Old School

One thing that never fails to bring laughter in my group of friends from my school days are the things we used to do and the people we had crushes on. Who misses school? I certainly don't! Well, not the studying part, anyway. The only thing I looked forward to were the short breaks where we played jump rope ( I can't believe how flexible I was then! How did we possibly position our legs to flip 6 feet high over the rope made of rubberbands?), puffed ice cream sticks with a fellow classmate to see whose went further, made clothes for our pencils ( pencil boxes with 2 sided magnetic lids were in as "houses" then), had girls chase boys then boys chase girls ( there was even a "fairy-monster" version where caught "fairies" had to be saved and brought "home"), monkey pole, hopscotch...ah..the good fun days.

That's not even mentioning the "in" toys of the 90's such as Lego, My Little Pony, 5 stones and the games we used to create on our own when playing alone (I'm an only child) such as creating a "cashiering" machine out of my desk, cooking using "leaves", creating a "library" which involved signing in and out of books and lots of stamping (my neighbour was the only "customer" to my books) and playing computer games and barbies at my neighbours house. She had the cool "caterpillar" or was it "worm" game, the firefighter games, and Pacman. Also, the latest accessories and clothes (plus an office,too!) for her barbies. My mum made clothes for my dolls. I wasn't that proud of them then, but I am now! Whose mum would spend sewing tiny clothes for a doll?

That was all before I became "uncool" in Standard Four. I just got transferred and was feeling pretty out of place. My new classmates already had their clicks so despite my friendly nature, it was difficult fitting in. Despite my dislike of studying, I was pretty studious in my school years. Well, I happened to be enrolled in an expensive school and I just couldn't let my parents down. This, of course, didn't help me with the "cooler" athletic students.

I survived primary school Standard Four thanks to a girl who laughed at everything. I was truly annoyed by her but the more I hung out with her the more I liked her and the more I was able to laugh with her. Lily Tham, is her name and I regret to say we lost touch after she left for New Zealand in Standard 5.

So, Standard 5 and Standard 6 were years spent between different groups. I became indifferent to those who thought themselves to be "cooler". I did get into trouble once when I got involved writing naughty things between a group. We mostly wrote about how irritating certain teachers were and focussed on their physical attributes. Of course, we exaggerated everything! Somehow, a teacher got hold of one note and brought us to the principal's office. Being terrified of my parents being notified, I started crying. That sure didn't help with my "coolness" factor! Somehow I managed through primary school and secondary school was way better.

The "cool" kids in primary school either remained "cool" or "warmer". I found a click of misfits who can be described as fun, down-to-earth, and well-balanced. A few of us remain friends till today. We have the strongest bond ever! No matter how long we've not seen each other, we click immediately when we meet and don't even need alcohol to laugh at the silliest things!

Friends came and went and before we knew it, it was time for college. I liked college. I had a new group of friends and because there were 5 of us, we were nicknamed the Spice Girls. We grew apart after the 2nd term as the other girls decided to try out different courses but I remained close to one. I continued to study Management, Marketing, Communications, stuff I liked. Unfortunately, the syllabus also included Financial Management. Overall, I had a good time between studying. I learnt to play pool, take photographs and write for the college magazine.

I guess I'm one of the lucky few to have a supportive set of parents, grandma and good friends. With them, I managed to graduate and clinched myself a good first job.