READING MARATHON - 144 Hours

For Read! Singapore 2009, one of the event is a reading marathon to set a 144 hours of reading aloud non-stop record in the Book Of Records. The week long event (3rd July 1 p.m. - 9th July 09 1 p.m.) is held at The Plaza @ the National Library, Victoria Street. We took part in the reading marathon today.

READING MARATHON 2009

Under the group name "Wheels of Knowledge and Friends", Nantha Kumar, Chong Choo and I each had to do a half hour of reading aloud. There were 3 other wheelchair-users in our group. The timer on the panel on stage was clocking the 47th hour of reading when we arrived. Serangoon Garden Secondary School was doing the reading. The girl must be dry in her throat from reading aloud. I could hear the rasp in her voice but she continued to read well. I began to worry if I could do the same. Afterall I've never read aloud for long stretches of time and I do get breathless if I'm tired. Initiately, Chong Choo was to read at 1, Nantha at 2 and I would be reading at 3 p.m. with someone else taking over in between. But on hearing that we hadn't taken lunch, the organisers kindly rearrange our time slot so that we could finish one after the other. We were called to go onstage for a group photo shoot after which they seated us accordingly with readied mics. After a very short introduction of our names to the audiences, we took over the reading at 1 p.m. At an average of 13 pages each, we finished 2 stories and a half in the book titled "Dreams and Choices". Just 15 minuites into my reading, the wicked witch of my imagination cast a spell over my throat. It was as dried up as a piece of patchment left too long in the sun. I strived on. Nearing the end, I gladly took a sip of water which my volunteer held out to me. Perhaps she noticed the raspiness in my voice. Ah! How soothing, and refreshing, and precious is the sip of water. I did my turn and joined Nantha and Chong Choo below. They had won something in a draw and would collect their prize at a later date. We had lunch at the Cafe where we order anything from sandwiches to set meal. Lunch at 2.30 p.m. might as well be tea. Sandwiches was a good choice for me. We stayed on for some time after our break and took our leave at 4 p.m. Andrew, our volunteer driver for the day, had us worrying when the Home van died on the way out of the underground carpark. God helped us. The engine got going again after serveral trials and we returned home without any mishap.

Privileged

Dehong visited me last evening with a bag full of gifts. I only opened it this morning. I got an emoticon freshly baked bun - a stress reliever......am I so stressed? O.K. I admit, yes, easily so too, an Illusion Science kit......interesting, and a box of bird's nest..... I am touched. This is one brother who thinks I need bird's nest and goes ahead to pamper me with it. I feel old and privileged.
Privileges were given to us when we signed up for NLB Project Deliver Me - a programme whereby NLB volunteers would deliver library materials to those who have difficulty visiting the library themselves. I was one of those privileged under MDAS to take part in its pilot. Project Deliver Me kicked off this year. NLB volunteers delivered our library books this morning and took away the dued items. I didn't managed to finish reading the book, "Winter World" by Bernd Heinrich. I put it down in the list of books to borrow the next round.
Gan's rather surprise visit gave me another reason to feel privileged and keep smiling. He popped in at 2 plus with a tank containing Leopard Lacewing caterpillars. Leopard Lacewing is a bright colourful butterfly that is becoming more common in Singapore. The larva feeds on the passionfruit plant. Gan gave me one of the three caterpillars in the box. He put some of its foodplant into my box too. We had two passionfruit plants growing on the fence behind the boys' rooms. However when I take Gan to the plants, I realised the plants were no longer there. They had been uprooted by the contractors recently to make way for the new fencing. The old Community Club next door had been brought over by the Anglicans and is now undergoing construction to turn it into a family service centre. While I worry and fret over the caterpillar's food, Gan, in his experience, assured me that there is nothing much to worry about. The caterpillar was near pupaton.