tribute to friends

i realise that friends are the pillar of my life. i'm glad that i have so many good friends...in fact, i'm going to do a little tribute for them here. i basically have 3 major groups of friends:

secondary school gang: victor, billy and eugene (aka "seow" as well as "slug") have been my best mates since, well, secondary school. we were classmates in river valley high, got into trouble together, were forced to take chinese as a second language together (instead of the usual rv practice of taking it as a first language), and basically wreaked havoc together back in our teenage years. i consider them my closest friends whom i can tell anything to...yes, all those kiss and tell stories that victor loves to listen to, and all those tearful break-up stories that none of them actually wanna hear, but are compelled to listen to. it's kinda amazing how close still we are, given how different our lifestyles have become. we always try to meet up once a month, or at least to celebrate one of our birthdays. they used to come over to my room back in the hall, and we would just drink beer the whole night (btw darren, sorry about the couch you left in my room that time...the puke stain on it was from victor). but ever since victor got married to his childhood sweetheart from the class downstairs (in rv), it's been more and more difficult getting everyone together. and before you know it, the other 3 of us will be the godfather of a pair of pattering little feet...which means even less time together. cherish the moment guys.

raffles hall my-batch-gang: melvin, jason, joseph, jwoshi, adrian (aka "goon"), wayne, wen yao, steve (aka "stove"), boon kiat and adam (aka "channel-u-star") were the people who i lived and hung out with for 4 years in nus. friends are friends...but somehow, when you actually stay with someone, it kinda makes you feel like family. you get to know a person so much deeper and better...melvin is the clean-and-neat freak (he's still got the freaking plastic protective cover on his laptop that he bought 6 months ago), jason is the wannabe-different freak (he put his freaking bicycle on his shelf in his room), joseph is the i-hate-daylight freak (he only came out of his freaking room to eat and take exams), jwoshi is the man-of-few-words freak (he still amazes me with the freaking silence sometimes), goon is the freaking gay of the group (he was my "roommate" in first year...now you know why i freaking stayed in kat's room most of the time right...haha), wayne is the freaking lawyer of the group (freaking enough said), wen yao is the mahjong freak (he's damn freaking good loh), steve is the mosquito freak (he's always buzzing around being freaking irritating...especially when we play bomberman), boon kiat is the tall freak (still is), and adam...hmmm...well, let's just say that he made the girls freaking loud. haha. anyway, we still hang out quite a lot...when everyone's in town at least (except for adam...he's too busy to give joseph cheap but noisy thrills...sorry, personal joke). even when everyone's everywhere (china - boon kiat, vietnam and cambodia - joseph, australia - soon to be for jason, switzerland - soon to be for sky, and anywhere - first officer melvin), i know that we will always be in touch with each other. it's a family affair.

raffles hall my-junior-batch gang: there are so many of them that i was close to that it would be impossible for me to list out (like alan heng, alain - aka "ah ming", ashvin, junren - aka "cao", carol pu, charpin, damian - aka "jay chou", darren - aka "bestfrendarren", alain - aka "ah ming", emril - aka "abang em", guek ee - aka "ah guak", kean hong, kek chin, kevin, kee chong, mandy, mike - aka "bestfrenmike", ravi, sin lei, stanley, suthesh, tugk - aka "bestfrentugk" and tim...so many how to list out). actually, i just attended a house party organised by charpin. it was really great seeing so many of them together...i took some pictures that i will upload tomorrow (i left my camera in the car). the gathering was organised as a farewell party for bestfrendarren. he's going to hong kong to start up a branch there for his company. he's working for this company that sells corporate tickets for sports events. i actually thought of joining him there a long time ago, but the thought of working with / for a friend just seemed too awkward...office politics, backstabbing, etc, etc. i'd rather not take the chance...not for all the money in the world. anyway, i was sad that he's leaving, but in the words of bestfrentugk: "i know that our paths will cross again someday." friends. what would i do without them.

(p.s. - to all the other friends not in a gang...there's a new group called the i-wanna-visit-sky-in-switzerland gang coming up in january. membership is exclusive and is only limited to friendskys...that includes chen fye, lee hsin, anthony, audrey, jaime, nelle, jean, marvin, may, winnie, pat, joey, sherine, annabel, betty, etc etc...please apply asap to avoid disappointment...)