I went back to school yesterday. It was the first time in 3 months I got the opportunity to slip back into school uniform. It felt nice to wear it once again, and I made sure I put on my best. This was going to be probably one of the last few times I was going to be in uniform.

Lim Chu Kang is probably the loneliest place in Singapore, and I was expecting yet another impatient, lonely wait for the bus 975 to come. However, this time round, there were a lot of people. Or should I say sec 2’s. You see, the sec 2 camp, the MOE jalan bahtera camp, was less than 2 stops away from where I was. Nice, so these were the kids from there?

Their instructor came up to me and asked me to take a photo with their group. I was told it was part of their activity, but I couldn’t see how. I walked over to the opposite bus-stop anyway (the road is a single-lane road, so it wasn’t far away) and as we gathered, I saw 975 go past my stop. I said it was fine that I missed my bus. The entire group cheered thank you as I left the bus stop. Ah, camps.

As the next bus came, another group came also...this time, not at the opposite stop. When I was going to board the bus, I noticed their group started crowding around nearer and nearer to my stop. I caught their instructor looking at me with a camera in his hands. Oh no!

Well, at least this group didn’t make me miss the bus, I guess.

I felt pretty exited to go back to school, really. I’ve always loved the school to bits, and even if I didn’t, I admittedly had missed school. The people, teachers, the canteen, everything. School is like a second home. It’s a beautiful place, where we all got to see and share the experience of seeing each other grow from a small primary school graduate, to a young adult. I’ve seen people who, at that time, didn’t even seem to know what the word “fuck” meant. Today, these exact same people that I know have girlfriends and talk about sex freely. In school, we get to meet fantastic new people and friends. We get to eat cheap food. We get to run around and have fun. We don’t have to work very hard for what we want. Our daily 7.45AM-5.30PM schedule is done for us. It’s like a community that never existed, but we were part of it. It’s like being a kid while being an adult at the same time. The countless number of hours, laughs, and even tears we would have shared with each other which brought us that much more closer to each other is beyond comprehension. We vandalize tables in class when we’re bored, skip lessons when we don’t feel like it, and bitch about how a teacher isn’t exactly doing her job right, or how a teacher is doing her job too right. Now, it’s all over. We’ll never get to do those things, ever, ever again. We’re gonna have to really work for what we want or need. A little too late to reminisce now, but...sigh. In the corporate world, even our day-to-day teases to our friends which we take for granted could cause some seriousness. Whenever someone tells me they hate school, I know they aren’t being real about it. They can’t be.

I got off the bus, and walked towards the school gate. I found it funny, how school was the probably the only destination I could reach without having to transfer buses at all. You’d probably be thinking I’m crazy to go back to school, but each time I go back to school, I’m full of hopes. Hopes of thinking that it isn’t going to be the last time I was going to see many faces. I know the day will come when the school and I are completely and officially cut off, and it’s going to come soon. So, I’m making the most out of the time I have.

As I opened the school gate and let myself in, I saw a familiar face: Rosaini. I don’t know her, but I have a habit of recognizing people by their faces. Closing the school gate, the security guard called me out, and told me that according to the OM, ex-pupils were not allowed into the school (WTF). We had to get a teacher’s approval, or the OM’s. I called up Ling Jie, and asked him to come down to the school gate. It was the usual stuff, explaining to the security guard auty blah blah blah...ah, school.

While I was waiting for Ling Jie to come back, I had a nice chat with Ms.Uma. Rosaini too, was having a chat with Ms.Uma, and she was talking about why the school wouldn’t allow their ex-students in, even when we were wearing uniform. It went something like this:

“how come the school like this one? How come cannot enter? We some more wearing school uniform leh! You see Ramesh also!”

I jerked a little. Rosaini knew my name? o_O

Ms.Uma was being her usual self, with that oh-so-sweet smile, which, to be honest, I can’t get enough of. I could tell she found Rosaini’s whiny tone amusing. Haha. Actually, it kinda was.

Ms. Grace (the new school counselor, who is actually lousier than Mr.Abdul IMO) also called me over from a distance. I thought she would have forgotten me, but nope. She saw me, and the very first thing she said was my name. I was quite surprised.

Ling Jie went and came back –this time, with a teacher. This time, it was not a familiar face. He, however, did look friendly and welcome-ish, and thank god for that. I traded my ez-link card for a visitor’s pass (yippee, right?) at the security booth and we walked towards comp lab1.

