Last night, I experienced something very new to me. I was using the computer at around 11pm when I smelled some burning smell. Immediately, I identified it as the smell of haze. I intended to add a short entry in here although I was already very tired even before I have reached home but I decided not to after getting slight breathing difficulties that I suspected, was due to the haze. I then went into my room and lay down on my bed, hoping that my condition will get better, but it did not. My breathing was so short that I was afraid that I would not take in enough oxygen to keep myself alive, and that prevented me from sleeping because I supposed that my breathing would be even slower when I fell asleep. It was tempting to just fall asleep and just sleep forever because I was already very tired and it would be better if I could just end my suffering but upon thinking of the band, I realised that it would be very irresponsible for me just to die like that. I also did not want to die yet because there were some things that I did not have the chance to do.
I ended up waking my mother up and telling her about it. I took four dozes of the ventolin inhaler and stayed awake till around 1am before my breathing became slightly better. I unknowingly fell asleep after staring at my phone which was on the verge of getting spoilt. I then woke up at 8am this morning to find myself perfectly fine, and not even the slightest clue that I had shortness of breath last night.
Yesterday morning, I sat for a physics test that I have not studied for because I reached home only at 10.40pm on Friday. The test was rather do-able except for a few questions that needed explanation. After that, we had foot drills that started off with 50 push-ups. This is the first time I have done so many push-ups in one go. Mr Chua came only at around 10.30am and ran through Thunder and Blazes, The Merry Widow, Festival March and Xenia Sarda with us. There was a sec 3 meeting that lasted till 3.30pm. After that, Henry and I went to the food court at Tampines Mall to eat before going to the National Stadium to watch the Marching Band Competition.
By the time we reached the stadium, it was already 5pm. We were so afraid before that that we would be greeted by the people there that the competition was already over. We were so relieved that just as we found our seats just beside the grandstand, someone made an announcement, greeting the audience and introducing the adjudicators. The competition had just begun. The performance by all the bands were spectacular. It is a pity that I did not bring my video camera along. Luckily, I had my digital camera that had recording function with me and I managed to record down some of their displays. The quality would of course be not as clear. I reached home at 9 plus last night after watching the competition.
Friday was just a normal day in school. The only thing that is significant about it is that it is the first time I have done so badly for my Additional Mathematics test. I scored a mere 10/30. I hope that this will serve as a wake up call for me to start revising for the mid-year exams that will begin on 10 May.
The lunchtime concert was quite a good performance although it was not really well done. It can be considered a success despite all the factors that went against it. I really want to thank all those performers who have put in so much for the performance.
Band practice started off with Mrs Chua working with the brasses. The woodwinds had to go for sectional to work on The Merry Widow and I had to take the clarinet section. I gave up after teaching for 40 minutes because it was really too taxing on my part. The experience of teaching them the correct style and articulation is enough to stop anyone from willingly taking the section.
My hardship paid off when Mrs Chua went through the piece with us. The clarinets were able to play something close to her expectations, making some minor changes here and there. However, we only managed to work on less than half of the whole piece. I then had a meeting that ended at around 9pm.
Life is becoming worse and worse for me. Today, my phone turned its back on me and sort of stopped functioning. There is a jammed button there is nothing I can do about it. All I can hope for is for the problem to be resolved on its own. What I can use my phone for now is only to see who is calling, and to check the time. Other than that, my phone is useless. I guess I will have to switch back to my 3310 if the problem isn't resolved.
I am getting quite tired and I think I'm going to take a nap before completing my Mathematics homework and starting to study for the Chinese test tomorrow.
