When you have days like this, it is a refreshing change to have a day like this:
I received a surprise visit from an old trainee one early morning last week. She dropped by my place to pass me a gift but it was the short note that came with the gift that made me smiled. It was simple yet meaningful, one that gave me the push to go on, especially on a mental-draining day..
But high standard? Not yet.. or not anymore maybe...
The good day was made complete when I saw some photos in my inbox later that night. Boy...I am so missing the underwater world!
Tomorrow is a significant date for one occasion and a date for one not-significant-anymore occasion. Get it?
15th January 1989
This was the first time I stepped into a school relatively near to my JB house, which I have previously heard as the best in Johor and one of the top ones in the country. I wasn't that excited at the prospect of being lock-up in a boarding school with some nerds, especially that my last year of primary was a blast with frequent get-together and parties with my then-gang, including some bad boys. Entering Desa Tun changed my life. I was too busy having fun with my girlfriends with all sort of activities from week one that my old gang were cut out from my busy life straightafter ..dulu mana ada handphones or emails to keep in touch kan. Boys disappeared from my social calendars too except for the occasional bump-into at shopping malls and my neighbourhood during weekend outings and school holidays. I was later told that the boys whom I was close to just the year before thought the school has changed me into a snob overnight. Oh well..
My only real contact with boys when I was in that school were just through those innocent pen pal letter exchanges with boys from other boarding schools or through random meet-ups during school activities like sea cadets, sports and visits. Nothing more and I wasn't bothered at all..
Anyway, looking back, I am glad that my dad decided to send me to that school. Or else, teenage pregnancy and dropping out of school might be on my life-resume, as how it turned out for some of my old gang (bless them). Yes... I was only 12 back then but for a period of time, I was mixing with the a wrong crowd of kids and it got into my head. Of course, life in STF was not all rosy.. I had lots of ups and downs there too but the 5-year stint taught me a great deal on true friendships and independence. I got myself involved in so many different types of activities and I was hardly at home during school holidays. Yes, the school gave me the opportunities to indulge in my favourite activities such as travelling. Sea cadet brought us to Woodlands, Pulada and Gunung Pulai for trainings, Survival camp brought us to Melaka, Handball brought us to Tun Mamat and Gunung Ledang while Titian Emas sent me to Sarawak for a few weeks as an exchange student. When I was in Form 4, I suddenly found myself with nowhere to go during one school break, so I bugged my Ustazah to let me join one national Kursus Nadwah which was held at SMAP Labu although I was not in Puteri Islam nor a Surau Committee. The trip turned out to be quite fun and my face got featured in a newspaper article anyway...hehehe..
Many non-boarding school leavers would ask and give comments like: what is so grand about being in a boarding school? Why are you (the boarding school peeps) are so hang-up about your schools and the past? You've left the school 5/10/15/20 years ago.. it is time to move on!
Yeah.. we have moved on alright. But that 5-year stint had made a huge impact in some of our lives, helped to mould the person we are today (be it good or bad) and the friendships made during those years were mostly true and unconditional ones that lasted till today (When my life came crushing down on me out of the blue one summer night in 2002, the first person who came to my rescue all the way from Nottingham to Sheffield was a good friend from school)... Hence, it is only right that we give a bit of time to commemorate those years... and that is what a bunch of us will do tomorrow night!
Remember Moero Attack? This show was a craze when I was in Form 2 that we would rush back to our common rooms after afternoon preps just to catch it on telly. We would then adjourn to basketball court (because we were basketballers at the time, not volleyballers) to practise all the 'somersaults' seen on the show... thank god nobody got hurt in the process!
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15th January 2000
This was the date when I got married 'officially' in Malaysia. Officially because.. we were already married 2 years earlier, at Regent Mosque, London with a male cousin acted as the wali and a few close friends as witnesses. We even had a good celebration that night with my then Guildford Street flat-mates cooking all sorts of food from nasi minyak to satay. The marriage was an open-secret back then and definitely out in the open and irrelevant now.. For all it is worth, of all the things that I have done and regretted.. tying the knot on that one spring day almost 11 years ago wasn't one. Even with all the things that had gone wrong, I still think that was the best decision that I have made in my life. It was the right thing to do back then and it was one that I made it myself (with him of course) without any external pressure.
Why am I disclosing this fact after all these while?
It is ancient history and irrelevant now but I just want to churn it out off my system once and for all, for the last time..heheh ;)
Since I was young, shark fin soup has always been one of my favourites. When I was still a JB resident, any family dinner outings to Holiday Inn's Meisan Restaurant or to a few seafood restaurants along Lido and Stulang Laut would be looked forward to with great anticipation. All my siblings loved it too so we would fight each other to get the extra servings or that of my mom's since she wasn't really a fan.
The craze over this chinese delicacy continued when we moved to KL and I counted myself lucky for a period of time since my then-marital partner couldn't consume the dish due to some ancient family believes. Whenever we go out for family dinner, he would have crab soup instead and his bowlful share would be mine, to the envy of my sisters.
Anyway, all that changed when I took up scuba diving less than a year ago. I became more aware that finning of this top predator of the ocean, thus reducing its population, can disrupt the ocean's equilibrium. More and more of its species becoming endangered each day... hence, a decision to stop eating shark fin soup was made without much hesitation..
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I was all excited during my dives in Sipadan waters just 2 weeks ago when I got to see white-tip sharks, alive in their natural habitat, for the first time in my life. At South Point Sipadan Island, I saw quite a number lazying around on the sandbed, not bothered by our presence, the scuba divers. And to top it (not without envy obviously!), 2 of my diver friends managed to encounter a whale shark just the day after, on their way back to Mabul from Sipadan. After seeing the photos (just to make sure they were not pulling our legs!), my excitement multiplied and was secretly hoping that I would get to see it too before the trip ended.
Photo by Mr Chotty
But, my cheerfulness was cut short later on the same day when I saw these...
I was made to understand that whatever I saw on that day were all legal. The activities were the main source of income for some of these locals and the meat and fins were for exports. But that didnt stop me from having a huge lump in the throat knowing that some of these sharks were probably 'brothers and sisters' of those I just saw at Sipadan a day earlier!
Last week, my heart sank further when I saw this article in NST..
Aduhhh... macamana boleh tersangkut kat propeller pulak tu???
Anyway.. friends and readers out there... let's join hands to stop or at least minimise shark finning by quitting shark fin consumption. When there is no demand, there won't be any supply right?
Please give my future sons/ daughters/ son in-laws/daughter in-laws/ grandchildren the chance to experience the excitement of seeing these sharks alive and kickin' in their natural habitats as how I did just a few weeks ago.... please?
