Reminisce

I was just thinking about how Drong once chided the entire school for having a 'misplaced' sense of humour. One thought led to another and of course now leads to me typing this out.

1999-2002. 4 years that passed by too damn quickly. 4 years in the best school that a boy on this island could ever hope to be in. I'm not going to pretend that these 4 years were all fine and dandy. Sometimes they were full of hurt, pain and humiliation. But they made me the person I am today, for better or worse. My friends, allow me to reminisce about my time in Anglo Chinese Independent.

On the first day of school back in 1999, I was just a small (still fairly) innocent boy looking around the huge auditorium for any of my primary school friends. I felt rather lost. One small drop in an ocean swarming with people who already knew each other. Actually there were a good number of us Fairfield kids, and my GOD am I glad I was one of them. Still remember Goretti Mohan asking the PSLs to take us to our classroom by the 'shortcut'. Yeah and of course my luck ensured that something was wrong with my GIRO (the DETAILS are SKETCHY la, it WAS almost 7 years ago). So me and another guy had to call our mums to get it sorted out. Of course that was before every damn school kid had a mobile phone so the two of us had to go and get hold of a phone. Fate would have it that that other guy would be Michael Ang. I remember looking at his notebook (yes I was nosey even back then) and realising that he was my neighbour! Oh and it took me like a quadruple take to realise that he really had a 6th finger. LOL. And who can forget good ol' Jonathan Siow. The first thing that bugger ever said to me was "So you're from FMPS? What's it like wearing a yellow uniform?" Ya la ya la Mr Top Student from ACJS. Hahaha I miss Siow a lot. We gayed around so much la...mi goodness. He probably had a big part to play in making me the person I am today. I remember MDM QIAN PING, that FOOL from China who was also my form teacher. She had the classic China 'bowl' haircut. Oh my who can forget Ong Eng Sun. I was SCARED TO SHIT the first few lessons. He'd go around poking us and throwing our things on the floor and stuff. It's amazing now that I'm in the army to think about how much we feared our teachers last time. I mean...fierce teacher so what? They can't do that much to you if you don't give them the opportunity to (UNLIKE in the dear SAF). Turned out that Mr. Ong was one of the best Geography teachers ever. And of course SI-HOE who named the black cut "Professor Ong" and used to blast Drong whenever he could. I'm surprised he lasted that long actually. For those who are unaware Mr Si-hoe was actually asked to leave a couple of years back because he went on one of his usual anti drong speeches without realising that drong was sitting in his classroom. D'OH!

Mohan. Bella Jones. Hahahahaha. Henry and I came up with this whole other alter-ego for good old Goretti Mohan, who was really a good teacher. I liked her a lot but the whole Bella thing was so funny. We had like SO many damn Bella singles. I even DREW single covers and came up with SONGS for her. I got SCREWED by Mohan in Sec 1 for using the word "bitch" twice. I called Maudie Atkinson a bitch. And I used it another time. She really gave it to me. Had to write a damn letter of apology also. So malu. Mohan used to go on and on about how she sensed a "learning spirit" in our class. Henry and I thought she was delusional.

Of course who could forget my infamous little notebook, full of snide remarks about people I hardly knew. I was being OVERLY sensitive as usual and thought they had been backstabbing me. So yeah. Poor Kang Wei et al. When those FUCKERS stole my book and put it on the internet, I almost DIED. And of course I spent a good amount of time apologising to some obsure "chicken". Oh the SHAME.

Back then the SAC was still called the refactory. It was a haven for bird shit and of course was not air-conditioned yet. So we used to go to the CAFE most recesses. Me, Michael, Henry and Paul Ho were like the CAFE clique. We just went there for the aircon, and also because we didn't play soccer like everyone else during recess. Henry Tiong was just a riot. LOUD, UNCOUTH, VIOLENT, FAT Aussie with a BAD attitude who LOVED a good laugh. We clicked so well. Michael was like the cunning fox, always scheming, always playing class politics. Some things don't change =p But of course my softest spot was saved for Siow. I'm not gonna bother saying much here cause it'd take too damn long. Siow was just so refreshing. SUCH a personality. He practically introduced TAO POK and STRIPPING to 1.1 Matthew, and of course I was the target most of the time. We FAWNED over each other so much...I bet he'd shudder now thinking about it.

Oh I also recall our short-lived bottle fights. In between periods when there were no teachers in class, we would start throwing bottles at each other. It was so much fun until HENRY played the SNITCH and went "Oh they're starting it again" in his Aussie accent when Mohan was in earshot. Needless to say she put a stop to it all. Thanks Henry. Michael thanked Henry too when Caleb threw his pencil box onto the ledge opposite our classroom (1.1 being seperated from the rest of the classes, the only corner unit as compared to the curve of the others. Multiple tries to retrieve it proved FUTILE until Mr Tiong took a broomstick and practically risked his life to push the damn pencil box over the ledge onto the ground floor. Of course, he did this in exchange for MONEY. Archie Ang was like such a GOOD ATM last time. You could just go up to him and ask for money and you'd get it.

Oh and BANNER PAINTING during orientation. THAT was fun! Haha. We were doing it outside the artroom in that open space that you see when you walk in from the blue level. Very random memory but that's the whole point of this post really. Oh of course who could forget the whole CALEB MICHAEL rivalry. So many casualties from that one. Caleb ended up losing his position as class chairman. Yet somehow they managed to do OM together. Amazing isn't it?

Oh and CHUBBY TECK. Haha on April Fools we decided to play a trick on her. We changed seats and pretended to be each other. She thought we were trying to be funny and stormed out of class, only to realise that it was an April Fool's joke. Lighten up lady! Oh yes at AC we used to make SPECTACLES out of our concerts. Sometimes they were quite TACKY but on the whole they were damn entertaining. Who can forget the urm...mix of Star Wars and Madonna? Hahaha. "My my it's the Anakin guy" sung to the tune of American Pie. YES I KNOW MADONNA DIDN'T DO THE ORIGINAL but back in '99 the song was popularised because of her.

Ok yeah. That's about it for now. I'm sorry they're so scattered. It has been a while. And this is just for '99. One more thing...hahahaha...Grace Lo auditioning us for CHOIR and making us sing that GAWDAWFUL song while she went around tapping us to indicate different things. I'll never forgive her for that because till today, I STILL RMB THE DAMN SONG! "Bell-ringer pray give us some peace. Will your performance never cease. Waking us at dawn with the sound of your ringing, never giving up till the end of the day. Bell-ringer when will your arms be worn away, bell-ringer when will your arms be worn away?" LORD HAVE MERCY ON MI SOUL!