June 26, 2006
My Other “Other 1/2″
Unplanned…well almost. But I ended up meeting Ivy “Tomato” Toh for
ice-cream today… my original ‘other half’ before Zibin came into my
life. I think it was Mrs Liu (our prefect mistress) who dubbed us into
halves. It started when I came to meet her once and she asked me, “Where’s your other half?” It stuck. Of course, Ivy had to insist she was the ‘better half’ :P
*************
Ivy is as strong-headed and stubborn as I am, and that makes for a
very interesting kind of discussion when we disagree. I remember one
particular argument in Sec 4. I don’t recall the substance, but I
remember where we were and how frustrated we were. Neither of us were
willing to budge because we were equally convinced of our views. Our
voices were raised, and neither were willing to really listen. The
funny thing was that both of us kept bursting into laughter (probably
the stress?). So there we were, walking in Ang Mo Kio, arguing
passionately and laughing hysterically at the same time.
**************
We were recalling old times today. As usual, she was horrified to be
reminded of all the crazy things we used to do. I’m sure Yinwei and Bea
would agree that our prefect days would not have been half as colourful
and humourous if Ivy had not been with us, and if she had not been my
‘other half’.
Vee, don’t know if I ever told you in the past how glad I was when
you finally agreed to be Asst. Head Prefect. I couldn’t have done my
job half as well or with half as much laughter if you hadn’t been there.
We’ll always have that lion dance! *grin*
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June 23, 2006
“Queen Bea” & I
If there’s anyone that was a model St. Nicks student, it would be
Beatrice. And this opinion would be unanimous. Sedate, impeccably neat
from head to toe, polite, cultured, always proper and temperate. Little
wonder she was the Head of Discipline in our prefects exco.
It was good that we had her to balance the crazy and boisterous duo
that Ivy and I was. With all the slaps, shoves, pokes and uninhibited
laughter that we brought on, it was a wonder that Bea never lost her
aura of serenity and cool. Well… not until near the end, that is
*grin*. I don’t think anybody could totally withstand the crazy charm
of The Terrible Two.
*************
Bea and I are so different from each other in temperament and
personality that sometimes I wonder how we got to be such good friends.
Maybe our common interest in classical music and earl grey tea played a
role :P
We were polite friends at first. The kind that smiled and said ‘hi’
and ‘bye’ when we met. Then, we shared a tent during OBS (Outward Bound
School) in Sec 3. It was just 5 days, but somehow, we secretly drove
each other up the wall. Our differences in temperament was manifest in
the ‘back to basics’ setting we found ourselves, and that chafed and
grated on our nerves. Neither of us spoke of it. Inwardly, both of us
were very annoyed and it felt very awkward to be around each other.
One day, maybe 2 or 3 weeks after OBS, we happened to be sitting on
a corridor bench waiting for others (probably for a prefects meeting).
I asked her if she had been upset with me during OBS. She admitted it
rather abashedly. I apologized for being a pain in the ass, and
confessed that I had been annoyed with her too. We talked about OBS and
laughed as we found out how we had annoyed each other. I still recall
the bright smiles we exchanged that day. The rest, as they say, was
history.
************
I shared some insights with her regarding some personal reflections
on silence and solitude, things that come much more naturally to her
than to me. After listening a while, she smiled and joked,“Oh dear! You’re becoming more like me!” :P Yah, right. As if I could ever become as refined and elegant as you, Bea! *ha ha*
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