#reunion

Where have all those young years gone? What happened? All of a sudden, reality hits, we are still very much the same as when we were in school, well at least since our memories serve us well.

A few weeks ago, there was mention in our La Salle@75 WhatsApp (that’s a Social Media communication app on devices like smartphones, electronic pads and computers…for those who aren’t sure) about us, guys, getting together for a physical meet up. It has been many years since we last had one.

Mak Weng Kit straight away replied, “I’m in”. I, too; was game and thought it was a capital idea. As the saying goes, “Time waits for no man”, weeks went by when the suggestion was made.

I decided to buzz Weng Kit for us to meet first, to start the ball rolling with the hope that this will begin a more than once meeting on a regular basis. Then, others can join us in our future meetings.

It was good to know that Weng Kit kept busy by being “Grandpa” to his five grandchildren, two of whom live abroad. He told me that he could only meet after 1.00pm because he had to pick his granddaughter up from school. He made a suggestion that we meet in the coming week at Starling (another place where all the “stars” meet? [in reference to my other articles written about Star Bhavan]) Mall in Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya; or any place I suggested. He would be there.

I counter- suggested Happy Mansion, Section 17, also in Petaling Jaya; as there usually is ample parking space there. Date: The coming Monday. Meet time: 2.00pm. Weng Kit agreed. It was set. The meeting of the year. I was thrilled that it was an “all systems go” for our meet. The following explains why…

Come Monday, I was out on my walk, probably faster than I usually do, in the build up to 2.00pm. Another reason for my faster walk-than-usual was probably because I was held up by my morning replies to my emails and social media. There seemed to be more than the usual numbers, and people seemed to be responding faster to my responses of their original messages to me. I crossed the allocated time I set for this daily morning exercise.

I completed my walk in the nick of time. Had a shower, got ready and spruced up a bit more than usual. Texted / messaged / Whatsapped Weng Kit at the time I was leaving my house and told him I would be at our meeting place, Good Blue Men before 2.00pm.

Traffic was good from Subang Jaya all the way to the venue. I arrived a few minutes before 2.00pm. Weng Kit, arrived just after me, before 2.00pm, too. Punctuality.😁😉

We were both really happy to meet, face-to-face, after many years. The last time we met was our La Salle 1975 batch gathering in 2014. Since then, it has only been through social media.

Weng Kit is a happily retired from business, businessman. The head of a growing “Mak Weng Kit” clan (his son, the third of three children; is getting married at the end of this year), Weng Kit and his wife devote their time to their children and grandchildren. Weng Kit is also an avid golfer, marathon runner and adventurous road bike cyclist going on long cycle trips.

However, his keep-fit activities have temporarily come to a stop because he recently had a knee-cap replacement. Which means, taking things real easy. However, Weng Kit is still looking really good.

Weng Kit has been keeping abreast about Laura, Jeannie and family through all the articles I have been posting on leatherpotato.com . The latest being Laura’s marriage. And of course, the publishing of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT.

We talked very fondly about the past, the time when most of our La Salle friends were in our (Atkinson) No. 21, Jalan Ladang house (which was a few hundred meters away from school). From early morning to late night, every day. The guys used to stay over, too. My sister, Jennifer, had her friends from Convent School stay over, too. 21, Jalan Ladang was a pretty big house. It had a very large compound, all round, with a badminton court, too. Our usual day activities were badminton, football, hockey, table-tennis, and darts. We had many dance parties there, too because of its big courtyard just out of the living room. That house sure had many, many, many great memories.

We talked about all our cherished friends and teachers, many are no, longer with us…Hock Chai, Andrew Rozario, Kien Tat…. our teachers like Mr. Ho Chai Fong, Mr. Julian Xavier and the Lopez brothers (Mr. Joseph and recently, Mr. Anthony), among others.

We talked about those who were our temporary teachers like Dr. Khoo Phaik Choo, who was a temporary teacher when she was 20 years old, and we boys, 13. Over the years, she has become a renowned Paediatrician in Malaysia. Another temp teacher was a person by the name of Kenny. He was a fun teacher, always cracking jokes and communicated well with the boys, maybe because he was not that much older than us.

Yes, we, the boys from the 1975 batch have been blessed with an amazing spectrum of dedicated teachers. A couple more of such teachers today are Mr. Michael Xavier; and Mrs. Sivakumar. Mr. Xavier, who is in our Whatsapp group, never fails to wish us with his “Good morning guys and take care message, each morning. Mrs. Sivakumar, whenever we reach out to her, will respond to us. She never looks a day older than when she taught us in class back in 1972. She was our History teacher in Form Two.

