memories of meridian

how soon 2 years in meridian have flown past. so many memories and so many more that i cannot recall now. so many new experiences. now's the time for a flashback: (WARNING: it's VERY long)

Admission and 1st 3 months: i remember the day i got the admission letter, monday 23 dec 02. so exciting. i wanted to go to meridian ever since miss lai came to sac and brainwashed us. on the first day, my first impression was "this place is so hot" literally. where's the trees? where's the grass? what's that thing there? oh, it's just the future field (under construction). it was my first experience with the world of guys. 10 years in a girls school has limited my experience with guys to the fellows at church and some of my teachers. remember the days in regulus 5 with maureen.how fun filled it was with the teachers playing the orientation games with us. i remember that the 1st 3 months arts batch only included 3 sacians, angie, priscilla and me. remembering the first choir auditions with mr yong. he asked me if i had a sore throat (which i had cos of cheering too much the day before). poor duan hui had to sing solo cos she missed the initial audition. but she made it! she and shok li were my companions. remember those horrible siglap students forever cutting the queue at the bus 358. but then, mjc was the intruder so we shouldn't complain. then, there was the formation of 03A101 under mr tang. i miss the 1st 3 months class the most. remember drooling over davin, singing happy birthday in 4 languages in mrs quek's class, bitching about mdm yew's 'bitchiness' (don't worry mam, we love you now!), doing 'midsummer night's dream' singapore style, running outside the school for pe and just having fun during recess and lunch. i made one of my best friends then, poh lin. remember that afternoon when she said to me that i was like her best friends in sec school. with that, we became friends. remember voting for the uniform colour. it was supposed to be blue-gray but it turned out more blue than gray. one of the guys wanted to sabo us and vote for purple. alas! happy days would not last. o-level results were released. goodbyes had to be said, brainwashing had to be done and friendships reformed.

2nd intake: i was in vega 1 for the 2nd orientation. maybe cos i didn't give vega a chance out of childish thinking, but i didn't enjoy it as much as the 1st time. vega 1 was where i met toh ying. what a cute girl. i built my friendship with her at the first meeting at the aljunied mrt. SARS struck. then, the formation of the new 03A101 with naresh at the helm. he was to be my econs torturer for the next 2 years (ok, he's not that bad). the new choir and new friendships were made. i met my major crush. remembering the memorable singing for arts festival at esplanade. what a memorable experience! remember the craziest thing i ever did at meridian. singing eres tu a-capella, quartet at the school soiree. i don't know how we managed to pull it off, so embarrassing. the pw days where we frantically rushed deadlines and dealt with crazy issues. poh lin and sumi and everyone else torturing my poor bear. the bear turned from yellow to gray, from fat to skinny. then there was the cold war poh lin, sumi and i went through. regrettably, it was not the only cold war we experienced. i don't even remember how it happened actually. thankfully, we all hugged and made up, our friendship pulled through. the choir competition and the trip to genting was wonderful. remembering the endless hours of practice in school and siglap, all the moaning, groaning, sore throats and precarious time management schedules (the promos were here) tightened the knot of friendship among the choristers. sharing a room with toh ying at genting, my first roller coaster ride, sneaking back to the hotel at midnight after breaking the curfew (we almost bumped into mr yong), singing at the festival and winning silver, silver, gold. how i miss those times.

Year 2: back to meridian. this time, as seniors with J1 juniors. so sad, having to share the school. suddenly the building seemed so much smaller that before. we lived under the shadow of the As, so not as carefree as year 1. remember the lit trip to england and staying back to study under mdm yew's supervision. how fun that was, surviving the eternal plane journey, freezing at lake district, scaring ourselves at york, plotting to burn down cambridge, hanging around london. i remember bra got so excited at the uncensored version of love actually on the plane. A101 shrank a little. we had now 2 maths teachers. i guess our dismal maths results and conduct during maths class prompted this move. Then, there was the choir concert with the trial by jury opera. the 1st full pioneer choir performing at our first concert in victoria concert hall. how great that toh ying's father managed to record most of the concert. it's a record for our efforts. doing the GP higher abilities programme. didn't exactly learn much from irving (he still owes me that crazy essay) but colin cheong's philosophy class was interesting. love meridian day and dancing in the LT was fun. it was probably the 1st big thing A101 did together as a class. then, there was duan hui and i spending countless hours on the phone discussing our various (still unresolved) guy issues. meeting the crazy juniors christy, shi yun, zophia...brightened up my life so much. remember collating that 4 page survey for miss ho. 4 pages! 18 people in class!!! it took me, poh lin and sumi 3 hours. then, there was the death-defying training for the napfa. at last, i got my gold! at the last napfa of my life. what an achievement. last school day at meridian was another brainwashing session and we FINALLY got to sing the school song, for the 1st and last time. A101 had econs lesson on the last day when everyone else was having fun. remember that crazy video clip where dr s was going to teach econs and naresh was going to teach shakespheare. one last hug, one last smile, ON TO THE A-LEVELS!

Today: today, the last time i'll be wearing the meridian uniform and badge as a student of meridian. i don't know what to say. the last 2 years had it's ups and downs. what a roller coaster ride of emotions. looking back at the times we laughed together, studied together, cried together, suffered together, ate together, played together. i'll miss it so much. after today, it's goodbye until our paths cross again. thank you to all of you who has made a difference in my life.

the Future: looking on to the prom, choir alumni, mjc opening ceremony (yes, the official ceremony is after the pioneer batch graduated), a-level results, hopefully meeting again in university.

this post is dedicated to all my friends in meridian: (in no particular order) A101, poh lin, sumi, duan hui, the GPALS, bra, kuok howe, lee mei, nga chi, maureen, zaidah, jasmine, toh ying, aisha, howard, sam, denise, lydia, cla, angie, mdm yew, dr s, miss ho, all my teachers, christy, reuben, adrian, michelle, wanjing, jeanette, the choir, cassandra, kok yong, jeffery, eugenia, wei ying (and snowy), jeanie, yue si, mickey, siew kia, hwee yee, chatarina, su san, shi bin, fatima, gladys, hafiz...(i've got brain block. if i've accidently missed you out, let me know and i'll add you.)