Green and white (backdated).

Played soccer at the alma mater today, the second time in 4 days. Today's visit completes a nostalgic week for myself in which i have truly decided to send my son here, no matter what. If i can't give him anything, let me at least be able to provide him the Josephian education and experience that i myself treasure so much..

It was Sachit's suggestion that we drop by SJI to meet the teachers and on hindsight, despite Colin and Edwin pulling a fast one on us, it was a brilliant decision to go. I felt as if i never left, as if i was still wondering around school in my all-white uniform.. We met Mr Azhar Ghazali, who still remembered my name and claims we bumped into each other at Al-Muttaqin mosque last year, even though it was in actual fact, years back.. Met Ms Periasamy who vehemently denied that she cried in our class even though she did lose it a couple of times, hurhur.. i guess we were simply too much to handle.. Met Mr Jeremy Liew who insisted that it was better to push drugs big-time and insisted that i do it (i chose to ignore the racial undertones and instead told him i was happy pushing pop corn at a random movie counter) hahaha the guy has always and will always be FOC. Also met Cikgu Rahimah, who remains as talkative as ever and got us mixed up with other batches, Cikgu Sirhan also made a cameo appearance and still hasn't lost the ability to make me feel ashamed of myself for smoking.. Last but not least we met Mrs Laj, our form tutor in sec 4 who said,
"I have given up screaming at Josephians because no matter how bad they behave, they seem to have 3 little angels sitting on their shoulders.. And when the exams come, these little angels will guide their hands",
the way she said it, it was as if she meant it and i guess in a way, she did. We were a testiment to that. Still, the touching part was when Jeremy Liew stopped by when we chatting with her and asked:Isn't it gratifying to see all your students in University? She positively beamed and her wide smile showed how proud she was of our class.. We were the original 'bad class who made it good' and I am glad i ended up in 4c2. The last class. My class.

This journal entry is a little tribute to my SJI experience.. the track soccer early in the morning which left us drenched for class.. the principal who taught us Maths and actually thanked us for handing up our HW..the childish streaks in each of us and the many many pranks we played on one another.. the inter class tournaments and those times we sat at the grandstand and tried to commentate.. a good laugh every morning at assembly, Bro Paul was such a charmer("I wun say who you are but (insert random guy's name here) pls stop talking in the front row").. the way we cheered any time any one scored in the inter class tourneys.. the school spirit and J-O-S-E-P-H-S cheer... the fact that ur seniors just come up to u and speak to u as if u knew each other from way back... Renaissance.. Annual Parade.. Dikir Barat.. How the Malays would get to go straight to the beginning of the Malay Food stall line... the amount of religious, racial tolerance and understanding..the wonderful teachers.. The legends like Mr Clement Fernandez and Mr Francis Loh.. and other good people like Mrs Laj, Mr Sirhan, Ms Periasamy, Cikgus Zarazila, Rahimah and Rashid, Mr Ghazali, Mr Lui Seng Cheong, Bro Mike, Mr Sng Ah Seng, Ms Lorraine Lim and Bro Paul of course.. The school building, the different parts and the corresponding experiences..

SJI is one of the few things in my past that I'm actually proud of. Sigh...