32 Hours - The First Quarter

The 1st Hour :-

I came to this world fragile and weak.
Nearly gone in less than a minute.
Luck was on my side and hence,
I past my hour with love and care from my mother and father

The 2nd,3rd,4th,5th hour :-

During these hours, most of everything was a blur.
I remember a metal push car here and a Dog called Mao Lui there.
I remember running around with my King Kong toy and a T shirt to match.
I remember taking the bus with my mother in the morning.
I remember my father carrying me as I looked at his footsteps as he walked ahead.
I remember watching movies with my parents and it was great.
I remember giving my Grandpa back knocks and massages.
I remember he would always catch either me or my cousins to massage his back whenever we are in his vicinity.

The 6th/7th hour :-

These are the hours which brought forth my formal introduction to the world at large.
At the 6th hour, I was exposed to the language called English. Made a new fried (late friend now, RIP Alan) called Alan. His name I feared due to a movie called Alien which my parents took me to watch. Around the half hour mark of the 7th hour, my fear subsided and he became my first good friend. Around the 6th hour, I also met a girl who will eventually be my only link to my days here in the kindagarten. Her name is PS.I remember the 7th hour. The first minute of this hour, fear again struck me as I was now leaving the 6th hour school, into the 7th hour school called the Primary school.I remember my mother, bringing me to school. I remember the moment class began and I remembered how fearful I was to see her leave. Though the seconds spent in school are insignificant, I felt the fear of losing her then, which seems more real than anytime else. I remembered crying and not letting her go. The seconds however, slowly passed. My fear of losing her passed as well. School became routine.
Made friends, good friends, built sand castles in the sky while the teacher taught, all these I did. PS was with me in the same school. I remember my mom bringing me fresh shirts during recess as I would play with my friends and would perspire until my shirt is drenched. I remember how my mother made friends with the canteen operator. And everytime I order food from her, the auntie would give me extra servings and sometimes I would get a treat from her. Either a pack of twisties or O' ya. It is also in the 7th hour that I lost my first grandparent. Rest in peace - Kung Kung. It was the first time I had to deal with death. I remember my father coming to school to pick me up. I asked him why in the car he wouldn't say. And when we reached home he told me Kung Kung has passed away. It was also the first time I see my mother cry....

The 8th/9th/10th/12th hours :-

These are the hours best remembered for my academic results. Seldom I am below 5th in the class rankings nor the school rankings. But then again, in my school before the 12th hour, there were only 2 classes in my same grade :P. It is in these hours,that I kept falling ill most of the time before each examination. It is in these hours that I also realised how my parents were actually happy with my performance at school. I remembered having came back being number 11 in class and school. I remember the feeling of disappointment that my parents would have had of me. I also remembered how wrong I was to assume such. They were not disappointed with me. They thought I was mad to give oneself so much shit. During these hours, I had a lot of fun, played soccer almost everyday at 6pm. I remember riding my BMX around the neighbourhood with my little biker gang. I remember before riding my BMX I had a smaller bike. I remember trying to whack a mosquito on my leg while riding the bike. I failed to hit it, lost balanced and fell to the ground, hitting my head on a rock. I remember seeing blood drip from my head. I was not afraid, my cousin came to bring me back. I washed my wound and drenched my t-shirt with blood. My mother came and saw my bloodied t-shirt, she almost fainted. It was also the first time I got stitches. I had 8 stitches to my head. I remember camping outside my house, getting scared and cold and wanting to go back in but not allowed to by my father because he spent 100 bucks to buy me the tent! I had to use it because it was my request. I remember how small things like planning to go for walks in the morning is to me. How excited I would get excited about waking up early in the morning before the sun rises. Which at the 32nd hour is something that I absolutely do not miss!! I remember how quiet it is in the morning. I remember how beautiful it is to see the colors of the sky when the sun starts to rise. I remember how tasty my first bowl of supper maggie noodle was when I was allowed to stay past midnite once with my cousin staying over. We were watching Sapphire and Steel and my mom cooked us maggi that night. I remember how the dark nights, when the power was out, I would go over to my neighbour's house to listen to Grannie tell us tales of her younger days. She brought up her only son by working in a tin mine. Now she's got a daughter in law and 3 beautiful grand daughters. I remember how fearful I get whenever my parents fought and I remember how somehow, whatever they fought about seems to get resolved whenever it rains. It is also in the 9th hour, my brother was born. During this particular hour, I felt so much love from my mother and father, I thought I was the happiest kid on the block. I remember my father went to open a video account at Home Video and we would rent videos to watch during the time when my mother was in hospital about to give birth to my brother. I remember seeing my mother at the hospital, I remember the distinct smell of her room in the hospital. I remember one night we brought porridge for her, it was raining outside and I found this little gazebo just outside her room. It was rainy and it felt nice and cool. The next minute or so, my brother was born. I remember seeing him in the hospital and I remember how small he is. From that minute on, I have a brother. The 10th/11th/12th hour I saw how fast he grew and how cute he was when he was young. His head was bigger than his body, and he was quite a chubby baby. We called him Tua Toa Kia. During these hours, I also remember my birthday celebrations. All my family would come and my mother and my aunt will prepare the food. Sometime we would have BBQ but others would be great food whipped out by all my aunts. I remember the presents, I remember playing with my cousins. Soon came the 11th hour and at this hour we had to take a national exam. My other Grandpa promised to give me 10 ringgit each for every As I scored. I came back with straight As and I got 50 ringgit. I felt happy and before long I got to experience my first change. I changed school. It was really traumatising for me then because I lost touch with my good friends and teachers that I have grown to love. This happened in the 12th hour. This was also the first time I got to experience riding in a school bus. At first I was apprehensive but before long, it became fun. At the new school, I got to make new friends and it is these friends whom I still keep in touch with till this day. At this hour, I got to find out my skills with a hockey stick. I somehow got into the school team and we went all the way to become 2nd in the state primary school category. I remember my coach telling me that I am the "King of the field". I remember scoring my best one touch goals ever. I also remember getting hit in the head by my opponent's hockey stick, falling into the grass, blacked out and saw stars for the first time when I came around. I remember also at this time, besides hockey, I can run. I can run pretty fast and I dont feel tired. I felt invincible. And before long, I got to join the 4 X 100m team. It was exhilarating to compete with people from other schools. I felt strangely proud of wearing my school colors then. And it was at this hour that I start to talk a lot with one particular girl. I didn't know why then, but it seems there are a lot of things to talk about with her. It is also odd that I will feel anxious whenever I see her. And before long the 12th hour ended. And so is primary school. We moved on to secondary school in the coming hours.