helper? Weird name… Haha =P, He had to run three times to get Mr Lui to come down and verify the record breaking throw… When it started raining, they called for a halt of all events, and we took a break, until much later when we resumed, after a snack in the canteen, for the second part of the finals, after elimination of everyone outside the top 8 throws. That didn’t end up TOO bad, Belmond got bronze medal, but i went for Legion quite dirty and smelly, only to find Mr Ang in the middle of his allocutio, telling a story in which he broke a poor, innocent clay jar, which shattered into a million pieces… I still have a piece of it now… Muahaha…
Wednesday
We got to leave class early due to Yeoman service at the National Cross Country Track and Field Championships. I was quite excited, cuz I find Yeoman service quite fun… But then again, my sense of fun is warped, so don’t listen to me… HAHA =P Anyway, I saw Ben Lee there (Choir Hannah Lee’s bro), cheering for ACS (eeyer) at the final stretch… Haha, he was actually audible! Surprise, surprise, first time I’ve heard him shouting… One poor boy crossed the finish line, bent over, and started puking (RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!!). I was stunned, so I supported him, while I called for the SJAB ppl, but they just stood there, cuz he wasn’t lying flat on the ground or anything… He dropped to his knees, while I was still calling for SJAB, and his friend came to console and be there for him. Haha, the friend looked up, and said to me, "Sir, I think he’s okay already, he just needs to (retching sound) finish vommitting…" or something to that extent. I nodded my head, more amazed at the fact that I was being called "Sir" than the exhausted boy kneeling half dead on the floor. Evenutally, the SJAB escorted the poor boy to the recuperation tent. Poor boy =(
In another instance, a guy couldn’t even pick himself up after completing the race, he was almost delirious! We had to carry him onto a chair, and carry the chair to the recuperation tent. I must say, he had quite a fun time being surrounded by SJAB girls attending to him, fanning him, pouring water on him…
Maundy Thursday
After school, shotput wasn’t exactly very successful, since I got sixth place, behind Bryden and five throwers…. Nevermind, Belmond got a bronze medal again… I put powder all over my hair, to make me look old… Haha, I couldn’t get the snowy effect right though… I started to snow Bryden too, but he kept rubbing it off… Oh well, Chien Ming got quite angry, cuz he missed the record by 1 cm… Pity, he threw up such a fuss, even though he got gold…
After the thing was over, I was in the canteen, when I saw the MM gathering for an outing (presumably to go for Maundy Thursday mass together), so when Daniel Seow (Dan the Man, from Orientation Camp) walked past, I stuck him with a number sticker, the ones that all the trackers have… We stole three boxes full of them from the PE Store, when Mr Arul was cleaning out the unwanted stuff, and that was in the junk pile, so our class just koped it after PE… Anyway, that sparked off a war, since he started sticking it on the other MM members also. Timothy Oen came to ask for some number stickers too, but kena stuck one by me in the process of receiving it… "That was uncalled for.." (Yeah right…) Anyway, i stuck one accidentally on Leonard’s hair, but I really didn’t mean it, I was going for his shoulder, but he dodged…. Anyway, I went back home to bathe and change for Maundy Thursday mass, which I was singing for… I went early, to practice all the parts once more, and to warm up my voice with the rest of the choir, and sang my heart out for that mass. Everyone thought the music was great, and the mass was beatiful. After mass, we went for church visiting to Church of St. Vincent De Paul, Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Church of St. Anne’s, and the Church of the Nativity. It was a very spiritual and reflective time, spent away from work and studies for God, and it was a journey and process that I went through to stay awake, and to pray with Jesus in his Garden of Gethsemane. I still remember in the bus, Ben Teo fell asleep on my shoulder, and I pretended to be asleep on his head, and people started taking photos, so I "woke up" when I received an sms, and had to co-ordinate my collection of money from my brother (whom I haven’t paid back yet), since I didn’t bring any for the camp at SJI, where I was heading to for the overnight stay after their own church visiting (which I didn’t attend since I had my own one)… Anyway, so we reached SJI like an hour early… And we waited, and waited, and waited… (Ben Teo and I that is…)
When they finally came back, I was already quite bored, so I decided to have a little crazy fun… Since I was in my sleeping bag, I crawled like a caterpillar to try and help them set up the Stations of the Cross service (at like 3 a.m.?!!?!?!), acting really spastic and lame, but funny all the same (hey, i rhyme!) =P
I think one guy from sec one (Jerome?) thought I was crazy or something… Aaron and Azriel thought I was crazy, and left it at that, but at least they knew who I was… HAHA =P, so fun freak ppl out…
Good Friday
