I went to so many open houses this year, gambled for the first time, lost money won money, got lots of angpaus, spent so much time with family and friends and made good memories. I loved every second of it.
Now on to the title of the post. : Lasts
Yesterday was my swimming gala. The last one that I will be attending as a student. I didn't think much about it at first but then when it was all finishing, and night started to fall it hit me.
This is my last swimming gala. Next year, there will be no more coming early to set up booths, no more going around making sure everyone is as decked out in blue as possible, no more lugging around banners, no more screaming my lungs out cheering my house on, no more of that. Next year it's [hopefully] off to college. I may not even be here for the next swimming gala :(
There will be so many lasts this year for me. Last games carnival, last sports day, last world maths day, last maths olympiad, last i-movie competition, LAST DAY OF SCHOOL. Darn...
Feeling incredibly nostalgic now.
On a side note, congrats to seladang who made a clean sweep of the swimming gala! :D Good job to all you beruangs as well, we got 3rd but it doesn't mean we're out of the running for the first house cup! :)
Notable thing about yesterday: I was a reserve for one of the relay events but I was completely chill about it because, what are the chances a reserve has to swim? Apparently, not that high but those stats made an exception to me. As a result I had to swim in the relay. Fine. I was fine with that. Then they tell me that someone has to do the butterfly stroke for 50 metres. I was like, "No friggin way in ever am I going to do that." But then no one volunteered, and if no one did it we would be disqualified and I was the most senior among the swimmers of the event, and I felt that I should show an example being a house captain.
So I stupidly volunteered, and signed my death warrant.
I joke, but seriously. It was something I had never ever in my entire existence done before. People kept telling me to do my best and that all I needed to do was finish the lap. "Fine," I thought. "It won't be too hard. I've suffered through worse things before at platinum expedition." Then came the time for the actual event. There was a giant pit in the bottom of my stomach and I felt like throwing up. As I stood on the diving platform and looked at the length of the pool I started taking deep breaths. "I can do this," I told myself. "One lap for my house. One lap for Beruang. I will not let anyone down." I was the second in the relay and as the first swimmer started coming towards me, I braced myself. The swimmer touched the end of the pool and I dived in.
The first few strokes were ok. I took my time as advised by everyone. I didn't even bother to look at who was swimming against me, I knew I was dead last. But all that mattered was to finish the lap. I pushed myself and sort of went on autopilot. I stopped thinking about what I was doing and just did it. Before I knew it, I could see the part of the pool where it got shallower and suddenly my lungs felt like collapsing in on themselves. I couldn't get in enough air, my chest felt narrow. I could've sworn I was going to stop and just stand in the pool and catch my breath, but I didn't. Like a machine, I kept swimming. My strokes were slowing, I was short of breath and I felt like screaming but I kept swimming. As I got closer to the edge of the pool, I could hear my team mates cheering me on from the other side. Everytime I lifted up my head to take a breath, for a second I heard them screaming for me to finish the lap.
So I did. When I got to the end, everyone was telling me, "Good job Ashleigh! You did it! Good job!" , "That was amazing Ashleigh!" , "OMG you did it! That was so good!" , "Ashleigh, you're a hero! That was amazing, I love you!". If I hadn't been so darn tired, I would've given them a smug look and said something witty like, "Yea, I am amazing." But I just stayed in the water, holding on to the edge of the pool, catching my breath and being thankful that I did it, while people pat me on the arm and head. Congratulating me on my achievement. I don't even think we got a medal for the event, but to my team mates it didn't matter. I had finished a nearly impossible lap for me, I had made sure we didn't get disqualified, and my team mates were proud of me.
To be honest, I was proud of me too. I was so happy to have people like them on my team. People who don't criticise you for not placing when you can't. People who just cheer you on no matter what. It was a great feeling. Being appreciated for doing something like that. And to be frank, while I will never ever ever EVER swim a lap like that again, I just may... Just to relive that awesome feeling of being appreciated for just doing something for the house. When I got out of the pool, my legs were shaking and I felt like dying. I was so tired, my breathing was ragged, and still they were telling me how thankful they were and telling me about how amazing it was that I did that lap. Even after the event, I still had people telling me how proud they were of me, and how awesome it was that I did that. Yes, I'm basking in the glory of my short lived moment now because I couldn't do it before. Leave me be.
And this is always how I will remember my last swimming gala. Doing an event that I had never in my lifetime done, finishing it, and being told how great it was that I did it on such short notice.
Personally, I think that's a great way to remember my last swimming gala and I really wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Hopefully, I'll be able to end my last year of high school with more memories like this.
Ciao4Now
