Filed under: Ramblings
Apologies if it took so long, and if it is too loquacious or voluble, please note that this is a rhetoric. All questions posed here are not meant to be answered. Also, some memories are embellished, and others maybe written in the wrong timeline. If you know of any discrepancies, you are most welcome to keep them.
All complaints will be presented to the kumquat. Talk to the kumquat. The kumquat loves you.
I remember…
When I was 3, I didn’t talk much. I liked to play a lot, and was always receiving snaps to my left hand, as I liked to write/draw with it. My parents didn’t like me being a lefty. I liked to twiddle my hair and stick it into my ear. I was hospitalised because I put a metal button in my ear. The doctors gave me anesthesia, which didn’t work as I was still up and about after 2 shots. I remember being tied up. That wasn’t fun.
I remember not being able to talk properly, but understanding what everyone was talking, and sulking or playing alone at my favourite spot, which is under the kitchen table. I had a little sister, but she was small, couldn’t walk, talk, crawl nor do anything interesting except poop, bawl, eat and make funny noises. She bored me, plus she was taking the attention away from me, with me not being the youngest anymore. I couldn’t do anything much, so I used to follow my big brother wherever he wanted to go. He always wanting to leave me someplace else so he could have fun all by himself.
When I was 4, I went to visit Tok Ne and Tok Atan. My uncle played with me and put me on his lap and tried to teach me the piano. His name is M. Nasir. Then he became famous. I wonder if he still remembers me. It turns out, that there’s a lot of musicians who lived or spent some time in Teck Whye and then, later on, get to become famous. I’m still biding for my time, though. Maybe I’ll be the next star from Teck Whye to make it big. Previously, Ramli Sarip, followed by M. Nasir, then my neighbour Jas Nalo, Eddy Kecik (Cucu Datok Merah), lots of others, Zamberi Patah (Cik Leh) and Faizal (Aksi Mat Yoyo) also included.. then maybe one day… me.
There was one time when my parents brought me along to a jeweler’s shop to have my sister’s ears pierced. The uncle proceeded to pick me up and place me on the glass display table and was just starting to get to work on one of my ears when my mom noticed.
“Hey! Not this child lah,” she said.
“Oh, not this one is it?” asked the uncle. “Looks like a girl, what..”
I was mistaken for a girl. Funny? No. Disturbing? Yes.
At least, I got a packet drink just for being a good girly-looking boy.
When I was 5, I learned to write the word “ren” (people) in chinese. We spoke in a hodgepodge of english, malay and mandarin at school. I had a little red tie, and studied in mandarin. Half the time, I didn’t know what I was doing or supposed to do. It was then, that I had my first kiss. I was in kindergarten. 2 girls were fighting over me, of all people, then somehow they ended up kissing me. One was Malay, another was Caucasian. I was confused, so I cried all the way home.
One time, my brother and I were visiting my late aunt who lived one block away. We took the lift with an old, friendly uncle who chatted a bit with my brother while we were in the lift.
The uncle asked my brother, “This one your sister ah?”
My brother smirked, cocked back his head, then turned to me and smiled.
I looked at him, then I looked at the uncle.
I shouted, “I BOY LAAAAAHHH!!!”
When I was 6, I was chased by a huge rabid dog (believe me, it was huge. At that age, I was tiny compared to that dog) on the way home to school. I saw my late grandad at the void deck of my block, but he was too far away. He saw me running and he yelled ,”Squat! Squat!”
No, that’s not my name. That’s not my. Name.
Naturally, I didn’t squat. I kept running. Along came this Abang Rock, with boots, jacket, and I think probably an Iron Maiden t-shirt. He stood between me and the rabid, foaming at the mouth, barking-like-mad dog, and gave it a hefty kick. He saved my ass, then he bought me a packet drink. He was so cool. I asked for another drink.
