Saturday...

it has been a week filled with emotions...mostly nostalgia...
I've been wanting to blog about it but tis has been a very busy week for me, doing some work for my company, meeting friends, playing golf, swimming, badminton, mahjong, and so on... =)

well, the main focus of tis blog post is nus friends-centric...
I'm not exactly sure where to start, but I'll start somehow anyhow and zip back and forth through time whenever necessary...

On Monday, I jioed Zhiwei and Junhui to go back to NUS with me...
Two years ago, we had once made a verbal pledge to return to NUS after we graduate to take a walk and look around the familiar premises, the various spots which r so integral parts of our fond memories in this institution...
Junhui and I arrived first...and while waiting for Zhiwei, we sat for about half an hour in LT7A...
ohh boy, did the memories ooze so fluidly from our minds...
we spoke about our first two years in NUS, where we spent a considerable amount of lecture time in this lt...we spoke about the past gossips...the exciting, juicy yet sometimes words dat were onli suitable for some ears... =p
It was nostalgia at its peak...actually, the whole dae was nostalgia at the peak...hahaz...

When Zhiwei arrived, we walked to Olive Cove together...it's a small but cosy and comfortable Thai cafe within the heart of engineering faculty where the main memories were built in the final year of our studies...
The staff there treated us to iced mocha, which is wat we usually order when we r there...and we used to go there like thrice a week or sth, so ppl there know us well... =)
As I drank the iced mocha, looked around and chatted with two of my best friends in NUS, mixed feelings overwhelmed me...
I felt happy sitting down there with the right company, sipping coffee, enjoying the relaxed ambience which we have always craved for within the faculty (which explains y we always went there for lunch or proj meetings), recollecting memories of the place, of the past year in NUS (for me, it was even more meaningful as the final year meant alot of things-explained more later), recollecting memories of our entire NUS life...and knowing that we won't be returning to this small but beautiful cafe as regularly as we did...
We eventually took a photo with the lady boss and another staff whom we fondly speak of...and then we left to explore the rest of engineering...

We walked past LT6...the benches...some of the benches where we slogged like mad doing our EE2001 in year 2...as a matter of fact, dat was my favorite semester of all 8...including those in US...
Year 2 Sem 2 was unbeatable...it qualifies as the best semester I've ever had in my NUS life...
The struggling together in that semester amongst 4 of us; Zhiwei, Junhui, Changsheng and I...as we handled normal EE student's workload and on top of dat, we stretched ourselves by doing the EE2001 project which onli year 3 students took...the struggling helped to bond us even closer...
it was dat semester when I became much closer to Zhiwei and Changsheng...it was as if we had taken a giant leap across a chasm which still existed to a certain extent even after we really got to know each other at the beginning of Year 2...
The tears, the sweat, the frowns, the grumbles, the laughter, the jokes, the corny things dat we did...
they will forever be deeply etched in my memory...
i dono, my language ability simply restricts how i can appropriately describe this feeling in words...i just can't...it's something very personal...no one perhaps, will be able to understand tis feeling other than the four of us...
Yes, it must be very personal... =)

We then walked to the labs...where Zhiwei and I spent some of our time on our FYP...we chatted with the lab officer and one of the pHd students for quite a long time...
tis place has a place in my memory too but not quite fond ones...cos the FYP experience, to be honest, has been one which I perhaps would not want, if the option is reopened to me...because of the various difficulties experienced when i returned from US...

After that, we spent some time sitting down in LT6 and LT7A again...walking into a dark and empty LT and switching on the lights felt very significant to us...
we were the onli ones in there...
in the past, during lectures...the whole places were always filled with hustle and bustle...with all the chattering going on...with the lecturer's voice...
when the few of us sat together...including others in wat i call my NUS EE clique...we were always making funny jokes and gossiping about ppl in the midst of lectures once we got tired and faded away from the lecture... =p

I miss those daes...ALOT...and knowing wat a person I am, I will always think back of those times...

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Ohh yah, let me define who I consider in the NUS EE clique...
it is hard to exactly define because some people have moved in while others hav moved out slightly...if there were inner to outer circles within tis clique, everyone will be like stars on an orbital path, moving to different orbits at different points in time...with some always at certain orbits...

Zhiwei has always been in the innermost orbit...this guy is someone I onli started to really know in Year 2...actually that was the holidays in year 1...the june holidays...Junhui and I were talking abt the CSC thingy and we managed to pull Zhiwei in too...and ever since, there has been no turning back...our friendship soared to greater heights and I find myself looking up to him as a role model in many instances...
He was the one who changed how I dressed to school...and I consider it an important transformation because he taught and showed me the importance of respect to our lecturers...and today, I apply the same principle to whoever I meet and in the days to come, my business clients...
A very intelligent guy, he's someone whom I have always held in very high regard and I'm glad he has always been around providing friendly competition, motivation, giving me sound advice and oftentimes bringing my back safely to the ground if i ever became complacent or unapproachable...thanks bro!

Junhui...hahaz...we have known each other for wat...14yrs! he has also been in the inner circle all the time...although there r certain times when we don't seem to have met as often, we always find no problem in talking, jabbing each other with silly jokes and so on...
A very intelligent guy too...he studies little but at the end of the dae, still manages to produce the necessary results...as he has justifiably proved by graduating with second upper honors...
actually, some of our team projects would have been much more boring without him...it has always been his corny jokes and sometimes out of the world actions dat make us laugh like mad...hahaz...
it's just so damn funny...and i'm glad he has always been around the last few years...an integral part of our clique...

Shux...i'm running out of time...so I will have to continue in Parts 2, 3 and maybe more in the next blog posts...
Before I end off, the other people in our clique are:
Changsheng, Jiarong, Meijia, Tingting, Kaijie, Elysia, Victor...

I will talk more about everyone else the next time! and other experiences! =)

Thanks my dear bros and friends...
I couldn't have been where I am without ur support and company all tis while...
Cheers to forever friendship! And Success! =)