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6U/2005 班聚 (6U/2005 Class Gathering)

So, here comes the post I promised about the class gathering. The story goes that I attended a gathering with my ex-classmates in primary school on the 18th of November. It was held in a friend’s residence, and it happens that she resides in a condominium (so we have the added benefit of access to the pool ).

I went together with two other friends who hitched a ride in my car and we were one of the first boys to arrive, except Han Loong was there the earliest. We entered the house to see Han Loong lounging (read: slouching) on the sofa. And there were several girls helping out in the kitchen, presumably preparing some foodstuffs. After putting down our bags and settling down a bit, we

were asked to go down and reconnoitre the area we will be utilising for the bulk of activities. The pavilion we were using was a little bit wet because of the heavy rain and a little bit dark because it was not time yet for the automatically triggered lights to switch on. Otherwise it was okay. A few boys and me wiped dry the whole place and arrange the ingredients intended to be cooked in a steamboat later on. We were also simultaneously chatting and joking.

As soon as the preparations were done, the girls came down as well. We rigged the electric steamboat and the cooking was underway. Meanwhile, Kuok Zhen succeeded in turning a powerful halogen lamp (at least 500W I suspect) originally facing the pool to face inwards into the pavilion we were in, despite me informing him how hot the lamp will be. And hot it was, as hot as standing in the path of a side boom on stage. Suddenly, everyone was laughing. Why? Because most of the boys were already drenched at this point in time by sweat, rain etc. And some of us, namely me, began to smoke under the glare of the halogen lamp (The water was evaporating. Though I would like to assert that I was and still is sizzling hot! ). It became a good laugh for everyone while we enjoyed the food.

Later on, after we finished the food, we proceeded to play around and in the pool. As expected, there was a fair amount of attempted “pushing-into-the-pool” going on, but for most of us, we left those who were seriously reluctant to enter the water, for whatever reason, alone. The only exception being Han Loong pushing a girl into the pool against her wishes. Fortunately Jia Nee was sporting enough and no severe repercussions occurred (apart from several threats to Han Loong ). To Han Loong: Don’t do that again, please.

Other than the uncalled-for action at the pool, the whole gathering went rather well. All of us enjoyed the food very much. Specifically, Wen Hao’s passion for the food was reflected fully through his gobbling down at least 5 bowls of food by my estimations. (basically continuous eating ) One thing I must not neglect to mention is the pudding made by Jia Nee. Basically it was semi-liquid but we devoured it all the same. Haha. On a more serious note, the effort put in should be appreciated by all, regardless of what the end-product turned out to be.

It is really comforting to know that we, as friends since primary school, still have the heart to get together even after we seldom see each other. After such a long period (okay, not that long.) of each going our own ways and pursuing our own ideals in different places and different schools, we still fit in and chat and joke just like when we were still in primary school. This is concrete evidence for the argument that true friendship transcends time and distance.

I certainly do hope we will remain in contact and friendly throughout our school life and well into our career. However, I understand all too well the fact that a friendship needs care and maintenance. And so I will strive to do what I can to keep in touch with these friends. Fulfilling the promise to keep in touch we so zealously pledged during the last few days leading up to graduation from primary school.

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“保持联络”
这个词语在我们的纪念册里出现的次数是如此的频繁。
当时我都在想，我们写归写，答应归答应，到底会不会做到？
会不会只是濒临毕业时的短暂感慨？
面对多姿多彩的中学生涯，来自四方八面的新同学，会不会就如徐志摩一般“挥一挥衣袖，不带走一片云彩”？

这些质疑，我不单是在质疑别人，我最质疑的是自己。
是，即将毕业时我是深切的感到不舍之情。
可是，我不肯定到底这一份不舍之情会化为保持联络的行动；
还是一旦上了中学，有了新的朋友，就会把这份不舍忘去？毕业了不保持联络，久而久之就会疏远，就算见面也会难以启齿。

再久一些，小学同窗的那份友情也会淡去，仅剩埋在脑海深处的一份回忆。
未来的哪一天，若偶然唤起了从前的这份回忆，也已经事过境迁，逝去的友情也难以挽回。

上边的这一段文字，写得这么沉重； 会读到这里的读者，应该都算朋友了。。。
如果小学同窗有机会读到本人这一段浅见，多少也会唤起从前小学玩玩闹闹的回忆吧。。。

上面几段文字的沉重，现在看来没有必要了。
我提到的质疑，照目前的情势来看，也算是我多心了吧？

前两天，我们还在办班聚。
虽然不是所有人都出席了，可是大家还是玩得很开心。
虽然不是所有人都出席了，可是还是显示了还是有很多的人记得小学的生活、怀念小学的同学的。
只要这一份怀念、这一份记忆还存在，我们应该也还会履行我们所说过的“保持联络”。

