Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Having tried my best to change my sleeping pattern, I gave up after sleeping 'early' at 12 plus and woke up at 4.30am. Watched some FrenchTop14 rugby and eurosports on cable before venturing downstairs to buy breakfast. Decided to head down to NUS earlier for a run before actual soccer began. It's been a while since I last played with this group of friends, a mixture of SMU, acs(I) and acs(br) people whom I don't normally join. It's been close to 2 months of non-footie action no thanks to the assignment deadlines and the looming examinations for undergraduates like us. Many exclaimed yesterday that it felt good to be able to venture out and kick a ball and basically just exercise!
My squash kakis from nus always remark that I somehow know the school layout more than the nus people. Well, it's just that I happen to head down to the area pretty often for sports-related activities or to find a place to revise. Ever since I've gotten that bus concession card, I've even discovered that there's a direct bus from my place, 188, which would take me directly to the engineering faculty or fass. That's a lot more convenient than taking the train to Clementi and having to alight to take a bus. The only downside is that I've to walk quite a distance from the main road (engineering faculty) if I were to head to the src area for a run, squash or soccer.
It didn't matter that the handcourt courts was filled with I presume freshies (as evident by their rag shirts) training for handball because I had already planned to reach early for a short 2.4km run before the actual game started. My friend thought I was crazy to want to 'run so much' when there's alot more running to be done in the actual game. Well, I just seriously want to get back to a decent level of fitness - the current one is in a pathetic state. On my way to filling my bottle at the track, I've noticed this group of freshies, who had been there since I started my run to the end of my soccer, contended to with just gossiping and playing cards at the bleachers. Nothing wrong with that, it's just that very few people would actually be contended to spending their precious holiday sitting in one corner in the campus. They would rather go town, bum around or walk around aimlessly in the hope that the hours would pass by them a lot faster. Considering that the exams just ended for most of the nus peeps, the campus is indeed one of the last few places they would want to hang around in.
As mentioned before, I've started to look upon sports as a one of the means to catch up with a few friends or even make new ones - this group of soccer kakis being evident of that. I used to have this inferiority complex last time back in junior college (which need no mentioning because I did badly for my O Levels and ended up in some neighbourhood jc) and don't look forward to going for any outings with the acs(I) people. In a nutshell, I've started to become withdrawn and even look down on myself when I see former secondary school friends wearing that much coveted white and blue uniform. Fast forward to the present, it doesn't matter anymore. I kinda look forward to such meetings or outings because I am interested to find out how my friends are doing. Many say the same thing when they see me 'Where are you teaching right now?'. They seemed to have this impression that teaching training is a mere short 2 years. Well, definitely 1.5 years more to go, just like the rest of those pursuing their degrees in the local universities.
I really respect this particular band mate of mine since secondary 1 because he's a guy who's actually pursuing a degree in social work in nus. Considering it's a course that's predominantly filled with females, he's one of the only 2 guys inside. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard the news like earlier this year - 'C Chua taking sociology ah?, nope, he's taking social work'. After engaging in some conversation with him during the break yesterday morning, I've began to develop a newly-found respect for this chap. His friends were also worried for him initally, as a man is expected to a breadwinner in the future for his family but as we all know, even for a graduate, the paycheck for a social work might not be economically-viable.
Before I sound sexist in this entry, it's a reality-check for many in the sense that it has become a female-dominated industry where one usually says 'I'm in it because of the interest and I want to help people'. What's even more amazing is the fact that C Chua stays in my area (Bukit Batok) and for his attachments, he has to head to Changi Prison area. Being in his field of work gives his the opportunity to deal with people from different ages and backgrounds. I'm happy for the guy because he's one of the rare ac people who have decided to take the path less travelled and in it genuinely for the interest - certainly not being bankers, lawyers and doctors like the majority.
