Subjectif…

When I picked up my timetable this year, I was oh-so-delighted to discover that the right side of my timetable was quite filled. Case in point- I end school at 4.50pm on Monday and 5.25pm for the last two days of the week.

Yes, stop laughing, my timetable is the pits. But hey, you get more out of this college when you stay back a little longer- Jancy’s 6pm announcements for Thaipan orders, the melodies of the Chinese Orchestra and the String Ensemble amalgamated (teehee) within the T Block… and today, I experienced something even more special.

So my class was having History Tutorial and everyone was pretty much struggling to stay awake, as we are wont to do at 3.30pm in the afternoon. We were learning about the Korean War, a devastating war in, well Korea, and our teacher had just gotten to the most crucial part of this whole crisis when…

WHUARWHUARWHUARWHUARWHUAR

(or something to that effect)

An emergency alarm started blaring.

At 3.31pm.

Very loudly.

To provide some context, we were having our class in E13- a History classroom on the first floor of the Electives Hub block which is, well, roughly the size of a T block toilet, I kid you not. But it has its advantages- I once hung out in there during a thunderstorm and it was all peace and tranquility inside. Yes, it is that soundproof.

And right there in E13, that alarm blasted us straight in the face in that WHUARWHUARWHUARWHUARWHUAR fashion.

First, the ‘Fire Drill’ reaction. There was a tone of excitement in everyone’s voice as we speculated, “Fire Drill? Now?” Some of us started packing up casually. Our teacher dismissed it as a false alarm and tried to continue teaching.

Then, the ‘Uh oh’ phase. My classmate interrupted, “What if it could be real?” Imaginations ran wild as the image of a science lab being devoured by flames danced around in our minds. One of us asked our teacher to leave the door open so that we could run out to the parade square if the emergency was a genuine one. Which, to that, I pointed out, “What if the fire started in the parade square?” We heard the people from Guitar Ensemble/ Choir outside panicking mildly. My teacher called the General Office.

Finally, the ‘CHEY!’.

False alarm.

So life went on and we were split into groups for discussions. But E13, being small and cramped and thus echoey, was not a conducive environment… so some of us ventured out.

To be greeted ungraciously by the blaring of the alarm.

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The alarm finally died an abrupt and welcome death at 3.37pm, leaving our ears ringing in the aftermath.

And that ends the account of the misbehaving alarm.

To end this post off, allow me to reproduce a (rather cheerful) note on the whiteboard by Miss Goh Hui Hua that may be of concern to some of us (verbatim, may I add):

To users of E13,

Please do not push the vent of the aircon up as this may spoil the aircon. If skinny+cold, wear a jacket for @#$%’s sake. If I catch the idiots who have been doing this, you sit outside the classroom.

Yep. Take note, Victorians!