这次的班聚，告诉了我一件很重要的事情：
可能我们当时看起来像是“挥一挥衣袖，不带走一片云彩”。
可是如果继续读完 《再别康桥》，也不难看出我们的影子：

“但我不能放歌，
悄悄是别离的笙箫；
夏虫也为我沉默，
沉默是今晚的康桥。”

毕业的那天，不一定有大肆地表达出离别的不舍；
班聚的那天，则肯定有明显地显现出同窗的怀念。

Street Soccer Game with Ex-schoolmates

When I spent some time today to actually read through my own blog, it seems that traffic has been rather slow. Posts are few and far between and comments are scarce at most. But now I have something to share after the spur-of-the-moment post a few days back to celebrate my joy at successfully entering the prestigious Hwa Chong Humanities Programme (not that other programmes are not prestigious. All Hwa Chong Special Programmes are highly sought after). Now that the excitement at entering my programme of choice with several rather close friends for company, I have more time and free mental capacity to carry out reflection and, my favourite, thought.

I woke up quite early on Friday to meet my ex-schoolmates for a game of street soccer at the basketball court in close proximity to my house. (It may seem comical to play soccer on a basketball court, but hey, its an informal game of street soccer la. We use the supporting columns for the basketball hoops as goalposts.）When I was in primary school, we would usually play soccer together every Saturday. Last year, I played less as sometimes I was back in school during the weekends. This year, I seldom joined them as I return to Johor Bahru less frequently and the increasing academic and co-curricular commitments for me and my friends prevented us from spending all our weekends playing soccer. Now that it is the school holidays for both students studying in Malaysia and Singapore, it is a good chance for us to play more frequently and catch up while doing some physical conditioning for form maintenance during the school holidays.

I noticed some trivial but interesting changes in our playing pattern since the first time we played together around Primary 5. Before, all of us chased after the ball (typical of children) without regard for any form of formation or tactics. Essentially, we followed the ball, not the captain, not the formation. Put even more simply, we were like a bunch of monkeys fighting for the ball

As I heard someone mention “walao. 全部人围在那边抢，像小学那时一样”. (okay, we generally don’t speak such cultivated and precise Mandarin, but its along the lines) a smile flashed across my face. It was rather humourous to realise suddenly in a flash of inspiration how much we have changed since the days we always quarreled big time over small things like whether its a free kick or penalty kick… haha. But on a more serious note, this simple trigger of my memory made me ponder over how much we have changed over the years. And fortunately, how our friendship simply transcends the changes. Not a great surprise actually, considering that our friendship had been forged by at least 4 years of studying in the same class.

We ended up playing from 0800 till around 1100, with only brief water breaks in between. While this may be because the pace of the game was not very fast and we were socialising as much as playing soccer, I feel that having familiar people to talk to and laugh with also helped keep up our stamina. Its actually possible to forget how hard you were sprinting in the previous minute when you are laughing over a joke popped by a friend (usually at somebody else’s expense, but always good-natured).

I know this cannot be put adequately into words, but what I want to say is: It sure feels good to catch up with friends from the past.

By the way, I just returned from a class gathering with ex-classmates. I will follow up with a detailed account soon. Enjoy the holidays, people!

2008 Sec 3 Class Allocation

Whoa… The SMB message announcing the results of our sec 3 academic options has just been posted. I am allocated my first choice for everything… That means I am admitted to the Humanities Programme, and I am taking Biology and ultimately I am in the Centre for Scholastic Excellence. I am happy. In fact, I think delirious is a better word.

I have been waiting for this  day since I completed the options survey on the school portal. I love the Humanities. But I love the sciences too. So now I am basically in a Utopia of mine. I will be focusing on Humanities under the Humanities Programme; But I will still be taking triple Science.

Basically, Yong Xiang, Foong Wai and Xue Zheng will also be entering into the Humanities Programme next year. That means I have 3 companians from 2B/2007. Not bad. Lit Xian may be taking some classes with us too. Since he opted for the Bi-cultural Studies and Humanities Programme.

Okay, thats it for now. Bye.