familiarity

being back at ac today felt so right in a way I didn't expect. I met eunice at breadyard at one-north. It used to be in sutd before sutd relocated to changi, and all of us hung out there quite a bit as it was really near school. i remember a photo I took of Joelle mow Joel and Aaron I think, with aarons face pressed up against the glass as I think Alex and I were leaving and they were saying bye or something of that sort. And hanging out with denise and cla one of the days after school and also we had a b&m lunch there with mdm. It doesn't feel like 2 years, in that these memories are still really clear and distinct, but then again it feels like a long time ago, just because so much has changed since then. 

catching up with eunice was really nice. I just felt like heading to ac after we had lunch. I forgot that we could walk to ac from one-north and eunice laughed. it was just good to be back. Walking through the gates today felt the same as the many times we walked back to school after meals at wahchee or breadyard or starvista to study for another couple of hours, or for a council meeting, or to prep for some event we were planning, or just to hang out. We walked by the art room, to the sac (where we bumped into mr jamin jeow and he asked where my angmoh boyfriend is lol) then headed up to walk along the corridors of the classrooms. 

I remember sitting outside the art room painting till dark (this only happened once when I was doing the painting of my home gate lest joel reads and tells me that I closet and I didn't actually spend nights in the art room), but also hours drawing in the art room and talking to farlow, and spending the whole first year of IB sitting in aircon and not working lol. I remember painting ugly strawberry girl when dom came by to hang out. 

The benches outside the art room was where alex and I hung out and studied and talked about life. and boys. And I remember when we would study till we were bored and we had a phase of running around school, I don't think it lasted very long but hey at least we tried. And to think back now that's where our friendship started, during the seniors' farewell dinner where we somehow sat together and also discussed what to wear extensively on whatsapp together. I distinctly remember sitting by the pond and watching the koi fish too, I think it was with alex I can't remember. I miss her tons, another trip back to AC would be crucial when she gets her butt back from London I haven't seen her in close to a year. 

The SAC where most breaks were spent with classmates, and banmian, hakka noodle, wanton noodle soup, soy bean pudding, almond jelly, ice lemon tea, tehping, and having our pullovers smell of fried food on wednesdays, and still smelling of food every other day too. Also buying mdm tea from oasis, and I remember Joel wanting to buy her coffee so she will go hyper during b&m cos I think she did once. 

The classroom corridors, I remember sitting along them and reciting and recording english ioc again and again and again, sometimes with earphones plugged in when people got too much and I needed alone time, rushing along them to get to classes, getting hugs from schoolmates from other classes along them, making eye contact with crushes and smiling, I remember once a few of us took mops/broomsticks and pretended to be wizards on them and ran down the corridor. 

5.14/6.14 where I was blessed with a really good class of people that still bother to meet up (mostly because Jiawei is awesome and organizes meetups). I remember finding it really hard to fit into my class and hating being in ac because I felt really out of place for the first few months, but after wearing the pink wow shirts with a huge luggage tag across the front together, how could we not have forged legit bonds? (seriously though why did we think hot pink was a good idea why not like robin egg blue or something) but on a serious note, I've found friends that I really do treasure though I haven't been the best at keeping in contact, I am still thankful for them and I know that if I were to need anything they'd be there for me, and I would be here for them too. also for Mdm Angela Ong for being a great pct the two years and putting up with us :) 

Studying with a bunch of friends close to ib, coming to school in pajama pants with lua and mow, I remember also mow bringing a blanket to school and sleeping under it halfway when she was studying, going across the street to buy bubble tea/waffles when we got bored. 

The Astro, where many intense conversations were had, lying down on the fake grass and feeling really tiny compared to the huge night sky. Also horrible times of having to organize the whole cohort for the cohort photo was a nightmare that I wouldn't want to relive. 

Other very distinct but random memories: 

Sharing a tub of ben and jerrys chocolate chip cookie dough with dom for dinner at the old amphitheater and talking about life 

Sitting with Darren outside the art room/ outside the sac playing 'dots' on my phone

Giving barn some exam pack at the pull up bars 

Preparing for tok presentation with nic during one of the weekends and I think Eunice asked us to share a pack of food cos she thought we were a thing 

7D dried mangoes in math class with Aaron and generally just sitting next to him in math class

Seeing Santi before papers outside the Audi and somehow feeling comforted by her presence 

Eating hello panda and studying at the benches with alex 

Council morning duty, walking around with Mattheaus, I remember we did this thing where we tried to guess the number of siblings that each councilor had and which number child the councilor was

familiarity feels really comforting.