This was the first time I watched “Police Academy” on TV. Who can forget Michael Winslow, the beatboxing robot voice manipulating cop AKA Jones, and the casanova, Mahoney or Commandant Lassard? The TV kept hissing and moving, wavy lines kept forming up though. Kept my dad adjusting the antenna or fiddling with the set-up drawer for the TV. I miss those push/click buttons that you could find on old TVs. You know, the cathode-ray tube screen, encapsulated in a wooden (yes, wooden) box, with channel buttons and volume dial on the right. Back then, there wasn’t any MediaCorp, nor TCS. It was known as SBC. The logo looked kinda like a face. Moe Alkaff was on the rise.
When I was 7, a relative asked me what I wanted to be.
I said, “I want to be a singer!”
“Oh really? What band? Pet Shop Boys? Duran Duran? Wham?” he asked.
I replied, “Iron Maiden.”
It’s been 20 years, but I guess Iron Maiden has already metamorphosed into a rusted spinster. I’m still an Iron Maiden fan though, rock music being a big part of my early years. My late aunt (who used to babysit me, God rest her soul) loved Iron Maiden, Bad Co, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Rusty Blade, Sweet Charity, etc… and heavily influenced what I listened to before I sleep at night. I love em too. Still do..
My first day of school consisted of facing multiple kids with the IWTGH (pronounced ee-oo-tug-h) syndrome. They were crying and flustered and quite a few were shouting at the top of their lungs, in their own tongues, “I Want To Go Home!”
Yeah we buddied up, seniors from primary 5 who were supposed to “show us the ropes” during recess. My senior brought me to the canteen and then he dumped me. So there I was, wandering around a huge place, filled with other monkeys in uniform, and I was having the time of my life. I didn’t know that we were supposed to assemble at the courtyard after recess, and then get back to class. So there I was, still exploring the canteen after recess, when a teacher found me and picked me up, and sent me back to where I belonged. I thought, “Class? Man, it’s gonna be a long day.” Little did I know, it was gonna be a long TEN years worth of classes.
When I was 8, I was playing with my cousin at the stairwell near his house. He hit his head on the railing of the stairs, lots of blood came out of his head. I didn’t know what to do, so I tried to patch him up using the bubblegum that I was chewing. Then his mom came and took him away. I thought he was gonna die. I cried.
I had another cousin, a year younger than me. We always hung out together. We rapped, played soccer, watched wrestling together. We sang the Singapore “Dream Team” song (Jang Jung sweep you off your feet uh) together and rapped along about chocolates and tic tacs with the Kopi Kat Clan singing “Why You So Like That?”
Kids were so into He-man, Ninja Turtles (oh, we boys really did love April O’Neil), Transformers, My Little Pony, Cabbage Patch Kids, Carebears, Glow Worms and the such. I would grouch and complain every time when my sister would want to watch Carebears, but I secretly counted down with them (Carebear countdown.. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) in the themesong, and whenever they needed to use the famous Carebear stare, I would wiggle my tummy too, to see if anything came out. All that ever did come out was maybe wind.
At 9 years old, I was bullied by kids at school. I got so angry that I initiated a fight. Eventually I got walloped pretty bad, but they didn’t mess with that shorty with curly hair anymore. I guess they didn’t like kids who bite… and never let go. I went home and listened to my favourite tape, Rusty Blade’s Awas, freaking out on the crazy riffs on Makhkota Sukma, followed by Loudness’s Hurricane Eyes, starting with Let It Go and ending with Black Star Oblivion.. I was messed up.
I was buddies with Zool, Halifi, Norlina, even Hongwee (Frick). Had some adventurous times, skipping Saturday tuition for fun at the monsoon drains. Cycling through jungles and the undeveloped areas of then Choa Chu Kang. It was at this time that I discovered that boys must have a certain attitude about certain stuff. I discovered Back To The Future, Indiana Jones, Escape from New York, Mad Max, James Bond, Conan the Barbarian and much more. I discovered Machismo. I discovered how to be a Man. Now, if only I could do it right..
