yest, which waz a tues, i had decided i wanted to go home at 1600 after a meeting, since ive been having so many meetings within the span of 2 meagre days. juz mon, i had meetings from 0830 to 1530 (thereabouts, possibly later). so i decided enuff waz enuff, - i needed to get out of sch asap.
however, b4 i left, i decided to walk ard to check out my cca students, as i had been doing since i came onboard. so i went around, asking students to show me wat they've learnt, or juz to talk nonsense with them. prior to this, i had gone up once to walk ard, but i went a second time round coz i promised this one kid dat i would be back to listen to his 'flight of a bumble bee'. well, the bumble bee did fly. however, i was to find out that i wasnt going to be able to take flight like the fortunate bumble bee.
as i rounded up making my rounds, and waz abt to walk back to the office to grab my bag and zao, i waz stopped by a student who almost have the same name as me, save for the middle word. but his chinese standard is nowhere the same as mine, and leaves much to be desired. (he does speak good chinese tho.. so i dunno why. bewildered they leave me, these kids.. as alwaz)
the reason for him having to waylay me waz coz the lib happened to be closing early at 1600 dat day, as the librarian had to leave early. so the sec 4s pia-ing for their o levels inside had to evacuate its premises temporarily until 1800, when the teachers on duty would come and open up the library again. UNLESS SOME TEACHER VOLUNTEERS TO PLANT HIMSELF (in this case) IN THE LIBRARY FOR THE 2 HRS. well, this student, and another, decided i had the potential to do that, and they were right! coz i didnt want to see their diligence and enthusiasm to study being upsetted by the lack of a venue. so i plonked myself in the library to do my work, while they did theirs. waylay no. 1.
at 1800, finally, as i waz about to go to the office to grab my bag and zao (sounds familiar eh..), i received a call from one of my cca student. i usually do not bring my handphone with me when im in school, but that day i did, and i waz to find out that waz not a good idea at all. the student told me, to my utter aghast, that he had brought the cca room keys home! i had to make him come back and lock up the rooms as well as return the keys. this took around 45 min, and by the time the whole fiasco waz over, it waz 1900+++. waylay no. 2.
well, anyway, on my way back home, i went to macs to get fast food, tho i should really not be eating it, coz (1) i have high cholesterol (refer to 'lipid profile'), and (2) i waz already down with flu and sore throat and cracked lips. as i waz on the bus, one stop away from home, my friend called and told me one of our friend's dad had passed away, and asked if i waz interested to go for the wake that night. i said yes immediately coz (1) tho he's not a particularly close friend, i find a certain affinity with him, and its a pity we never got to become better friends, and (2) his mum had passed away not that long ago, and he's the only son. so i thought i should and muz go, and i did.
however, to my dismay, it became nothing short of a mini gathering of his school-mates (i waz his bmt mate) half hour into the visit. after hoping for around 2 hours there would be someone i know enuff to start a conversation with, i waz sorely disappointed and took off to take a walk around the estate. (the estate, w_ _mp_ _, is really quite a nice, quaint and self-sufficient little town. i actually quite liked it!) in the end, we left ard 2330, and i reached home ard 0030. waylay no. 3.
i guess for many people, life is like a constant waylay, if i can put it that way.
while a 5-yr-old kid waz on his way to a happy family, he waz waylaid by a divorce
while jay chou and his gf were happily shopping in japan, they were waylaid by paparazzi
while some guy waz saving up for the future, his plans were waylaid by a relative who needed cash to repay some debts
while a certain group of sec 3 students were laughing their way to yet another a1 in chinese, they were waylaid by a difficult paper and a strict marker
coincidental as it may sound, juz today (a day after the 'yest' - the 1st word of this entry), as i waz having coffee with 2 other senior colleagues, they were talking about how life is alwaz so unpredictable and waylay-y. they ended up advising me to 'see things open' （看得开）, and take life in stride. i sort of agreed, but not coz life is unpredictable. instead, its precisely coz life is all part of the sovereign and perfect plan of God that i can take it in stride, come storm, thunder, rain, sun or dew.
no wonder there is a saying in chinese which goes.. 半路杀出一个程咬金。
end-note: a couple of years ago, my army buddy (which means i chiong sua-ed with him for almost a full year, before i disrupted), got waylaid by death, when he waz juz diagnosed with 'some viral infection', which deteriorated exponentially, and passed away soon after. he waz my age, in uni at that time, all ready to go for his student exchange programme in germany. we (the platoon) were at his deathbed, watching him turn purple and breathe his last. we helped to organize the funeral. we, i, we all cried buckets. his birthday waz 2 days ago. happy birthday, kelvin. waylay no. n, where n tends to infinity.
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