In Continuum.

Orientation

Reading the letters again, I just found out about the overnight stay at the Changi Chalet on Friday night as part of the orientation for my new school. I've been to the chalets before, and as much as I liked that place, I do not particularly like the idea of staying with a bunch of people I don't know. Let's be honest here, I am better off in the corner of a room with my notebook and pen, and scribbling nonsense away rather than participating in socializing events, especially if they are forced ones. I do not consider myself to be a social outcast of course, but to classify me as an outgoing person would be overstating facts. I am, what I like to call, a sociable loner. And as contradictory as it may sound, that is how I see myself in a crowd of strangers.

So, I am not exactly pleased with the idea of being together under one roof with the people I am going to meet. I understand that I am probably going to have fun, and that this is all part of this new 'adventure' that I am about to embark on. However, I prefer my adventure to begin with the raising of the anchor and the setting of the sails. Not exactly through a games of poker or some retarded ice-breaker games. There is a journey I am eager to embark on, and games are certainly not what I have in mind as the beginning of it all.

The orientations in the past weren't all that great. I remember the one in Secondary school when we had to sleepover in the haunted school, and the whole event was pretty much organized by the seniors. And because I was from an all-boys school, the seniors weren't the nicest people in the world. We were like prey for those hungry vultures, and were being hunted down one by one during the so-called games, which weren't all that fun in the first place. I remember I was on stage at one point, writing the words "Maris Stella" with a bunch of other losers of the games with our buttocks as forfeit. Roars of laughter came from the 'winners' of the games as well as the seniors, and it was the beginning of my end as I started the first dreadful years of my Secondary School life.

It felt more like a military life really, and we were forced to do push-ups with our knuckles on tarmac roads. It's not like they were preparing us for the grueling life of the military anyway. After all, Secondary School was probably the best part of my educational life to be honest. They were merely pretending to be intimidating, and as the new birds of the school it's not like we had much of a choice or say. We were there in a row and in our swimming trucks, barely naked and exposed to the eyes of the seniors as they sprayed water onto our bodies. We rubbed ourselves with soap in the setting sun that evening, and the senior called Edward laughed and jeered as our thin youthful bodies reflected the last rays of the light.

Junior College's orientations were much better, at least for the first three months. They were more humane at least, and I remember the first days of school with the horrors of the old orientation still lingering in my head. But like the story told many times before, it was the first day I met RuiShan, and the first day we had our dance. Despite all the childish pointless games, the strangers bonded quickly, and we found ourselves not wanting to leave each other at the end of the day. It was a great bond that we shared, and I am in contact with some of them even till today, in which I am glad.

However, I do not need to have the so-called forced socializing. I find the idea of putting a whole bunch of people together, and ask them to socialize is just barbaric in nature. There is something called a personal stride, and I like to take things in my own time, especially when we are dealing with this little thing called relationships. This is as good as matchmaking really. Only, you are not putting people together to fall in love, but to make friends with one another. I personally detest the idea of it, and I honestly dread the coming of Friday with every inch of my body. But of course, part of the army experience has taught me not to whine about it. Just roughen up your head and do it, and it will be over sooner than you think.

Last night while in bed, I thought about the possible scenarios to happen during my overnight stay there. I pictured myself joining the games, but most of the time shying away from the crowds. At night, I probably won't be sleeping, just sitting at the front porch and staring out to see, writing notes while listening to Philip Glass or Sigur Ros. Somebody might come along, a guy or a girl I seriously don't care, and share the same issues about the orientation with me. We might have a nice long chat throughout the night and all the way till the morning, who knows? It'd be nice to have a sort of friendship that grows in our own time and conversations, and not through those silly games people play to socialize. I cannot imagine what I will be doing, the possibilities are beyond me.

For now though, I shall rejoice in the fact that a new life is about to begin, a new adventure. And the new bag is something worthy of some sort of celebration, is it not? I think it looks uber-cool, and it can literally fit everything in it. Now, all that I need is a cool pencil case and a VAIO computer. And this time, I am going to call her Mrs. Dalloway, for obvious reasons.