misadventures of ah liak

Do you chat with your cousins on MSN? I do... It's really a good way to keep in touch with one another on a regular basis. Contrary to popular opinion that Information Technology has led to the gradual dehumanising of Man, i believe that in my case, IT more specifically, Infocomms technology has been helpful rather than detrimental in promoting better contact within the extended family. What about the telephone you may ask?

Well, i guess this could be due to multi-tasking becoming an essential part of my working style. A phone be it a corded or wireless one restrains your movement, causing you to crane your neck if you try to attempt other tasks, nothing short of being acrobatic. Whereas, MSN allows me to simultaneously chat with other people, surf the Web at the same time and if the need arises, i can always leave the conversation hanging on a particular thread, albeit temporarily while i attend to other tasks of higher priority.
Remember those times on the phone when you had to hold the call only to return and ask," Where did we stopped earlier on?"

Looks like i digressed quite a bit on the strengths of the Messenger which was totally unintended... So i was mentioning about chatting online with my cousin. I have this cousin, Tyler who is currently in his last year of Secondary Schooling. I can still vividly remember his rantings and ravings over the Web 3 years ago when he just entered Secondary School. It was expected having being the adjustment period for someone to transit between education institutions of learning that existed on totally different levels and each steeped in radically distinct culture. Not to mention that budding adolescence made things worse by bringing forth ugly facets of human nature like negative peer pressure.

It was inevitable. talking to someone younger would eventually culminate in an inquisition of his or her educational experience, something that is in common. The conversation was pleasant and i was gladd having been impressed that his initially negative and occasionally morbid outlook on school life has taken a turn for the better... :)


But we seemed to hit the crossroads when i happened to pose the question," Can you sum up your feelings for the school up till this point?" After a while, he replied by saying he wasn't sure.
Never did i knew that i would actually be posing this question to myself sub-consciously. In four years i had resented, having been dressed in grey and white, emblazoned with an ubiquitous crest. It was unsurprising that i sought everything i could do to distance myself from the school, to disassociate myself from the school in the eyes of outsiders. I used to turn the other way when my dad drive past the school on Yishun Ave 7. It had given me too many bitter memories...

But it seems that Mother Nature always hold her cards close to herself and harbour mysterious plans that are years in the making. A question that was drifting unanswered for close to four years in my mind was suddenly answered simply within a short span of 1 minute in the midst of that fateful conversation.

i told my cousin that the feelings that i harboured for my alma mater was bitter sweet, a love-hate relationship. After all, it had given me both beautiful as well as grotesque memories.