The Mid-January Inscription

I. Ainan tells of his reunions as diverse, the alumni being a mix of stratospheric high-flyers from a choice selection of colleges and those who are waiting to become thus; those who spend their days scattering their brains upon the bars and those who are prepared to jump in in short notice. Ten months! Already they cannot wait.

Varsity life in those parts changes you, that's what they say; once you get in you don't flying want to come back. What I hear is a vivid description of Hell itself, a place horribly hard to drag people out of.

By the time I get my reunions, I suspect, there will be half of them I will not recognise anymore, them who over a year ago were muggers just like I was.

For now, it would be cool if my friends would stop pestering. I'm sorry, the place you told me about is not attractive at all. I would not go if not for the drink I owe my buddy. I might not go even for the drink that I owe my buddy, and I pray he changes his mind about it.

II. The overbearing loneliness I get outside is relieved in part by having a close group of friends i.e. my detatchment mates. And having five books to read at once. And, stretching my use of the word "relieved" for a bit, meeting people at church.

I don't actually know most of the people I see in church, but the computer table is a good place to observe the rest of the congregation from, so you could pick out who comes how regularly and sits at what pew most of the time. Of course there is also the choir, although since us Catholics become exceptionally good-natured and polite on Sundays I can't say the relationship is very close.

Ainan is mistaken. Pamela only comes on special occasions. Most of the time it's her brother Sean who visits us.

III. Going out now does not dispel my feeling of ennui.
I used to walk the 7km to school on non-working days, but the school is not mine anymore and I have no reason to go there. Early last year I tweaked the route to end at Guthrie house, but the idea of having to walk 7km just to eat breakfast was really stupid.

For a while in late last year I walked to NUS, but the school is not mine yet and I have no reason to go there either. When I needed to get to Prince George Park, I took the bus halfway there, and had a short walk up South Buona Vista road instead.

The route down Upper Bukit Timah road is defunct, because I no longer lived near Bukit Panjang, I haven't met the people who lived along there for so long, and it's not as if I'll actually meet them by walking the Old School Route.

The 72k route march from Lim Chu Kang to Hendon Camp, I've realised, was the walk to end all walks.

IV. I anticipate and eagerly look forward to next Friday night, because I will be visiting the Astronomy Club, the club that I chipped in to kick-start and the club I helped to lead. It has become a miracle in surviving for three years and still going strong, going stronger in fact. I want to meet Mingyang and to hear from him the club's exploits in the third year.

V. I anticipate and eagerly look forward to the February-April ultrahighkey training season. Come, weeds of wild Singapore! Come, hills of Country X! Come, take away my sorrow, give me my outfield!