I daresay I am a very imaginative person.
I once imagined that i would lose my first kiss before secondary school.
I once imagined that i would get a scholarship and need not to worry anymore about my future.
I once imagined that CHSCO would clinch 'Gold with Honours' in SYF2006.
They all came true.
I must admit that I have a flair in imagining, but all of them came through when i was still one of the most insignificant arseholes in the century. I even tried to quit back then, because of its insignificance and incompetence. I once thought of it to be an abattoir that gives off the foul stench of rotten flesh with a queue of innocent children waiting to be slaughtered in it. I was vey much an idiot back then.
If that was comparable to Shawshank, then the Redemption must be SYF2006. I still remember the moment when Ms. Leong shed tears in the tuning room; the moment Ivan gave us the simplest encouragement - a handshake with a sincere "Good luck,"; the moment we entered the Singapore Conference Hall, when every audience were staring at our stunning purple blazers; the moment my bow got stuck in my sleeve when the Wind Crescenti's blowing and blowing; the moment Vincent told us to be prepared for a Gold; the moment 5 of us squeezed into a backstage toilet just to listen to the results after being chased out of the hall and lastly, the suffocating silence that enveloped us while the old man was announcing our results. "Catholic High School, Gold," I looked into Kenneth's eyes only to find the same anxiety I was going through, "with Honours." We ran out of the toilet like rabid dogs gone rampage, like what Jamal Malik did in Slumdog Millionaire, and I knew, I wasn't the most insignificant arsehole of the century anymore, I am a part of CHSCO.
And now, 28 days to SYF2008, I'm here, writing this in hope to encourage you all even at the slightest magnitude, even if we had struck the faintest chord.
Sometimes i wonder why did i abandon my discipline stance, why did i stop shouting at YuNan and Alex for their neverending antiques? All i do now is to console myself, "Things could have been worse, they could have been twins." My answer is that wiping random bubbles off a rabid canine's mouth is simply unable to prevent its eventual death. Discipline is no longer a trait that can be drilled into you all, it's dependent on your maturity; it's obedience that can be trained, and the worst of all, out of fear. I wouldn't want to convert CHSCO into a regime. I wouldn't want to be Mugabe. I'm sure Jason wouldn't want it too. (right?) Yet, it's this negligence that has cultivated CHSCO's most augmented strength - our impenetrable bond. We don't need to cheer to attain this, for we are CHSCO.
The reality is, It's already 5 minutes to midnight. The sand is seeping out fast, the clock's ticking and the levee's going to break. 28 more days, the levee will break and unleash its wrath upon us; some will sink beneath the water and fade away in crying shame and some will hold onto a plank and float on the water, surviving the catastrophe as mediocres as they had always been. However, we are different. We will ride on the waves, surf through the tide and clinch our deserved Honours, for we are CHSCO.
This is Catholic High School Chinese Orchestra - Music is our Talent, Winning is our Art.
