When Nostalgia Hits, It Sure Hits Hard!

The past few months I've been attacked by bouts of nostalgia. The reason? My alma mater, MRSM Balik Pulau, will be celebrating its Silver Jubilee this year. That means, it's been 19 years since I've first stepped foot on MRSMBP soil.

Together with this celebration, a few of my fellow batch-mates, or fellow Batch '89ers ("89" denoting the year we entered MRSM, and not the year of SPM) felt that a reunion was long overdue, so we decided to organise a reunion dinner on 26 July 2008 in Penang.

What brought on these influx of memories is that ever since we decided to have this reunion, we've been meeting up more often, and our once-dormant yahoogroup has been beseiged by a deluge of emails in the past few months. And as usual, this leads to talking and reminiscing about the good old days.

While I have reminisced about MRSM days here and here, there are so many more memories which the 89ers were a part of.

For instance, only the 89ers were a part of the original batch which came in in Form 2, and had only 121 people, 25 of which were girls.

And only these 121 souls had homerooms with a maximum of 3 girls in it, with some sports houses having only four girls maximum representing it. My sports house, Suria, had only 4 girls, and the sad lot of us had to represent the house in all sports from athletics to team sports. Needless to say, the Suria girls were always near the bottom, if not there already.

And only the 25 girls knew how it felt to be teased mercilessly by most of the 96 boys, which only led to these girls learning how to stand up for themselves and holding their own against these boys. However, instead of declaring outright war against these boys, these 25 girls decided to stand up for them in Form 3 when the boys threatened to leave the MRSM en masse, for reasons only we know, and persuaded them to stay. This strenghtened the bond we have 'til this day.

And, I believe, only the 89ers had the highest number of kerja bakti "volunteers" (which nearly every original 89er was involved in) and JDM "participants".

And only the 89ers were the source of much rantings and frustrations by teachers, with many of us going through punishments which if were done this day, would probably be the cause of many lawsuits against the teaching profession. Hee. However, rather than complain to our parents, we were ashamed of our actions (rightfully so!), and opted to do the punishments quietly, hoping frantically that our parents wouldn't be informed. Unfortunately, that remorse lasted only briefly, and we were then back to our hantu ways, figuring out new ways to aggravate the teachers and wardens.

Side Note: Such punishments included:

1. Having chalk, markers and/or whiteboard dusters being thrown at us, sometimes all in succession. This was normally if the student was sleeping in class.


2. The 4 steps of not knowing the answers to teachers' questions: Step 1 was standing, Step 2 was standing on the chair, Step 3 was standing on the table, Step 4 was standing with a table on your head. I think my highest level was Step 2. There was an implied Step 5, which meant leaving the class immediately. Step 6 was when the teacher had to look for the student who used this as an excuse to go missing entirely.


3. Washing the school bus. A form of kerja bakti, normally reserved for groups of boys in trouble for different offences.


4. Raking the long jump box and pulling weed from the field. Another form of kerja bakti for lesser offences. During the jarum mas season, this kerja bakti became quite the profitable activity.

And only the 89ers were notorious for the co-op incident, which had probably contributed to any high blood pressure our teachers may now have. Which, rather unfortunately, our then vice-principal remembers to this day.

And it was only our batch in Forms 2 & 3, who lived in the same dormitory block, where the boys lived downstairs and the girls upstairs. And it was only these girls who were regularly entertained by the guys bellowing songs like Cintamu Mekar di Hati and Right Here Waiting at the top of their lungs downstairs. Heck, we never needed to buy radios and cassettes at the rate they were "serenading" us.

And it was only our batch whose football team was both the Penang Under-15 and Under-18 champions. The Under-18 girls hockey team was also the Penang vice-champions. And it was our batch which had a representative who made 4th place in the Men's Junior Open category in the Penang International Triathlon in 1991.

However, among the good memories, there are also some sad facts. Unfortunately, some of our friends are no longer with us, namely, Azman Yazit (Man Dayak), Husaini (Hussin), Rahman, Fadli Ayob (Korok) and Khairul (Romeo). Al-Fatihah. Semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat ke atas roh-roh mereka.

What I can say for my batch is that even though it's been nearly 16 years since most of us had last met, it's as if we last met yesterday. Every memory is as fresh as if it just happened, and most of us still look essentially the same, although some are *umm* a bit more vertical than they were before. Heh.

Whatever it is, this batch shares a special bond. Even now, whenever any of us is in a fix, rest assured, help is on the way, no questions asked. The good thing is, I think I bond more with them now then I did when I was in school.

To all 89ers, I'm glad I got the chance to know you. I'm glad we grew up together and managed to be friends although we were all from different backgrounds. I'm glad we can still maintain a sense of loyalty to each other, although so many years have gone by. I'm glad no matter how much we fought or argued back then, that only served as a bond to strengthen our friendship further.

And finally, I'm glad we're all sisters and brothers from another mother (heh!).

Days of Flying Saucers & Nasi Lemak Pak Ya

I recently browsed my friend, Idan's, blog (Frossonice) and he was rehashing memories of our MRSM Balik Pulau days. Coincidentally, my gals & I were also talking about the same stuff, although Idan's memories were way tamer than my gals!

