One afternoon, it was a chem class. Linan the teacher was discussing with us the answers to the practice. It was so boring that I decided to come up with something fun for self-amusement.

Right at the moment my deskmate’s correction tape caught my eye. The stationery was shaped like the digit 6. Like the number, it had a small hole in the centre. Why not push my middle finger through it? The idea felt so tantalising that I gave it a go right away.

Initially the aperture seemed too small for my middle finger. I did not give up and persisted with my effort. To my pleasure, I made it after numerous attempts.

After wearing the correction tape for some time, I decided to take it off. To my horror, I could not remove the thing from my middle finger, however I tried. I panicked. What if Linan the master asked me to go and write on the board? I am often picked by him.

Then my prophecy was fulfilled. My name called, Mr Wang asked me to go and show the answers on the board. At that very moment, I wanted to perish on the spot.

I had to face the music, though. As I was chalking on the board, the whole class burst into roars of laughter. Mr Wang was laughing so hard that he was holding his sides. In plain sight, my monstrous finger made an exhibition of itself.

How I wished that the floor would crack so that I could disappear in it!

When Mr Wang learned what had happened to my finger, he asked my classmates to go and fetch some soap. The soap then was rubbed around the stubborn correction tape. With their help, the embarrassing thing was coaxed, little by little, off my middle finger. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Lessons from this face-losing fiasco: If you have got a great idea, make sure you try it at the right time. Do not hasten to put it into practice right away. Wrong timing is self-defeating. Instant gratification often brings on more misery than pleasure.