When I was 10, I was in the 2nd last class of the standard. In short, I was among losers. Inspired by stuff I saw on television, specifically a movie titled “Young Einstein”, I had the bright idea of making myself smarter by taking an old speaker cone, inserting the two red and black wires into a socket, turning it on and place the speaker onto my head.
The speaker cone didn’t get anywhere near my body, except my hand though. I was electrocuted, the flesh on top of the joint of my thumb fused together, my hair de’curled and went (and stayed) awry, and grandma said blue sparks were coming outta my hair (which at that point in time, was standing on end), ears and fingertips. Thank God for circuit-breakers. In a way, I did get what I wanted, though. The year after that, I graduated to primary 5B, then 6A, where I was offered to get into the EM1 stream. Incidentally, in this year I was heavily into the song titled Jane by the local (but now defunct) band, Kick!. Did you know the lead man was (former DJ) John Klass, and the popular malay artist, Jai, was part of the band too?
People were raving about this movie with a huge fish that would jump when this one boy lifted up his hand, so me and some of my friends went out to watch it. It was my 1st time out for a movie. I was shivering, my teeth were chattering, my hands were all clammy and my throat was quite dry. No I wasn’t nervous. Nobody told me that day not to wear just a skimpy shirt and shorts. As we exited Jurong Entertainment, we walked together in silence. Sure, in retrospect, Free Willy was a good movie, but it was so dumbfounding when most of us couldn’t really follow what the cast was saying. I remember thinking (in Malay) , “Man. I really need to improve my Ingrish.” Haha.
I was 11 when I first noticed that I couldn’t really see that far anymore. I thought everyone saw the way that I did. I remember seeing fuzzy and blurry purple and green outlines in the distance and thinking, “what the hell is that?” When I got closer, then I could see oh, it’s the mama from the cornershop wearing a green jacket with his purple sarong.
At this age, where kids my age were still busy playing kuti-kuti and battling spiders, my aunt brought me to a Rusty Blade concert (I don’t recall where), one of the last ones before they broke up. I really enjoyed the music, I just wished they didn’t stand too far away.
Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung and Andy Lau were battling it out on the airwaves to be King of Mandarin Pop. Reddiffusion was in it’s last stages of withdrawal from the public eye. 98.7fm was still known as Perfect 10 and Glen Ong was funny as hell.
Concave Scream and Forced Vomit were nationally recognized, the Padres, Lizard’s Convention and the Humbackback Oaks were almost famous. I loved the Substation.
I was 12. The song, “Angel In The Night” by Lovehunters was getting heavy airplay on local radio. It was at this age when I realised that this girl I supposedly “hated” and played pranks on since I was 8, was actually… attractive. I didn’t know how to acknowledge my feelings, nor go about telling her how I felt. So I did what I did best. I played more pranks on her. She thought I really hated her. One thing led to another, and somehow, we ended up going steady. Now, the only “steady” I knew was “Rock Steady” by Bad Company, so, in the pursuit of unexplored and unattained knowledge of relationships, I asked my peers, “what do I do now?”
Most said, “I don’t know, you’re on your own,” them being members of the He-man woman haters club.
One said, “Don’t worry. Go with the flow. Anyway, in 15 years time, you won’t even remember her name.”
He was right.
Not only did I forget my 1st XGF’s name, I don’t even remember HIS name anymore.
PSLE was around the corner. The suspense was, in some ways, obvious in some people and nonexistent in others. I studied. Not that hard though. I was supposed to make it seem easy as I was in the top class of the standard. Still had time to catch frogs and spiders, seek adventure at the monsoon drains and railway tracks, fly kites and dig for worms. I had a girlfriend and I did not know what to do about, or say to her. In the end I scored 4 B’s and 4 grade 2’s. Haha. BBBB2222.
At one point, I realized that this was the end of a “Period” for me. No, not the bloody type.
No more starched shorts. The loss of good friends made over the 6 years, half of my life, in school. By next year everything was going to be different. Goodbye, Jalan Teck Whye Primary. Hello Bukit Panjang Government High.
