Exam tomorrow...Didn't go to school today. Stayed home(supposedly to study but...here I am blogging and surfing...) Maybe going gym later... Whatever! Back to the books now...

FIRE!

Interesting night and day today.... Came back from supper with the aikido guys yesterday night at around 1130. Came back and met some old family friends, Ramesh uncle and Ratna auntie... . Took a bath and by the time I slept, it was 1.10 am. I had lecture at 10am and I wanted to go.

Was woken up at 3.10am by my dad telling me that people are shouting "FIRE!" At first, I was like..." Huh?, What?" and I thought I was in the army again and kenna turned-out. But then it hit me and as I shot out of bed to go to his room to look out, I could already smell the smoke.

On the 7th floor of my block(one storey above mine), in an apartment some way to the right, flames were shooting out of the window. By the looks of it, the whole apartment was gone.

We got my sister into her wheelchair and were ready to leave in minutes. We got the wheelchair to the stairwell and, with the aid of one Martin Ng, proceeded to carry my sis the whole of 6 storeys down the staircase. Some of my neighbours offered to help but we declined... too many people would just hinder us. Both my dad and I had asthma attacks the past week and half way down, my dad was wheezing his lungs out with the exertion. He stuck it out, and we finally reached the void deck tired, but at least safe.

The time was 325am.

We waited for more than an hour before the fire was put out. It was apparently caused by an electrical short-circuit. But thankfully, the family in the aprtment had discovered the fire in time and had left the apartment, so no one was hurt.

This made me think about certain things. I couldn't care less about me dying but I was soo worried for my family. If that civil defence guy wasn't there, it would have been very difficult, almost impossible to get my sis down safely. And when my dad got that asthma attack, I felt so helpless.

But it also warmed my heart that we had such caring neighbours who were so willing to help us at our time of need. There has been so much in the papers of unruly, bickering neighbours, but I wonder if it'll be in the papers tomorrow about the gracious Singaporeans... those people who stopped to help a paraphlegic neighbours down the stairs, during a fire, of their own volition.

I guess not.

On a lighter note... went to the gym today(skipped lecture though). Trained with Bert, before going with him to have lunch at Lot 1 at 4pm. Went to meet eepin and Lelian at paragorn. Eventhough eeps only told me at 550pm, and I had to take a taxi down, it was money well spent... listening to 'pin's dramatic tales, and it was good to see lelian after so long. She's turned into a beautiful and sophisticated lady, exuding poise, charm and class. Truly my pleasure.

Also paid a surprise a visit to wen, who was at paragorn promoting perfumes. It was soo good to see the two "sisters" from primary school together. They were inseparable back then, and they have so much in common! For some reason, it gave me great pleasure to see the two of them talking and sharing old stories, no matter for how short a time, and I felt like an interloper... in hindsight, I should probably have gone to the toilet and left those two alone.

We left after that, going our separate ways. Left wen at paragorn to do her work, Eeps went to plaza sing to catch "lost in translation", Lil to heeren for dinner with some friends, and me back home.

Hope we can meet up again soon, for to stay in this company is akin to being in the mythical fountain of youth, losing ourselves in time for those few hours and becoming children in beige and green uniforms again...

Well, almost.

Jin Shan Primary 6E- Miss Evelyn Tan


Huiwen, Eepin, Julian, Lelian, Shalina, Stella, Jianfeng, Zainol, Zulkifli, Rozanaliza, Guoyi, Jiahui, Dawei, Yili, Adeline, Wenqi, Arpan, Chun Ho, Fauzi, Qianhui, Shujuan, Gilbert, Yap Quan ...

To those above, and those whose name doesn't come to immediately to mind. Good luck and all the Best,
Wherever you are, and whatever you do...
May all your hopes and dreams
come true.

Of old friends...

Saw wen the ice-cream seller a few days ago, then was wen the singapore idol-cum -informative guide on all things g-related... Today, she was wen the perfume seller... This girl has an amazing array of talents... Looking all prim and proper with plenty of make-up on and trying to entice ladies (and some guys) to buy a bottle of perfume that smells pretty good but, at $76, is just a tad bit expensive...

Also met up with Kahong today. Mr Yip was looking fine! He hasn't changed a bit! My partner in the gym in the good 'ol NJ days. Can still remember the times when he made me laugh as I was doing benchpresses...so that I got pinned under the bar! Ouch! And the times we spent crapping away and pulling the legs of some of the girls in H&F. Ha! Or the time he put colgate all over my face during H&F camp!

Well, sitting at marche and talking to him and his mom, it struck me how little he changed. Still surrounds his sensitivity with a shell of bluster,crappiness and self-depreciation. We discussed things from food, excercise, anime and the girls( or lack of) in our lives. Mostly, we talked of love...what makes an ideal girlfriend to us, (does such a creature even exist?)....of failed love and of blossoming romances.

And it brought back the times he helped me when I was down: when my grades weren't what they were supposed to be, or listening to me rattle out my problems... helping me to my first pull-up.( might not seem important, but to a fat guy who thought he'd never be able to do it, it was akin to a miracle) He always did give good advice and looked at problems from a different angle... and he could always make me smile no matter how down I was.

The guy who lost 30kg in a month... and who won a karate competition despite carrying a cracked spine and elbow...as well as a broken nose, into the finals. The guy who studied 7 days straight without sleep.

And this is the guy who I claimed to wen is my "spy" in Mel Uni... the one who supposedly told me she had a boyfriend before she did... :) (he didn't).

He's studying medicine at melbourne...knows wen, maybe eepin as well(though he isn't sure if its the same eepin). He's going to be a doctor... and knowing him, he's gonna be a damn good one... . All the best my friend...

FOOOODDD!

Just came back from dinner with my parents. Went to the Pan Pacific hotel. They have this great North Indian Food place called Rang Mahal there. Great food, Great Ambience, Great Service... but pricey. But we didn't mind cause it was like a combined birthday dinner. Both mine and my dad's birthdays fall in January, so we decided to have a combined dinner there.

Had a mixed veg appetizer, some drinks(a yougurt drink called chaas for me, margaritas and singapore slings for my parents). Then a mixed indian bread basket, lamb cubes in gravy made with minced lamb, a cottage cheese and honey dish, and a spicy potato dish.

Reminded me of the turkish place I went with my parents last year. I still owe Huiwen a meal there. Another great place that makes excellent pita bread, and a great ambience. Quite reasonably priced too. Great place to take a girl out to, but since I'm single... well...nevermind.