Deadpoet’s Cave

Today was my first packed day - besides the KL trip - that I’ve had in ages. I must say it feels good to get out of the house but at the same time, I’m quite mindful that I can’t have too many of these. Unless I find a source of income, temporary or permanent.

This said Saturday began with squash at Yio Chu Kang with Cheryl. I haven’t played squash since just after the exams. I’ve grown fatter since then, so I was quite slow today. Still, it felt great to exert myself a bit. And my competitive spirit/streak had a chance to be let loose. Cheryl has been playing on and off, and we’re both still evenly matched. I honestly thought she wasn’t playing 100% today. After about half an hour, I was really tired. But then, when I played in Melbourne, there were always a lot of people to rotate with. Today was just one hour non-stop squashing the ball. Damn, it felt so good…

Went home, showered, then went to Mount Alvernia hospital to visit Yani, Ben and baby Sophie. I didn’t stay long, and Sophie was asleep while I was there. She’s really adorable… So small and fragile. Truly amazing…

I then headed to Sixth Avenue for Nasi Bryani with Michelle and Sam. Really good to see Michelle again, the last time was at graduation, and prior to that was before she left Melbourne. Sam, I haven’t seen in a year or so. Bryani was excellent, just as I remember it… only not served on banana leaf. They claimed they ran out. I’m always surprised by my meetings with Sam. To think that we were not exactly on talking terms during first year in mass comm. Well, stranger things have happened in my life. And most people know that a similar dynamic existed between me and Damian for ages. How things change…

Lately, long lost friends have been getting in touch with me. I don’t recall mentioning it before, but a primary school classmate got in touch with me. He got my contact info from ICQ. So, when I got a strange SMS from Indo asking me if this is Kenneth Pinto, I was quite sure it was someone from COSDU playing around. Well, turns out the SMS was sent by an Indonesian guy who was my classmate in upper primary at Saint Anthony’s. He also found the link to my blog… which is how he discovered what happened to Miss Tan/Mrs Choo. He did want to contact me to see if he could get in touch with her. I’m quite sad he had to find out that way.

Anyway, still on the long lost friends road: I went for sunset mass after meeting Michelle and Sam. I hadn’t attended sunset mass at Risen Christ for ages. I usually attend 6 p.m. on Sunday or go somewhere else. I’ve never really got used to the new priests, the new atmosphere, the new surroundings. Nevermind the building, the church community I knew and loved had ‘disappeared’ for me ever since I was studying in mass comm. Those were low days, then I had the half year break before uni which changed my life. That change continued on in Melbourne. But returning home, it was hard to find my niche in church. It had become a building once again. One I wasn’t entirely familiar with (since the extensions were added) at that.

I saw Adrian Mak. As surprises go, this one ranks up there with my many birthday surprises. But that was merely the glint of sunlight through the crack of the window. Adrian was an altar server way back. He joined before I did. I joined in primary six, and got to know him then. He then went to SJI, as I did. And we were classmates in Secondary Three and Four. He quit the servers before I did, and we went to different junior colleges, which spelt the end of our keeping in touch. National Service brought us back together for two months. We were in the same Medic Specialist course. I’ve seen many sides of Adrian, and he was at one point, my best friend.

This guy is an absolute genius. How he never made it to medicine remains one of the mysteries of the universe. He was devastated to say the least. His application for dentistry didn’t go through, and he found out while at the medic course. But the Adrian I met today would probably have said that was God working in his life. He became quite withdrawn - so I heard - when I was in poly. I knew he attended mass at St Bernadette’s. And I suspect he, like me, stopped going for mass regularly at one point or another.

Back to the present: He told me he was doing his PhD in Chemistry. Did I mention that he learnt Tamil in class in between lessons? Anyway, I told him that he took another route to being a doctor. He said it was an even better route… Something was definitely different about him. Another surprise: he was a cathecist.

Digression: Now I have two old friends who are cathecists at Risen Christ. Lester and Adrian. Both Altar Servers. Both Josephians. Both know my aunt who is also a cathecist. (Oh, and Joseph Soh, who works with refugees, knows my uncle Gordon.)

Needless to say I was gobsmacked. He asked what I was doing, and suggested relief teaching. Said that he did it, and it was a life-changing experience. Anyway, he half-jokingly suggested I become a cathecist too. He was the second one to do that. No prizes for guessing who was first.

Mass. An unfamiliar priest said Mass - Fr. William Goh, professor at the major seminary. And the sermon was surprisingly fiery. He started off saying that the problem with the world today is amorality. Faith issues aside, he went from pro-PAP (paraphrase: as GCK said, if the family falls apart - goodness, the Asian values arguement. If only that was truly Asian, and there are universal truths). I was saying to myself at one point, it’s no wonder Singaporeans will never vote against the PAP… even church leaders are preaching their word from the pulpit. He even quoted, “regardless of race, language or religion”. THEN, he said that Jesus came to save us ALL, not just Catholics. Hmmm… agreed there.

From there, he swung to anti-government (or at least took a contrary view to the party in power) concerning the death penalty. That, he said, was not on. He did make good points about love and forgiveness interspered with highly debateable theological and political views. Anyway, I was seated in the gallery, looking down… and saw another Adrian. Fannster. Great! Someone from Melbourne to discuss the sermon with. Well, I’m quite sure Fr. Goh was not making a political statement of any sort. Still, it was thought and faith provoking stuff. Finally, a sermon that spoke to me… If I was a seminarian, the seminary would be all blood and thunder. Metaphorically.

