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September 07, 2004
Athens 2004: Our Story
lol... My last entry hit the record of the most comments posted due to an obvious mistake I made in the title. It spelled 'Abba was I ere I saw Abba'. See the mistake? It should be 'Able was I ere I saw Elba' as corrected by munkit.. I think the famous cliche was from Napoleon or Caesar or some historical figures (trying to make it sound general so that mistakes look subtle =P)Haha, laughing at my own mistakes is better than frowning upon them, and no harm is done anyway, plus it attracted so much attention. Guess this is an amusing lesson learnt =)
Yesterday I had a real funny Oral Comm class. We had a class activity called making 'Progressive Story'. It went like this: my teacher started with a sentence (an opening for a story) and then she randomly picked out our names and those who were chosen had to continue the story instantly. It was something like impromptu speech but with a twist; we had to make up stories on the spot. She would then stop us halfway through the story and called another person to continue. Here's the complete one (I might miss out some parts but it's roughly the same):
The teacher's line: I never knew my heart would beat so fast...
Our story goes:
1. I was standing at the starting point with hundreds of other athletes from various countries, my mind focused on one thing: finish the 42km marathon and win the gold medal. Every contestant was vying for the same thing as I could tell from their narrowed eyes and tight lips. I did some warming up, but my mind keep wondering off to the scene before I left Malaysia for Athens: The Prime Minister wished me good luck and hope for my good news. I was nervous, but I had trained long enough for this moment. I am ready, I told myself. Then, I heard an announcement calling other participants of the marathon run to assemble at the starting point....
2. Everyone stood poised to begin the race. 5 minutes later, the official in-charge clicked on the gun. BANG! The race was on. I steadily ran with the crowd, gaining momentum with every step I took. Then, I gradually overtook some 30 runners in front of me and became the leading man. I held that position for 3-quarter of the journey. Coming into the 4th quarter, my legs are already stinging with pain but I still ran on. Then, without warning, an excruciating pain shot up from my right foot. I groaned deeply. The pain was coming from my old injury and it was trobbing so badly that I had to slow down my pace into a limp. Several runners past through me. I couldn't believe my luck. The efforts I had put in all these years were gone. I stopped walking altogether, feeling dejected.
3. Suddenly I felt a great tremor under my feet. An earthquake! The route that the runners took broke into jagged stones and deep fissures. Every contestant fell down to the ground, some went into the cracks of unfathomable depth. Shouts and yells were heard everywhere. My instinct told me to lie down on the ground and cover my head. Then, as sudden as it came, the earthquake stopped. I stood up tentatively and looked around. To my surprise and joy, I was the only participant fit to continue the run. My renewed vigor mitigated the pain in my feet. Heart thumping, I continued running to the stadium. The finishing line loomed in front of me. 50m...40m...30m...20m...10m...5m...-0.1m. I was overjoyed.
4. An official came up to me. My hands were ready to shake his hand and take the gold medal but it never came. Instead, the official told me that the race was cancelled off due to the earthquake. I stood rooted to the ground, transfixed with horror. After some thoughts, I gained my composure and argued with the official. The argument took off like a heated debate and lasted for an hour. Overcame by fatigue, I slipped into unconciousness..
5. When I woke up, I was lying on a hospital bed. What on earth I'm doing here, I wondered. Then, I regained my memory about the race and the argument. I can't imagine how would tomorrow's headline sound.
6. He said, "Congrats!" Then, he presented me the cheque. The figures were astronomical. 15 zeros altogether. I was awestruck. However, after scrutinizing the cheque properly, I found that another guy's name was written on it. Mr. Bush noticed my wierd expression and realized his blunder (a small one compare to others). The cheque slipped away from my fingers as I was still bedazzled how, in 5 seconds, I was a billionaire.
7. Feeling dejected, I went back to my room and laid on the bed. Then, familiar faces appeared through the door. They were my family. I was surprised to meet them. Father explained that due to the disastrous earthquake, the organizers decided to give my whole family a 1-week tour around Athens FOC as a remuneration. I was equally excited and thought, "Finally, all's well that ends well."
8. But that was not the end. Through the euphoria, a doctor came in solemnly and delivered a bad news: I would not be able to use my right leg after one month. It seemed that the earthquake had a detrimental effect to my brittle bones to such extent that my right foot was starting to sighns of fracture. I was devastated by the news. The doctor said, encouragingly, "At least you are in time for the Paralympic Games." And he walked out.
9. Our family decided to forfeit the chance to tour around Athens and brought me straight home aboard the first flight the next morning. Touching down on the familiar terrain, I felt the warmth of home again. This experience had thought me a lot on perseverence, tenacity and faith. THE END.
Posted by peixin at September 7, 2004 01:44 PM
Comments
that is so highly fictional! ahahhaa.. had a good laugh..
Posted by: MunKit at September 14, 2004 09:59 PM
My friends have very wild imagination...
Posted by: px at September 15, 2004 01:10 PM