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Birthday : 18th Sept 1971
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Birthday : 12th Dec 1970
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First sighting |
| Corrine & myself first caught sight of each other during the NUS
Science Freshman Camp in Jun 1991. She was a senior & was part of the
Organising Comm, while I was fresh out of my two & a half stint with
the Army (Compulsory for guys in Singapore): where my 'wife' was a rifle
& my mother was the Company Sergeant Major.
Anyway, no sparks flew when we first met, just a few words of
"Who's that #@*%$ stupid guy blocking all our balls!!" ???:
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First Exchange |
| With the end of the first year's Exams (& clearing them at the
first attempt), we had plenty of time on our hands & had great plans
for the rest of the 3 month holiday. I was harassed by a friend (Kenny),
whom I had the privilege of performing guard duty with during my Army days,
to be part of the next Freshmen's Orientation Program .... specifically
the Annual Rag & Flag.
(The Annual Rag & Flag (RAF) event is part of the Freshman's Orientation program, whereby each faculty & hall would be required to build a Float (actually a mobile road hazard is a better word) & raise funds (for Charity) thru selling of flags. The best float & highest fund raisers get to win a trophy) So at the first meeting of the RAF committee, I was delegated to be the Rag Coordinator, in charge of the float building. The Flag Coordinator was however late for the meeting, so we waited ...waited ... & finally the VIP turned up, having finished her vacation job later than usual; she made it for the meeting: |
The Casting of the line |
| Sounds like we're trying to catch a fish .... well in fact it was quite
similar:
No sparks flew when we first introduced ourselves. It was work, work & work (for some of us....). Apart from Corrine (a.k.a. Air-head No. 2), there were others: Suraj, Woon Ling (a.k.a. air-head No. 1), Kenny Tey, Wei Yen (Now Mrs Teh), Shirley & the rest of the Science Faculty Comm plus supporters (just too many to mention, but you know who you are). All of us spent days & nights hammering, painting, recruiting "Freshies", canvassing for $$$ & material. And when the entire Rag & Flag event was done, it was time to throw away the work clothes & cast the fishing line. To celebrate the completion of the project & also to celebrate Kenny's Birthday, we had a dinner celebration down at Orchard Road. I called Corrine: " What time you'll be going down? Do you want me to pick you up? 6 p.m.? ok" [I call this the "preparing the fishing ground" stage] After spending like hours to pick out a shirt to go with the jeans (Corrine always says I've got a bad dress sense), I drove down from Tampines to Potong Pasir (20 mins away) on that weekend evening. The ride into town was uneventful, some chit chat, some corny jokes. Dinner came & went (too many people around to make my move). The rest wanted to walk down Orchard Road, but we managed to maneuver ourselves: " Er...er... Think we'll say our good bye here. I'll be sending Corrine back & my car's parked up the road, Don't think we'll be joining you guys. Ciao!" I sheepishly told the rest of the group. "Ya, right, going to send Corrine back....(Wink! Wink!)" They
seemed to be able to read thru our white lies.
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No Fish, Sotong (Squid) Also Can |
| As the last of the sun's rays disappeared behind the city's silhouette,
we parked the car near the jetty & took a slow walk. The evening
sea breeze & dim park lights gave that extra static in the air (my
goose pimples were popping up like popcorns). We started walking
down the long jetty: looking at people taking a leisure stroll, cyclists
ringing their bells as they roll freely on their momentum, babies in strollers,
fishermen with their kerosene lamps & long shaft nets catching Squid.
It was a night hard to forget!
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