Saturday, June 18, 2005
~ A Walk Down Memory Lane of My JI Days ~
6:48:00 pm
Actually wrote this sometime ago while I was taking a break from blogging and chatting... Happened to listen to the song and suddenly, I just felt like writing about it... Well, it's a super long entry so it's up to each individual to read it or not... I just wanted to pen it down so that I can remember it when one day, my memory starts failing me... =) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Kokomo' by Beach Boys... This is the song that brings back lots of fond memories during my 3 months Pre-U stint at then-Jurong Institute (now known as Milenia Institute)... How I missed those days...
I still remembered how reluctant I was to go to school on the first day because to my knowledge, I was the only one from my secondary school that was posted to JI... Kinda regretted then to have requested to attend the 3 months Pre-U... And that was when I almost got knocked down by a taxi as I did not look left and right before crossing the road... Partly, due to the 'heavy' heart that I had to head to school... But too bad my mum was there with me so I had no choice but to enter the school compound...
Orientation Group 21 (OG21)... That was the group that I was assigned to... Everything and everyone looked so unfamiliar to me but with all the strength and motivation left in me, I headed to the school hall where we had to report and mark our attendance... Went on to join the line where our OG leader was holding on to the signboard... The first person I talked to was a girl from Jin Tai Secondary (I honestly have forgotten her name) and we just began talking... After the marking of the attendance, it was followed by some talk by the school principal and then a school tour... It was during the school tour that I befriended a girl with the uniform of a white top and purple skirt, Genevieve... *Hehe*... Anyway, our OG leader, Farah, told us that our group was considered the 'extra' group as they had planned for only 20 groups... But due to the large intake of students, they had to form another group which was OG21...
Gonna talk about my orientation first because that was the best moment of all... Well, I remembered that it was a 3-day event... Practically, the first day of orientation was more of a get-to-know session and icebreaker... The theme of the orientation was "3-in-1"... And out of this theme, we had to create a short skit or song or whatever creative thing we could create... Some dumb and funny stuff that my group decided on... But let's talk about that later... *Hehe*... The orientation was a blast... Totally enjoyed it... Slowly made some new friends... Tiffany (from Monk's Hill Sec, the
only girl who calls me '
pantat', don't ask me why!), Serene (from Geylang Methodist Sec), Mei Ching (from Fairfield Methodist), Erica (from err... I forgot... *Hee*), and Genevieve (from Queensway Sec, the girl with purple skirt... *Hehe*)... Well, these few people were my cliques in JI...
Back to the orientation... On the second day, we were playing games most of the time although I would consider it to be more like water games as we would be soaked from head to toe after each game since the orientation leaders would LOVE splashing water on us... Thank goodness, we were told to bring extra clothings... *Hehe*... And yes, we were taught the 'Kokomo' Dance during the orientation... *That explains why the song brings back memories*... It was a couple dance... My partner was some Chinese guy from SJI (or was it RI?)... Well, it was kinda exciting to learn the dance steps... But maybe my partner was a little too enthusiastic... At one part of the dance, we were supposed to hold one side of our hands together and on the other side, his hands on my waist and mine on his shoulders... But instead, his hands were a little way above my waist... Still remembered how I had to 'protect' myself and slowly started to use my elbow to push down his hand without him knowing... *Hee*... Anyway, maybe I was a little too enthusiastic too that in the end, Farah picked us to dance on stage with some other 'couples'... I won't deny that it was an embarrassing moment... Too bad, I felt that our dance was a little too 'robotic'... Should be more
smooth... *Hee*...
Oh yeah... We had to learn to sing the school song too... No offence really but it really sounded funny...
"Open the window, open the door"... We would really make fun of the song each time we open the window and door... *Haha*... Apologies to all ex-JIians for making fun of the school song...
Back to the orientation... We decided to come out with a skit about 3-in-1 coffeemix which we had to perform on the third day of orientation... *Well, they came out with that theme what!*... From what I remembered, I was one of the five 'creamer' (the girls were the creamer and the guys were the coffee)... And me, I had to hold the sign to show that we were the creamer... I was so
PAISEH that I actually used the sign to hide my face because initially, I though that our skit was a little bit too ridiculous... Anyway, after the skit, we had to sing a short song to the tune of Nescafe... And if I wasn't mistaken, that was our group chant too... And so, as we were singing, our 2 OG21 'clowns', Azri & Fairus (if I'm not mistaken about their names), were jumping around the stage... Before I knew it, I heard a loud thud and the whole hall broke into laughter... Found out that Fairus had actually tripped over the microphone wire and had fallen on stage... In FRONT of the WHOLE HALL!! But instead of getting embarrassed by it, he just laughed at it, got up and started jumping around again... And I just couldn't help but laughed at it too... At the end though, everyone began asking whether he was okay... Luckily, he was fine about it... Anyway, the whole event was actually a competition where we had to compete with the other 20 OGs... And guess what? My OG won 2nd prize!! *Haha*... And almost all of us were 'thanking' Fairus for it... *Hehe*... And that was how our orientation programme went...
