cindy's journals these days are a distillation of the things we've been talking about. for instance, this morning she wrote about losing our "ruggedness" and turning into prissy girls, and that has got to be true. no, it wasn't as though i was ever the outdoorsy or sporty sort. i wouldn't ever voluntarily engage in any kind of physical activity, although when i had to i was good enough at whatever i had to do. but i used to like to run. when we were in rgs, angela chong and i would sometimes get up at 5 and jog in punggol park on weekends. and cindy and i would often go running after school, on those days i didn't have 3rd lang, and around the school because we didn't have our own track. out the main gate, uphill with the carpark and the science labs on our left, then turning left at the top, follow the road past all the balmoral area apartments, and then back down the hill, you see the classroom blocks and the field and tennis courts ahead, and then in through the side gate, lots of teachers yelling times at you, across the long jump pit, across the mini amphitheatre, up the carpark, out the main gate and uphill again! and then that final mad downhill dash towards the teachers. i see that in visualising the route that cindy and i took i've started to think about the napfa route instead. once, during a napfa test, on that steep downhill stretch i tripped and went sprawling on the road, and had to hobble the rest of the way back. jackie was just ahead of me then, and she came back for me, but i shooed her on because i was afraid if she stopped to help me she might have to retake the test. i loathed napfa and always flunked the ifah and what i always wanted was to get a nice "boys" time in the 2.4, but by jc i was fat and lazy and always trying to get out of p.e. and not so pleased about the way the rj p.e. teachers were such slavedrivers. mr reeves used to complain that people always thought humanities students were sissy and made all the boys in our class go to the weights room with him after school to toughen up, but 2a01b was never the very sporty sort. does anyone remember - in one of those beginning-of-school gestures of goodwill we asked 1a01b for a friendly match of captain's ball, and they thrashed us with the kind of score that is unfriendly enough to start a nuclear war. afterwards we found out they had school netballers and soccer players and all kinds of athletes, and all we had was joel to hold the fort! but these days the thought of even running is very unpleasant, although i'd much rather run than swim, play basketball or softball, or lift weights. i don't want to think how unfit i am now. if i had to do napfa now i am sure i would flunk everything. and i am bewildered to find that, conversely, those people who didn't like p.e. much in school - poach for instance! are going to the gym regularly and even running!

oh exercise, be far from me!