aerasio

reminiscence

It seems that the last days of secondary schoolhood have come for my friends. After 4 (or for others 10) years of being in fairfield, my classmates, friends and fellow students at Fairfield have come to the close of their official secondary school lives. It is a new feeling. As the O'levels loom, they have little time to ponder this new state of affairs. Where do they go from here? When the dust has settled and they are finished with calculus, atoms and Shakespere, what will happen next? A tightening of belts and a sharpening of pencils, anticipation for Results Day. Then what? JC? Poly? Mayhap for a special few emigration to 'greener pastures'. Regardless, their days of idle youth are ending, their adolescence drawing to a close, their days of wearing the yellow and blue are numbered, as mine were. What do they feel? Sadness? Regret? Or perhaps satisfaction, and fond memory of time spent? Mayhap it is not on their minds at all, that would be a greater tragedy. If one had been too caught up with stuffing Narayan into his head to even remember shooting the breeze and smelling the flowers. To have lost their experiences to the beast of forgetfulness. What kind of loss would that be?

Mayhap the most romantic period of their lives has passed them already. The moments of youthful abandon and jubilant insanity are leaving, never to return. Though you may grasp at them wildly, the clock cannot be turned backward, the rope of time cannot be unravelled. I hope that they have memories to remember, precious fragments of the joys they have felt, the bonds they have forged, and the moments they have had. I pray they will always remember them, and that they will endure so that they can look back and know that their time was not wasted. Even if they didn't get straight A's or the most impressive resume, at least they had a whooping Bang of a time!

I dig up my own past. Was it so long ago that I was a shy little kid in ELDDS, stammering out monologues in an Ang moh accent? Was it so long ago that I held up a sign extolling the wonders of 1B's Sambal Prawns in that funfair? I remember that fondly, chatting with other human signboards, making special trips past the science block so I could glance at the girl I had a crush on. Nostalgia fills me. When did I shed that persona? When did that part of me die? I remember my second year, when old acquaintances became new friends. The Sarcastic Quartet. The JIBS. I remember you with fondness. I remember long hazy afternoons spent in a dusty classroom, memorizing dance steps to the tune of a Mandapop Singer. I wonder if I will ever do something like that again. I remember my brief internship at AMD, where I met Clarence. I continue to be amazed by the consequences of that meeting, it is perhaps the most profound relationship I have ever had with another human being. It seems so long ago now. I think of the FAGS, 4D and 2A, of the people who left a part of themselves in my life. There are too many names to mention, too many people whose words and deed have touched my life. Was my skin this dark before? Was I this tall? Did I care so deeply? Or feel so much? Was the world this big? Or my own self so small? I have changed, as all of us have and hopefully I am a wiser, and better person for it.

I wonder idly what I have missed out on. The trials I would have endured. The camaraderie I would have shared. The memories I would have been a part of. Those are lost, forever, in the ever-growing dump pile of might-have-beens. I can only wonder and imagine what it would have been like if I hadn't left. To my fellow Fairsians, the class of 2006, its been an awesome Bang of a ride, and I wish with all my heart that I could have seen it all through with you.

Standing here, on the other side of the world, I can only give you my regrets, my wishes, my blessings and my earnest hope that your futures will turn out for the best. No matter where God takes me, I will look back on my days in Fairfield fondly, I hope you can too......


Cheers Fairsians, for we've a life worth living

So said Aerasio at 11:49