02A3... That was my class for the next 2 months or so... Well, it was an arts stream and we were placed in classes according to the subject combination that we took... For 02A3, the subject combination was Humanities, Economics and Literature inclusive of the compulsory OA Mother Tongue and General Paper... For me, I decided to take up OA Maths too, just for the fun of it... *Hehe*...
But let me tell you a secret... I was never a 'good' student back in JI... In fact, I was more of a 'havoc' girl... Not really to the extend of creating trouble... *Hehe*... More like skipping school, leaving school in the middle of lesson time, not attending lessons, etc... Yeah, you've heard me right... Seriously and honestly, I have never ever thought or dreamt of doing such things ever before... Not even during my poly days have I never done it before... But maybe due to the influences of my friends, I dared to do it... *Tsk tsk*... Anyway, I wasn't the only one who did it cuz nobody took the 3 months period seriously... In fact, there was once when almost the whole class of 02A3 left school during recess... Of course we had to do it elusively, in order not to get caught by the discipline mistress... *Can't imagine the consequences if we're really caught... Phew*... One by one, we sneaked out of the school compound, meeting up only at the next bus stop... Of course back then, I was guilty conscious about leaving school and I even contemplated returning to school of which I didn't of course... *Hehe*... Our destination then was McDonald's @ KAP (King Albert Park), the first drive-thru McDonald's in Singapore... Yeah, they had tables there... *Hee*... Anyway, the distance was about half-an-hour's walk from JI... But never did we complain about the tiredness of walking that far because we had each others' companies... The fun time we had, talking & laughing... Even at one time, we were chasing each other to KAP ala-Amazing Race to see who could reach the fastest... *Haha*... In fact, I used to tuck out my shirt and wore ankle socks (till today I'm still wearing ankle socks!!) under the influence of my friends... Okay, NOW that is BAD... *Hehe*...
And there was our one and only class project... We had to create a model for Total Defence Day... Our idea was to create a SUPER HUGE HEART which represented the heart of Singapore with 5 poles sticking out which representated the 5 Total Defence... Although the idea was simple but it was the group effort and time spent together that we really enjoyed... Well, the heart was made out of crumpled newspapers wrapped around stinky toilet papers which were 'stolen' from JI's toilets and the paper-type masking tape were pasted over them... The hearts were then painted red... The poles? We used kitchen paper rolls... To be honest, our model looked kinda gross as the heart looked kinda bloody and with the 5 poles sticking out, it made it even worse... Looked as though the heart was being pierced... *Haha*... Anyway, we could have won a prize if not for the fact that we sent in our caption late... *Grrrr*... But at least, we had our fond memories together... =)
The CCA I took? Touch rugby... But too bad, I lasted for only a day with them... Couldn't endure the tough and strenuous training... Got bad aches all over my body the next day... Had to skip school in the end cuz I was walking around like some sick person... And I remembered how I had to plead with my mum to let me skip school... *Haha*...
And of course... School life will never be complete without crushes and admirers... I remembered the guy whom I had a crush on... One of the student leaders whose name starts with the letter Z... Well, as usual, it was the looks... Anyway, I didn't tell anyone about it cuz a lot of other girls were infatuated with him too... Alright... Admirer... *Hmm*... Honestly, I had never suspected it... We were in the same class... Initially thought that he was a Chinese but he's actually a Malay... Anyway, one sweet thing that he did was to read a Malay poetry in front of the whole Malay class for the girl whom he liked... At that point in time, I didn't know who
that girl was but as he was reading the poetry, he kept glancing and staring at me which made me a little bit uneasy... And a few days later, he told me that the poem was meant for me... And before long, the news had spread that I was the girl whom he liked... *Gosh*... Even my friends were constantly teasing me about him... Although at first I was a little touched but there came a time where I was practically avoiding him... Just found that he was a
little way too pushy... Still remembered how I refused to come to school on Valentine's Day just to avoid him... In the end, I had to trouble Tiffany and Serene to skip school with me... And yeah, guess where we went?? Orchard Road!! As early as 9am... *Haha*... Yes, in our school uniforms... *Gosh*... I really wondered what I was thinking back then... *Hmm*...
There are still a lot more fond memories from my JI days... The mass PE lessons that we used to have in which I extremely hated; how I re-united my uncle with his long lost ex-schoolmate who happened to be a teacher at JI; how I loved collecting
saga seeds which is also known as the love seeds behind the school compound; the charade game we played during our Literature lesson on our 'last day', just before collecting our 'O Level results; how we skipped one of our Literature lesson and ended up spending time in the library; the "Truth or Dare" game we played again during a Literature lesson; how we would create a 'chat room' during Economic lessons; how we played bowling and my bowling ball ended up rolling backwards, not once but a few times; and a lot more to be mentioned...
But memories will forever remain memories... I am just glad that I was given a chance to experience it... Regret of going to JI?? Never in my life, I will... Thanks to everyone whom had a part to play... I will always cherish the happy moments even though it was a short while...
written, NaDiaH eRNiYaNTi
