17 again

I forgot it was so simple.

Being crazy, acting kecoh, wasting money, vandalizing, laughing too hard – happy are those who are 17, and lucky are those who have not forgotten how to relive it.

Roya and I had the blessing to be the latter today. We went back to our alma mater – SMK Subang Utama for its Hari Keluarga and man, it was a whole lot of fun. The best part is, I am not even sure why. Seems to me, after certain retrospection while shampooing my hair just now, that all we did was just wasting too much coupons on sugar, talking too much during the magic show we decided to catch, recognizing people that we probably never knew (though we weren’t sure), posing stupidly for too many pictures, drooling over the students’ “I ♥ SU” t-shirts (OMG I SO THE WANT ONE!!!) and generally trespassing into all the places that we shouldn’t be at (nyahahaha five years in a place which never has enough pas keluar in a class forces you to know the secret entrances and exits).

It was a trip down the memory lane. We visited old classrooms which, by the look of it, still get the same treatment from students even after all these years – for example, there are still dried tissue papers stuck to the ceilings and the paint on the lab tables was partially peeled off. We scoffed at the newly built blocks that are sitting on what was previously our hockey and volleyball court. We laughed at all the notice boards of clubs and societies, and went o.O at the fact that Interact Club marked a “Count-your-eyelashes-day!” and “Say-Hi-to-A-Bug Day!” on their club calendar. We read tables well-scribbled and commended the authors/artists/wordsmiths efforts in keeping up with the fine traditions of Xpressing Yourself. We bumped into our ex-teachers and the canteen lady, and they all said that we looked the same after all these years.

Oh, and we thought that Taylor’s College should learn the word “overkill”, because its name popped out all over the school, on every signboards that it sponsored. And boy, it sponsored A LOT of signboards.

It was our school. Those were our tables. There sold our favourite Nasi Goreng Pedas – still the best nasi goreng ever, IMO. Granted, something is different about the school. The wall murals have changed and looked more gorgeous than ever, the toilets have been renovated and looked tackier than ever, and well, Roya observed that kids are getting hotter these days. That is true – everywhere we look there seems to be teens of mixed ethnicity (probably the exotic kind) on the loose.

I miss being 17. I miss my friends. I miss being kecoh with them in school. I miss playing ballet/hip-hop/feng-tau football. I miss recess time. I miss all the dingy bengkel and back-breaking stools in the lab. I miss complaining about them with my friends. I miss having angka giliran (almost forgotten the existence of that word). I miss being nerd with my species Tau Foo and being sarcastic with my other species VV. I miss face-painting during Hari Keluarga and got a bad sun-burn and freaking Wan Qi out.

Viva la 17!