The year was 1995. At 13, I was still short. The growth spurt that was supposed to happen still hasn’t kicked in yet. I was in high school. One thing remained the same from my time in primary school.
I was still wearing shorts.
First week of school was.. weird. I was lonely, didn’t see any of my primary school friends.
I sat down on the corridor in front of class, facing the drain and staring at a patch of grass. It was before “bellring”. Man… I have not uttered that word for so many donkey years. So, it was before the first bellring during one of the days of the first week at secondary school, and I find myself lonely with no friends and nothing to do but stare at an uninteresting patch of green. Along comes this bald fellow, plops down right next to me, extends his hand and smiles.
“Hi! My name’s Hafiz,” he says.
He was the first fellow student to acknowledge my presence that whole week.
I shook his hand and introduced myself, uttering my full, girly-sounding name.
In that moment, while shaking his hand, something happened.
There was a moment of confusion. Noise, laughter and commotion.
The bell had rung.
And no, me and Hafiz (aka Bob) didn’t become best friends.
I remember sitting amongst a group of lefties. Me, Kelly Chan, Arfan Farudi and Felicia Lai Yu Lin, in an inverse T formation. It was funny. When we were writing an essay, most of the class would lean to the left, while the 4 of us would lean to the right. Haha. You won’t get it.
During this time, my mom got pregnant and had my sister. She was 40. My mom, not my sis. I felt old. No longer being the middle child, yet not knowing where to place myself, I engrossed myself with having fun. That was why I joined the Scouts. Man, was I so wrong. Still, there were the Girl Guides.. oooh yeah… the Girl Guides.. mmm hmmm..
Raymond (Ee Joo Tat) was a good friend. Went to his house a lot, to surf the net. He read lots of comics. Still do, I bet. Arfan and Azmi were my chums. Played soccer near Idaly’s house, at the covered area (pondok) which we commandeered for pre-futsal but futsal type soccer. Ashar, Bob, Hasry (Mar), Dol (my distant cousin, Abdullah Al-Hady), Farid and quite a few others were regulars.
Oasis ruled the charts. Kurt Cobain was mourned.
In secondary 2, nothing much had changed, except for my perspective on school, which was a bore.
I abhorred going to school. I mean, how many subjects are we supposed to take? It all seemed so easy in the TV shows, but in real life… bleagh.
Had to be assembled in the multi-purpose carpark/courtyard/assembly area by 7.15. If you’re late, you get detention. School ends around 3 or 4 in the evening, and most of the time, you had extra classes or extra-curricular activities (for me, it was being a Scout). By the time I reached home, it would be around 6 or 7pm.
I recall the first time I got detention.
It wasn’t so bad. I was the only one it the room.
I was late for school one too many times, so I got booked. So what? It’s just detention. Little did I know that it would be the start of many, many detention periods to come.
I had arguments (non-violent nor volatile) with Felicia and Jahan, mainly because I recognise and acknowledge their “powderful” control and usage of English and wanted to “up” my linguistic capabilities. Also, they’re the only girls in my class that seemed to treat me like a normal person. They’d talk TO me, not AT me. I dislike yappers. Jahan taught me the meaning of the word “absorbent”. I was so dumbstruck at that time. What kind of word is ABSORBENT? Who invents these words?
Hong Wee (Frick) and Dick (EnSheng) were so into basketball. Renshun (Tom) and Woon Bock (Keith) were good at soccer. Azlina was the perfect example of a model student. Hanim, the quiet and reserved type. Rafeah was always with Jahan, and Rafizah was the soon-to-be sports superstar.
I looked forward to Saturdays. I loved the adventure aspect of the Scouts, but why were we supposed to march like some commie outfit? Still, there was always the story-telling sessions by our Scout master (I forgot his name, oh my) and the knick-knacks that we would build as a team. And yes, there were always the Guides… Wait a minute. I think I sat next to a Guide in class. Kelly, weren’t you a Guide? Felicia too, right? Ever wondered why me and Arfan were Scouts? Haha..
