Digging up a treasure trove

Went to watch Resident evil: apocalypse (RE:A) last night. The crowd for the 11.50 p.m. show was huge, not only for RE:A but the larger audience was for the New Police Story starring Jackie Chan. RE:A was not too bad, the special effects team did a real job in their department and Nemesis was a beauty (if you can call a half ton walking zombie stunning). Storywise, well your mindless zombies attacking and infecting Racoon City, quarantine measures, egotistical megalomaniac trying to gain power by lurid experiments on population, sexy heroine (who always seems to be waking up with nothing but a piece of blanket to cover herself with) and lots of scares and action. The thing with this is that the movie's pacing is a little unconventional, the beginning was started as a narrative about the first movie and what happened since, next is your usual large scale disaster panic, followed by the few remaining survivors trying to stay alive, first half was dominated by tense moments as if ghouls would leap out of every corner but soon it turns into an all out action slug fest with Alice going face to face with Nemesis. Not much scare, a little humor interjected in between courtesy of an Afro-American hustler and lots of female adrenaline action. Okay to watch but don't expect too much but expect a sequel for sure. Pity the movie lasted only around an hour and half.

Today also, I set out to clear away the mess I have under my staircase and also the piled up junk in my room. Advice, everyone should try trudging through their junk once in a while cause with our busy lives, we really don't know what we stored and packed away in that dusty corner awaiting re-discovery. Shrouded in cobwebs, hidden behind more recent additions, I found a box I'd forgotten about. Opening it proved to yield very interesting finds indeed. As if a time capsule has been opened, the memorabilias (some would call it junk) I found brought back so much memories. True enough; the box was stuffed with leftovers that I packed off when I went back to my hometown after my university studies were done with, items I found included:

1. A collection of university literature; college act and regulations manual, library orientation manual, course book, "Welcome to UMS" orientation week portfolio and the School of Science and Technology (SST) guidebook. All these went into the re-cycle pile immediately! (Especially the college act and regulations manual).
2. Old notes from yesteryears.
3. Toastmasters manuals and training schedule.
4. My orientation week Batik shirt, which was the first thing to be locked away in the box as our year was of a yellowish hue (bright banana yellow!).
5. My half finished diary for the year 2002 which brought back so much memories but a task which I relented as I was putting off writing entries for quite some time.
6. Old sms messages from my ex and accompanying letters. That was a surprise, remembered I put it there tied up neatly to be forgotten when I was feeling heartbroken.
7. Manuscripts printed out to me by Adrian titled "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. Still remember the day he gave me those during our first year.
8. Receipts and items from various places; coaster from Genting where I once went on a holiday, dog license receipt for Lady, ferry ticket for Labuan trip and a birthday portfolio gave by some friends (a Winnie the Pooh folder) last year.
9. An eyeglass holder with my first pair of glasses (which received eternal criticism by Adrian for making me look dorky).
10. Ticket stub for Pesta Angpow during Chinese New Year when we were all stuck here in Sabah.
11. Old photos from the past 3 years of my stay here in Sabah.
12. A box filled with leftover accessories (even my 16MB memory stick for my digicam!) and broken gadgetry from my desktop which is now R.I.P.
13. One dead cockroach.

Sieving through the things brought back a flood of memories and for a moment I was overwhelmed. Somehow the parting of way between me and my housemates was a little hard to bear (I assume it's not as much a problem for them as it's for me). After living under the same roof for 3 years (and three residence changes), you really get used to each other's antics. Still recall things such as the first meeting with Kuok Sum (got stuck in the penthouse in Kurnia Perdana for the Kaamatan holidays) and Adrian (he locked me out of a room to go to town and came back to find me with my bed in the hall reading AD&D), Adrian walking into the toilet to find Kuok Sum (naked), late night study sessions with coffee that bothered my sleep, KS's unique sleeping patterns and positions, swapping MP3s, burning anime series, cramming for exams together (though our different taste of music proved awkward, one liked rock and new age metal, the other classic and opera and the other oldies with lots of Chinese songs, take a guess which goes with whom) and many more escapades! Haha don't think they'll appreciate this being aired out to dry hehe but can't resist.

I was asked once by my mother if I enjoyed my university days, and all I could reply at that time was uh! But looking back this moment, I figure despite all the bad things that happened, the companionship that I forged here, especially with my two housemates, Kuok Sum and Adrian really left a lasting impression on me. I never really felt so close a bond between friends before this, secondary school parting was lacklustre at best with not a single active contact between any of us, form six was better as I had a close core of friends of whom we still meet up every possibility we can, but university well it's been good. It's not the place that made the past years special, but the people here, each with their own nuances and peculiarities, that makes life interesting to live.

So everyone do take the time to look through your things and the next time you feel compelled to throw away the nice receipt or ticket stub, save it, it's a reminder of your past, your experience and your memories. For now I'm putting away some other keepsakes back into the box, who knows what memories they'll bring after another year of being forgotten!