3 a.m. in the morning, Mr Ang decided to have a prayer service in the LT where we would spend the night, and after setting everything up, and settling everyone down, he introduced an atmosphere of prayer, starting the ceremony with the cross lain on the ground, five candles on the five wounds of Christ, and "since Gabriel Woon is holding the matches, I now invite you to come and light the candles." So I went down, but the first match extinguished (and burned my hand) before the candle was lit, the second one lit the first candle and a portable long candle that I used to light the rest. We then had a short and reflective P&W, followed by Stations of the Cross, in which I made the mistake of going out barefoot, to light the candles of everyone who came out of the LT, sec 1,2,3,4 alike… I was the light of the Legion, and when Mr Ang asked me to sing with him, I sang out, and only our two voices could be heard… Haha =P, I was multi-tasking with lighting of candles and singing parts with him… Walking around the school, rekindling extinguished flames can be more tiring than attending the service itself, in the end, I had a hand full of wax and burns, due to hot wax dripping on me all the time… Especially with people like Nick Loo and Sam Koh, who were frequent visitors, as well as crazy ppl like Bradley who kept on blowing off other ppl’s candles… Mad Goons…
After the Stations of the Cross was over, a few people went to bed, but some stayed up to watch the Passion of the Christ, me being one of them… I fell asleep though, woke up later during the movie… Forgot how moving and touching it was, since I fell asleep last year… *Sigh* It was a great movie, too bad Mr Ang always shows it in the dead of the night…
After movie was over, I went to bathe in the female staff shower room, cuz that was the one that was open… Had a fun time, I must say its quite nice there… Haha =P, not that I will go there again =P
I didn’t sleep, but watched the parody of Jesus Christ Superstar… It was dumb, intelligence-insulting, and pure stupidity… Can’t believe I actually watched a part of that show!!! Anyway, when I went to Esso to buy coffee, I forgot my wallet, so I had to run back and get it, run back to Esso to buy my stuff, then come back for closing ceremony… Whoah =P…
After closing ceremony was over (just for closure, nothing special), I headed to St.Iggy’s for the 10 a.m. Stations of the Cross (acted out by the Sec 4’s) and since I had just watched the Passion of the Christ earlier that morning, I couldn’t really appreciate the lack of acting skills that Mark Vincent has (contrary to the "all-rounded student" that ST claims him to be), and I think it was quite poorly done (sorry to those who planned it, but last year was better)…
Anyway, there was a Divine Mercy chaplet at 11 a.m., but I kept on falling asleep through it, so I decided to go outside and sleep, but I left my shirt inside the auditorium (the one I wear outside my round-neck T-shirt, what were you thinking!??!!?) =P
I woke up in time for the 12 noon Passion Sunday service, and it was so solemn, especially after a whole night of prayer and reflection (well, not the whole night…) that I really found more meaning in it than previous years of Easter, that came and went by meaninglessly…
Holy Saturday
That afternoon, I had choir practice for Easter mass the next day, combined with the mini-orchestra that comes together on big occasions (like Christmas and Easter), but practice was lousy, cuz we had a strength that you could count using one hand…. But we got through the parts, and the adjustments in tune, rhythm and score… After that, Marian, Frances, Ben Teo and I went out for "dinner" at Farrer Rd hawker centre, sharing what we had in a small community meal… That was nice, but then Pap brought me more food when he came, so I ate that too… Haha, how piggeroo could I get? (Don’t answer that… =P)
The Easter Vigil was really, nice especially with all the music, and the fellowhip surrounding me, since I was with Jessica, David Menon, Jonathan Lim, Elliot, Douglas, later joined by David (huang loong) and Granville… What a merry company to fit into one window bench… Anyway, I sang loud for all of them to follow, and they appreciated and enjoyed it =P
Halfway through the Alleluia, my contact lens fell out of my eye, and I washed it with eyedrops and popped it back in… Haha, caused quite a commotion… Anyway, crazy guys were so noisy, they got scolded by the aunty sitting next to us (serves them right…)
I spotted a cockroach an inch away from Jonathan’s foot, and tried to warn him, but he moved it, and it scurried past Granville who jumped up and nearly cried out in shock and fear… Haha =P you should have seen his reaction… Anyway, he spent quite a lot of the rest of the mass keeping track of the cockroach, and decided to share the chair with Jonathan instead of sitting on the floor… Haha
All in all, Easter Vigil was great, but I had to wake up early the next day to sing for mass (again), but not before I had attended the part for the catechumens and their relatives, including the ministries who helped in the Easter Vigil, so I just slipped in to enjoy the air con, and to finish up leftovers, muahahaha =P!
Easter Sunday
We sang loud, strong and clear for the crowd that morning, and they loved it… Together with the orchestra, our voices charmed the old folks, and lifted the young ones in exultation, everyone singing with us, and applauding for us at the end… Anyway, it went great, there was an Easter party after that at Hannah’s house, which I turned up for with much-appreciated Chai Tao Kway… Hahaha =P (more by the uncles and aunties than the kiddies)…
I enjoyed myself, playing foosball, and swinging on the swing… Had fun making friends with the small little children, like Dean and Elizabeth, re-meeting some like Claire and Lynn (Lisa?)… Crazy bunch of kids, running around, left and right, to and fro, up and down…
All in all, it was a great Easter (except for trying to catch up with homework, cuz that failed miserable…)
Hope everyone had a great Easter, and the spirit is still with us, so celebrate! (but don’t forget to do your homework… =P),
GABZ
