We continued to travel south. And there were so many of us. Diversified backgrounds, extreme age gaps, exciting hobbies, and big dreams. We were so excited to do something for the nation. For something bigger than ourselves. For something more meaningful than our usual weekend digital blabbering sessions. Their passion and desire to accomplish something so great, enlightened me. For once, I thought, perhaps the world is not dying. There’s hope.
As we settled down in a room full of strangers, we were nervous, yet curious at the same time. The judgements set in. The evaluation of the human being next to us. The first cut. Take one. The perception, prejudice grew immediately. And then we started to dig for more information. Trying to probe to souls around us for answers. Why were they here? Where did they come from? Where were they heading ?
In this newly formed group, which would be named Zzz Monsters, we had a variety of people, whose age ranged from 15 to 25. They were all here for one purpose, to be evaluated by the Gods and the Gods would decide if we would be selected for the events, or not. We were all nervous. Have they begun the tests? Nobody knew.
Fate have always brought fantastic people to us. This time, we met a fantastic young man who’s in a startup, like us! What luck, right? To meet another fellow entrepreneur in a place like this? We clicked immediately, right from the start. We shared experiences, the pain, the challenges, the hope, the fear, and of course, the dreams. When we talked, he nodded, and went Yes yes yes. When he talked, we went em hmm em hmm em hmm! And his office is 5 minutes away from ours! Fantastico!
And then, there was this guy who was studying Vet in TP. Vet Technical I think. He was wearing this shirt from Uniqlo. 4 ways to throw a Poke ball. And we stuck together. His jokes were punch lines which will made me laugh. When we did anything, he would ask – Are you 100% committed to doing that?, in the most sheepish way. Lol.
In this team, we fought hard. The tug of war for example. I chose to believe all the teams had very similar average strength in total. Therefore it was not about the physical power. And most of our palms were not seasoned to the rough ropes. We only had 4 guys in our team. But we won 3 times. We lost about 6 times. It wasn’t easy. There was a group with only 8 members, and they too won 3 times. The trick was to hold on to the rope as long as you can, and then when you felt that the other team was becoming bean curds with constipates faces, you give it a final tug. And that’s it. The 12 inches, that was all that mattered. Here, we learnt the word – Perseverance. You only learned the word when you gave up, and, somehow, you found strength within you, somehow, you decided, you could not disappoint your team mates, you needed to prove to them that we all could do something if we persevered.
In a single day, we talked at least 15,000 times. My voice and I. And the body reacts to it. The body listens tentatively, and changes its form according to the needs. It felt better when the other team who was pulling, had more girls than boys. It almost felt like I had additional strengths, when my voice started to tell me that they’re bean curds. It felt even better when you started making up stories in your head. The voice is now a storyteller. He started saying nasty things about the other teams. When the body was about to give up, the mind intercepted and terminate the ‘feeling’. There are no emotions involved here. You do it or not. It’s whether you WANT to put in your 100% or not. What’s stopping you? What excuses do you have, pussy?
This group of boys and girls – Sarab, Royston, Istilah, Shanis, Shanice, Charmaine, Linda, Nicolette, Lee Yen, Jasmine, Ben, Tiao Kien, Garry, have pushed beyond their comfort zone last weekend. Most have learnt more about themselves, some have gritted their teeth, clenched their fists, and step up. When the opportunity to step up surfaced, they grabbed it, and cherished it. They have not succumbed to fear, and yet, they have pushed each other above their usual standards. We were glad that we had each other. Bright future ahead for them!
After the brief camp, we continued our journey South, to find the treasure, so that we can write another fairy tale when we’re back in the North. To tell tales nobody has heard before. To share our experiences to those who have only dreamt of doing what we did.
The pain never lie.
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