To be honest, the past few weeks have been rough for me. To compound matters, two of the best friends that I've come to know from my days in polytechnic are leaving for their studies tomorrow. The strangest thing is that my initial impressions of the both of them - Bingsheng and Jiasheng aren't exactly flattering. Yet is it not true also that many a time, our initial thoughts and assumptions on a given situation, on people, are very much mendacious and misleading.
And so I write this, in part a tribute to these two dear friends of mine, and more selfishly, to count my blessings, to remember, to keep faith. Indeed, my own limited and prejudiced ideas and assumptions are, and have been frequently proven to be, erroneous.
Well, first things first - Jiasheng. I believe I speak for most of my class when I say that he was thought to be entirely annoying. Imagine the first day in school, in a new environment, a new class, with new people, and an overtly enthusiastic individual steps forward and chides the class for being aloof, albeit in a joking manner, and continues to endeavour for a "bonded" class (on the first day of meeting each other mind you). That is Jiasheng on the first day of school for you. And his strategy to accomplish the abovementioned goal was though constant, utterly needless and gratuitous noise production.
Pain in the ass.
I didn't get to know a lot of people in my first two years; I was playing too much football, and I had my own affairs and commitments to see to. Year three though was when I got more involved and as a result, got to know Bingsheng.
What a terrible person: perpetually unhappy and grumpy, he could always find something to complain about. Worse, entire conversations (when he wasn't complaining about something) could go by with him giving monosyllabic replies - if one was lucky. Otherwise you would have to make do with a combination of intonated grunts and head tilts.
My initial impressions of them notwithstanding, they are truly remarkable individuals. I have honestly yet to meet anyone as tolerant as Jiasheng, with all the pranks and jokes hurled at him. Who could forget the hey gorgeous photo submission (an out of focused snapshot) with '我什么都没有, 就是又fit, 又俊, 又有钱.' as caption? And as a teammate for our final year project, he worked no less hard than anyone of us, although the running joke is that his sole task is to buy us siewmais while we slogged. I'm always proud to say that ours was a team that had no falling outs, no arguments, no resentment between the four of us.
Bingsheng has amazed me incredibly with just how much he's changed from a stoic, impassive brute to a someone unembarrassed to show affection even in public . All the crazy times in India, hunting down little religious figurines to ward off evil, the playing of the 大悲咒 in our room (both of which I teased him no end about), surviving on potato curry in the village of Mudhole, and then stuffing our faces silly after we got back to the city. All that shopping in Bangkok, together with Jiasheng, as we tried, in vain, to keep up with the ladies, and the fun times in Taiwan. In crisis, Bingsheng is someone who is just there: indomitable, solid - no words required nor requested, he would simply do what needs done.
There was the time too when the few of us, together with Joseph and Jordon, trained for enlistment, bought our army gear, cut our hair. How bright-eyed we were then.
And then of course, army. I have recounted much of my army experience elsewhere, and so I won't repeat them here. But I'm grateful for the buddies that I have made along the way, the people who picked me up, who had my back, who were by my side though it all. A very special shoutout to my 3 SIR buddies too. I wrote a couple of paragraphs about these tough men before, but never went about completing the post, so I shall simply copy and paste them here. Friday, 7th September 2012: ORD parade for the first year commanders of 14th mono, 3 SIR. This parade also symbolically rounds up the concluding chapters of a adventure that began more than 2 years ago. A journey that led me to do things that I'd otherwise never have attempted, to learn lessons and skills that I'd otherwise never have mastered, and most markedly, to know people whom I'd otherwise never have befriended.
I've been extremely blessed, this past 2 years, and it is in this spirit of gratefulness, of indebtedness, that I document my NS story here, lest I forget the tough times - but more encouragingly, the tough men who pulled each other through those times; the highs and the lows - but more saliently, the brothers who were there to share in the pleasure and the pain; the silly times - but most amusingly the harlequins who were there to jest with.
And now, university. I guess life is as such: moving from one set of challenges and obstacles to another. There have been instances when I felt overwhelmed and overcome, but from polytechnic to the army, from the army and for sure in university now too, I put my faith in the God who has brought me through it all, who gave me countless victories, who blessed me with genuine friends - people like Jiasheng and Bingsheng.