~JcZw

14th December. Exactly one year ago at this time we were travelling on a long, lonely and lightless road on a bus heading up to Mount Kinabalu base camp.

Just like I treasure and respect my classmates in one way, and do the same for my St. John squad in another, so I did for the other Mount K-ers in a third way. Friends that travel overseas with you, toil up a 1095m mountain with you (perpendicular to sea level. The trail was considerably longer) are unique indeed. Let me commemerate today by relating a few of the most memorable points of the trip.

1. The bus journey as mentioned above. I really appreciate the fact that Singapore has street lamps by now. When we came out of the bus, everyone's breath was sparkling in the night and the badminton girls who were all wearing shorts were freezing. Those of us few who had braved the hot weather in Singapore and wore long pants were better of indeed =)

2. The climb to the peak at 1 am in the morning. I never thought I could walk so far also. Watching the stars was fantastic. Dangling on a sheer slope in the darkness (where you can't see the bottom of the drop) was bad enough. Being burdened by a first aid kit was an added challenge. It got interesting when my first aid kit got tangled with my rope. Heh.

3. Decending the plateau at 9 am. The mist was steadily closing in, wetting the rocks, and when I turned around to check that everyone was still alive I slipped and fell and slid 5 m down the side of the mountain. Kinda stupid... heh...

Ah well... How do you say... we learnt a lot about cooperation, helping each other and so on... One of the kindest gestures shown during the trip was halfway up the peak in the gloom of the rest hut at 2 am in the morning. I had lost my water bottle (by leaving it with wei quan) and had climbed for almost an hour without water. Amanda and Natalia (the girls from the sports groups) insisted that I drank some of their's before continuing the ascend. As it was I was dehydrated by the time I reached the top. Think those few mouthfuls of water made a lot of diff yeah =)

So by the time the trip ended (the last official activity I had in AHS) we all had new-found friendships and respect for each other.

Haiyar... I kinda miss it.. and this is adding to my general melancholy mood.

I'm feeling very burnt out over fencing... Like I just don't want to drag myself to FM anymore, although I keep thinking about it. Breaking my blue BF blade was the coup de grace... Now I don't dare to fleche or to go all out to fence at all. Lost 15-1 to Jaimes, a Year 2 CJ whom usually I can beat routinely.

I think Coach isn't happy with me or anything. Thoroughly fouled up foil training yesterday. Keep doing double and triple parries. Maurice reckons that I should jsut focus on one weapon then my foil and epee styles won't keep interfering with each other... But I'm only doing it just o increase VJ's chances in the tournament! Look at RJ, they have 6 categories to have chances in. VJ only has 2 categories. I'm simply trying to provide them, provide US, with a third category.

Also I've don't feel good about the trip. I've got sort of a bad feeling... Like something's gonna happen... I duno.... People have told me don't worry don't worry... but I can't shake of this feeling. I wasn't happy about the trip to begin with... I mean usually the thought of an overseas trip will make me super hyper for at least 1 week before hand and I'll be counting down to the departure time. But this time I just feel... nothing.

But my parents want the trip... So I guess I'll just go along with it and pray that nothing happens. I dunno lar. No doubt, the high probability is that I'll come back and be able to tell you that I had a fun time, but I can't see it now. Think my mood is just lousy or something.

Haiyo. Ok enough for one night then... We'll see... Hopefully after a rest tonight and a break for the next week I'll be restored to full power...