so i've been reading my current classmates' blogs (they all have blogs, which is such a change coz no one, save for sean/lucas, had blogs in 4/11, so this is a throwback to '05 where i had blogs to read on a daily basis)
many of their recent posts deal with 5/9 dynamics and what not, and i'm super surprised to find that i somewhat sympathize with some of their sentiments, which basically means i'm not on a completely different page than they are...
with that revelation, i genuinely GENUINELY want stuff to work out for the class, so yeah...
but i do have one small tiny ittybitty sticking point - its about the classoffivepointnine post on danny's apparent departure from the school...
when cielo told me about the news at 2plus on saturday morning (the whole petition and whatever), i was incredulous to say the very least... if you know me, you know how i feel about this kinda stuff, and i'm normally pretty passive about it unless i feel a need to speak up...
i feel the need to speak up:
if you read the blog post, you will not be remiss if you were led to thought that something tragic on the scale of Katrina had just happened...
i'm like dude, he ain't dyin', he's potentially leaving the school...

anyhow, i missed the YLS briefing for all council candidates on saturday morning coz of NCS...
found out from elendrus that we have groups and pairs and all that jazz, so i've gotta find out about my arrangements tomorrow morning... plus i think we need to do some bill-writing and stuff, sounds fun...

speaking of NCS, the debate fever is definitely back in full swing...
so some of the ppl in my year sat out for this competition, but others were in it to win it, though we didn't meet them...
our draw was very fortunate, and we were able to win SA/MJ, but lost to HC in what i felt was the closest debate of all, and i didn't think it was as huge a loss as they made it out to be..
in any case, we're up against them (they're all J2s btw, dunno why), again in the semis in two weeks time...

remembering that point12/point16 were jointly baking at sam's place, we decided to pay them a visit...
most of them were leaving already, so in the end just stayed around talking to sean/paul/sam/johannes...
paul left, leaving us to play topspin on the xbox and watch gladiator/anchorman/lemony snicket's...

went to church as usual today, and actually planned to go for lunch after that...
but a series of unfortunate events made that rather impossible...
since i'm 16goingon17, and so were jake/adriel, we decided to go for the blood drive...
the questions in the form we had to fill up were really interesting, and i couldn't help but wonder if there were any wrong answers to them...
whatever the case, while i was waiting outside the doctor's office with them and bernie/caryn, we were wondering if i'd be eligible coz of my weight issues...
so in the end, when it came to my turn, i just went right up and asked to measure my weight first, so if it was below what was needed, i'd not bother wasting anyone's time...
so i stepped up and the reading was 45.0, so he was like congrats, you just made it...
a pause later he went err i think we should check again, so i obliged, and the measurement was consistent, no more, no less...
another pause later, he was like, you look thin, i think maybe your jeans are heavy and adding some weight, what's your normal weight when you're wearing lighter clothes...
so i told him that during h&w in school i was 44.5, and he was like better not, and i was like yeah, dun wanna collape somewhere after having 500ml of blood removed from me...
talked to audrey/amanda/tzeern/joanna/deblam while waiting for jake/adriel to get their turn...
when i went in adriel was already well under way and bernie/joanne had finished, so only jake was waiting...
talked a bit to abby/deblam/caryn and whoever else were there, then jake's turn came...
we were all like super curious, so we watched the whole procedure of anaesthesia, then creating the air space then inserting the needle and everything...
what happened in the span of the next 3mins, in retrospect as i sit here thinking about it, really does send a slight shiver of goosebumps, though i think abby/deb are probably more shaken coz they were standing on the other side with a clearer view...
the four of us (3 plus jake) were chatting and stuff, and jake made a passing comment that when the blood started draining, he very quickly lost all strength in his right arm, a first indication that we kinda just ignored... i have this knack for noticing things out of the corner of my eye, and i had observed that everyone who had donated seemed to be able to squeeze the that stressball thingy without much difficulty, and i hadn't seen jake squeeze at all, save for once or twice and minimally so, but i just attributed it to whatever...
30seconds and 150mls of blood later, jake made another passing comment, this time saying that he felt faint, and this is the second indication that few of us considered to be out of the ordinary...
how wrong were we...
ok so here's how we were positioned - i was sitting on jake's left, deb was standing at the back on his right while abby was further front on his right...
in a matter of 3 seconds, jake's head seemed to lost all posture and just lopsided to the right, and his right arm seemed to bend as a natural reaction, which from where i was sitting the only sign that something went wrong, coz your arm's supposed to remain straight all the time...
immediately we got the attention of the nurse who rushed there and from the look on her face i knew this wasn't too good..
they had to stop the loss of blood quickly and simultaneously change the his position to allow blood to return to his head coz his face and lips were, for the lack of a better image, as white as a sheet...
deb/abby actually saw his eyes roll back in his head, and abby reflected that she was on the brink of screaming...
jake wasn't breathing at that point in time, and the nurse had to ensure that he regained consciousness quickly or there'd be severe consciousness... we were all like just trying to make sure he heard us and that he continued breathing...
a tense minute later, jake finally managed to answer verbally, and the worse was over...
the next 2odd hours passed quickly, within which jake tried to sit upright but very quickly felt faint again, so that didn't work, and eventually they put him on an IV drip...
he still wasn't able to sit up after that and partially lost consciousness again (i dunno, for me at least its a really scary image)
but he was able to be moved to the car in the end...
during the first half an hour after the initial scare, abby/deb/joanne/bernie and i just made sure he didn't nod off...
when they left along with adriel and all, daniel/guonian came in and with bernie and i made sure of that for the rest of the time...

this is the kinda thing that, when finally ends, you just sigh and say a silent prayer

went for lunch with guonian/daniel/sophie at tampines before heading back...

a long sigh of relief,
jlc.