Saturday, January 23, 2010
High School Reunion
Last June when I was back home in Singapore, I organised a high school reunion. Facebook has really been effective for finding long lost friends.
I started the planning before from Sad Town. It was so awesome. A Thai classmate, Jessie of mine who disappeared suddenly in the third term and decided she was heading to New Zealand for her education flew back for the reunion and stayed at my house. She told me the real story of her disappearance and we caught up on old times like we have never stopped contact for 15 years. She remembered tons of stuff about me right from when I was 13 and we matched each other to our memory prowess and we laughed and giggled like teenage school girls, staying up all night to reminisce and catch up on old times.
Srangely, Jessie is a mum now and her body still looked great. She married a guy 11 years her senior she met within a year after her break up with her long term boyfriend. We exchanged girly talk about boys and sex as freely as we did as teenagers. Perhaps that's what female bonding is all about.
I let her in about my sordid life and she did with hers. She told me she kindda missed the old days....
Before all this came about, Jessie and I, together with a couple of friends went to the clubs. Before we left, I thought I noticed that she removed a condom out of her make up purse and dropped it into her lugguage. I didn't say anything.
That night, she confessed that she just didn't want to be tempted. If she didn't have the thought of knowing that she has protection in her bag, she would not act on her desires for the night.
It was a massive turn out. I had everyone dressed in green, just like our high school uniforms. People could spot our crowd from afar. I had a tiny spaghetti green dress on, a friend quipped that it was a skimpy version of our high school pinafore. Over dim sum, we girls gossiped like high school girls once more.
I felt young again and liberated. We were laughing a lot. I missed being in an all girls school environment. Most of my friends still look and spoke the same way, barring a few with newly adopted foreign accents, a few mums and wives. Then we have a few geeky types who have blossomed to attractive, well dressed ladies. Our tomboy ex chairman brought her cute Eurasian baby boy. She married her American lecturer from university 20 years her senior and has since turned into a globe trotting tai tai.
I was truly delighted. Everyone had an awesome time, catching up on lost time and gossip. I even brought old high school pics and yearbook. V and I took the opportunity to spread the word amongst our friends about Ange the bitch (an ex -BFF of V and a good friend of mine) who was instrumental in breaking up V and her ex fiance. Ange is now married to this jerk of a fiance and we heard from the grapevine, she fell pregnant. We all had a great bitching session- someone in our group captured the golden moment on photo- I was telling the story and all eyes and attention were on me around the table. It was hilarious.
It's funny how so many of my friends were married and have become mothers. It felt like yesterday that we were those giggly high school girls on sat on the railings of the bus stops.
Some people say that high school is a time where you either hate it or love it. If you had been a socially awkward nerd or one with a case of crazy hormonal zits, you would have found high school to be a pain. For me, I always had friends from both sides-the "in" group and the nerds and I had no trouble hanging out alone with myself (which I tremendously enjoyed). It was the boom time nineties for me (or rather my folks)- plenty of pocket/ shopping money to dress in the latest fashion. I didn't have a problem growing up. Sporadically, I even had boyfriends and suitors so life was great (especially with my rollerblades!:))
I had the usual self consciousness about my weight, given I danced and it was fashionable to be skinny which I wasn't. Being in an all girls' school meant I wasn't conscious about my image because of guys but because I was vain and love ME too much. But apart from that, I had the healthy self esteem of a normal 15 year old teenager. It was girl power all the way.
So yeah, I felt like I was re-capturing my youth being with old high school friends again. I miss being in an all girls' clique, doing all things girly. I just miss that youthful, old me.
High school rocked for me. I will be organising another reunion when I am next back...:)
In other news, during my high school reunion at this particular dim sum restaurant, I saw a familiar face dart out quickly from the establishment. She must have noticed me in our big, gregarious green crowd, moving around doing the social butterfly hostess thing. It was Buff- the current wife of my first serious pilot ex-boyfriend who came up to front me about how he was back with this jerk who dumped me (cos he cheated on me back with her. Jerk never had the guts to tell me but years after, a few missing puzzles resurfaced to form the full picture). Interestingly, a few days after, I noticed that he (or is it she?) had removed me from his Facebook. She had just moved back from Europe and she must have thought I must have been back to haunt her thirteen years later;)
Last June when I was back home in Singapore, I organised a high school reunion. Facebook has really been effective for finding long lost friends.
