first things first

"ladies and gentlemen, thank you for flying with northwestern airlines. have a safe trip ahead."

the door opens. the first blast of humidity knocks me off my feet. bright sunshine filters through the cabin windows. i fall in line in a desperate struggle to alight from the plane. ppl squeezing for breathing space, children wailing, all participating in the mad rush to the immigration counters. i want to take my time though. haven't seen nor felt these in a while. shall savour every minute of it.

i push through the immigration counters fairly easily. after all, the singapore passport gets you places, especially in your homeland. scanning the luggage belts, i feel dizzy and strangely euphoric. picking up my two (very heavy) luggages, i exit the arrival hall. tears flow down my cheeks as i hug my parents and my sis. at home at long last!!!

i spend the first night in singapore in my own room, facing a huge dilemma. my stomach's really bloated though. had to finish the numerous dishes my mum whipped up in anticipation of my return. how am i supposed to pass the ippt?? i really dunno what to do the next day. so many plans, so many people to meet, so many places to visit, so many things to eat. i fall asleep in a pool of my own sweat (yes, the humidity can almost make you NOT want to return home).

i wake up early on the 4th of may. taking bus 74, then 151, i go to nus, following my most familiar route to soccer. yes, court soccer in nus. it doesn't get better than that. i meet my brother koh and the rest of the harold's heroes for a game of football (no, not soccer, those american whimps!). yes, the alvin koh that i "go way back with". of course, alvin hasn't improved to level 1000 like he said he would, but he's getting pretty darn close. to level 100 that is. i am still miles ahead of him (kekekeke). its good to see the rest of harold's heroes too: captain guoyong (the oc), edward (the company ippt spec), alec (the sect comd), harold (foot soldier), jinping (csm), ian kok (company medic), and the others. of course we trashed the opposition, given that the company clerk (myself) has had a year of american training. hahh.

we go to orchard rd. what's soccer without the usual chicken rice from far east plaza? its good to hang out again. we trade the latest gossip and rumors and trash talk. and we make fun of ian kok, while edward boosts about his latest achievement (scoring 2 own goals? or 3?). things are good.

i meet the 4s5ers for dinner. yes, boon hooi (monitor), yuansheng (swordsman-cum-monk), eddie (alien working for slimming centre), kangming (smu bastard), zhekai (yio chu kang hunk), weilun (former nuclear scientist, now studying in FASS in nus), chee keong (runner-cum-commando-cum-skirt chaser), junjie (swimmer hunk), ray shaw jui (I broke his finger in sec 3), kenneth lee (stoopit goatee), zongbo (OZB aka black shit), and wilson (yandao of njc) and whoever else that comes. Ahhh, the sweet memories of cat high, of green shorts, or daily stripping sessions, of miss hannan tan, of chasing each other around the school building.

It’s the 5th of May. My third day in Singapore. I resolve to spend the whole day with the GCB gang. Yes, chongmeng (lusty ass), roger (mr malay boy), chunkiat (THE setter), Alvin (seep seep gia), Yok (the marksman), and Zhikai (collector of saga seeds). We go for lunch, play CS (against my will of course), share the latest jokes, and generally make fun of yok. Its always fun to hang out with my buddies of the last 4 years.

I tell myself that over the next few days, or weeks, I shall meet up with the s14 ppl (Adeline, leo yun, Emily, Wilson, huiyin, jiaying and zhuyi), Ellyn, Amelia, NJC soccer guys, and my friends from Michigan! Have to squeeze all these in between my 12 week long attachment to god-knows-which unit. Plus orientation work. And cscope stuff. Its going to be a hell of a summer.

p.s. these things haven’t actually happened, of course. I’m just daydreaming; but when has day dreaming ever hurt anyone?