the 29 people i met in 15 hours

It was MOE Excel Fest on 6 March 2010 and we were at Suntec City for the Innergy Award Presentation Ceremony. Met most of my former Ps and VPs - Mrs Chia, Mrs Rathi, Mr Puvan, Mr Loh and Mr Koh. When Mr Loh saw me, he told the others that I shared at his new school what we're doing at NLS now. He seemed quite pleased :) Ms Quake, who taught me History in sec 2 and is now a cluster sup was there too. Also said "hi" to Mrs E Neo and Mrs Tan, both I worked with briefly.

GOH Ms Grace Fu was exceptionally kind. She did not "grill" me with too many questions :) All award recipients had to attend the tea reception with the GOH to "mingle" with her. I thought I'd just walk around (preferably away from the GOH but within the "VIP Zone"), eat and try to look intelligent. But the official brought me to introduce to Ms Fu! Thank goodness our project was simple and real enough for me to explain and impress :) Ms Ho Peng, Director-General Education, stood next to Ms Fu the whole time and kept nodding. That was very reassuring. Thanks, Ms Ho.

Also bumped into Chew Lee, who saved me $14 for parking, Ghee Han, Qinyu and Lestin. It is nice to bump into old friends unexpectedly.

After the ceremony, Mrs Chua, Hai Siang and I went for lunch at Imperial Restaurant at the Fountain. For some reason, this lunch was not awkward at all. I am so lucky to have them as my P and VP now. The only other P I had lunch with previously is Mrs Rathi. She coached me for the HOD interview and lent me a thick file and then drove me out to have lunch. How nice and sincere can an ex-boss get?

Caught up with Soraya at Raffles City for coffee after that. We chatted, grumbled and laughed.

Next, to Paragon. My kind aunt has booked a massage appointment for me there. She often pampers me and I could really get used to that :) The massage did not turn out too great. The strokes were not hard enough and the room was a tiny bit too warm. But nonetheless, it was a relaxing afternoon I had.

Then it was off to Great World City to have dinner with Daniel Fan and Mun Mun. This was the celebration dinner for Daniel who has just completed his ACCA Degree. He is with IRAS now and would like to look for a tax job in the Big 4 or some other big companies. They were both excellent students in my class, diligent and polite. They're getting married next December. When we said "goodbye", I said "It is very nice to see both of you tonite and it is very nice to see both of you together. Stay together."

Last stop, Paradiz Centre. This is the first time I'm meeting these "kids" after they left school. This is my first form class, from 3A1 to 4A1 to 5A1. How did I survive those three years? :)

Sani, Kor Han, Sophia, Ci Hui, Bing Qing, Terrence, James, Fauzan and Danny. They have all grown up :) By this time of the day, I was pretty tired already but still enjoyed the company tremendously. Kor Han is back from Switzerland where he is doing his Masters. He is taking part in a furniture design competition on Monday. Good luck, Kor Han. James and Fauzan were there with their wives and Terrence turned up with his wife and son. We stayed at the Cafe till we were told to leave and that's almost midnight.

Danny asked the table what constitutes a good class? How can you tell that a class is a good class? He popped this question out of no where and the table fell quiet. I asked him if he had an answer in mind. I had one: A clean classroom. Before I could say that, Danny said, "A class that can still meet up after 10 years could be an answer." And I couldn't agree more.

Thanks Sophia for getting us all together for the evening and thanks to you lovely 5A1 people for turning up. I wish all of you happiness and good health.


By the time I got home, mum was already sleeping. But you were still there, of course. And that completed the day. Perfect :)