A Small, Little Primary School Class Get-Together

Met up with a bunch of classmates from primary school for dinner last night. Pretty disappointing turnout as there were about 8 of us. Nevertheless, it was still a good one.

We were there at the quiet, little cafe for about 4 hours, just eating, drinking juices (we recommend the Soursop juice), catching up on each other's lives, yakking away about our primary school days, and listening to the songs they were playing over the speakers.. Songs from the 90's.. Songs that were played during our younger days like "U Can't Touch This", "Lambada".. Gosh, don't we sound old? We celebrated Pek Sian's birthday too. Well, it was supposed to be a double birthday celebration for her and Yee Pin (they shared the same birthdate, cool eh?), but Yee Pin couldn't turn up. And we had funny moments where Kok Hian and Huat Sing kept winking at each other, or Kok Hian and Yat Mun kept comparing their muscles, and got Meng Loon weirded out. Hehe..

One thing I like about reunions like these is that, we try to make it no matter what. We're not there to see who is doing well, or who is earning the highest $ or to compare anything at all. We're just there to meet up with old friends (And I mean, reaaaally old, friends of almost 18 years), to learn from each other's experiences, and to laugh about our shared moments many years ago. I don't know about the others, but it never fails to amaze me how there were so many more stories that we didn't know back then or that we had all forgotten about. Days when Chin How actually 'extorted' $ from a fellow classmate (Poor him..) 20-30 cents everyday, and Yok Tien just tagged along like his 'ma jai'. Days when the guyz would all hang around at Suben's house, lighting up fireworks and see them fly across the drains or neighbours' houses. Days when they went to somebody's house and watched videos (Can we assume that they were watching *ahem* porn? Hehe..). Days when we girls oogled over a Trainee teacher, Julian, whereas the guyz were more into their marbles and spiders. Days when we were all so 'gian' about badminton espcially during the big hype about Thomas Cup (when Malaysia won the Cup!).

It's nice to see that these people are actually the people that we shared our childhood days with. These people who used to be 4 feet and under tall.. Short, little 'ku chee rats'. These people we've never seen for 12 years since we left school, and when we meet up, there was never a quiet or awkward moment. It just felt like there was never the 12 years gap between us. I know that most people would be astounded to hear that we were actually meeting up with our primary school classmates. If say we were all from the same 'kampung', going to the same schools throughout our lives, that will be a different story. But for us, we all lived in different parts of PJ and KL, we went to the same primary school, but we all parted for different sec schools, colleges and unis, went our separate directions in lives, and we finally met up after all these years. I'm not trying to brag here, really. It's just a nice but at the same time, undescribable feeling. That's it. Who knows, 20 years down the road, when we all start to grow white hair and have wrinkles all over our skin, we would still find the time to meet up over a cup of coffee or two, with our kids running all over the place. ;)

With the Internet and perhaps a little help from your yellow-stained autograph books, it's not too tough to track down your old friends. All you need is a little effort and the heart to do so. You know what? I'm already looking forward to the next gathering yet again... Hehhee...

ELID - We Make Your World Secure

The ISF exhibition over at Mines Convention Centre was very eye-opening indeed. Not only that you get to see the competitors' latest products, you get to 'wash' your eyes too. Hehe.. For the guyz larr.. Coz there were a few girls from a nearby booth wearing mini skirts and high boots, handing out leaflets. Very interesting to watch my colleagues' eyes staring over at them. ;)

While I was acting receptionist over the booth counter (a.k.a the vase), this particular customer just stood in front of the counter, took a short glimpse of our demo panels from left to right, and said in Cantonese "Elid ahh.. Ngo teng koh nei dei.. Hou kwai wohhh..." (Translation: Elid ahh.. I heard of you.. Very expensive wohhh..). I asked him how expensive. His reply, "Aiyah... Hou kwai lahhh..." (Translation: Aiyah.. Very expensive lahh..). Okayyyy....

And while I was there on duty for all the 4 days, I noticed that customers will come to you if you're pretty, friendly and you flash a very nice smile. People will be ever so willing to help you carry stacks of brochures for you. They will treat you nicer. They will even come over and give you sweets to chew on, or complimentary gifts from their own booths. Even the security officers by the entrance will ask you if you are going back yet or why have you not eaten yet. Not that you exchanged phone numbers or names with them, but it's just nice to know that you have an appealing look, and that, be it they remain as nameless strangers, at the least, you had strangers like them to help you survive the whole 4 days there. ;)

Before I sign off, here's a picture taken with my colleagues and our Managing Director on the 3rd day of ISF. Have a good weekend, everyone!

The Weekend in PD

Spent the weekend over at PD for the company's trip. Drove the little Kelisa down, and realized that one should NOT go above 110 km/h with that car unless you want to have a 'vibrating' journey. Heh.

It was a pretty hectic weekend, considering that I was in the Organizing Committee, which means having to help out in the team buildings, assist the telematch, and emcee the dinner event. Prior to all these, we had to plan what activities to do during the team buildings, even went to Giant Supermarket to buy hamper items and self-wrapped the hampers in the meeting room. Come to think of it, I've been in the Committee for 3 years in a row... Year in, year out, I would tell myself, "That's it, no more". But, noooo.. I never listen.. *Sighz* Then again, it's a good experience. Who knows, you might still find me in the Committee next year. ;)

All in all, I think the whole trip got me & my bunch of R&D ppl closer to each other. We got to be better friends other than mere colleagues. We got to understand each other better, had great bonding sessions, especially when we chatted till nearly 5 in the morning (and we were supposed to drive back to KL that morning itself), and we got to whack and slap each other's hands when we played cards till they were all bruised up (add to the fact that we played beach volleyball before that - double bruised!). Despite coming home with very, very, very blue-black looking hands (like as if 'kena tumbuk'), I had a great time there. I hope they did too. ;)

Oh well, I'm off to Mines now. The ISF (International Security & Fire) exhibition starts tomorrow, and I've got to go help set up the systems and all. So... Ta for now!

Unconfirmed Notice Confirmed

Remember I mentioned about receiving an e-mail notice from my boss some time ago, more like, 2 posts ago? It's finally been confirmed..

In effective on this coming 1st July, I'm now a Senior Software Engineer... Woo hoo!!! Which also means increment in $$.. Double woo hoo!! Hehehe.. I know for some people, it probably doesn't mean much, like, being promoted to the Senior level is like nothing, or that the increment is probably peanuts, but if you come from an SMI (small-medium industry) firm like me, it is a big deal for me. For the past 1 year or so, I had been contemplating to move on to greener pastures, but now, I guess, the promotion has renewed my motivation to stay on. And I thank God for blessing me with this. ;)

Here's congratulating fellow colleagues - Giok Ean, Yee Yong and Wilson on their promotions too!!!

Walking Down The Memory Lane

I got this site from Ash.Ox (sorry for "leeching" it from you). It has a number of video intros of TV series that we used to watch when we were perhaps 2-4 feet and under tall. Hehehe...

Gosh... I used to love watching Full House, Growing Pains, Gummi Bears.. Will never forget Transformers, He-Man, Thundercats (thunder.. thunder... thundercats... oohhhhhhhhhh). Hahaha...

Go and take a look at the site!!