In Continuum.

Oh, Friday, Friday, Friday. It is a day that evokes such wondrous images like, partying and friends, and drinks and a good night's sleep. It's like a mini-Christmas every single week, who wouldn't like that? You don't get presents every week - given - but then you also get to treat yourself to a little break until the next week officially begins. I suppose the person who can truly appreciate the beauty of a Friday is my sister. She's two weeks into her first job ever at an advertising firm as a graphic designer, and she can't take the stress as far as I can tell from the groans and the moans. That is not to mention the heavy footsteps down the corridor when she comes home, and the sigh of relief after a good long bath. That is not me, though, my Fridays kind of suck. Though I do get shorter days than my sister, more friends, better food, but at least she doesn't need to bring her work back home. Everything remains within the walls of her cubicle, and the weekend is strictly for herself, exclusively. I have to worry about what is happening next week, ration it out, make plans, cancel plans, whatever. That is not to mention the four and a half hours of nothingness in between classes. 

We begin at seven in the morning, an ungodly hour for anything, to prepare for school. The rituals include the soft rubbing motion of the fingers around the eyes, the gulping of cold water down my dry throat, the feasting of warm breakfast, the brushing of the pearly whites, the careful selection of wardrobe for the day, the delicate styling of the hair in front of the mirror, then the journey to Felicia's house. That is what happens pretty much every morning, unless she goes over to her sister's place, then that's a different story. We usually have to brave the morning traffic as before mentioned, then curse and gossip about things on the way to school. The first lesson on Friday is Nutrition, followed by Philosophy four and a half hours later. In between, I have lunch, I stone in the library, I surf the web with my Macbook, and then I stone some more. One or two friends come along, I say hello, but I don't see anybody most of the time. Just me, amidst a whole hill of strangers, and just the general sense of stress and dread in the air. Then I have Philosophy lessons, the only lesson that can put me in a comatose state, not because it is boring but because it is about things that are beyond me. I get into this state of confusion every time during the lesson, and coming back to my senses only halfway back home most of the time. I don't go out, I don't party after school, I go home. That is my Friday routine.

Today, however, was a little different. It began with a massive jam along the expressway with Alvin, Felicia's boyfriend, in the front seat this time. Coupled with a massive storm, the cars crept along the expressway like scared hamsters, however strange an analogy that one was. We were supposed to have our mid-terms paper at nine, and yet we were still stuck in traffic ten minutes to the paper itself. Felicia panicked, I tried not to panic, and Alvin just yawned because it didn't really concern him very much. The rain came down harder than before, and the cars only moved slower. That was when the phone calls started pouring in from people all around, when Sarah called to say that the MRT broke down and that everybody was forced off the train. Then April called to say that she was stuck outside her home, unable to get a cab because everybody who was on the broken down train was trying to call a cab. Then we have the F1 race happening in town this weekend, which caused a lot of road closures. That alone led to the building up of traffic all along the expressways, and it wasn't helped by the fact that it rained like it'd flood the entire world with water once and for all. Half of the cohort was late, and the most angry of them all was probably Aaron, who looked utterly infuriated after the paper was done.

And as for the paper, it sucked through and through. Somebody told me that reading the notes and then doing the online quizzes were enough. That was pretty much what I did, though I cannot say that the notes were very well digested. They were too long, too wordy, and had little to no focus at all, whatsoever. Anyway, so I didn't expect much from the paper, which turned out to be really difficult for me. Like a few people I can think about, the paper was as tough as a piece of frozen pizza, and I tried to pinch myself awake a dozen times during the paper. If the grades of this nutrition paper is going to be directly proportionate to my health, then I can safely say that I am not going to live pass twenty-five. Think about it: if you tank at a module that is supposed to teach you about what to eat and what not to eat in order to stay fit and healthy, then doing badly in the module would only mean that you are an unhealthy person, right? I love my junk food every once in a while, and all those lovely MSG from instant noodles are just so amazing to my tongue. I generally cannot care less about what I put into my stomach, since weight isn't exactly an issue for me - haven't you noticed the stagnant weight of mine over the years? It runs in the genes, my mother has the inability to gain weight as well. The carelessness of what I eat has finally caught up with me, I'm afraid. 

