secondary school

firstly,

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it was my very first day of school.
i sat there.
zheng fa, who sat behind me.
asked my name and where i came from.
cau heng came too.
soon, the whole class knew i'm from indonesia.
*cau heng went to rudy*
"eh, he from indonesia too lei, go talk to him la"
with a basketball on his hand.
rudy then came to me.
asked me in bahasa indonesia.
where do i come from.
"medan, you ?"
"jakarta"
and he left back to where he sat.
new to assembly.
and when the rest of the school were saying their pledge.
with right hand up on their chest.
i stood there.
culture shocked.
and syed looked at me.
and asked me to put up my hand too.
not knowingly, i put them up too.
it was days later that then rudy told me that foreigners need not do the pledge.
and mari kita is the song i listen to during those mornings.
the saggy yap yuppy yap was still the principal back then.
new to the school.
i spoke little words.
and 10 months later.
i still was new to the school.
i mix only with the indonesians.
and patrick, and eugene.
cau heng and zheng fa.
31.10.2000.
before assemby.
on the way, through that little lane to the basketball court.
hui fen came to me and pass me a birthday card.
" roses are red
violets are blue
*forgotten*
what about a kiss instead ?"
and after assembly.
"eh, u see already ?"
"huh ?"
"joking only k"
"huh ?"

i was in secondary two.
2c.
this is where my life truly begin in singapore.
and soon.
i mix only with the singaporeans.
i remember.
once, i went to the toilet.
long hair.
did my small business and comb my hair.
on my way back.
chuanzhi, with mr.poh in his class.
shouted.
"bert, u go shit is it ?"
"no la.."
and the rest of 2a laughed.
i joined interact club then.
where adam, rahmat, chuanzhi and the rest entered my life.
it was an eye opening year.
a group of the boys joined canoeing.

i was there too.

life began to be more colourful.

we began to be really friends.

even with mr.poh.

then, there was the taman negara.

the train.

family restaurant.

adam's incident.

i was still inactive back then.

quiet.

and sulin, i didn't get to sleep.

i was even afraid to move !

and the wild boar.

kamsani and limp bizkit.

boon siong and his "come" and fell in the end.

the fucking

"bert, u know what's cum ?"

"simi come ? come come lah"

i lost my spec in this river.
and su found it back.
it was that muddy road.
i see su and i racing back to the camp.
lots fell.
and that guy, forgot his name.
that made funny noises in the camp with kelvin.
the beautiful stars.
rahmat's "campfire"
and many more.

there was also the sec 2 camp.

adam.

afraid of height.

that was me.

damn it poh.

u should have took it when i looked down at you.

and....

during the campfire.

and when we were all sec 3.

and i joined 3 harmony.

we basically parkway everyday after school.

it was that.

or soccer.

and interact club become so much relaxed.

and fucked up.

we had a bbq one day.

it was the most crazy years.

those parkway times.

and the almost everyday / every weekend pool.

and this.

adam and rahmat's fight.

and how the rest of the group started to neglect adam.

those were really the days.

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k...i'm gettin sleepy.

so here are just the pics :)

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sec 4.

the class was painted.

national day.

where the class first got together and united.

and my first tattoo came.

soon.

the second one followed.

wilfred started smoking too.

and hui fen started stealing our lighters.

those library days.

gelare.

and all of these.

are....memories.

those incredible years.

"i know i can, be what i wanna be"

"if i work hard at it, i'd be where i wanna be"

"i know i can, be what i wanan be"

"if i work hard at it, i'd be where i wanna be"

* sudden silence *

we are now on our own different road.

do you still remember ?