thoughtless ramblings

well. had our second GYPS '96 gathering today. was a blast being able to see so many old, yet new faces gathered around after so long.

not only did the students turn up, our two beloved teachers, Mrs Tjan and Mdm. Yap, came for the gathering as well! and after all these long years, they still looked the same as i remembered them.

arranged to meet up with wenrong @ dover mrt station around 1910 as he wasn't really sure where the crystal jade we were going to was located at. met ming jian @ outram mrt station as i was going up the escalator. turns out he was on the same nel train as i was.

after meeting with wenrong, boarded 106 to holland village and we were the earliest to get there, but not surprising since we were there early anyways. wenny was the next to arrive and after a few minutes, left with ming jian to check out the neighbouring crystal jade outlet.

standing on the sidewalk with wenrong, suddenly spotted mdm yap and mrs tjan walking past and went forward to approach them. thought they couldn't remember our names, but it was evident from their joyous faces that they still recognized us as their students.

 where do you find teachers who recognize you even after not seeing you for 12 years?

after meeting up with them, went up to the second floor and 'claimed' the table wenny booked. sat around chatting and catching up till matchy arrived with ee von. after them came adeline, followed by zhiyuan, then michael and his girlfriend, felicia. eileen was the second last to arrive and yao hui got there at around 2045.

final attendance list:

• mrs. tjan
• mdm yap
• wenny (thanks for booking table!)
• eileen
• ee von
• adeline
• felicia
• michael
• ming jian
• wenrong
• yao hui
• matchy
• zhiyuan
• me

before eileen got there, all 12 of us squeezed around one table as there weren't any available tables nearby and we joked that eileen and yao hui would have to spend a romantic evening alone at one of the tables by the window-side. but eventually, we managed to get a smaller table adjacent to ours and we settled into a more comfortable arrangement just before dinner arrived.

dinner was à la carte style and wasn't too bad. loads of chatting and laughing and catching up all throughout dinner. just after we'd finished eating, yao hui finally arrived and we almost made him eat the leftovers. thankfully, we are all merciful people and he placed his order which came relatively quickly. it soon transpired that yao hui acutally went down to GYPS to personally invite mrs. tjan and mdm. yap to our gathering, so here a big kudos to you, yao hui. YOU DA MAN!

sat around there long after dinner until around 2230, upon which wenny left with mrs. tjan & mdm. yap to send them back home. adeline left to buy dinner for her hubby & eileen went off with ee von for some chit-chat.

the rest of us wandered around holland v for a while and finally settled down at NYDC for some dessert/refreshments. zhiyuan left us just before we spotted nydc as he wasn't feeling too well the entire evening. eileen re-joined the troupe soon after and spent the next couple of hours there just chilling. wenny was supposed to come back to look for us, but ended up back home instead. next time, we'll dispatch an escort with her to make sure she gets back to our gathering. just kidding.

finally left nydc @ 0150, to the relief of the manager, and that concluded the second gathering of the GYPS '96 batch. hope we'll have many more gatherings to come throughout the years!

with regards to the contact list, i've finished compiling them and will e-mail them out to everyone as soon as wenrong confirms his MSN e-mail address with me. the pictures i've taken are already up on facebook and i'll be looking for a suitable place to host them (probably imagehost) and will include the link in the e-mail as well.

to michael, ee von: if you want, i can meet up with you to get your photos and upload them online as well.

cheers!