The Inspiration

Once, my younger son, JJ, asked me if we had any home videos. He had watched a programme on TV where home videos were shown and had found them so funny. The sad answer was 'No'. And I regret that 'cos apart from photographs, that would have been a great way to capture all the memories of them growing up. You can capture a smile in a photo, but not the voices of laughter and all the sweetest things that kids say.

But that still did not get me off to writing a blog. What inspired me was reading my older boy, JW's, composition yesterday. I think he writes exceptionally well for a 12 year old. He didn't always, though. For a while, I was worried because even though he read extensively (Eragon when he was 9 years old - one of his proud moments, he says), he could not write a decent essay. I had always found it so frustrating having to read and correct his essays. But when he approached 11, somehow, he began to improve and write beautifully.

Today, I publish his writing that inspired this blog. It's a little lengthy, but I do not want to regret (like I regretted not making home videos) capturing what I think is his emerging talent. Who knows, one day he may be a best-selling author? So here it is.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL by JW LEE

Have you ever felt that you were left out? An outsider, an intruder, a nobody? I bet you probably have experienced something like that at least once in your life. Well, this is my account of my experiences.

First day of school was bound to be the most awkward. The constant clamour of children you didn't know, talking about things you would never know. But I kept telling myself it'll get better, it'll get better.

"Welcome back!" the principal boomed. She was tall and seemed like she had done this every year and was getting bored of the whole speech she was about to give. "As you probably noticed, we have just changed the floor boards of our dearly beloved gym. This is all brand new and I hope that you will take good care of it. As for other matters, we have a few new staff...."

Out of breath hardly qualified as the correct term for how I felt after climbing flight after flight after flight of what seemed to be a never ending cascade of steps. I could have collapsed on the floor and risk embarrassing myself in front of the whole class but I wasn't going to let my dignity slip away that easily. As I stepped into the bustling classroom, I made my way to my desk and slumped down on it.

"Good morning, class. I'm Miss Lim and I'm your form teacher. We have two new students in our class this year." Please, please don't make me stand up, please don't make me stand up.

"Andrew and JW, would you like to stand up and introduce yourself?" Darn it.

Andrew was tall, and I mean really tall. Compared to him, I was nothing but a midget. He was quite intimidating up until he spoke, which immediately blew his reputation.

"Hi, my name is Andrew and I like reading. My favourite subjects are math and science." His voice was nothing like the hoarse, rough voice you would expect from a person as burly and as tall as him. It was squeaky. He was shy but not as shy as me. I hardly had the strength to stand up. My breath came in ragged gasps. Before long, I was sweating. I was hyperventilating.

"Um, my name is JW and I like, uh," I quickly picked up the first word on the notice board, "Dancing."

The whole class broke into laughter. I shot back into my seat feeling completely and utterly humiliated. The rest of the day went without a hitch, when during recess a boy walked up to me. "Hey, do you wanna join us in a game of soccer? We could use the extra feet."

"Um," come on I nudged myself from the inside. Say yes!!!

"Sure, yeah, I'd love to join you in your game."

"Yeah, that's cool, come on, I'll take you to the tennis court."

Tennis court? What happened to the good old fashioned soccer pitch? As I soon found out, the school was too small to have its own soccer pitch, but their tennis court was big enough to house the whole level. Soon enough I was swept up in the game. The whole court was full of 'here. pass the ball' and 'GOAL'. Halfway through the game, the ball flew towards me and I kicked with all the strength I could muster in one hell of a kick. The ball flew out of the tennis court onto the road below.

"Oh my god" was all I could say.

Everybody flew out of the tennis court. I simply followed the crowd. Holy shit, what was I going to do? Stay? Flee? Would I get busted for the incident?

Luckily enough, I didn't have to worry about getting into trouble as quite a lot of people had kicked the ball out of the tennis court before. Weirdly enough, I was known for that small incident, but it was still nice to h ave a 'good' reputation.

Before long, it was lunch and everybody hustled through the crowd of ever growing children. "Where's the fire?" I mumbled. It was a race to the canteen. Now imagine a stampede and you will understand what it felt like along the stairways. As I stepped into the bustling canteen, I instantly understood the rush. The lunch queue was practically a mile long. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. The constant tick of the clock was starting to bug me. Finally I was up next! The lunch lady handed me something that looked like a cross between sludge and beef jerky.

"You must have this wrong. I ordered beef stew," I protested.

"This is your beef stew. Could you step away from the queue? We have other students to serve," she replied tersely.

Okay, it can't be that bad if other people order it, right? Sulking, I went to find myself a seat. As I walked past a boy, I failed to notice the orange puddle in front of me. I slipped and ended up head over heels on the floor.

Okay, this was officially the worst day ever. After school, I walked over to the bus and sat in my seat. A few people walked up to me and waved. Some even were bold enough to strike up a conversation. Well, maybe this day wasn't as bad as I thought. This was going to be an interesting year.