Brenda Yap

1. You'd rather stay in than go out, or have friends over, rather than drive out to some crowded mall for dinner.
2. Weekends used to be spent wandering around shopping malls, but you prefer to stay in, cuddle and do house chores these days. It actually gives you a sense of accomplishment.
3. You can cook. Not just Maggi mee, but actual dishes. And you help your mother out in the kitchen.
4. You get excited about setting up a new bank account so you can manage your own finances and transactions.
5. You feel proud that you can treat your parents to meals, and not just using saved up money that they gave you, but money you earned with your own time and hard work.
6. You have a ton of bills to pay and to contribute towards - utilities, mobile phone, petrol... You don't want your parents to pay for that much anymore, because it's your own responsibility now. No more frantic calls to dad from the mall, asking Dad, can I please buy (insert item here) on the credit card please?; you just charge it to his card, but you pay him back the following month.
7. You meet your client(s) and have to stop yourself from calling them Aunty/Uncle, because they are now Mrs/Mr ___. You have to be professional, you're an employee now, not a student anymore!
8. When you first started work, you used to feel excited because it was a new phase in life, but now you dread the long hours. You have become one of those people who preach to others, Make sure you enjoy your student years, because it will probably be the best time of your life.
9. You go back to your primary/high school alma mater to watch a school production, and see your ex-teachers and they ask you when you are going to get married, and you can actually answer maybe soon, in fact, that's my boyfriend just over there and not get mocked. You also realize that some of those teachers have known you since you were a 6 year old crybaby. You actually feel incredibly nostalgic (I went to the same school for 11 years). (Btw, Cempaka School's Box Office Production this year, Beauty & the Beast was good! I was pleasantly surprised and impressed! Now why wasn't I that talented when I was a teen...?)
10. You've been in a relationship that has lasted over the duration of 2 World Cups already.
11. You met your boyfriend when you were still a teenager. (I was 16, he was 21; and now I'm going to be 23 this year (What?!!), and he'll be.. Well, you do the math.)
12. You constantly look back and wonder where ALL the years went and feel nostalgic about it. (Yeah yeah I know I'm not really that old though, but it does feel like time is flying way too fast for me to catch up with!)


Wow I really do love making lists. I could go on and on and on but for this blog's sake I should stop.

Looking back, I think Cenfad was one of the best times of my life. Well, of course I loved being a kid and being spoiled crazy by my parents; getting Polly Pockets and Barbie Dolls all the time and scolding my maid til she cried even though I was only 5 years old (I was horribly terribly spoiled and I'm so glad I am not that person anymore). Form 4&5 at Cempaka was great too; failing Physics and Chemistry for midsems and midterms when I had never failed anything in my life, and finally after great teachers, extra classes and tuitions I managed to rise above it. But my 11 years at Cempaka is a different story. :)

And now I am in Australia, I've been here for nearly 3 years and still I long to go back to those old times. Sure, the people there appear to be snobbish and stuck up, artsy fartsy people tend to do that; but the people at Cenfad were nice. Great friends, great tutors, laidback environment, and I learned so much there.

I learned that I was a spoiled private school kid, who could hardly understand a conversation in Malay even though I had studied the language for 10 years; that I could love someone so much more than I loved my ex; that I could make models and that I was a pretty good presenter, even though I was terrified of public speaking at school; that I could speak up and not be shy even though I was the most shy person before; that I was just a child even though I thought I was mature then.

I modelled a garment for the 2005 Icon Show exhibition because my classmate had to pull out. I was the worst model ever (short, all 5 feet 0 inches of me, and I think I was doing well until the actual walk when I got terrified seeing all the cameras flashing and all the people!). I made friends with people who were incredibly different from my usual friends (but of course I love you all still!), learned to speak Malay rather fluently if I say so myself. I was the baby of the bunch yet I landed the oldest guy for my boyfriend.

And a week ago, on the 4th of October, I realized that we have been together for 5 and a half years. (Can you believe that our first date was on 040404? Damn suay date right!) What an achievement. And I will forever be grateful to Cenfad for bringing me to Wazir - I don't think we would have crossed paths otherwise. We're of different ages, different habits, different lifestyles, different neighbourhoods.

Thanks Wazir for still standing by and loving me even though I whine and complain; even though (part of) my family is the most clingy and needy family ever (all girls ma); even though we are miles apart because of my decision to study overseas, and for coming to Australia even though it wasn't within your plan; for giving me support always even though I am the emo-est crybaby. I can go on forever but I won't... Lol.

I love you. :)

Just before we left for the airport.