My baby sister was so cute at that time. She was almost 1 and was so… fat. Maybe that’s why her name is Fathiya. haha.. she looked kind of like a cross between the Michelin Tyre mascot, the Stay Puff marshmallow man and a healthy malay baby. She liked to put her lips together and pout. She was so cute, too cute I might add, that everyone (me included) insisted on stuffing her full of food. This practice continues to this very day, but at a lesser frequency. She’s 13 now, and not so fat. Still cute though.
I was 15 when something really amazing happened.
Quite a few somethings actually.
First day of secondary 3, I was accused of attempted suicide. Mr Tan (or famously known as Tiger Tan) the discipline master, saw me standing on a railing of the third storey.
“Don’t jump!” he bellowed, and then he rushed up the stairs.
I thought to myself, “Okay..” and I stayed my ground. Or railing, rather. He reached the railing upon which I was standing, and pulled me down to the corridor floor.
“Are you crazy? You want to kill yourself, is it?!” he half-shouted.
I was groggy, I had dust up my nostrils and my eyes and nose were red from dust exposure. All I could do at that point in time was try to hold my breath, because I didn’t want to sneeze at the DM. Maybe he mistook this for another reaction, so he dragged me to see Mrs Fernandez, the teacher in charge of student counselling. Me, being me, went with the flow. I mean, it was a good way to pass the time, with everyone else doing spring cleaning. I mean, it sure was better that cleaning the louvers. You know, those metal slits usually situated above a railing, to prevent the rain from spilling over? I thought, maybe it was better to be labelled “crazy” rather than spend the rest of the day standing on railings and cleaning louvers. Now you know the real story.
I met Fairuz (who was in my class, by the way). Got chummy with him. No, not that way, you kinky person you. He became my best friend, and continues to be the best, up to this very day. Does that boost your ego now , buddy? Haha. He was an anti-social, restive, bad boy – tough guy rebel. I was the spectacled, nerdy, touted-to-be-crazy, weirdo with multitudes of useless knowledge and a record with MOE for attempted suicide, therefore getting a huge berth in the school’s discipline department and paying only 2 days a week for counselling (where I found out that I was probably mildly autistic. Cool. Maybe that was why I was good at picking up motor-intensive skills). It was a good deal. Anyway, we hit it off, almost immediately. He was oh-so-tough and macho, but beneath that gruff exterior, there lies.. a bad-mouthed, sublime and introverted soul waiting to explode and take it out on you. Oh, did I mention? He’s quite soft-hearted and affable.
Incidentally, a few of my friends from primary school were in my secondary 3 class too. Namely Hanim, Norlina and Hongwee. I’ve never quite known Hanim that well, but I do know that she has nice hair. Norlina, I treated like one of the boys. She was a great friend. Me and Fairuz and Hong Wee usually stuck together. Maybe because we’re the most troublesome out of the whole class, or maybe because we’re graded the bottom last 3 in the whole of secondary 3. A league of losers? We didn’t think so. This was the same 3 people who actually brought their physics homework when the rest of the class didn’t. Sure, granted, we were usually the ones to drive ol’ Mr Wee mad, but that incident actually made him step out of the class and cry in front of the door. So, out we went, the 3 most notorious students of secondary 3 (express stream), and we tried our best to pacify this male, obnoxious, not to mention sometimes smelly, teacher who was crying in front of the class door because the class didn’t bring his pre-assigned homework. “Don’t let them get to you..” I said. Fairuz even said, ” ‘Cher, you must be professional…” The 3 of us murmured pacifying words and sounds to this one teacher who loved to pick on us, and vice versa. In the end, he left us with 2 whole periods (1 period = 45minutes) of free time as he made his way to God knows where. I think he wanted to go home. In retrospect, it was so funny, but at that point in time, I guess the 3 of us were serious and genuinely concerned. Whoah. I can still remember taking jibes at him, and at other teachers, usually at their expense. Mr Wee was the worst I ever picked on though. He usually became the butt of my jokes, literally. At one point, he was forced to write on the board while facing us, because everytime he turned around, we’d laugh at his butt. Maybe the wet patch had something to do with it. I guess, without me in the class of 306/406, it would have been a very dull 2 years for the class.
