Chaotic Mess of Gray(Grey?) Matter

No doubt those who went to KTDI’s Publisher hi-dinner at Port Dickson
last weekend already wrote stuff about it, so I’m not going to be left
out of the bandwagon. A lot of things happened this weekend. So I’ll
start off in chronological order:

Prologue

It all started on a Wednesday actually, when a junior from the college
called me up and informed me of the hi-dinner invitation. Honestly, I
was less than enthusiastic about the endeavour seeing how I recently
got back from a week in KL prior, so my reply was:

"I’d think about it."

As fate would have it, my car dealer rang me up and finally popped the
balloon that the car documents weren’t complete. I was furious, I felt
like choking him through the phone to death. So begrudgingly, I hoofed
it back to KL (after my whole lab made a concensus of "Let’s go back
this evening everyone!"… evil me).

So back to KL I went, slaving through Friday to get the proper
documents done and settling the matter by 2.30 p.m. To make things a
bit jiggly, my laptop was, aforementioned, busted, so I had to send it
to the main distributor for a free repair.

I had to go through KL traffic and parking.

I hated that.

On the way back home, I had…. a feeling. Also the day of stress and
misfortune made me question a few things about myself. I needed an
answer. So I called up my buddy to confirm that I’ll be going to PD
anyway. I figured a week on the beach would do me good.

It wasn’t apparent to me at that time how right I was going to be.

Day One

So off I go to KTDI UPM the next day, with a slight detour to Kajang to
pick up my buddy. We got to the college, made up with the juniors and
was equally surprised with the alumni that attended as well. It was a
blast from the first second. I was propositioned to drive to PD while
following the bus from behind, but I was uber reluctant (money being
the main issue). Luckily for me, I wasn’t the only alumni that wanted
the bus ride (even if I was the only one, I’d still take the bus).

The bus ride to PD was… unbelievably unexciting. I fell asleep
because I got motion sickness. Hey, it’s been ages since I’ve been
cramped up in a bus suffering bumps and chatty people all around me.

So we got off at Dee Dee Villa at Teluk Kemang, and after settling our
stuff we got down to the living room and sat in a large circle
(actually it was after lunch, with some attempts from the female
juniors of "Abg Man, belanja?"… None of them got my money, hahaha)
and began the day with an activity I never would’ve thought I’d miss:

ICE BREAKING

This is the one activity that we took for granted and bored of when we
were students but being an alumni and doing this again is… is…
GREAT! (I lack a better word for it at the moment) Never had I guessed
that I’d actually miss ice breaking. On the plus side I get to know the
first and second years that joined up, since my final year in KTDI I
only managed to meet with the final years of the current batch (they
were first years back then). It brings back memories.

So, after that we did the only thing we could do: play. There were
group activities and the alumni joined in with as much enthusiasm (if
not more than) as the rest of the bunch.

I wish I could recount every single detail, but there was so much
happening at the time that it’s simply impossible to put everything
into words. But one of it was one of the first years managed to hook me
and a few other souls to go on a banana boat ride. I can’t swim, but I
threw caution to the winds and just went for it. There was someone else
that I invited as well, but she was very reluctant. *sigh*

Did I mention I can’t swim? Even with the life jacket on, I felt like
drowning after the banana boat went for a full half turn to disembark
us unceremoniously near the shore. Here’s another thing. I’m notorious
for even drowning with a life jacket on, but I didn’t. I learned how to
float there and then (huzzah!). Then I had trouble how to swim. Luckily
a buddy of mine gave me a few pointers and before I knew it, I was
touching sand beneath my toes underneath the waves.

Then the night came. Barbecue! That was the style of our hi-dinner. It
sure beats fancy restaurants and pimped out hotels, that’s for sure.
But what’s a bbq by the beach without….

KARAOKE!

