Thursday, February 28, 2013

Valentine's day


So you know how i wrote about being in a mixed school and how valentine's day was coming and all?
Well, valentine's day was pretty good i'd say
First, we had the best morning devo from one of the vice principals who told us his heart wrenching story of young love.
Then we went for lessons and did normal stuff like that except you'd see people holding things like cupcakes and flowers (aw)
Since my OG was going to play secret valentine, I'd prepared my gift (smily faced cupcakes) for my secret valentine, Chun tat.
And at recess i gave them to him and he said they tasted nice. I got a teddy bear that said "You are special" from Michael, my secret valentine giver, and a few hershey's kisses from Chee Meng and Shi Cheng, which are probably still in my bag right now.
There were a couple if microphones and people would go up to them and say a variation of "Would XX come here?" or "I'm single"
In our group there was also a guy who gave a special present (not in the secret valentine game) to anothe girl in my group (double aw) and thought she refused bashfully at first, later she accepted it. (triple aw)
Afterwards, when they sold heart shaped balloons (1 for $2.50), some people in my group bought them, and one guy bought 10 for his girlfriend (25 dollars for balloons!) Chee Meng let me carry around his balloon because he said he was too lazy to hold it so it was nice being able to kind of parade round with a teddy bear and a balloon (which is superficial i suppose but it's the truth)
Our OG went out for ben and jerry;s ice cream afterwards to celebrate our singlehood (except for the guy with the girlfriend and some who were in a rush to get home) and our second last day as a proper actual OG
I'm just so glad i spent the day with my OG, it makes valentine's day so much more special when you spend it in the company of friends.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Chivalry


Once, in secondary school, my friend told me a story of how she'd once seen a nanyang girl in the rain without an umbrella, when a hwachong boy stepped forward and sheltered her under his umbrella.
For some reason,this story stuck with me, and i often brought it up in conversations when i lamented about how the levels of chivalry have slid drastically in people in general nowadays.

That's not to say that i haven't encountered any gentlemanly guys, on the contrary, there are those who will offer to carry your stuff for you, offer to buy you a drink, pull out your chair, hold open the door for you, or even just let you go first in a queue, all small things that always strike me as really lovely gestures.

Still, this only happens with people I've known for a while or who are in my church or who have some relation to me. (of course this isn't to say that their acts of gallantry are in anyway discounted)

But i still really wanted the day where a perfect stranger would perform a chivalrous act that would convince me that spontaneous gentlemen still exists. And here's where my story begins.

So, after day 3 of orientation, i received a text from my dad saying that he could pick me up from school. And so when my friend asked if she could borrow my umbrella, i didn't hesitate to give it to her, since i assumed i'd only have to run in the rain for a few seconds to get to my dad's car.

Then, my dad called to ask me to go and wait for him at the bus stop.

And it was pouring. And i had no umbrella.

Thankfully, I had a friend who could share an umbrella with me as far as the junction, but after that i was all on my own in the pouring rain.

So i stood, waiting for the green man to flash, trying to look like i didn't care that my new bag was getting wet, and then getting worried about that and trying to look pathetic and cold.

And just before the green man turned on, a complete stranger from the school came up and said "Do you want to shelter under my umbrella?"

Of course, i accepted and had a dry crossing, with my mysterious saviour, who was from a different orientation clan and from clementi town secondary originally. Unfortunately i didn't get his name, but i just want to say

Dear Stranger,

although you'll probably never read this, thanks a billion and one for sharing your umbrella and salvaging the reputation on the 21st century male.