Copa Di IBA
This is the proper, grammatical name for the annual tournament held among every Brethren church in Malaysia, not "Copa IBA" as they actually call it--they probably translated it directly from "Cawan IBA", or "IBA Cup", but it's supposed to turn out as "Cup Of IBA".
(IBA is short for International Brethren Association or something like that, and it's basically a sub-Protestant denomination that holds very sedate services and loves singing hymns. You can Wikipedia it for more information.)
Anyway, it was held last Saturday and I was there to help Jogger referee. Actually, I'd planned to be a spectator, which is much more relaxing, but Jogger found out at the last minute that he needed an assistant to keep score and stuff, so he nominated me because I hadn't joined any events. In any case, I ended up being an assistant referee, and it's more taxing than it may sound.
The ref gets to walk around the place and blow his whistle at game start and game over and when there're fouls (which occur surprisingly often). It's the assistant ref who tabulates the scores, keeps the time (and tells the ref to blow the whistle), and does the running around to report the scores after each match. Needless to say my shirt got quite damp after 5 matches--it was only slightly cloudy and there wasn't much wind.
Fortunately, I didn't have to do any refereeing after that because it was a knockout system and we weeded out enough teams in the first round that most of the referees could retire. (This meant me and Jogger.) Plus each referee got some free food and drinks as a kind of payment. Not too shabby!
I want an MP3. It's getting boring sitting in the room and watching the fan spin. Even Niche's MP3 seems to be perenially either out of power or in someone else's room, so I've decided I want one of my own. However, MP3s seem to require lots of charging, and they seem to only charge on USB ports--which I don't have. Niche's computer is also always somewhere other than in the room (which is why I don't get to ask him to play the songs on that either).
I've asked my mom to bring one down from the Big S when they come back for the summer holidays, but I'm not terribly hopeful. Still, I'm hoping she'll get me one, and I'm hoping she'll put some songs into it. I might even get Niche to transfer some of the nicer songs from his computer into my MP3 if it arrives.
Serene is getting on everybody's nerves now... it turns out I was wrong when I said I knew the reason for her bad mood, since I tried apologising and she didn't respond at all. And besides, she's not angry with me alon (which I might understand), she's angry with Cheeky and Thunder and Pick Lint and pretty much everybody except maybe the Hanky. And now even Cheeky doesn't want to bother trying to make peace with her.
I'm getting worried. I don't like conflict... and if she won't even try to talk to us this situation is going nowhere but downhill.
Proof? We've started making plans to go to Genting in a couple weeks' time for a short trip, and everybody's been shooting down the idea of inviting Serene in their own special way. Imagine: I'm the one wondering if we ought to invite her so we don't hurt her even further! I don't like to think of what this could lead to... Serene has already got a history of destroying relationships through her temper, she's told me that, and I don't want to just stand by and watch it happen again.
Besides, I want to have somebody to talk to during Physics classes.
And as for Her Shortness... well, neither of us has so much as spoken to each other yet, so I'll just put that on the back burner and let it simmer for the time being.
(IBA is short for International Brethren Association or something like that, and it's basically a sub-Protestant denomination that holds very sedate services and loves singing hymns. You can Wikipedia it for more information.)
Anyway, it was held last Saturday and I was there to help Jogger referee. Actually, I'd planned to be a spectator, which is much more relaxing, but Jogger found out at the last minute that he needed an assistant to keep score and stuff, so he nominated me because I hadn't joined any events. In any case, I ended up being an assistant referee, and it's more taxing than it may sound.
The ref gets to walk around the place and blow his whistle at game start and game over and when there're fouls (which occur surprisingly often). It's the assistant ref who tabulates the scores, keeps the time (and tells the ref to blow the whistle), and does the running around to report the scores after each match. Needless to say my shirt got quite damp after 5 matches--it was only slightly cloudy and there wasn't much wind.
Fortunately, I didn't have to do any refereeing after that because it was a knockout system and we weeded out enough teams in the first round that most of the referees could retire. (This meant me and Jogger.) Plus each referee got some free food and drinks as a kind of payment. Not too shabby!
I want an MP3. It's getting boring sitting in the room and watching the fan spin. Even Niche's MP3 seems to be perenially either out of power or in someone else's room, so I've decided I want one of my own. However, MP3s seem to require lots of charging, and they seem to only charge on USB ports--which I don't have. Niche's computer is also always somewhere other than in the room (which is why I don't get to ask him to play the songs on that either).
I've asked my mom to bring one down from the Big S when they come back for the summer holidays, but I'm not terribly hopeful. Still, I'm hoping she'll get me one, and I'm hoping she'll put some songs into it. I might even get Niche to transfer some of the nicer songs from his computer into my MP3 if it arrives.
Serene is getting on everybody's nerves now... it turns out I was wrong when I said I knew the reason for her bad mood, since I tried apologising and she didn't respond at all. And besides, she's not angry with me alon (which I might understand), she's angry with Cheeky and Thunder and Pick Lint and pretty much everybody except maybe the Hanky. And now even Cheeky doesn't want to bother trying to make peace with her.
I'm getting worried. I don't like conflict... and if she won't even try to talk to us this situation is going nowhere but downhill.
Proof? We've started making plans to go to Genting in a couple weeks' time for a short trip, and everybody's been shooting down the idea of inviting Serene in their own special way. Imagine: I'm the one wondering if we ought to invite her so we don't hurt her even further! I don't like to think of what this could lead to... Serene has already got a history of destroying relationships through her temper, she's told me that, and I don't want to just stand by and watch it happen again.
Besides, I want to have somebody to talk to during Physics classes.
And as for Her Shortness... well, neither of us has so much as spoken to each other yet, so I'll just put that on the back burner and let it simmer for the time being.
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