Ours ...

Third.

Heading Into The Next Phase of Life.

*Now for a Primary School kid's way of starting his composition ... (perhaps this is just my Secondary School standard =X)

On this fine Sunday morning, My mother and I went to Koufu Westmall for our weekly weekend brunch. We had our late breakfast because it is a Sunday today, when all of us do not usually wake up early for work and school. My mother ordered fried carrot cake and I had satisfied my craving for laksa. My father did not join us because he is now overseas and will not come back until tonight, while my younger sister came home late last night so she was still sleeping in the morning ...

*Wow ... I bet I wrote worse than that in Primary School ...

Let's see ... This post is inspired by my annual packing of my school's stuff, and for the record, I felt so much like packing that I packed my cupboard full of souveniors and gifts as well. Of course, this didn't last long for I am such a procrastinator (what about that book I read in Poly Year 1 about what negative effects procrastination have on you and how to stave off it?!). The only joy in my doing so was reminiscing my Final Year in Poly, looking at those stacks of notes I had previously mugged through for tests and exams and recalling those fun lectures we had, not particularly paying attention, but talking among ourselves and irritating our lecturers with our late-comings and hystericals.

Before I continue, I warn that this post will be long with no pictures at all. I mean it - no pictures. HAHA. It's such a trouble to upload these pictures and arrange them nicely after finishing my entry. But I hope friends, you all will bear with me and continue reading, because I think if I don't write this now, I probably won't have the urge again to pen these thoughts in the spur of a moment. Ok, that's a long enough warning, let us continue =D.

Among those high-stacking notes I have are the research works I have done with my FYP members - experiment protocols, printed copies of journal articles I used throughout the course of my FYP and a few others for Journal Club, and draft copies of the final report. The amount of hardwork and effort we put in this FYP did not disappoint us when we were told of our grades after the submission of our report and presentation. A wave of nostalgia swept away the heaviness of my coconut milk-laden laksa and Teh-C when I looked at those papers I had studied, from not knowing a single thing to being able to figure them out on my own. Sure those were the hard times, but if I were able to turn back time, I will not take another path for this journey as it has filled me with knowledge, growth, experience and most important of all, memories I shall never forget.

This final box of memories is now honourably given the highest position among my 2 other boxes of earlier days in my Poly life. One day when I finally have to put down my unwillingness to throw them away, these memories I will look back, and if I am able to keep this blog alive maybe 10 to 20 years down the road, I shall write about these days again with new perspectives. By then I would have lost the years, but I do hope I have not lost my memory and friendship with the wonderful people I met.

You think that's the ending? Not yet!

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Then I started packing my cupboard full of random stuff I used to just put them in when I couldn't find a proper storage area. Birthday cards (I swear they're still in good condition in the mess =D), holiday greetings, NS pre-enlistment letters and such.

What can be so interesting about packing his cupboard? You may ask.

Cobwebs? Dust that makes you sneeze your nose red? Or discover unexpected dead bodies of lizards and unidentified 6-legged crawlers?

To your questions, I see no webs and dead creatures. There was some dust, but not enough to make me sneeze =D.

What is interesting is the numerous birthday cards and greetings I have accumulated over the years, mainly those I received starting from Secondary School days, till the one I received for my 20th Birthday made by Andy and signed by the clique. Each of the cards tells a different story, and that's why I want to talk about it. Not much actually, just let this old man reminisce, ok?

Throughout my Secondary education, I had made acquiantances from all walks of life. There were friends whose parents drove big cars to those who needed to work part-time (not many though) to earn their pocket money. Nonetheless, we all mingled well together as a class, as a school, and before we knew it, we were saying 'hi' to schoolmates from the next class, and others from the next class, and our seniors and juniors.

While I peered into the envelopes and pulled out each of these cards, every single one reminded me of the days I had from these senders. Well, mostly were cards shared by a few people, and there were short greetings written before they signed off. To be honest, because a few of the cards were not dated, I cannot now remember on which year I received them, but from the things my friends wrote in the card, I can still vividly remember those times and jokes that belong to us.

Early in my Secondary School days, I did not make many friends and was close to only a few people, whom I hung out with after school and during weekends for movies and dinners. There were people like Christine whom threw popcorns and laughed with me at people's reaction while watching "The Eye"; Stanley playing Xbox and PS2 at Weiliang's and Chunyu's houses; Eileen who eventually became my best friend and still is; Jethro with his english; Qianqi and Wanyu from the band and a few others from my class. These were the new friends I made, and naturally, my first birthday card came from them. It was my first experience with having a 'clique', and it felt great.

