InWeekend, UnWeekend

The meaning of weekend excites almost everyone. It does to me too, but the concept is rather different from now on. I look forward to my weekends, without a doubt. Weekends leave behind the trails of weekdays that i dread. It is also a good excuse NOT to do any study.

My weekends have been upside down lately, maybe even for the rest of the year. I feel as though my Saturdays and Sundays are summed up in my weekdays, which is to say i'm as busy on weekdays and weekends.

This Saturday, i only had 5 hrs of sleep prior to waking up. I woke up at 7.57am to the ringin of my phone text message asking for a ride. I had to pull myself up to attend a breakfast with MUCF at Nai Chen's flat. Getting up was difficult, standing up was double the effort. The breakfast went alright. We had Asian breakfast. Hahaha. Check it out (in words) in Nai Chen's blog.

After the breakfast, i got home and continued my sleep. I felt quite unwell the night before already, and coupled with sleep deprivation and insufficient water, it was a fuel for sickness. I slept from 11am-2pm, by-passing lunch. I woke up prior to 2 to ate the leftovers by my flatties. Thanks by the way, i was really hungry. 2pm-4pm is usually badminton session for me, which i decided to skip. It would have really killed me. I got to sit down and do some studying (good boy) but not much (it's ok, still good boy). t 5pm-7pm, i had commitments to attend the Palmerston North annual Relay For Life event. The event is in support of funding research for the cancer societies in New Zealand. It was very interesting. The concept was a relay run for 24 hours (12pm-12pm next day). My club's slot was from 5pm-7pm. Coincidentally, both OCF and MUMSA had the same slot (Dillematic to choose whom to run for). The idea is to keep the baton going around the track for 24 hours. We ran for Massey University by the way. It was a very interesting event, seeing tents of groups erected in and out of the track, opting to stay the night. There was cheers and singing, bells that are ringing, even shoes that are flinging. People just ran so passionately for their loved ones, either cancer survivors or a relative to a cancer victim. The joy on their faces when they ran was simultaneously showcased with the tears of their hearts beating. I chose to stay passed 7pm to watch the lighting of the candles. The candles were placed inside a white "Survivor Bag" with customised messages written by people, showing their love for their loved ones. at about 8.30pm, the announcer told everyone who are running to stop and just walk. Candles are being lit as well. At that moment, silence was observed for 15 minutes, simultaneously while people are just continuing walking the track and others standing by their survivor bagd that are placed around the track on both sides. The surrounding was dark, the only things that can be seen are the bags around the track and glow sticks hanging around participant's necks and wrists. The running continued soon after. I had a quick dinner at MCD and came back to run a few more laps for Massey, just to get our lap numbers up. We were in 7th place by nightfall. I stayed until 12am with a friend of mine. We observed fireworks which marked the halfway point too. I got back at about 1230am and slumped in bed, after shower of course. Just before going to bed, i reflected on the event, seeing many faces that shed tears and sadness during the moment of silence. Even talking to a few participants, they shared passionately. And me? I don't know. I was clueless and emotionless. I felt like a monster then, not being able to share their feelings and sorrows. Yes i ran, not because it's for anyone but just to be part of the moment. I couldn't think of anyone within my family tree who had cancer, or anyone who's close enough anyway. Cancer is everywhere and it's impossible that i havent been around any. Either they were not so close with me, or the ones close to me are keeping it from me. Either way, i had no share of relatives and friends who were fighting cancer, died of cancer or survived cancer that i know off. It's a pity and a blessing too i guess. Not being able to be a part of the moment in heart was a shame, partly because i do not know how to show support to my friends who participated. At the same time, not having anyone close to me suffer from cancer is also something to cherish, as i'm sure many will tell me to be grateful.














That was Saturday, i woke up and went back without seeing any of my flatmate.

Sunday came, i slept for about 7 hours as well. Woke up at about 8.30am to catch breakfast and prepare to go to church. Again, did not see half my flatmate since Friday night. Mass was at 1030am-1130am. After mass, i still had the window to visit the Relay For Life to catch the closing ceremony. I caught up with the scoreboard to see Massey Team finished in 8th out of a hundred. Well Done. I took one more walk around the track just to be part of the moment. The sunshine was really great too. Everyone was eager to see the end. I really applaud those who stayed the night, resting and running until dawn. Many stayed by the way, even those who lived in the city. The front stage, situated in the centre of the track was crowed with people to catch a glimsp of Palmy Mayor and also Palmy MP Jono Naylor and Iain Lees Galloway singing and giving their respective speeches. They looked so normal, in white-tees, cracking jokes and playing with the crowd. It's such a contrast with the asian culture, where Power Distance is relatively high. Back home, even in an event like this, politicians can't even humble themselves to wear t-shirts like that and run the track. Heck, they wont even pick up the mic and woo the crowd. The classical thing we'll always see them doing is giving a probably pre-written speech, usually lame and boring. I went home after that, doing some house work and studied a bit until 2pm. 2pm-4pm, i went for badminton. It was different. I won alot, compared to the week before, where i lost all. I rushed home after that to shower, to attend another church service, going there for the first time. It was part of my search for a new church. It was a Reformed Church and they call themselves a denomination. Makes me wonder, denomination from what? It finished at 5.30pm and i rushed to Dominos to ordered a pizza. After that i was on my way to Uni again, this time to play volleyball from 6pm-8pm. The game was fun and now here i am, spent all of my weekend already. Showered and finally able to have my own time, i sat down and thought of what to do next.

So i switched on my laptop and started wasting my time blogging. I typed in the title "InWeekend, UnWeekend". I started off the first sentence like this. "The meaning of weekend excites almost everyone".............