Anyway, also spotted in the crowd: Adrian Mak’s and my fellow friend, Lester. Hmmm… We used to all stay in Bishan, so we’d go home after classes together, especially when we were in the afternoon session in Secondary One. Those were great days. Weekdays we saw each other in school. Weekends, we saw each other in church. We knew who was interested in whom. Ooops… reminiscing again…

After mass, Adrian and I chatted with Lester for a while. Lester, too, was surprised he became a cathecist. Adrian said it was a long story… We’re going to meet up to hear it. From the little he has revealed, I know it’s going to be very interesting, and would probably echo some of my personal experiences.

I went home feeling good about having attended sunset mass. It was no coincidence. Adrian said he hardly ever attended sunset mass too. For the first time in a long time, I felt community in church. My good old friends seemed not so far away, not mere figments of my memory… Chapters that I considered closed in my life have reopened. There are more pages to write yet. Having to leave COSDU opened a gap in my spiritual life. Perhaps that gap will be filled soon…

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A couple of days back, I attended a - don’t laugh - baby shower. Now, I’m not an expert at having kids, but I swear baby showers were for women only, and that they happened after the baby was born. I had a good time even though the reason of us gathering was still snug in her mum’s womb. One group of my mass comm friends were there. It was really good meeting up with them. The dynamic I have with each clique is different, but with the tequila bachelorettes, as they call themselves (an increasingly inaccurate term - and I’m an honourary member), I felt like I never left. Now, if Sophie could actually understand what was said that night… =P

Well, she has plenty of Godmothers to fawn and spoil her. And one Godfather who apparently is supposed to scare potential unwanted attention away when Sophie is older. The girls really have great imaginations. I’m really honoured to be considered a Godfather, as Catholic, and thus slightly incongruent in this case, that term is.

Obviously, our raucous gathering inspired little Sophie to say hi to the world a little earlier than expected. I was down at Mount Alvernia at about 7 p.m. We saw the baby at around 7.50 p.m. Looking at an infant, it’s both easy and hard to comprehend life. But right now, I remember the smile on Ben’s face.

Congratulations, Yani and Ben!

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i usually keep a travel diary but for some reason, i didn’t write in it while i was in gold coast and during my recent trip to KL. Reading through it brought back lots of memories. I kept a relatively detailed memoir of my time in hainan. The intention was to write while i was in KL. Unfortunately, late nites and diarrhea during the second half of the trip kept me from writing regularly. Anyway, here are some random highlights:

closed
We tried to go to the science centre on friday. They were closed for cuci (washing). Adrian Loo joked that that’s the reason everything there is rosak (spoilt)… always washing… water seeped into the displays…

My visit to Sunway was equally fruitless. Went on a tuesday. The one day of the week they were closed. The monorail was closed too…

sepang
Florence’s mum tried to drive us around the track before picking Joanne up from the airport, but the guard refused to let us in. He claimed that it was past closing time. Well, undeterred, I made another trip there after the failed attempt at Sunway…

They didn’t let us on to the track that day. The guard said it would cost a few thousand ringgit. Not having that kind of money, we decided to do the next best thing. Managed to park the car outside and walk in. For free! That was cool, going to the race track without any real restrictions. Couldn’t go onto the track, but the rest of the areas were open. Of course, you must be wondering, what in the world is there to see at an empty track?

Well, I was more than happy to have access to areas which I wouldn’t have the money to afford during an actual race. And the track wasn’t empty that day! They were doing testing for GT cars… and what looked like F3 or F3000 cars! =) Soooo coool! The sound brought back memories of attending the F1 races in Melbourne. I can imagine what race day will be like at Sepang. Amazing stuff… hopefully my dad can get tix for Sepang this year. Unfortunately, if I do, I’ll be seated in the HP corporate box… and HP sponsors BMW… Will have to keep my McLaren allegiance under wraps…

law & disorder
one of the bad (and good) things about malaysia is the apparent lack of rules. Things are haphazard and orderly somehow. Things are chaotic yet in control. But i (or nicholas, rather) had a brush with the law. We wanted to make a U-turn to go where we were going, but couldn’t. There was a place where you technically could, but it was clearly marked with a no U-turn sign. Anyway, we continued straight along and before we knew it, we were at the guardhouse of the malaysian parliament house. The guard, who must have been bored witless, proceeded to scold nick for lack of driving skills and a whole load of other stuff. After what seemed like 15 minutes, he finally let us do what he could have let us done without any hassle - make a U-turn around the guard house. It was an honest mistake… but one that could have been prevented if Nick made an illegal U-turn earlier. Which is what the other KL and PJ ppl said we should have done… =P

eat eat eat
it seemed like there would be no tomorrow every day. i ate and ate and ate and ate… my stomach just gave up. on sunday after lunch at ming’s, i felt really bloated. playing tennis that evening helped, but after that… nine-course chinese dinner with Adrian’s family and his family’s ‘friends’. Oh, and it was a private room, one table. Complete with karaoke set… *shudder* anyway, i ate… and had to go to the loo. the beginning of many visits over the next three days. the food was good over the week i was in KL but it was just toooo much…

first time
thanks for the cosduans’ visit, the locals have notched up plenty of firsts such as:
- first time riding the LRT
- first time riding the monorail
- first time on the petronas twin towers’ skybridge
- first time going up the stairs at Batu Caves
- first time going to the National Monument
- first time driving in KL city

(to be continued)

piracy

luggage

thanks
…to Adrian and his family for housing me and feeding me, I’m truly grateful. You are wonderful hosts!
…to Michelle and family, for organising the BBQ and plying us with copius amounts of chinese tea
…to Ming and family, for bringing us around your club and for organising the lunch
…to all those who drove us around and housed us, how would we have done without you?

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