On our way to comp lab 1, I saw Alger with his fellow scouts. He told me benedict had came to school too, and that he was in the drama room.

The comp lab was a little bit of in a mess. There was nothing obvious going on, and everything (or everyone) was all over the place...at least to me. This was nothing new to me, because IT club has been like this for as long as I’ve known, but I did expect the situation to improve this year, given the strong EXCO, but heh. No, It didn’t. But that was fine. As it turns out, that was actually the way it was supposed to be.

After a few HI’s here and there, I just sat in one corner, watching the club and what they did. IT club was all pretty much the same, but to me, that was the beauty of it.

Amier was supposed to do a questionnaire and print it out for the club, but he ran into…several problems. It was hilarious, watching this guy.

After the questionnaires were given out, Mdm Ling said that the new sec1’s would be going to take a look at AVA. This was because AVA and IT club were about to be merged and become a single CCA altogether (OH NO!!!). So, the sec 1’s that came into the comp lab were not just IT club hopefuls, they were AVA hopefuls too.

Personally, I think it would be a COMPLETE DISASTER if the two club were going to merge...i’m hoping they don’t.

It is told that we are allowed to choose which members we would want for the club...it is also told that we’re taking in only 10 members this year.

That’s what they said last year, and look! 18 new members!

After the sec 1’s left for AVA, Mdm Ling talked to the club about the CCA LEAPS points, and blah blah blah. This exact same thing was done by kok haw for the previous badge, and maybe that’s why no one in the club gave a damn about their points back then. Point is, Mdm Ling did a very good job explaining where we stood in terms of points, and how plans were to settle it all. After she left, she let us have our own slack time. (ya, srssly.)

I decided to view the animation we made. The polished version, thanks to our instructor. The sound effects in the clips were more dramatic this time round, and without a doubt, the animation I watched in the comp lab this very day, was by far, the most polished, touched, and complete product that I’ve ever seen in IT club before. Amazing.

P.S...if the old chairman and vice chairs were still around, our animation probably wouldn’t have reached this stage. I swear.

Ameir thinks we’ll win. Personally, I don’t know what other types of entries we’re up against, so, I don’t really know. If our animation does actually win, then…

After slacking, 5.00PM approached very quickly. We were dismissed, and the EXCO would have a meeting. I learnt that “Mr.friendly and welcome-ish” was known as Mr.Heng. This is when I also learnt that Geok Shan quit the EXCO. Nobody knows why, but she did =(. Why Geok Shan? Whyyy? Too bad, we have to respect her decision and let her go. If only we didn’t have to respect her decision. Then, heheheheheheheheh.

I walked to the bus stop with Ameir, and it was only after he left I saw the visitor’s pass, still in my pocket. I forgot that I had earlier traded in my ez-link card for the visitor’s pass (yippee, right?) So, I walked back to school as quickly as possible, and as I walked towards the traffic lights outside of school, I saw another familiar face.

“AY THANIKODI!”

It was Mrs.Zeh. She was at the opposite side of the traffic lights, and literally, we were shouting to each other across the road. Incredible.

Ms.Zeh: “What you doing in school? School uniform some more, so loyal!”

Me: “If not they won’t let me in!”

Yeah, you bet I got stares.

At the security booth, I saw Ms.Uma again. After a wave and smiles, I got my ez-link card, and walked towards the bus stop…again. It felt very nostalgic, going to school, meeting and greeting people here and there, waiting for the bus, waiting and competing with other CCKsians for a place in the bus, and the likes.

While I was waiting for the bus, Mr. Heng told me that “I looked awfully happy”. For some reason, I didn’t notice him there (maybe it was because I was taller than him), but we had a chat anyway. I told him that it felt kinda nice going back to school.

While I continued waiting for 975, I saw yet another familiar face. Or least it appeared to be. I saw this girl alight from one of the 190 buses, and for some reason, she looked familiar. She rang a bell, but I didn’t know why. As she walked past me, I got a glimpse of her nametag. It read: MANSI SINGH.

In my head, my reaction was liek, OMFGWTF!?!?!?!

It’s a NO WONDER she rang a bell. I whipped out my handphone and sent a text message to Sankarsh almost immediately.

After I got unto the bus, it was an uneventful journey home, as usual. Except for an occasion where a guy dropped his bottle and it rolled down below to the seats in front of him. I thought that was funny, and gave a comical expression. He glimpsed at me as he was going to pick up his rolling bottle, and laughed.

…

I think I need to get a haircut really soon.