Over the next few years from Secondary One, I made many other friends, friends of friends, and friends of . . . . . . That's mainly because we were separated in Secondary Two, and when we introduced our new friends to others, our connections in school went deeper and eventually, you came to know almost everyone from the same cohort. It did help if you stand out, for example, being the one that usually topped the level's Math exams.

Secondary Two saw me with more new friends, though that was the class which I did not like best. Among them, I am now still in contact with Desmond, while the rest are not as close. It was also the year when I got to know people like Soon Yang, Wen Xiang, Putera and many others from different classes.

Secondary Three and Four were perhaps the most memorable years of my Secondary School days, mostly accounted by the fact that they happened just before I entered poly, and also the O level examinations in Sec 4. I truly believed that class 4E1`2005 of Dunearn Secondary was bonded well back then, when we protested against the peer-tutoring system and created nuisance to teachers as a whole. That was also when my primary school friends (Sabrina and Linda, who were quite close with me in Primary School) became pretty good friends with Eileen! Even now, we still meet up occasionally and not to forget the most recent one dear attended with me =D.

It was probably the mugging as a class/group that bonded us so well back then, such as we boys spending our recess reading newspaper or doing TYS-es in the libraries, and other groups having their own activities. Till date, many of us are still very much in contact with one another, and those few groups formed in that 2 short years are still around as far as I know. For example Sijie and Jing Jing that group, naming themselves the 'Witchy Bongz' (no idea why ...); Noel, Zakir, Wanyu and Ian that group who were more out-spoken than most of us; Yiling, Huiyang and Ai Ling forming the quietest of girls in the class; the rest of us guys who just liked to lunch, badminton and play sports together. *Keep in mind some of these people I've mentioned had signed their names on the cards I received =D

Outside of the classroom, I attended a chalet organised by this group of people when I did not know many of them. I managed to make some friends there and of them all was one who became quite a good friend of mine in Secondary School - Shan Ling. She used to be the one that entertained me with Messenger Minesweeper, haha, and also the one that helped me in many ways =D.

And then there's my acquired nickname that sticks even now, given by the all-friendly Wee Kim from the Basketball Team. Whenever I introduced myself in poly or somewhere else, I would let people know of this nickname of mine to help them remember me. I guess it somewhat helps when I'm just an ordinary guy. So because of this nickname, my future birthday cards were filled with 'ah pek!!!' and 'old man' or anything of that sort =D.

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It came to a time when I had to fly off to Perth for my ITP, and before that, I was so busy meeting friends and enjoying my Chinese New Year that it felt as though I would not be back home for quite some time. As 16th February (the mentioning of this date is a reminder =D) that year was one week after I set off, many friends decided to meet me beforehand to celebrate my birthday and also as a farewell gesture.

Cards I received then were those I really like. They were filled with well-wishes and bon-voyages, some even handmade. Tagging along with those cards were notebooks and lucky charm to protect me on that journey. These cards reminded me of the dinner date with poly clique, chicken rice at bukit batok central with Sabrina, Kbox trip with Xinyi and her friend and the Chinese New Year invitation of closer budds to my place for games of mahjong just before the day I set off (in order for me not to miss it too much).

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And now you may wonder what's with the Primary School kid-styled way of opening. The only significance of it is the contrast between Jeremy now, and Jeremy then. Over the years I experienced, I have grown into what I am now today. If I have the chance again to choose (changing from Fuhua Sec to Dunearn Sec; Entering SP instead of a JC), my choice will not differ, though regrets I do have, but they are not of great importance.

Looking at these cards certainly brought me back to those days of tears and joy. They also reminded me of how blessed I am to be surrounded with many sincere friends during the different stages of my life thus far. I am also reminded that most of these closer friends are still there around for me, though not as frequent as before.

Now that the first 20 years have passed, I am heading towards the next phase of my life - Army Days. Being an optimist, I am looking forward to this journey a young boy knows he has to go through as a Singaporean (I'm not a patriot). It is another good chance for me to know more people and better myself as a person. Farewell to the 20 years of which have helped me grow, I am now anticipating more 20 years to come.

Memories are best kept as they are; If turning back time is a possibility, memories will not be as memorable as they are now. Cheers!