Chatter Of The Squirrel

19 Years

June 9, 2007 on 11:26 am | In Me! | 1 Comment

It’s been almost 19 years since I graduated from primary school…

That’s almost two thirds of my lifetime ago…

Last weekend, there was a small Chung Hwa Middle School reunion in KL. 3 ex-primary school classmates who had been working in Singapore, dropped by KL for a visit. And we also managed to round up a couple of girls who’ve been working in KL, some I’ve not seen in 19 years.

Amongst them, my school prefect even. And I spoke to her for the first time ever in my life… to my memory. She might have told me off for running in the corridors about 20yrs ago… But I don’t think I’ve ever dared to speak to her out of turn. Back in school, she always had a stern, don’t-take-no-shit-from-little-pukes demeanor, and I had never seen her laugh. I attributed her a level of respect that a 20yr old might give a Sandman, ever uncertain when my palm flower might go sqwuaking and I’ll be rounded up into the Sleepshop.

I lost contact with my CHMS mates right after the graduation ceremony, and only re-established contact with a few via MSN over the last few years. It’s very sobering to see these old friends, and think about how much time has passed.

I took almost 2 weeks to clean out my apartment in preparation for their visit. Most people who’ve visited my place almost always gave me a polite variation of, “Your apartment CAN BE really nice, IF ONLY . . . .” So, this time around I was determined to avoid that.

Sacrificed my small room -the one with the exquisite view of Ikano Power Centre and One Utama- and turned it into a store room. Stashed all my junk in there. Turned out the crap that I’ve accumulated over the years. Threw away junk like my first computer mouse, a Genius Mouse circa 1993, and my old 486 notebook, an Altima circa ‘95.

Anyways, back to my weekend…

Took my old friends to a number of great places for food. Tomyam Spaghetti Goreng w ketam at William’s; Klang Bak Kut Teh; Ampang Yong Tau Fu at Jln Peel. They have the misfortune to be living in Singapore, and deserve the kindness of getting some good M’sian fare in the short time they have here. I think they took more photos of the food than they did of the sights in KL. Slideshow of food available here.

And in return, these guys generously injected their SGD into the local economy at One Utama. Much thanks to all.