Basket.

Monday night, and I see what Maxine Hong Kingston meant by gnashing your teeth when you talk to your parents. Right out of the blue I get a critique of my studying methods; it isn't anything new though, it's something I've been hearing for at least half a decade or more.

When I pointed that out, and what has happened in the aforementioned intervening time period, the reply that made me see traces of red was along the lines of "if you had done well you would have the Humanities scholarship". What the fuck? Ok, look, what has happened in five years? Well, I had a fairly successful four years in RI, ending with eight points for my prelims and seven for my Os, achieved my aims of getting into RJC Arts and staying there; last year I too achieved everything I aimed for: an S-Paper in my favourite subject and a decent SAT score. I would consider such achievements at least respectable. So screw the Humanities scholarship shit already. It's old news. And screw all the insinuations that I have not done well. Because I know that I have, and when you are honest, it has to go both ways at least some of the time.

Contrary to popular belief, I usually do have coherent aims. I have not yet failed to achieve any of them. I have done so for the past years despite my supposedly inferior studying techniques in relation to my peers. So, in the end, this is my life, I set the goals and how I go about getting there, and, whether I achieve them or not, as long as I am satisfied with the end result, I say that no one has the right to say anything. No one at all.