Saturday, October 16, 2004 , 9:46 PM
><))o> The making of a mugger
#There used to be a girl who was born into this carefree world (or so she thought). At kindergarden, she loves chinese and math, oftening scoring above 90 marks for these two subjects. She loves studying. She's simply good at it. Kindergarden was a breeze for her. She got into Rulang Primary School as an eager girl with a raw mind to start the next schooling phase of her life.
#There was a incident that happened when she was in Primary Two and up till today, its still fresh in her mind. She got home one day, with a horrendous result for a minor maths paper. Her dad fumed and caned her. She ran to the kitchen and sat down, leaning against the washing machine crying and rubbing her eyes for hours. Her mum sat down beside her, comforting her, persuading her to stop rubbing her eyes. But, she couldn't care less even when her eyes became swollen and red.
Finally, she was too tired to cry.
She stood up and washed her face only to feel the scroching heat at the skin around her eyes the moment water touches it. She nearly screamed for the pain on her tender skin was unbearable. Only then she realised that the skin around her eyes had came off after hours of rubbing. She regretted her action....but she was too tired and upset to care much about it either.
#The next day, the healing process began...as the skin nurse itself back to health, a layer of brown deposit formed around her eyes. She looked like a monster. Worse than it perhaps. Nevertheless, she went to school only to be greeted by classmates who shy away from her as if she has got some deadly disease. She felt sad, lonely and embarrassment.
Foruntately, she got over the whole terrible episode and moved on with life.
#She did reasonbly well for her PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examinations) scoring 3 As and 1 A* and got into a reputable school in the neighbourhood, Commonwealth Secondary School. She became a girl who wanted to be recognised, wanted to prove that she has grown up and could make decisions of her own. Her chance came when she got noticed by some PE teachers that she had potential in sports. Being gullible and naive (her eagerness to prove her worth also got the better of her judgement), she agreed to join the school's track and field team.
#The morning training started out as once per week. Slowly it became twice per week and she was obliged to attend afternoon trainings at MacRitchie Resvoir , even religiously report back to school during the holidays. Having to juggle with Choir and training at the same time put a strain on her studies. Her results slipped. She barely pass Maths. She couldn't believe herself that her capabilites was just mediocre. Her father couldn't believe it too and gave her a good scolding that night when she got back her results.
She remembered that she cried very badly that night. She kept drifting in and out of sleep, crying everytime she drifted out of sleep. She could hear her parents arguing about her. While her mum reasoned that her daughter shouldn't be given too much stress, her dad guarded his beliefs that his daugther had diverted her attention to unnecessay areas.
#She went to choir practice the next day with swollen eyes again but having learnt her lesson the painful way, she refrained from rubbing her eyes the night before. Nonetheless, her eyes were swollen. It was obvious to her friends that she had spent a night crying. They comforted her and tears welled up again at the thought of the night before.
#She didn't tell her friends that she comtemplated suicide that night. She asked herself in the mist of crying if she should just end her life there and then and be liberated from the miserables. But a voice with a strong conviction told her that she shouldnt be such a wimp. Instead, she should prove her father wrong and do her mother proud. Suicide thoughts were immediately wiped out of her minds with plans on how she is going to pick up the shattered pieces of her life. She decided, on that very night, to work very very hard, to get all her concepts right, leaving no questions unanswered just to get her grades.
#She quitted the track and field team not long after. It wasn't a cca she enjoyed much either. During secondary two, she worked harder than she has ever worked before and the results amaze her. From a near fail in maths, she scored nearly full marks (also thanks to a wonderful maths teacher of course). She did very well for science as well as geography too. Eventutally, from a scrap through at secondary 1, she was third in the class, 13th in the level. It was then that she realised that she could really do well if she put in all her efforts into her studies.
Since then, a mugger was born.
#People often commented that i am a mugger....well....having gone through all those painful experiences (which still can potentially bring me to tears when i get reminded of them), its hard not to become a mugger right? *winkS* So yep...that's my story...=)
