It's Time

The moment is here. Tomorrow is the day we've all been waiting anxiously for. It's the one event that has charted our lives for the past couple of months, and will determine our path for the next couple of years. Yes, the dreaded Prelims are here. Tomorrow we enter into the exams proper; everything's going to go into full swing and it'll be one and a half weeks before we can emerge from it all, hopefully unscathed and still in one piece.

Back in primary school, a Prefects' meeting of sorts was once held in the conference room of the primary school staffroom (now just a whole bunch of mostly unused rooms on the second floor below the secondary school staffroom). On the wall, hung a poem that was framed up. The words were, I felt, very beautiful, and it really does mean a lot. I instantly took a liking to it, so during the break time, I whipped out a pen and paper and copied it all down. It's been a couple of years since then, but I still have it, and I think now would be an appropriate time to share it with you guys, because I know that many of us are way more fearful of the Prelims than of the actual O's, right? Here goes:

Don't quit when the tide is lowest,
For it's just about to turn;
Don't quit over doubts and questions,
For there's something you may learn.
Don't quit when the night is darkest,
For it's just a while to dawn,
Don't quit when you've run the farthest,
For the race is almost won.
Don't quit when the hill is steepest,
For your goal is almost nigh;
Don't quit for you're not a failure,
Until you fail to try.

-Jill Wolf-

Well, all the best for the remaining papers (which is essentially the bulk of it), and I'm praying that all of you will make it to the JCs and Polytechnics of your choice! Yup, so good luck and God bless! You can do it (:

Just something to add: I Am Sam is really one the BEST movies of this century (and many more centuries before and after this one). I know this is coming a bit late, considering it was released a few years ago (caught the last bit while I was away in Australia like four years ago, or something), but it's never too late to watch a good movie. It's a truly touching story, about family, friendship, acceptance, ability and disability, perceptions and truths, kindness, care, concern, joy, sadness, and most of all, it's about love. If you missed it on Channel 5 last night - the commercial free Saturday Night Movie (it's a lie, I tell you. There were at least three or four M1 ads that disrupted the movie at the most inappropriate times) - do go and rent it somewhere and watch it asap. Oh, but you have to prepare a box of kleenex before pressing the 'play' button. Five minutes into the movie and I was sniffling; another five minutes on and I was sobbing away, and I couldn't stop, so my tears were forced to sustain me for the rest of the two hours. My mom kinda evacuated the room to do her own bible study elsewhere, while my siblings stayed on to watch me watch the movie, because they really get a kick out of seeing me cry. When I woke up this morning, my eyes were SO swollen that I could barely see a thing and was getting a throbbing headache from just trying to keep my eyes open wide enough to read Twelfth Night. I even had to do a 'Paul Twohill' when I went to church so no one would think I went on a crying marathon or was suffering from a major lack of sleep or got beaten up by a bunch of unruly gangsters. Thank goodness the movie was last night and not tonight, because if it was tonight, then tomorrow, my eyelids would be so poofy that I wouldn't even be able to read the questions on the exam paper, which I'm pretty sure can't be the best thing to happen during the Prelims. Anyway, Sean Penn is such an amazing actor - my idol! I shall aspire to be able to act as well as he does. Yup.

So,
I Am Sam. An excellent film with a beautiful, touching story and quality acting. Go rent it asap from a video store near you.