My friend had "pre-booked" me months in advance, so it was a one day outing with him as promised.
We had 2 decades of void in between to catch up ever since we met up by chance through mutual friends again. We talked about everything under the sun, from our high school days to presently, his parenthood journey.
We were both from the Art Elective programme previously and it was good talking about those arty farty days, and how we both agreed that being in the elective course had positively did most of us much good. Apart from cultivating our creativity, the art history lessons and appreciation definitely expanded our horizons and thought process. It isnt just about having art museum trips more enjoyable but rather, the course trained us to see things in multiple perspective and "layers". Just as an engineering course trained its students to think in a systematic and logical process, the art course liberated us from our personal limitations and self imposed thought restrictions. Everything is possible, from creation from dreams to painstaking disciplined techniques, the art programme had certainly changed the way we perceived things.
Interestingly, while not everyone of us went on to pursue higher art and moving on to become architecture or designer, yet most of us that I know of still enjoyed appreciating art pieces or new building designs and we laughed as we shared our common habit of poining out structures to critic, sharing views with our partners (or whoever was unfortunate enough to be bored by us :P )
As the topic moved on to others, my friend commented that even though we had 5 convent schools, and yet all the characteristics from the different schools were different. He said the singular good thing that we all shared in common was the opinated and vocal nature. In his experience, most (not all) IJ girls he had the honor of encountering never deviate too far in traits, from outspoken and out going nature to the quiet self confidence, not to mention the way we insult people. I told him it's prob his luck that he met the so many "true blue" IJ girl.
Sending your kids to school isnt just about receiving an education. Aparting from the "brand", it's a life-changing experience because the environment will mould you to be a person that somehow personify the characteristic/ culture of the school due to its heritage that is passed down from batches to batches. This is especially evident in single gender school in Singapore. My friend told me that he can never in his wildest imagination imagined me to be from Nanyang girls. He isnt the first to tell me. In fact, I dont know why but it is almost always certain that I would be identified as an IJ girl on first try. Not St. Nics or KC, just IJ TP. I wonder how my life would have turn out if I had ended up in TKGS or Dunman High... I shudder to think of that possibility. As for him, there is no way he could have been SJI nor ACS dude. I think VS suit him pretty well too :)
After lunch and much reminiscing of the past, we went to kino and I ended up with another load of books. He hasnt read Kite runner and so I got that for him and hoped he liked it. At the same time, he laughed and said I am prob the only IJ girl he will ever know who never read a single romance book such as sidney sheldon etc, and instead choose to immerse herself with Dungeon and Dragons. It was funnier when I shared that I hated Romeo and Juliet and he said for guys, that was the best thing to ever have read since it was a great book for courting girls! I didnt know how william shakespeare could have possibly helped but he swore it did. I will take his words for it:)
The day ended with me lugging home boxes of bangawan solo cakes and raw cashew nuts from the takashimaya basement. My goodness, how much the foodcourt area has changed! A new facelift with new seatings and more stores, its a full fledged food court now! I didnt know where to start looking! I didnt try any food there primarily the greasy overused cooking oil smell put me off. Yeah, for some reason, the smelll of re-used frying oil really turns me off and kill my appetite. It use to be barely tolerable when I was in uni but now it has attained the unbearable stage. Doesnt help with my hound's scent sense...
I had to dash off before the crushing eve train crowd trample all over me and deprive me of proper breathing air. Someone need to redesign the stupid station sign board within the train. I didnt even know where the circle lines go to. Why would they not show all the stops borders on silliness to me. Oh well...
However all in all, a truly lovely day. It's always the company that counts!
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