Anyway..I spent the best years in my life in some form of hostels. It started with MRSM from 1989-1992, MARA College Banting from 1993-1995, then University of Hull, UK from 1995-1998. The friends I made in these places are those I can consider as lifelong friends, and indeed, if you look in my Facebook, about 90% are school friends (this includes my SRK Sri Petaling friends as well).

And unlike several other MRSM survivors, I totally LOVED my MRSM years. Being there since Form 2 made me more independent and adventurous than I would have been if I'd stayed at home.

For instance, I wouldn't have learned how to bathe in a river (citygirl since birth..woohoo!), run 10 laps at 3pm and a further 5 at 6pm during hockey season, stretch my bed linens over my bed so tight that a coin could bounce off of it without leaving a mark (OK.. I couldn't do it, but my friend Renny was THE master!) or learned how to hang my undergarments under other clothes to dry on the clothesline so that the boys who lived in the lower block wouldn't take them JUST FOR FUN.

Nor would I have learned how to sleep standing up while on the then Penang Yellow Bus to Georgetown, take a bus, ferry and train (all in one night) back to KL for the holidays, memorised nearly all 80's & 90's Malay rock songs by heart (to this day, OK?) or rode an Army tank, truck and camped out with my whole batch & some Army personnel after the SRP exams.

Nor would I have had the opportunity to eat food which I will never see outside of an MRSM, like ikan jaket (however, this gives me shudders to this day!), flying saucers (a wonderful concoction of sardines, baked beans & pancake-like batter), grilled corn-on-the-cob marinated in condensed milk and butter (YUM!!!!) or breakfast, lunch and dinners served in steel trays.

Nor would I have known the other 120 souls who registered with me at MRSM Balik Pulau on 7 January 1989 (For the record, my nombor maktab was the very cool 89098). Nor would I have realised I could actually memorise every single person's nombor maktab as well (don't think of me as a loser, but just someone with more time than necessary on her hands).

Nor would I have known that these 120 souls, as well as the others who joined us in Form 4 (now mature 33 year olds with respectable jobs), upon meeting now, would immediately transform into giggly teenagers reminiscing about the good ol' days.

Nope.. these things I would have never learned, had I not gone to MRSM. I may have had different memories had that been the case, but right now, I would not trade these memories with anything in the world.

"Kau umpama bunga yang mekar di hatiku..
Ku harap kau mekarlah selama-lamanya..
Kau umpama bintang menyinari hidupku..
Ku harap kau terus bersinar.."

-Cintamu Mekar di Hati-MAY
(Told you I can still hafal the lyrics!!!)

Dear Diary..

When I was younger, I had a diary. Make it 4 diaries, each being a huge ledger. I wrote in them nearly every day, and some, more than once a day. God knows what thoughts I had that warranted multiple entries in a day.

I guarded those diaries with my life. My friends in boarding school often saw me hunched over my diary, writing furiously about my life at that time. Thinking back, my life wasn't that happening then (not that it is now!) but I still felt it warranted being inked in memory.

Most of the time, I would write about my crush back then, my friends, people I was mad with, people who were mad at me, song lyrics, the usual stuff. As I grew older, I found less time to pen my thoughts, and more time being engrossed in life. If by life you mean sprawled on the bed with my friends in my quaint little house in Hull, watching Empire Records for the 100th time and eating Las Vagas (not a typo, that's really how it's spelt!) takeouts (the cheeseburger is the best!).

Thinking back, I wish I still kept a diary, 'cos I have memory like Swiss Cheese. I can barely remember what happened yesterday, much less what happened 10 years ago! I blame it on Britain's Mad Cow Disease.

Anyway....I wish I still kept a diary 'cos so much has happened to me, and there are so many places I've been to, and things I've done, which should be documented so my future descendants won't think I'm a loser whose main achievement in life is making a killer lasagna!

I kid.. I actually make a damn good pudding as well.

So, I'll try to properly utilise this space to jot down my thoughts, experiences and memories, and hope my descendants will at least think, "Boy, can she write cr*p!"

At least I tried.

Mat Rock!

Ahh.. the days of tight pants & Tancho hair cream.

This song is dedicated to all 90's rock fans, especially my MRSMBP buds.. Batch 89! This is for you!

Make sure you guys get the gestures & actions down pat.

Batch 89 ladies: This is For You!

My friends & I were reminiscing about the good old days, so thought I'd dedicate this song to them.
Ladies, remember to change the "Bukakanlah jendela asmara.." to "Bukakanlah jendela asrama.." accordingly!

Friendship Without Strings

Lately my schoolmates & I have been catching up on old times. Some of us haven't met since after our Form 5 graduation and it's always fun to see how we've turned out.

I, myself, have only been in constant contact with only a few, so it was nice reconnecting with the others. And it's a pleasant surprise to see how well we can still bond with each other even after all these years.

This is what I call friendship without strings. Back then, especially since we were in boarding school, our only requirements for friendship was that we could all look out for each other since we were far from home. No hidden agenda, no politics, just a simple & straightforward approach to friendship. And to this day, though most are married with children and everyone has her own life, this simple foundation is what still binds us together, and to me, is what will make us friends for life.

If only life were this simple now.

Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Drop at Home..

My housing area suffered water disruption late Thursday evening 'til early this morning due to a burst water pipe some 15km away. Luckily I was out the whole day so I didn't actually have to suffer at home.

This reminded me of boarding school days when we had to wait with pails for the water tanks or go to the river to bathe. That was an exciting experience when we were young. When you're older, not so much.