Friends cont'
The weekend came and went pretty fast. After the hectic Saturday I decided to stay at home on Sunday and bailed on swimming with doc. I cont with the melbourne posts and got too tired... blogging retrospectively can be quite the chore... but I figured it serves as good memories as time passes. Will continue to do it while interjecting it with posts like this.
I was basically doing nothing and was contemplating a nap when L called. Baybeats was on and my curiousity was piqued. So I made my way down and caught a few acts. KL, S, H were all there. The rockstar group as I always call them. They are in the indie music scene. And I am a groupie of their band. KL is a photographer, so naturally I feel quite at home. I am too used to having photographer friends. KL is a breath of fresh air, his down-to-earth attitude is hard to find. Especially (pardon me if I offend anyone) in a field like photography, where most have some kinda attitude at one pt or another. L is a close friend for more than 10 years. And as I've mentioned before, our quirkiness in army days clicked very well, though we are different as can be.
This morning was a bit funny as well. I remembered sending into_the_wild a holler on his absence in cyberspace. He must be busy. I haven't been seeing his post. And just as chance would have it, he was at my area. I probably won't have notice if he hadn't stopped his car and ours had to go around it. Send him a text to say hey. It was nice chancing on friends like that.
I came to the office. And I saw. An email. With a funny subject. It was Hedgehog. And I wonder what it was. I opened it up. And tears welled in my eyes.
I reproduce his email here.
Dear BFFs,
(Attached a lost n found photo of us, minus Deek(?). Date stamped 1996...I dunno why it was one of the photoes i remembered the most, even if it was in the storeroom for the best part of 10+ years...)
You must be reading this on Monday (or Sunday). I hope this mail will bring that smile to last you through the blues today.
Not unawares to all of you, yours truly is currently very jobless. And as all the people in my situation, I have the luxury to sit back and think of life, the universe and everything. I also have the time to tidy up the boxes of stuffs that i kept in my store room.... finally.
Believe it or not, underneath these layers of blubber, i am quite a sentimental person. So you can imagine the tons of karang guni that i've accumulate over the years. Going through my store, you cannot visualise the things that i had kept in shoe boxes and old school files.
I found a 2B pencil, its sides decorated with grooves craved by penknife. Remember this little fad we had going on in class then?
I found a note from someone, claiming that i had illegally used her locker. Remember the number of times we had to forcefully prise open a corner of the locker door because someone had forgotten his/her keys?
I found scraps of notes, on it were drawings and messages we passed around in the LTs. Remember how Lee Hee Fook used to cover the mike with his hankerchief cos he was spitting into it too much?
I found testimonial from Lim Sheau Jen, detailing the number of House games we participate in. Remember how attention seeking we were then? Every competition was a little chance for us to grab some limelight. And we were always congratulating ourselves after the events, which inevitably, was also always us being defeated.
I found things which reminded me of the times we found it cool to hang out at the study benches, and how we sneak into school during holidays to "self-study".
I found niknaks, I found gizmos. And they all reminded me of 1994-1995. We were young and indestructible. We did cools things then which we would cringe now. We really lived the moment. We could not care beyond the school's closing time. We were the center of the universe.
And for that, i thank you, Danny, Shanping, Xiongwei, Yiguang (and Denise, wherever she is). Cos i had the time of my life... and i owe it all to you ...
I say it now because i have the chance to sit back and contemplate (refer para 3), what i was then and what i am now. 15 years from JJ, i have lost the punk from 94S5. i am lost in the rat race of ta middle aged ... and i digress.
So i was saying, i thank my BFFs for the best 2 years in my life. Danny for putting up with me, Shanping for unexpected surprises, Xiongwei for his wit, Yiguang for his passion. So saying, i will continue to keep my JC niknak unorganised, and years later check on it again.
Yours truly,
Ronnie "shall we play soccer-tennis" Koh
In my JC days, I was a bit of a loner. I remembered very clearly that I did not speak much to anyone in my 1st year. I hated being in school not cos I hate books but the distance to school turned me off. My priority in school then, was to always get out once the bell rings. I hand my HW on time, attend lectures. I was all by myself. Deek was my 1st friend (he seemed the most harmless), I was actually a bit threatened by Dean's presence, though I would not admit it. Bestie was always the easiest going person around. Hedgehog is a fellow aquarian like me and though we are not similar, we understood each other.
Looking back, we were unstoppable. We were young. We were carefree. We did what we want. And we got away. The fab five. It helped that 3 of them were in the softball team, where the girls were the prettiest. It helped that Deek had the most beautiful hazel eyes that charmed the socks of the girls. It helped that Dean had the loudest voice that brought attention to us. It helped that Bestie was always gamed for everything. It helped that Hedgehog is Mr. Popular. And I was the Ice-Queen that balanced out the warmth. Or emo kid as Bestie would call. We were like a dish that had all exciting flavours. And Denise was the dessert. We were pretty prominent then. Girls from other faculties would swoon over Deek and Hedgehog. We were in almost every school event. Sports, literary you name itm we were in it. I was the P.E. rep. then and we would participate in ANY sport available. Tennis, Squash, Soccer, Softball, Basketball, Track, Talentime, Taboo games. I bet the whole school probably went "Its them again!" LOL. We were rockstars!
This picture was taken when I passed out from BCT. Even in NS we were all reflective of our nature. Dean was a PTI. I was a CDO. Bestie was a Tank Commander. Hedge signed on with the Navy. Deek was a combat medic. Haha. We could bring down the world by our forces combined! LOL.
17 years on. We are not much different. I don't see them much apart from bestie. A BKK trip was cancelled no thanks to the riots. But all rallied around me at my time of need.
Sometimes, friendship don't count on physical proximity or frequency of meetings.
