Basket.

Hah... back again, after Voices That Care made me think so much about Sec 1 I decided to make another post for tonight.

For so long, the nostalgia has been for Sec 4. But recently I have been very often reminded of my earliest days in RI, starting with that Saturday night when Roger suggested singing Voices That Care, our old batch song. Once I heard and joined in, the memories just came flooding back, clear as day, despite the fact that most of the events occured a full five years ago. The process continued when, today, I met my form teacher in those early years and even saw a five-year-old snapshot of my friends and I as Secondary 1 students.

Sec 1 was a truly unforgettable year, I would say. We came in and were whisked off to be tortured in the muck of Sarimbun, and much of that I remember extremely clearly, from heatstroke on the first day to the mud that literally sucked you down.

Following that was lessons very much like primary school, actually, which was a bit of a surprise to me. Zihao was a classmate then, and so was Daniel. Somehow... how do I say this? It sure was surreal to look at that snapshot and recognise, but just barely, people I now see most days in RJ. Kind of like a dream when you look at yourself.

Sec 1 was when the custom of playing chess with Zihao everyday began, something we were to continue until split into different classes in Sec 3 (and until bridge took over our minds) and attempted to resume, as some may remember, last year when we found ourselves back into the same class. It was really, the thing that drew us into close friendship. Initially we did not talk and barely noticed each other, all throughout Orientation and the early months. Chess changed all that.

And it is very interesting, five entire years and a wealth of experiences down the road, to look back on those days and wonder how you yourself and the people around you have changed such incredible amounts (some at least). I could barely recognise myself when I looked at the photo, and strangely Yen Yeong and I seemed about the same height (could of course be false perspective). Now he towers over me. Of course, the differences go beyond the physical. Zihao is, five years on, a far more pessimistic person... one wonders once more again how much is simply due to natural maturation and how much to the change in environment. The changes stun all the same, nonetheless

All in all, the fact is, we can't forget RI. None of us at all. Every single year spent there was memorable in its own right. RI was a great place; the people, that is, I never have good things to say about school admins. I remember that Sec 1 year clear as day, and it surprises me sometimes that it has actually been five years since. I can still visualise myself at times as the innocent little Sec 1 kid in clean, white uniform with shorts (like all those we saw today on the way from the MRT, huge groups of them), or the Sec 3 unused to long pants, or the worldly-wise Sec 4 student sad to leave secondary school.

We had some great times there. And fun. A lot of it.