Remember

Whoops. Suddenly remembered you spent last count down in tekong. Have a good celebration this year. Yupp and i received your card. Its kinda hilarious and thanks haha.

It's always heartening to know that people still remember you. Even after one year later.

One year on, my BMT section mate Jingjie spontaneously sent me the above SMS telling me how he has remembered about me. At the recent class Christmas party, Jia Wei also recalled how he attempted to wave at me during his own countdown at Changi Beach while I was stuck at Pulau Tekong watching Channel 5's countdown programme in my company's Annex Room.

Guard duty.

On a positive note, how many of you are that privileged as to be able to countdown on Pulau Tekong? I'm sure at least the girls will never ever have the chance to do so.

It's always a heart-warming affair to know that you are still being remembered, to know that people still think about you, because it means that you are of importance to them and worth a place in their hearts.

Human beings hate changes, because changes are synonymous to disruptions in their memories. It's like your iTunes unable to locate your MP3 files and play your favourite songs because you had changed their locations while the shortcuts on your iTunes playlist are still linked to the previous locations of the music files. Whenever an event happens that would modify something that is already deeply rooted in your memory, your response would be like your iTunes -- confusion. A pop-up window would appear, alerting you the disappearance of your music files. Then you get frustrated, because now in order to listen to these songs you have to relocate the files and alter the shortcuts on your playlist.

Sometimes it's an uphill task because you got over one thousand song files in your folder and you just simply cannot locate that particular song file.



I was informed only recently that my primary school, Peixin Primary, is merging with Yishun Primary School. The infrastructure remains, albeit with some new additions to it, but gone are the school name, school logo, school anthem and school song. Peixin Primary School will no longer be found on the next edition of the street directory or Yellow Pages. I must now accept the fact that I came from Yishun Primary School ( former Peixin Primary School), and that my future juniors will no longer wear the light pink top and maroon bottoms as uniforms.

I used to think that pink and maroon looks really gay and disgusting. But now it is what I call "fashion" in comparison to the new hideous-looking yellow-and-brown "failure".

Outraged. Disappointed. But most importantly, I feel helpless.

There's nothing I can do to stop the merger. I have no valid reason to protest. I am merely a selfish citizen who wishes to preserve his own memory and identity. Perhaps the pooling of resources can maximise benefits for the next generation; perhaps it's for urban development; perhaps it's a small attempt to help the bleak economy. What I know is that I am on the losing end.

All former Peixinians are on the losing end.




Coincidentally, I got news from my JC junior that Hwa Chong is implementing certain revamp to the school too. Our beloved students' lounge, more affectionately known as Fishtank, will vanish. Replacement is still not made known.

There will be changes to the entire canteen since there is a change of the canteen operator. My beloved eel rice from that Japanese food stall will cease to exist; ditto for Xiao Mi Mi （笑咪咪） economical rice stall; even Candy Yong Tau Foo has to go.

The bookshop auntie is evicted from the school too. She's probably the biggest loser from this revamp saga. Not only did she receive very little notification of the termination of her lease, the school did not even take into consideration of her many years with Hwa Chong. To think that Hwa Chong has always boast itself to have a warmth and amicable environment, the sheer coldness that the administration has given to the bookshop auntie is indeed an apt illustration of what the term "irony" truly means.

Whatever happened to 人情味？ We've lost that inthis incident. We probably had lost it long ago, long before I could even realise.

原本弥漫整个华中校园的浓浓人情味，似乎早已飘散了。取而代之的，是人性里最冰冷绝情的贪婪与市侩。看来再伟大的治校使命与原则，也抵挡不过金钱利益上的诱惑。讽刺，讽刺啊！

A lot of pop-ups are now flashing in my mind. "WHere's Peixin Primary?", "Where's Fishtank?", "Where's my eel rice?", "Where's the pink uniforms?", "How to sing the Peixin school anthem?", "Where's Candy yong tau foo?"...

And then my system hangs.