On the second day of the new term, Grade 3, I was all nuts.

All the boarders were instructed to move into new dorms within two days, the day after school started. It would be next to impossible, I was afraid, to port all my 101 possessions on my own in the heat of summer, from the old dorm to the new. Therefore, I asked some of my friends to help before moving started. What drove me nuts was that once it began, those friends of mine only cared about themselves. None of them came and gave me a hand. “What hypocrites!” I cursed under my breath.

My books, my clothes, my quilt and all the other belongings in the old dorm glared at me. Carrying them all to the new dorm would kill me ten times, I reckoned. The longer I stared at them, the angrier and sadder I got. I started to whimper.

I complained about my class director for her callousness. Why didn’t she ask the boys in our class to help us girls the way other class directors did? Why did the maths teacher still assign homework even though he knew we would have to move on the day? Why did my mother turn her back on me instead of coming to my aid? I moaned about a lot of people, even those who had nothing to do with my plight. In retrospect, I did not whine about myself at all.

Two days later, I finished the Herculean task. When the last bundles were dropped on the new dorm floor, I felt as if my body and soul had parted. How did I manage to achieve it? You might wonder, Shengliver. During lunch breaks and dinner breaks, I went back to the dorm to tackle it all alone. It was so torrid that my T-shirt was soaked through. My efforts finally paid off. I made what I had thought impossible not only possible but also a reality.

These days when I am snuggling down into the comfort of my bed, I reflect on the whole experience. I not the centre of the world, no one else has the responsibility for my job. If a piece of work comes my way, the buck stops here. If my work is not done, it is I who am to blame. I used to crab about this and that, but rarely did I realise that bellyaching did not get me anywhere. It dawns on me that I might have given an impression that I am the grumpiest bellyacher under the sun.

What I failed to notice at the time was that some friends did come and help even though they were still halfway through their own moving. What I refused to acknowledge was that my mother still spares time to visit me each month, even though she has a million and one things to do running a hotel at our town. What I turned a blind eye to was that our maths master is a considerate guy, by giving far less homework to us than his colleagues to their classes.

The sky is what you make of it!