I started the planning before from Sad Town. It was so awesome. A Thai classmate, Jessie of mine who disappeared suddenly in the third term and decided she was heading to New Zealand for her education flew back for the reunion and stayed at my house. She told me the real story of her disappearance and we caught up on old times like we have never stopped contact for 15 years. She remembered tons of stuff about me right from when I was 13 and we matched each other to our memory prowess and we laughed and giggled like teenage school girls, staying up all night to reminisce and catch up on old times.
Srangely, Jessie is a mum now and her body still looked great. She married a guy 11 years her senior she met within a year after her break up with her long term boyfriend. We exchanged girly talk about boys and sex as freely as we did as teenagers. Perhaps that's what female bonding is all about.
I let her in about my sordid life and she did with hers. She told me she kindda missed the old days....
Before all this came about, Jessie and I, together with a couple of friends went to the clubs. Before we left, I thought I noticed that she removed a condom out of her make up purse and dropped it into her lugguage. I didn't say anything.
That night, she confessed that she just didn't want to be tempted. If she didn't have the thought of knowing that she has protection in her bag, she would not act on her desires for the night.
It was a massive turn out. I had everyone dressed in green, just like our high school uniforms. People could spot our crowd from afar. I had a tiny spaghetti green dress on, a friend quipped that it was a skimpy version of our high school pinafore. Over dim sum, we girls gossiped like high school girls once more.
I felt young again and liberated. We were laughing a lot. I missed being in an all girls school environment. Most of my friends still look and spoke the same way, barring a few with newly adopted foreign accents, a few mums and wives. Then we have a few geeky types who have blossomed to attractive, well dressed ladies. Our tomboy ex chairman brought her cute Eurasian baby boy. She married her American lecturer from university 20 years her senior and has since turned into a globe trotting tai tai.
I was truly delighted. Everyone had an awesome time, catching up on lost time and gossip. I even brought old high school pics and yearbook. V and I took the opportunity to spread the word amongst our friends about Ange the bitch (an ex -BFF of V and a good friend of mine) who was instrumental in breaking up V and her ex fiance. Ange is now married to this jerk of a fiance and we heard from the grapevine, she fell pregnant. We all had a great bitching session- someone in our group captured the golden moment on photo- I was telling the story and all eyes and attention were on me around the table. It was hilarious.
It's funny how so many of my friends were married and have become mothers. It felt like yesterday that we were those giggly high school girls on sat on the railings of the bus stops.
Some people say that high school is a time where you either hate it or love it. If you had been a socially awkward nerd or one with a case of crazy hormonal zits, you would have found high school to be a pain. For me, I always had friends from both sides-the "in" group and the nerds and I had no trouble hanging out alone with myself (which I tremendously enjoyed). It was the boom time nineties for me (or rather my folks)- plenty of pocket/ shopping money to dress in the latest fashion. I didn't have a problem growing up. Sporadically, I even had boyfriends and suitors so life was great (especially with my rollerblades!:))
I had the usual self consciousness about my weight, given I danced and it was fashionable to be skinny which I wasn't. Being in an all girls' school meant I wasn't conscious about my image because of guys but because I was vain and love ME too much. But apart from that, I had the healthy self esteem of a normal 15 year old teenager. It was girl power all the way.
So yeah, I felt like I was re-capturing my youth being with old high school friends again. I miss being in an all girls' clique, doing all things girly. I just miss that youthful, old me.
High school rocked for me. I will be organising another reunion when I am next back...:)
In other news, during my high school reunion at this particular dim sum restaurant, I saw a familiar face dart out quickly from the establishment. She must have noticed me in our big, gregarious green crowd, moving around doing the social butterfly hostess thing. It was Buff- the current wife of my first serious pilot ex-boyfriend who came up to front me about how he was back with this jerk who dumped me (cos he cheated on me back with her. Jerk never had the guts to tell me but years after, a few missing puzzles resurfaced to form the full picture). Interestingly, a few days after, I noticed that he (or is it she?) had removed me from his Facebook. She had just moved back from Europe and she must have thought I must have been back to haunt her thirteen years later;)
