Form 6 Schoolmates meetup at Midvalley

The old gang and some new faces to boot; front: Chew Lii T'san, Shakina (hope i got the spelling right), Thiagu and Lay Cheng, back: Myself and Kwang Meng.

Time really flies, that is my impression when i look back and ponder about the past few years. The most regretable thing that always follows the passage of time is partings, which is most heartfelt when you and your friends walk their own path in life which often leads to different destinations. Yet that also allows the chance that everyone would one day find ourselves crossing paths once again. That was the happy conclusion that we all found ourselves, the old form 6 schoolmates, meeting once again after almost a hiatus of 4 years or more. Sadly two of our members couldn't be here to complete this eccentric bunch. The best part is no matter how long we haven't seen each other, it was good to find out that none of us really did change much and is a mirror image of when we were all still in school uniforms, albeit more mature and older.

Kwang Meng and Lay Cheng, couples. First up is one of our resident smart alecs, good in studies, wrestling kaki, sports buff. Already in his final year in Medic and going for his residency. He may be quiet but he's the dependable sort of guy you can always count on whenever you're in a tight spot and he's jovial and cheerful mostly, don't think I've ever seen him get angry before. It came as a surprise when we found out he and Lay Cheng were going out, there wasn't a hint of this budding romance during school years and it only came apparent when we all came out of form 6. But they make a good pair, it was lucky too that both are in UKM and since KM only managed to get into medical in the second try both will be graduating at the same time, she with a masters degree.

Next up was a guy that we thought was lost to us as he skipped local uni for pilot training under MAS. Skipped town and was unreachable for quite a while that we thought he no longer saw us as friends and had moved on. Well imagine our surprise when he contacted us all and was also kind enough to organise this little gathering. Well our resident funny man is still himself and according to his girlfriend it was this charm and charisma as well as a bottomless humor that netted her affection. Well he was always one who could walk into a room of strangers and by the end of the day will be friends with each and everyone of them as well as know them by name. As always he was the life of the party, cracking jokes and reminiscing about our past misdeeds. It was a nice surprise that we found out he managed to net a stewardess as a girlfriend and a pretty one at that.

On the final roll call will be our lawyer, T'san. If we need to say who changed most in appearance it must be her, with a new more metropolintan imagine after going overseas to study in Leeds and spending the last few years as a KLite. Yet it was a relief that inside she was preety much the same, funny, easy to talk to and down to earth. It was a surprise to find out that she and Thiagu were staying close to each other at Damansara Perdana which also happens to be where most of my relations are living these days, talks about KL being a small place. Well she looked stunning this night with her dress, my only regret was not being able to talk to her more that day though i wanted to.

All said and done, even when everyone was more or less pooped from work and it being a Friday the table at Kenny Rogers rang with laughter and nostalgia. We talked about how everyone was and how each was going about life. We gossiped about who's getting married, who broke up, who's seeing each other and generally where everyone else is. We joked about our high school antics and how our past teachers were, how Kuantan is turning into a town where everyone seems to be getting away from. It was sad to note that everytime any of us went back, there is less and less people we know staying there, most of the young adults are heading to places like Penang, KL or Johor to find employment.

It was a pity that two of our members could not be there to join us, last we heard Chin Ching was still in Penang where she is working as a doctor and still major major strides from sorting out her life especially in the love department. Also according to KM, Anantharaman another ex classmate is now working in the Babas factory in Kuantan.

It was truly a memorable night and even more so that the chance that we were all there to meet up. If Thiagu had planned it a week earlier or later I would not be able to join there so it is indeed fortuitious or maybe it was fate that I was down town attending the Biotech Asia Expo. I wouldn't want to miss this for anything in the world and I truly had a great time, great food, great companions, great atmosphere and great memories.

Just couldn't resist in putting a picture of the scrumptious Summer Berry ice cream I had from Haagen Daez, which i must admit is my first time at the place in my life, for RM20 this is actually worth every penny I paid for it. Anyway it was a bit hard to part even when we still had so much to catch up on and who knows when we will be able to meet up again. But i know that it will be just as great if we ever do and maybe hopefully when I'm working in KL by the end of the year there will be more opportunities to see each of them. Till then.