Soon, far too quickly; it was time for us to go back to our family lives. But not without Weng Kit having gotten his very own personalized copy of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT. He paid far more than the price of the book, which I thanked him for and said that it will be passed on to a needy cause. Weng Kit has always been a generous person.

We took this picture👆, too. Definitely one for the album.

I think what Weng Kit and I felt which we did not talk about, did not see the need to, or there were no words at that time to describe it; was the aura of re-uniting in person. That is friendship taken to a different level.

We will work towards making meetings like this on a more regular basis. We don’t need a major reason to do so. However, Weng Kit reminded me that this is our 50th anniversary year of the 1975 La Salle Klang alumni. I told him that I am in with him, to organize a re-union of sorts for the boys of that year, and the teachers, too. That will be interesting.

This unfinished draft, popped up on my ideaSketchpad or sort of popped up; an essay that I worked on in December 2022 / January 2023. Now, to add the finishing touches.

This was on our (Jeannie , my wife, the Batik Influencer) and my trip to the U.S. to visit our No.1 daughter, Laura; for the first time since August 2019. We were there to also attend her graduation from university.

We were met at the O’Hare International airport in Chicago, by Laura’s university swim coach, Dr. Duesterhaus; who drove all the way from Decatur (about 3 hours south-west of Chicago) to pick us up and take us to Decatur. American hospitality – unmatched.

Our meet up with Laura when we got to Decatur was immensely wonderful. Four years, well; almost four years of Whatsapp video calls, Whatsapp messages, emails – and now, in person. What joy!

*8.00pm, December 1, 2022, U.S. time. Reunited after 30hours of travel.* *The scientist from the movie “Back To The Future” looks like me here, except his hair is white.*

The picture above was the first family together reunion shot as we got into the house. We didn’t want to take any pictures outside because we could not wait to get in the house. It was freezing cold. Decatur winter. Thank goodness it was just a breeze and not the infamous winds blowing that night. It would have made it all the more uncomfortable to get from the car to the house.

Picture on the left ↢ of me in the bedroom, already at work, putting an article together, while at the same time, trying to catch up on reading.

There is nothing like reading physical books, being able to flip pages, and hear them flipping at the same time. get the smell of the ink on paper (the smell may no longer be there. You can imagine the smell of ink as the letters, words, sentences and paragraphs, newly set ((printed)) on paper dries up).

Reading from a screen is alright for a few minutes, I guess; before a notification, message or advertisement pops up to distract you. It is the only 1 (one) time you’ve got; and everyone, company or distractor is trying to get a piece of the action – your time. Here’s the thing: you don’t have multiple lifetimes, whether running concurrently or one after another. You’ve got one shot at making the only life you have – spectacular; which means using it the way that it is going to inspire you, and others, too.

Don’t forget to grab my book when it hits the shelves in the near future.😁

The picture on the right ↣ of the “Windowed View Of The Outside World” gave me a glimpse of a real live view or what I otherwise saw on tv of an American neighbourhood. Winter, trees without leaves, snowfall flickers on and off, lightly. Houses were basically square or rectangular, mostly 2- or 3-storey, many with a mix of brick, stone, concrete and wood.

This view was my view for a month, as I sat at the table each time, with the window not going anywhere, right in front of me. I am a dreamer. I love to stare outside and let “my mind is my playground” wonder. Think of it: There are no two 1 seconds, or two 1 minutes, or two 1 hours the same. Every moment that has passed is already a different phase. If there is a camera fast enough to capture the transition from one moment to another, you will notice the difference.

It is here at this table, that I wrote a couple (or more) of articles on how robots, like a trojan horse, is taking over the world. I also wrote about how we are easily giving up our rights to decide things for ourselves without putting much thought into it – all in the name of making lives easier for us. Food for thought articles. And more. I found it fun writing those essays.

*A must have for this writer – coffee in many forms. In this case “Kopiko”.*

*Getting some work done at the Coffee shop. I think this was the River Coffee Cafe.*

Laura introduced us to the local cafe, the River Coffee Cafe in Decatur town. It was a cool place to hang out, chill or get some work done. The atmosphere was right, great place to have coffee, some light bites and for us, to do some light work.

In this whole time we were in Decatur, I missed my good friend that I met in my last trip to Decatur, Dick Black. He had just moved to South Carolina a few days earlier. We are still very much in contact through social media.

Spending time with Laura when we were there – there was magic in every moment. I think we cannot or should not spend time trying to think up of what to do or plan what we should do with big chunks of time like weeks, months and years only. Let’s start with the little fellas like moments, seconds and minutes in the present.

U.S.A. – Would I? Definitely!

leatherpotato

The future is now. Live it!

WHEN BROTHERS OF DIFFERENT PARENTS MEET

THROWBACK – U.S.A. DECEMBER 2022