10 YEARS AND COUNTING... 1999-2009

HAPPY 10 YEARS!!

No, this is not a post on Arashi... But, how can I let this golden opportunity go to waste? Happy10th anniversary once again to Jun and the gang.

Now back to the REAL post...

I was lying on bed one night thinking when it suddenly hit me that I've been living in Setiawangsa for 10 years now. We moved from Taman Kamariah in 1999. That got me realizing that it has also been 10 years since I met my friends from Desa.

Our first 'official' reunion

Moving from Gombak to Setiawangsa was a HUUGE change for me. I had to enrol in Desa because at that time Setiawangsa was only three years old and wasn't fully equipped for upper secondary students. Whilst in Gombak, I rarely talked to boys, even in my own class. I think I never saw a reason to. Plus, I was in the Arabic stream class which kinda meant that my class was the more 'religious' one compared to other normal classes. But interactions between sexes are given more leeway in Desa. I was somewhat taken aback at first but slowly got used to it.

I think this was our first 'unofficial' outdoor class trip

I remember sitting down next to Shahida on my first day there. I definitely lucked out because we clicked on some levels and if I remember correctly, she was always the one next to me all the way to the end. Not long after that, we had our own little group. It started out with just three of us. Akak (me), Adik (Shahida) and Abang (Arep). But it soon gathered momentum and we had other 'siblings' like Kak Long (Faiza), Abang Long (Sabri), Tok Wan (Radhwan) and Abang Lang (Firdaus). I still call Arep Abang and address myself as Akak with Shahida.

Our only trip to Sunway

One memory that I will always remember is when we were re-decorating the classroom. I don't know why, but I always seem to be appointed to be treasurer, whether in Desa or in Gombak. So, we had to go to Kamdar and find drapes, look for paint together and find wordings for the top wall. That all culminated one Saturday where all of us gathered to paint the classroom. The class looked beautiful when we were done and we managed to win several 'keceriaan' awards.

With Shida

The other was when we had this canteen table placed right at the back of our class. It was supposed to be a 'discussion' place or a 'reading' corner of sorts. But we would end up sitting there even during classes. I loved the roundtables we had and when we were arguing out a problem or just plain laughing together. Sadly, the table got taken away (on my day off!!). It was hilarious how some of them called to break the news to me. Cho Chweet...

Hanging out with them was fun. Being a librarian, I had to stay back for a few days. If I'm not mistaken, there would rarely be a day where I would be home at 2.00pm. I always had tuitions or duties or other extracurricular stuff to do. Me and some other classmates had tuition in Kasturi and we would go there together after having lunch. Luckily, the year I moved in was the year the LRT PUTRA started operating. So going to town was no problem. Even my first train ride was with Shahida and a couple other friends. I was involved in Puteri Islam at the time and coupled with my librarian duites, that kept me quite occupied.

When SPM was looming near, we would cram together. Going to each other's houses to study. We stayed up lated just doing our Add Maths. We were sort of inseparable, me and my little group... After SPM, we would still have things to do together. Some of us took MUET classes in UM. Some took driving licenses. Some found part-time jobs. It was the time to find your direction in life.

Now, everybody is on their own path. Some are married with children. Some are busy with their own careers. Some are furthering their studies. Some have since moved to a different state. We still meet on the occasional wedding or open houses. I've lost contact with some of them, which is a shame.

I always wanted to have a reunion just for us, but couldn't find the time for preparations. We've had two reunions, not counting my open house and it's nice just chatting and catching up with each other. I hope they are happy wherever they are and whatever they are doing. Like Tohoshinki said.. "Let's get together!!"