The Third Day Of Mid-year's

has left be greatly traumatized and in a daze.

Social Studies was fun and I loved all the writing. I did the essay on meritocracy and the healthcare system in Britain.

Chemistry was like those soft old grannies you thought you could trust, but once your back's turned, they empty their bottle of strychnine into your tauhu goreng. The chemical formula for strychnine is C21H22N2O2. I can't do subscripts.

So nayways, once the paper was over, I looked around in desperation to find some other student who harboured the same hurt and scarred emotions that I felt, and found most of them calmly handing in their question sheets, coolly laid-back and giving the impression that they've never felt more secure in their whole lives. Or was it the same feeling of waking up from a coma, confused and hazy?

Shaking, I drowned my sorrows with a bottle of water, and hobbled out to find everyone yakking about the paper (as usual). Apparently, no one could finish the paper (or they did, but crapped out the answers for the other questions). The corridoor of emotional nullity was scattered with the upsetting wailing of some, the betrayed looks that others gave, and the mood was similar to the "like flotsam tossed up from a former passion" of One Flesh fame. (actually, not really, because I've taken that out of context.)

I dragged myself over to 305 to find people weeping and screaming contempt, shaking their heads in sad dismay as they flipped through their TYSes and FYSes in horror. Ambling around the neighbourhood in a fit of anger and resentment with Andrea, who was secretly happy that triple science students were clearly upset with the exam because it meant that he wasn't the only one, I sulked all the way to 7-11 and nearly bawled when they didn't have any more peanut butter M&Ms. However, there were the fabled Cadbury Creme Eggs that smiled at me from the shelf behind, and my moment of elation was again undermined by the sudden realization that it wasn't me that sat for the chemistry paper; it was the chemistry paper that sat for me—and received high allocades for the A1s it would receive.

We went back to the canteen and while having a chat with Vera and Francesca, something about the uniform struck me. It was hideous and its fitting was like the Elephant Man of all the uniforms in the world. Talked about Andrea's fashion sense and the unlikely couple sitting behind, and then I left for the library to seek solace and escape in an issue of the National Geographic.

Went to Junction 8 with sister to get birthday present for our father, saw Jonathan and Annie from church (but not at the same time), walked around, bought stuff, walked even more, went home. However, at the gate, we rang the doorbell countless times, called the house phone and yelled for my grandparents, but they couldn't hear our screams and we ended up waiting helplessly outside and had to resort to calling our mum. So, we walked back to J8 and I had a haircut and Esther walked around, and reached home. It seemed that my grandparents were in their room and they had closed the door, so they couldn't hear anything. It was vaguely amusing, in that we called home several times, rang the doorbell incessantly, but received no answer whatsoever.

I'm going for another dinner today, after going for one yesterday to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. This time it's my dad's birthday and we've gotten him a lovely card from Prints and a cutesy hand-shaped massager to soothe the temples while having a headache. If he puts it in his office, he'll be the funkiest teacher in edgefield, I suppose.

I await E maths and literature tomorrow!