Sup3rnality

I just came back from the post office, went there to send in my payment and photograph to IIUM for the commemorative book for the Class of 2009. It struck me just how not long ago I was just walking the hallways of the IRKHS, going up and down the Batu Caves stairs, getting to classes on time, and living in a college. It wasn't that long ago.

What, it's been like, 6 months ago? Half a year? The number sounds like quite a few, but it wasn't that far back that I had trudged to the maze-like pathways of IIUM. And now I am working, earning my own living, paying my own bills, have my own car which I am paying for, and just surviving day to day by my own means. Where has the time gone?

Because, when I think about it, it seems like a lifetime ago.

It's funny, to think that it feels like only yesterday, but it also feels like it happened to another person, in another life. It's unexplainable.

As I sat eating my lunch and reminiscing, some memories come flooding back:

• 25th May 2003, 6 years to the day, my family and I, drove from Shah Alam to Section 17, Petaling Jaya, where the Holy Grounds of the Matriculation Centre, UIA, stood. As soon as I entered the AMF, I asked myself "What have I gotten myself into?". And the first person I talked to in UIA was rude and a snob. Hmmph.
• Meeting Zaza, my first roommate in UIA. We both were so innocent then. I remembered Zaza in her baju kurung and big, slip-on tudung, as we made our way to the topmost floor on the Zainab college.
• Had a horrific ta'aruf week. My shoes were uncomfortable and melecet in a dozen places. Hardly had the time to bathe or wash clothes, so we wore the same baju for a week. Had no time for food, so I went hungry on most days. And on a day that I did eat, I got food that had gone bad, and also had a soya bean drink that was already basi.
• One time, I almost left the room topless, and I have no idea how, but I put on my tudung and forgot my top... Thankfully Zaza was in the room to stop me.
• After ta'aruf, not having seen guys for a week, I went out with my friends and was half-drunk by the sight of guys walking in the street. I wound down the window of Iylia's car and waved at any cute guys passing by in.
• Meeting Julia for the first time. She connected me to the rest of the BENdit crew, so I remember her most of all. In the dingy classroom underneath the restaurants, I turned around to the girl behind me whom I heard Ms. Adlina calling 'Julia', and asked her whether she was 'Julia' and whether she knew anything about being exempted from taking English, since I saw her name on the list.
• I remember my camaraderie with my roommates, the actual ones and the extended ones. There was myself, Zaza, Kak Ziana, Shikin, Nurul, Halem, Ira, and Liyana. Imagine the tiny ZC room being stuffed with double the number of people. But we had good times. Like that time on Shikin's birthday and her brother (also Nurul's boyfriend) bought her a Secret Recipe cake. The frosting tasted weird, so we scraped it off and had a food fight. Oh, and that time when I did not realize there was a bowl of yong tau foo on the floor, and I jumped down from my top bunk and right onto the plate. You would not believe the extent of the splatter of the soy sauce. It went high up the wall where I could not reach to wipe clean. It splattered on my roommates' clothes and towels, and notice boards, and books...but not in the slightest did it touch mine. It would seem as though I was trying to sabotage their things... Thankfully, Halem and Nurul were in the room as witnesses.
• How we all (BENdits) trooped into an empty classroom and took a marker pen we found and started writing things about UIA that we didn't like. Sarah was the one doing the writing... and when we have written too much, and wanted to erase it, only then did we realize that the marker was actually permanent. We crossed out what we can with the marker pen...and hurriedly tried to leave the scene of the crime...that was when Sarah yelled "Fingerprints!", and proceeded to wipe the board :P It was a laugh riot.
• Our Lepak Place. It was a very comfortable group pow-wow nook that we went to eat, joke, talk, sleep... But the important word here is "comfortable". It was such a nice place to be in between classes and just have some like-minded company share a laugh with you.

There are so many things that I can talk about, and thus far, I've only covered a part of my experience in Matric. I haven't even gotten to the main campus... I could fill a book. But for now, this is it.

Can't believe that it has already been 6 years since the day.

Love,

Linzy