rowlandanthonyimperial
Saturday, November 10, 2007
04:17
Swimming.
November 8, 2007
The sound of my alarm clock seemed like a wailing glockenspiel, ballyhooing beside my ears, my cranial nerves beginning to jolt impulses that felt like lightning bolts, my hand and feet rising up the air like a hot gas, in a rigmarole, looking for that bastard noisemaker. I woke up.
Then I forgot. S***! I was supposed to swimming with my friends today.
Off I went like a mad bull rushing through the gates, bringing me along my ever-so-tight swimming trunks, and a towel of course to hide my family jewels when I go for a hasty change in the locker room. Well, it comes down to one conclusion. I am a Filipino. Being a Filipino is synonymous to being conservative.
Since we could not use the Hwa Chong pool (outsiders like me are not allowed to contaminate the ocean of chlorinated dihydrogen oxide), we decided to go to Toa Payoh Swimming Complex instead. We took bus 157.
danson and jix.
kenneth.Surprisingly, we were among the first ones there. The finical, automated, card-vomiting machine was a pain. Why couldn't they just use people? They would've given one person the hell of the job giving us our access pass. Enter the access pass. The word "child" lit up. Cool. I'm still a child after all. Trying to get into the entrance. Weird. It was almost impassable. I wonder if Dabiana would have been able to fit in. We placed our bags in one corner, went to the locker room to undress, and poof.
There they go, Singaporeans, baring it all in front of me, their bulbous, sun-blanched flowers and frolics. Whew. What a sight. Unbearably disgusting and hilarious at the same time. Kenneth had raised eyebrows, Danson laughing as if he was enjoying the naked aura of the place. We set forth to the pool.
Ahh, what a wonderful feeling. The redolence of chlorine. The numbness brought about by the tingling sensation of cold water. The smooth immaculate tiles beneath. The gentle breeze of morning air. I realized then that i have not swam for ages. Who would have thought that after all these years I would be wearing nothing but swimming trunks? I have never worn once in my life, that I can assure you. I was always in shorts, even in pants I dared to do once many years ago. I think even ragamuffins who have never ever dared to go swimming (for the fear of it) would have been able to, at least, have a showing off of a bit of their skin in public. But I have always been in the chiaroscuro; a person who never took much of the opportunity to break away from the monochromatic life of decency and privacy and indulge in bare-it-all occasions. Not that I have avoirdupois weight, but because I was just too shy to do so.
It was fun, the swimming.
