the tennis lesson

finally got down to it and booked Andy for an hr of tennis at 9 the day after. normally i do tennis with CW for 2 hrs (taking turns to rest), so i decided that an hr would be good, (happily ignoring John's advice that an hr with no rest was a killer the last time he tried it). i guess i forgot that he was one of the few friends who were way fitter than me. 

woke up at 0800, knowing i had to leave at 0815 to be on time. packing was done the day b4 so i very complacently settled down to my breakfast and papers. one more article, i repeated to myself a few times. i looked up at the clock and wow, it was already 0825. 

reached CCK at 0850 and decided i should take a cab. but the damn vehicle took like 15 mins to arrive, then 5 mins to reach the car park. so i took the elevator up to the 1st floor, ran aroundthe entire complex looking for the court (even tho it was my 2nd time there alr), eventually saw the court across the field from the grandstands, but had no way to get down other than jumping like 5 metres down to the track. so i went around to the extreme side and climbed down a gate (illegally). 

and apparently i've picked up a myriad of bad habits since my 3rd lesson which was like 3 mths ago. tensing up my forearm unnecessarily, doing a minute leap when i hit the ball, and most damningly, the increased delay at getting into the appropriate 'step in' position when the ball is returned. 

john was right. when the lesson ended and we were discussing the lesson at proximity, the image of Andy started flashing yellow and orange, then blurry and unfocused. at times, it even seemed like he was floating around. i guess i was on the point of fainting, something i haven't encountered in a long time. and obviously he offered me breaks in btw, but you can imagine the scenario.

coach (at 20 mins) : shawn! r u ok? u look tired. need a break?

me (tired, aching but prideful) : no need! i know i look tired, but i'm ok! let's continue!

coach (at 40 mins) : shawn! u look like u're gg to collapse. u sure u dun want a break?

me (extremely tired, horribly aching but still prideful) : never mind! i can still go on! let's finish up the 2nd bucket of balls first!

i din realise then that the 2nd bucket of balls was still quite full. 

and i promised that should i be a coach in the future, i'll simply walk off the court and declare a break w/o my student having to agree to it, if my student seems like he's at the brink of losing consciousness. 

so after the lesson i decided to go to the nearby toilet for a quick washup b4 my swim, but took an premature turn and ended up at the carpark instead. hey. wait. wasn't that the carpark the taxi dropped me at initially, i wondered to myself. damn. it really was.