Friends Forever

There is no way to forget the climate of anxiety that lingered over most of us early last month. With only few of us who actually received offers from the local universities to pursue their intended undergraduate courses, the rest were left in a state of uncertainty that grew ever more uncomfortable as time crept to the middle of the month. Some of us lamented over the undesirable action of rejecting US universities offers as the acceptance datelines drew nearer and no news were heard of corporate scholarships. Pessimism began to rub its poison into our minds, whispering in our ears that the stiff competition and the need for discretionary interview, which has supposedly reserved for marginal students, would, at best, deny us our prime choice of study and, at worst, deny us the chance of admission.

Things are different now as the "apparent" sunset of most of our futures becomes a sunrise. Offers for both undergraduate degrees and Asean scholarship began to pour as one by one, we proudly announce that winter is finally over and spring has set the bud of hope ready for blooming. Good news abound this month when they were almost unheard of last month. The striking change of fate has taken hold, reminding me of what Xin Lin used to tell me: fengshui always changes and sometimes we have ten years of bad luck superseded by ten years of good luck.

However, this is no reason for round-the-clock, overt expression of our happiness to the extent that no room is set aside for the observation of the code of silence, which is to bear all feelings, be they joyous or sorrowful, with quiet dignity. At this juncture, it is good to remind ourselves that the climate of anxiety has not lifted for some of us, who still experience difficulty even to get into the local universities. I believe that most of them will choose to appeal against the decision made by the offices of admission in hope that they could pursue their undergraduate degrees in this small, crowded country to which they have a sense of belonging.

The best we can do now is to pray that the courses which they have chosen will be rejected by a great number of applicants to give more space to appeal candidates. Gone are the academic rivalries, competitive desperation, and personal grutches that have shaped our relationships since day one of stepping into McNair Lodge as they are all outshined by the strong friendship bonds that have been built throughout two years of our studies.

Harking back at the days when we used to sit on long benches, have dinner together, and chat away about the critters of life, it is heart-warming to observe how we manage to put our difference aside, or to complement our differences with each other, to form a group of people with the same experience and sense of belonging to one another. It is high time to uncover the reality about how much we have changed over the two years, not only due to our own decisions, but also because of the actions of our peers that unwittingly altered our perception of the self identity.

In the spirit of pure, unfrivilous togetherness, I toast (holding a long island tea in my hand) to a long lasting, unbreakable friendship that would do all of us good so that at the end of the days, when we grow old and weary of the world, there is still a story worthy of mention to our sires, grandsires, and so on, that is none other than the story of our friendship. I also toast to the loyalty that we have for each other to not wane and wax like the moon, but shine uninterruptedly like the sun, so that we would gladly extend a helping hand to our peers who are suffering or in need of counsel. Last but not least, I toast to how honoured I have felt and will continue to cherish for having met and made friends with you guys. Although we will eventually go our own ways, I am confident that our paths would meet again. Haha, so crappy! How could Ryan say this kind of things?