I had my growth spurt (another funny english word). Finally. In 1 month I grew an amazing 20-odd centimeters. Not regular. Just odd. No one can call me “Shorty” now (insert evil laugh here).
Eugene and Hong Wee discovered that they were smokers. They found out about other smokers too. So every morning, before school, there was at least one smoker’s convention held at various locations surrounding our school. Usually it’s at the 2nd or 3rd storey of a nearby block.
Recess was a rush for food, for most people. For me, my buddy, and some of our friends, it was a whole different matter. Being part of a faction of rebels, we’d find a place to smoke (toilets, technical block, backstage, roof) then sit around to chat. Only when there was 5 minutes left till end of recess, then we’d buy our food (usually at the vegetarian stall) and drinks, finish it in 3 minutes flat, then assemble at the courtyard, timing our burp with the “end of recess” bell.
My baby sister could finally walk on her own, but still wants to be carried around, especially when she’s tired of walking. My dad couldn’t carry her much anymore, him being too far along the years to do much lifting and my sister being too far along the weighing scale to be lifted much. So it was up to me to carry her around. In a way, she helped me keep in shape. No need to go to the gym much. When my family were holidaying in KL, I was the one who had to carry her everywhere. Sure her stumpy little feet could get her around, and she looked so cute when she was walking, but she sure couldn’t walk around much. When a stranger or a person she wasn’t familiar with wanted to talk to her, she used to walk up to me, wrap her hands around my leg like a koala bear, and say, “Abang Apit”. It was so cute. She only reached up to my knee, and she was so… round, people can’t help laughing.
Take that released their “Best Of” album. Which I bought. Go ahead. Laugh at me. I liked N’sync. I thought they were better that BSB. Oasis was THE band of that year.
One day, I was going to my late aunt’s place, just a block away, on top of a small hill. It was around maybe 8 or 9pm. I was at the lift lobby, waiting for the lift (what else?). The lift arrived. Then this really attractive girl steps out of the lift, accompanied by her brother. She looked at me. I looked at her.
She walked away, presumably going home, but she held my stare. I held her’s. I tried to push the button, the one with the orange light, looks like an orange mentos, to hold the lift open while still staring at her. I pushed the button multiple times. I missed. Multiple times. I failed to keep the lift door open. The lift went up again. I was still staring at the girl. Then she went down the stairs down the slope and disappeared from my sight, but not out of my mind. No, never from my mind.
I didn’t see her again until one day, seven long years later. I was so surprised to see her. I didn’t think that she would remember that special moment that we shared seven years ago at the lift lobby. Why should she remember me now? Especially at a website called wholivesnearyou.com .
She was my neighbour.
We live in the same block.
Now she’s my girlfriend.
I was sixteen. My voice didn’t go as low as I expected it to be. Arfan’s voice was middling between a tenor and baritone. I joined a rock band. Started off playing percussion for them. Then guitar, keyboards, bass. I picked up quite a few stuff.
I was condemned to sit in the center of the class by our form teacher, The Ultraman himself. I forget his name. I’ll just call him the Ultraman, cos he looked kinda like ultraman but without the lighted-up eye goggles and the signature fin on top of the head. He should get one of those fins. It’ll look good on him, especially since he’s lacking a bit of stuff up there.
I was among 3 people who didn’t have a desk buddy. I was situated in the centre of the class, maybe so everyone could look at me, so I would feel ashamed or something. They got it wrong. I loved the attention. Especially when I was quipping or commenting on something the teacher said. Hong Wee sat in front of me, Eugene at my back. Way at the end, sat Fairuz with his desk buddy, Yaolin (Sarah). Damn was he lucky.
