Friday, July 18, 2008
18th July 2008 was the registration for NIE freshies and I went back to help out with a few of my classmates to help out. Juz and his girlfriend had everything under control for the booth and the most I did was to help them change the $50 into smaller notes. Kept my junior from acs(I), Daniel, company all the way from 2pm till 4.30pm as it was really a long queue just trying to settle all the adminstrative matters. I never had to encounter such a long queue before last year and it took just 1 hour for me, jaron and philip to settle our registration.
After I found out from Saha and a few of the acs(I) ruggers that daniel is coming to NIE pess, it's only natural that I give a hand to him and whatever advice I can give as well. University is a whole new ball game for any guy who had just finished his national service. It's a world that waiting to be explored and it's sometimes best left to the individual to explore it himself/herself. However, it would be handy if there's someone on hand for guidance and to share whatever experience they have. I'n not saying that I've got a wholesome lot of experiences on my hands but after 1 year in NIE, you more or less know roughly what's going on, the dos and don'ts and the stuff to look out for.
Back in jjc when I first entered the college, it was a terrifying experience for me and a few others from acs(I) who didn't make it to acjc. Culture shock it certainly was and we didn't know what to expect. Along came this senior whom I'll alway remember - Ben Phua. I was wearing my acs(I) rugby shirt and taking part in a soccer game when he approached me and said hi to me. The rest is history because I've learnt alot from him, simple stuff like simply how to survive the 2 years in jjc. I mean there's something to look forward towards in school like passing your promos because you wanna get promoted to JC2. Doing just enough to get into NIE for me is another motivation and jjc isn't that bad after all when I look back at it. These are all lessons in life that one has to go through, it's just a matter of when and I'm glad I went to jjc.
So it's all about passing the baton around to those who need help. It helps alot that I knew Daniel when we were both in acs(I) rugby although I was a more of a waterboy back then. After he left for acjc, there was no more contact until I heard about his posting to pess from the ruggers in my batch. So there I was queueing and talking about life with him for close to 2.5 hours and walking over to chat with omar as well. To my surprise, I saw my long lost friend from acs(I), Mustapha, at the registation too. Still looked the same except for a different haircut. It's really good to see familair faces around in campus and it all boils down to the same old logic - no matter where you go, there's always ac people around, be it singapore or overseas.
The last time I've seen Mus was back in the jjc days where we had a squash friendly with tjc and I played against him. It was a specially arranged match cause it would be silly to leave without playing my friend. Yes I did won the match but it was a hard fought 3-2 win. However, results weren't the order at the end of the day. We both wanted to win but had fun doing it and that's what mattered really. After that, we were busy with the a levels and army and who would known we will see each other at university. It calls for a good lunch with this bunch of people when school reopens.
1 year is gone just like that and come to think of it, me, jaron and philip were really like lost children during the registration and briefing period. Still remember vividly how we were unable to find the foundation office and leature theatres for our briefings. Now all of us know the campus at the back of our hands. Holidays are going to end soon and you know what, I really don't mind school starting - minus the endless 3k essays that is. Exciting days ahead indeed.
