walking towards sdba and hearing the faraway cheers and halting announcements through the speakers i thought everything seemed so familiar. the race programmes pinned up haphazardly on the makeshift notice boards, timings scrawled on them in black ink, surrounded by a bevy of people eager to know their school's latest standings (as well as their rivals' tallies). canoeists dressed in their school colours huddled round the stone pier intensely gazing at the start point a kilometre away, the unmistakable smell of banana boat sunblock permeating the air and of course jiao lian in his broad brimmed hat and (poseur) oakley shades. gardenia raisin loaf strewn around the heap of bags on the groundsheet (a faint reminder of army- the groundsheets i mean) together with the occasional bunch of bananas and glucolin peeking out of NTUC fairprice plastic bags.

one year since 9th sdba invitationals and everything's just the way it was. just that now there're new boats, new races, new canoeists. gone are the days where i'd scrutinise the race programmes and discover much to my chagrin (and amusement) that the hwachong pair (elin and hwee lin) were in my race again. somehow i kind of miss canoeing. competing. the lactic acid, the thrill of reaching the buoys first, even the sunblock stinging my eyes. the anticipation of the starting command and the elation of victory. it all seems so distant now. i'd love to race again. though right now it's so hard to commit to canoeing because of army and all that crap. but somehow i know i'll get through that and return to where i think i ought to be- in a k2, racing and ultimately, just hopefully even, winning.