So, in protest, I didn't attend the half an hour lecture that was supposed to happen after the paper. I hung out in the atrium with Felicia, Alvin, Shi Ting and Sarah, while imitating flamingos and penguins. Anyway, there was still a couple of hours before my next lesson started, and I wasn't exactly in a rush to get anywhere. So I headed for the library, the usual place to hang out alone, which was where I chanced upon Elena. Apparently, she was in school just for the sake of being in school. At that point in time, she has already missed her first lesson, which made it even more strange as to why she was there in the first place. Anyway, so we sat with one dude in between us and started talking on MSN, which is strange because I don't see her very often in school at all. You see, Elena hangs out alone and seems to be self-sufficient most of the time. She comes to school alone, hangs out alone, then goes home alone. She has her friends online, but then perhaps the frequencies just don't quite match with anybody else in school - perhaps, just me, in a mild sort of way. So there I was, chatting with her over MSN, despite being just a meter away from her. Let's just say, with four and a half hours ahead of me, I couldn't really be bothered who I was chatting with. 

Jeremy came to school and attempted to study Sociology for a while, but I suppose hunger took over him soon enough. After talking about the Philosophy assignment a little bit, we headed up to Megabites and had our lunch over topics like reality television, the same old army things, and then some. Joyce came to school a little earlier than usual today, sat around and became the target of our amusement, as guilty as I feel every time we do that. It was still fun, though, to find out who she'd like to have as her partner if she were to join the Amazing Race, or to talk about who we'd vote out if we were to be involved in Survivor (make a guess, the choice is obvious). My mind was still pretty much clouded by the gloom of the morning. Not just the storm but, the lightning that struck me in the hall that was the Nutrition mid-terms. The next time somebody mentions words like glucose, lactose, maltose or fructose, is going to get his "lipids" squeezed out of him with my bare hands. Anyway, it's just depressing, when you know that your other subjects are doing rather well, and yet you are tripping over this one module that you aren't even that interested in. At least everybody suffered together, and it is always encouraging to die as a crowd. 

So, going back to the four and a half hours break, this is what usually happens. Without someone there to talk to, I usually open up my Macbook and take as long as possible to uncoil the charging cable, just to kill time. Then I take my own sweet time to put on my sweater, while the screen loads up to the desktop. This would kill about three minutes in total, and I'd be happy for a split second before checking out the time all over again. I'd look at the three wooden walls around me, and then imagine how it'd be like to be an office worker, trapped behind his cubicle for a whole day like that. It was a horrifying thought, and a thought I usually don't want to entertain for a very long time. So I'd stare at people's heads on the other side of the barrier, or look at what the person next to me is reading on his laptop screen. Of course, my own surfing around on the Macbook is inevitable, but then even that gets a little dry after some time. So I quietly air guitar underneath the table at times, if I don't have any work to hand up later, or just text a random somebody a random message over the phone. I have such an ability to waste time, and I have no reason why. 

So, that is my Friday routine, every single Friday. Perhaps I should consider busking in school during those long hours, in between classes. You know, take out one shoe and place it in front of me while I sing away in a public place. I think you need some kind of license for that, but I suppose the school is a free place for you to do such things. I'd probably pick the atrium, or that stage next to the atrium. Maybe I'd pick the area in between the canteen and Megabites, or the pond so that I'd have a fixed and devoted fan base. That sounds like a neat idea, if only I have the guts to do it. Actually, I do have the guts to do it, but then I don't really see the need, or the sense in doing something like that. I think it should be encouraged for students to freely express their love for any art form around school, just as long as they do not destroy any public property in the process. You know, ruin a wall or destroy a water cooler, anything. Anyway, enough of my random ramblings. It is the weekends, so I suppose I shall rejoice a little before I hit the books for the plunge next week. It has been a bad start, but let's hope it only goes back up from here on out.