And as I remembered as clearly, Hedgehog is a fellow Aquarian.
But I forgot, he was just as sentimental.
Thank you. For the timely reminder.
And thank you Fab Five.
I was basically doing nothing and was contemplating a nap when L called. Baybeats was on and my curiousity was piqued. So I made my way down and caught a few acts. KL, S, H were all there. The rockstar group as I always call them. They are in the indie music scene. And I am a groupie of their band. KL is a photographer, so naturally I feel quite at home. I am too used to having photographer friends. KL is a breath of fresh air, his down-to-earth attitude is hard to find. Especially (pardon me if I offend anyone) in a field like photography, where most have some kinda attitude at one pt or another. L is a close friend for more than 10 years. And as I've mentioned before, our quirkiness in army days clicked very well, though we are different as can be.
This morning was a bit funny as well. I remembered sending into_the_wild a holler on his absence in cyberspace. He must be busy. I haven't been seeing his post. And just as chance would have it, he was at my area. I probably won't have notice if he hadn't stopped his car and ours had to go around it. Send him a text to say hey. It was nice chancing on friends like that.
I came to the office. And I saw. An email. With a funny subject. It was Hedgehog. And I wonder what it was. I opened it up. And tears welled in my eyes.
I reproduce his email here.
Dear BFFs,
(Attached a lost n found photo of us, minus Deek(?). Date stamped 1996...I dunno why it was one of the photoes i remembered the most, even if it was in the storeroom for the best part of 10+ years...)
You must be reading this on Monday (or Sunday). I hope this mail will bring that smile to last you through the blues today.
Not unawares to all of you, yours truly is currently very jobless. And as all the people in my situation, I have the luxury to sit back and think of life, the universe and everything. I also have the time to tidy up the boxes of stuffs that i kept in my store room.... finally.
Believe it or not, underneath these layers of blubber, i am quite a sentimental person. So you can imagine the tons of karang guni that i've accumulate over the years. Going through my store, you cannot visualise the things that i had kept in shoe boxes and old school files.
I found a 2B pencil, its sides decorated with grooves craved by penknife. Remember this little fad we had going on in class then?
I found a note from someone, claiming that i had illegally used her locker. Remember the number of times we had to forcefully prise open a corner of the locker door because someone had forgotten his/her keys?
I found scraps of notes, on it were drawings and messages we passed around in the LTs. Remember how Lee Hee Fook used to cover the mike with his hankerchief cos he was spitting into it too much?
I found testimonial from Lim Sheau Jen, detailing the number of House games we participate in. Remember how attention seeking we were then? Every competition was a little chance for us to grab some limelight. And we were always congratulating ourselves after the events, which inevitably, was also always us being defeated.
I found things which reminded me of the times we found it cool to hang out at the study benches, and how we sneak into school during holidays to "self-study".
I found niknaks, I found gizmos. And they all reminded me of 1994-1995. We were young and indestructible. We did cools things then which we would cringe now. We really lived the moment. We could not care beyond the school's closing time. We were the center of the universe.
And for that, i thank you, Danny, Shanping, Xiongwei, Yiguang (and Denise, wherever she is). Cos i had the time of my life... and i owe it all to you ...
I say it now because i have the chance to sit back and contemplate (refer para 3), what i was then and what i am now. 15 years from JJ, i have lost the punk from 94S5. i am lost in the rat race of ta middle aged ... and i digress.
So i was saying, i thank my BFFs for the best 2 years in my life. Danny for putting up with me, Shanping for unexpected surprises, Xiongwei for his wit, Yiguang for his passion. So saying, i will continue to keep my JC niknak unorganised, and years later check on it again.
Yours truly,
Ronnie "shall we play soccer-tennis" Koh
In my JC days, I was a bit of a loner. I remembered very clearly that I did not speak much to anyone in my 1st year. I hated being in school not cos I hate books but the distance to school turned me off. My priority in school then, was to always get out once the bell rings. I hand my HW on time, attend lectures. I was all by myself. Deek was my 1st friend (he seemed the most harmless), I was actually a bit threatened by Dean's presence, though I would not admit it. Bestie was always the easiest going person around. Hedgehog is a fellow aquarian like me and though we are not similar, we understood each other.
Looking back, we were unstoppable. We were young. We were carefree. We did what we want. And we got away. The fab five. It helped that 3 of them were in the softball team, where the girls were the prettiest. It helped that Deek had the most beautiful hazel eyes that charmed the socks of the girls. It helped that Dean had the loudest voice that brought attention to us. It helped that Bestie was always gamed for everything. It helped that Hedgehog is Mr. Popular. And I was the Ice-Queen that balanced out the warmth. Or emo kid as Bestie would call. We were like a dish that had all exciting flavours. And Denise was the dessert. We were pretty prominent then. Girls from other faculties would swoon over Deek and Hedgehog. We were in almost every school event. Sports, literary you name itm we were in it. I was the P.E. rep. then and we would participate in ANY sport available. Tennis, Squash, Soccer, Softball, Basketball, Track, Talentime, Taboo games. I bet the whole school probably went "Its them again!" LOL. We were rockstars!
This picture was taken when I passed out from BCT. Even in NS we were all reflective of our nature. Dean was a PTI. I was a CDO. Bestie was a Tank Commander. Hedge signed on with the Navy. Deek was a combat medic. Haha. We could bring down the world by our forces combined! LOL.
17 years on. We are not much different. I don't see them much apart from bestie. A BKK trip was cancelled no thanks to the riots. But all rallied around me at my time of need.
Sometimes, friendship don't count on physical proximity or frequency of meetings.
And as I remembered as clearly, Hedgehog is a fellow Aquarian.
But I forgot, he was just as sentimental.
Thank you. For the timely reminder.
And thank you Fab Five.
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