Eight

It's our eighth reunion this year, and eight of us managed to come. Eight is a good number, no? =D Some of you will know why I think that (nothing to do with the Chinese belief of auspicious things). After the record-setting attendance of 19 (?) last year, you'd think it would at least follow some normal curve...

Forgot to bring a camera to the event. -_-|| Somehow I have very little awareness of my possession of that thing (maybe cos I've gotten it free). Ata please remember to upload the photos ya. Don't worry I will remind you for it. Huhuhuh.

Agree with firefly's opinion on the low attendance. For all it's worth, there were last-minute unforeseen circumstances too (some of whom had really wanted to come) and the honest timing issue, so that's not as discouraging as it seems. =P

Admittedly while asking around for confirmation I already had this assumption in my head (that not everyone really wants it) though of course I wouldn't hint on it and encourage the negative response. =D For twenty-four people to feel the same about something is quite unreasonable to expect really.

I have priorities myself, and they don't always follow the queue of obligations. It's probably a bad thing when I was late for appointments because someone was sharing an emotive conversation with me, and I didn't want to break the momentum. (Too heart-ruled?) Low maintenance as they could be, all relationships consume time to a certain extent, and the choices had to be made.

But half-heartedness can be problematic to manage, as we would make compromises and sacrifices only when we feel strongly for something (unless it's a personality trait..) and when I was in the wrong mood I really felt like saying, it's okay if you don't want to come, I understand really; just tell me that so I can focus the planning effort on those of us who want to.

Sorry for that confession, ya. ^^0 It is not a right thing to do, of course, because even while not enthusiastic about it, most of us will still make efforts to connect, either out of care or simply social awareness. And that connection is the important thing, which is why we will still have our ninth (with better planning if I could).

(On this point I'm also feeling bad for not making time for someone whom I usually would.. ah, I've been defeated by money*! >_< )

Am I putting pressure on people with this talk? Hope not. I too might be a reluctant manager who wanted to avoid the responsibility. =P I feed on people's energy and enthusiasm, and I might get impatient when I felt there wasn't enough support that I mistakenly expected.

人間だから、御免ね。


* quoted from Nobuta wo Produce, which, by the way, is a strange drama for managing to be a crack (or is it just the Japanese sense of humour?) while having surprisingly good morale points.

Seven Years Now

Haven't been feeling like blogging lately, hm. Only been posting articles for the past month. Writing did go on in some other area which is going to stay unpublished... so yeah. =D Then our Batch Five bunch had a reunion last weekend, which I felt like talking about now. =)

How the time goes by --
Suddenly, you’re wise.

We had a very fulfilling reunion this year -- attendance was record-breaking (ha) and we got more talks done as a whole group. This despite the lack of planning, in which we didn't manage to book the place we originally chose, and later found out it'd been out of business. 0_0 One closed-for-the-day makan place later, we finally got to Ayam Penyet @ Bugis -- lucky for us, unlucky for them -- because we wreaked quite a havoc there. =P

But our Big Walk (or should I say Hijrah, in the spirit of historical Indonesian soldiers) to the alternative destination actually gave us more time for interactions, so I suppose it was all good after all. =)

There’s still time for you,
time to buy and time to lose yourself within a morning star...

Photos in the collage below courtesy of vy and cheeto. The bad quality is to be blamed on me and my 10-minute Paint work. =P


Only one camera (not mine or cheeto's) had the photo with all of us in it, so I'll upload it once I get it. In the meantime, here's the Christmas decoration without us. ^^0


Afterwards we went to hang out near Singapore River, during which we brought up the subject of homosexuality, somehow. ^^ Turned out some of us had had a few culturally-shocking encounters. Naturally we then referred to religious beliefs, which our group had a good variety of. I personally was always apprehensive about this kind of situation, a mindset I wish to shed myself. =P So I was kinda glad we started on this discussion after all.

And this reminded me of a friend I used to comfortably have religious discussions before, despite our different religions. We kind of fell out of touch after graduation, so I guess I should try to catch up with him one of these days. =)

The sun is getting high,
we’re moving on...

Our anniversary this year was also marked by one sad occasion and one happy occasion. Life does go on for each of us, huh... Some of us have made the transition to the married life; some have gone back home to Indonesia. All of us have definitely changed one way or another, seven years from the time we first met; though we do enjoy pointing out the infamous traits that each other still carry through the years. Indeed, some things I really do hope we can get away with not growing up from.

There’s never a wish better than this,
when you only got a hundred years to live.

-- Five for Fighting, "100 Years"