Ode to bygone times

Maybe it's a weekend where nothing in particular happened (unless u count our spectacular implosion on the soccer field; more on that another time) ,maybe it's e fact that life's getting increasingly complicated. Maybe it's e fact that I spent the greater part of an hour digging thru old memories and old photographs, but it struck me that the only thing worse than feeling nostalgic, is feeling as though all that happened to someone else, that life has never been anything but like this. And I am well and truly along that path now...

So before these last vestiges of memory get swept away and drowned in what is to come, here's a last ditch effort to rememebr those days, first in RI; when friendship was mostly simple and uncomplicated. When guy-gal relationships were so rare that to be in one meant instant targetting and whacking by all and sundry. When cricket was the sole love of my life, and a more rewarding love I can scarcely imagine. When heart to heart talks entailed detailed discussions on how to defeat Diablo, rather than how to repair a broken soul. When team spirit was so high, so pure (with some notable exceptions) that we would gladly risk pneumonia, injuries and mothers' wrath to train in e pouring rain, just for the joy of the game and each others' company. When we would plot all manner of death and devastation on opposing teams knowing full well that they would eventually get the last laugh on us. Those were the days indeed.

And in RJ, a middle ground, but still probably the best 2 years of my life. The slow, inexorable path to freedom, though still much less than everyone else. The realisatin of what true friendship is, the realisation that those of us mediocre in talents need to make up for it in other ways; and finally how to take responsibility, and do it despite not getting anything in return. The introduction of gals, and their subsequent transition from otherworldly creatures to fellow humans, friends, and then best pals (in that order! haha). Of course, not forgetting the one gal that made all this happen; all that we went thru together. The major events, both Kalashatvams and Orientation, that forged me into who I am now; I've yet to find anything since then that meant as much to me. Times when we were still boys and girls, not men and women. Times when words did not need to be guarded and conflicts were simply argued out and forgotten. Oh the signs of adulthood and its ugliness were there, but they were just that; prodromal signs instead of the full blown disease.

I think there needs to be a part 2, for there's still so much yet to be discussed. For tonight though, this is enough. Memories always favour the good over the bad, simply because we forget the bad, and there must have been lousy days aplenty back then too. I'd still rather be there than here though... Will there ever be anything like that again? Wouldn't count on it.

But on the other hand, back in those days, I didn't know some of the ppl who truly make life worth living, and though I knew some of e others, we weren't close then. So the present has its perks too heh.

Replies:
J-nez: I went running at home man. Unless u wanna run in Clementi heh...
Nat: =)
Huis: I sure hope so =)
Clare: *cough cough* happy april fool's day to u too :P
Xinyi: Nose back to normal shape and function, thank goodness haha. Lunch real soon!
TOusif: Aye aye skipper!

"No, I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in a world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith. And that, I fear, for any reasoning, conscious being, would be the cruelest trick of all."

-Drizzt Do'Urden