I sucked, but I sang (sans-mic) anyway with the rest of the bunch and
there was even an alumni performance. We sang Widuri by Broery
Marantika… actually, only one of us really sang, the rest of us just
popped up during the chorus But still fun.

The I went for a stroll to the beach with two groups, one with juniors
and the other with my fellow alumnis. It was the second trip with us
ex-students that was exciting.

While walking on the stretch of beach at 1 a.m., we coincidentally met
a large group of people that was also from our college (imagine our
surprise when they called us out) so there was a big meeting in the
middle of the beach… in pitch darkness… at 1 a.m. Then the police
came. Here’s the funny bit of the dialogue that I participated in:

Cop: Ni dari mana ramai2 ni?
A few of us: Kami dari UPM ni cik, ader aktiviti sket.
Cop: Oo… kami polis ni.
Me: Ah.. ye la. Pastu?
Cop:…
Cop: Ader pompuan tak kat sini?
Buddy:  Eh, mana ader, kami sumer jantan ni cik!

The lucky bit was that there was not a single female in the group.
Otherwise, even though we were just talking, we would’ve been packed up
for sure. Excitement!

Then we got back, the karaoke was still strong, with a few faces that
went to sleep early waking back up again to take vengeance by singing.
Needless to say, we made a racket till the wee early bits or morning
and made a lot of people sleeping on the ground floor unable to get a
good night’s sleep. It was awesome.

Day Two

I’m a bit reluctant to write about today because me and the other
alumnis dreaded the day itself: it’s the final day before we go back to
work and face our own mundane lives again…

But write I shall, for every story needs an ending.

We begin the morning with aerobics. Yeah….. aerobics rocks when more
than half of the group fumbled the steps and influence others to do the
same Eventually a few people dropped out due to…. confusion but
those that stayed on made a pretty mess on the courtyard. I even had an
impromptu dance number with another junior that promoted woops and
whistles from the crowd. Hey, you only live this once.

That, and another mind game, then it was another round to the beach.
This time, the sun was high but we played on anyway. But I was a bit
more toned down since I was wearing my only pair of clean pants left,
so I ended up being a cameraman and shot some stuff these crazy kids do
(alumni are counted as kids too, even myself).

The pretty bit is when a group of junior girls started to ask me stuff.
Hahahoho. Question number one was when I’ll get married: I told them I
was single. SHOCK! They said I was lying: I said I wasn’t. DOUBLE
SHOCK! Then they asked me what happened: I told them. Apprehensive
silence with everyone looking a bit guilty. I just put on my smile and
waved it off by saying:

"Tu citer lama. Abg Man pun dah tak kisah sangat dah"

Spending the afternoon with a bunch of girls while the guys went
swimming with an extra pair of pants (damn!) was quite fun (extra wide
buaya-like grin here), though I didn’t go act like a buaya at the time.

Remember that banana boat reluctant person in Day One? Well, through a
series of weird happenstance she invited me to go kayaking. I had my
only pair of pants left so I had to decline. I was screaming inside my
head while forcing a smile. *sigh*

Final meet up. We played Secret Admirer since day one, and I got a guy
and another guy got me. A bit disappointed (correction: very) but it
was good fun. Then the final round table came up: I was choked for
words when my turn came up. I said my piece, but I had so much more to
say! But I just couldn’t. Here’s the final words that didn’t leave my
lips but I wish it did, I regret a bit not saying it:

"I love you guys, for giving me this memory to cherish. I wish time
wouldn’t stop so I could live this day forever, but things are not
supposed to be that way. I’ll miss all of you."

Yeah… tears.

The bus ride home wa exciting I picked up a spoon.

Epilogue

My ex sms’ed me that night. We chatted a bit, before she popped out
that she’s getting married in June. I smiled a small smile and
congratulated her.

Before this I was hounded in my sleep with dreams of her. Every single
night. Thus why my personality was a bit messed up. After that chat, I
dream of her no more.

I was free from that second on.

I can move on.

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