I had nobody to talk to during class, no way of passing stuff to people beside me, couldn’t interact much with the people in my immediate vicinity, so what I did was, I interacted with everyone. I joked. I made rude comments. I wanted people to notice me. And boy did they notice.
At this time, Fairuz and I were already quite infamous in school. It’s either “the guy with Fairuz” or “the guy with Asfi/the crazy dude/the suicide boy” for us. You either know of one or both of us.
I stalked a girl I liked. Followed her home. Waited for her at her MRT station. Even accompanied her back on the train ride home. I got rejected, of course. Obviously, who’d go out with a stalker? I know I won’t, especially since after I got myself my own stalker. Now I’ve had my encounters with bullies, rassled with other tough guys and faced down the Discipline Master himself at school and outside, but I’ve never felt so nervous, so creeped out as when I had this one girl waiting for me just after I leave my house to go to school, and following me when I went home. I even resorted to hanging out with Fairuz and his girlfriend after school so that I could shake off my enigmatic stalker, who never did come forward to talk to me, instead, opting to leave notes and watching me from a distance. She scared the hell out of me!
I wasn’t that much active with the Scouts anymore. Was getting bored of the same old stuff, but I did try my best to attend the campfires. Campfires are loved… haha. Arfan had a crush on Kaixin. I think he made the move during one of our combined Scout/Guide camps. We had to cook our own food, with whatever ingredients the team leaders had given us. There was one time when all we had were rice, fried chicken and boiled cabbage in salty water. Admittedly, it was nice. Then again, hunger is the best sauce/spice/condiment in the world. On one of those camps, during a nightwalk held at school, the juniors had to walk in the dark in a group of around 8. 4 scouts and 4 guides. There was this one area at a stairwell where I was supposed to scare them a bit while they were going up the stairs, in whatever fashion I could come up with. So I dressed up in black jeans, a black sweater, scrounged up some black cloth at draped my head and let it loose at the shoulders, kinda like a cape. I tied a rope (scouts are good with knots, you know) at the upper end of the stairwell and secured the other end to myself and waited at the top of the stairs. When I could hear the juniors starting up the flight of stairs, I swung over them and let loose my most godawful rockmetal roar and sailed over them like a bat out of hell.
2 of the boys screamed like little girls. They sounded a bit like Charlotte Church. 1 of the girls fainted. Another boy ran down screaming ,”Aaaaaahhh!! Mmaakk!!!” (That’s malay for Eeeekkk!! Mmommyyy!!). The rest were just dumbstruck. I had to climb the rope back up to release the knot, get back down to attend to the fainted girl and find the wimpy boy who ran screaming for mommy. It was a fun night.
The Ultraman said to me once, “Asfi. I don’t think you’re going to pass your O levels maths.” I didn’t reply when he said that. Maybe because I thought it was true.
So it was quite a surprise when he handed me my O level results and told me, “I knew you can make it. Congratulations!”
I was thinking, Apa dia merepek? (what’s he bullshitting about?)
It was when I opened up the results slip when I knew. I passed my O levels maths. After 4 years of failing math, I finally passed it when it really counted. Boy was I relieved. I thought my mom was going to kill me if I failed my O’s. The killing came later on in my life, anyway.
All in all, though it was a good 16 years of life. This world’s only temporary. I’ll have lots more memories that I could reminiscence when I’m old, and I know that when I leave, I’ll have left a lot of memories of me behind. I write this, so that maybe, when I’m really old, I could read it again and it’ll bring back sweet memories of a distant past, that now already seems so far away.
I’ll remember faces and characters in my past. Those that helped shaped who I am in the early stages of getting to know who I really am. Nosce te ipsum. Know yourself. I value that quote. So should you.
That’s it people!
Kudos to all that I’ve mentioned, and if you aren’t mentioned here, then it’s allright. Maybe I’ll write about you in a later note, maybe not. Who knows?
You are all remembered..
