excellent 2-days-1-night Malacca trip. good food, good shopping, good sight-seeing, great conversation, good rest. i really couldn't have asked for more from a trip.

went to the recruitment seminar by Security and Intelligence Division (SID) with joanna, jenny and sarizah. turned out that quite a couple of my hons classmates went also.

i really surprised myself cos normally, i wouldn't even consider to go for such sessions reeking of propaganda. i guess i was curious about how the personnel would go about soliciting their future employees

turned out that the session exceeded my expectations. the conversations with the vocational representatives were rather intimate and informative. given the sensitive nature of their jobs, i felt that they have shared unreservedly whatever they could so as to provide us with not-so-patronising insights on the realities of working in SID.

but it has to be said that i'm a person who is easily satisfied. some of my classmates may beg to differ.

okie, this paragraph is expressed in a self-congratulatory, am-i-not-the-greatest tone. i fancy that i have the makings of a fine journalist. once or twice, i asked questions (admittedly trivial but nonetheless important in my humble point of view) and this gal whom i didn't really like didn't see the point and promptly stated why this was so. the representative sprang to my defence (okay, exaggerating here) and her subsequent answers to my questions showed that she understood where i was coming from. i don't have any evidence to back up my following claim but i fancy that she would think of my questions as relevant and not brainless.

got to know jenny a lot better becos she shared stuff that has been troubling her. i say, this's a wrong strategic move on her part (half said in jest, half said seriously) becos jenny and i have only had the opportunity to talk in an occasion prior to yesterday's.

"er, u trust us so much. u not scared i will go n spread the news around meh?" i asked. (joanna was around too)

"no lah...." she then paused, "oh ya hor, u r very the ba gua. i asked jennifer n she said she wont see u as prospect cos u so ba gua!"

i reassured her that her secrets would be safe with me.
i think people always feel compelled to talk, to share, to express what's inside their minds even to acquaintances who happen to know the fuller story and are willing to listen.
and yes, i am ba gua! i would much rather prefer to know all the dirt on what has been going on even if it means that i am subsequently burdened by the fact that i have to keep all these juicy stuff to myself and can't spread the gossip around

but somehow yesterday's mini class-outing made me feel that hey, all is not lost and perhaps, if fate and luck permit, i will gain a couple of friends whom i will keep in touch with after my final yr in NUS.

later went out with aida to catch up on his recent happenings. also tried out this horrrigble ramen place at Far East Plaza basement.

happened to see thomas, zhongquan and yongxian, kids from Sec 5/1, the class i was attached to for my school immersion programme last yr. zhongquan looks quite handsome with contact lens!

had a great 3/4-min chat with them. nice to know a bit of what they have been up to after anderson sec. nice to know they seem quite happy with their choices of poly courses. nice that they bothered to ask about how i have been doing, even if one takes the cynical view and says that they are just politely interested. nice to draw the inference that they don't seem to think that life's a bitch and a drag, even if the inference is based on my intuitions--which is of course highly dubious since i only talked to them for 3/4 mins. nice to know that they still keep in touch and that their friendships aren't as frail as i feared, even though really, whether they remember one another after sec sch is none of my business

had a good 3/4-min chat with shanshan too. nice to see how she can be formally dressed! but i didn't feel as shiok! cos hey, i would be seeing her this sunday for my song signing carolling session.

i hereby declare that 1st Dec 2003 was a day in which my faith in friendship was rejuvenated and nurtured to high high intensity!! :P