Ying Hui's Scrapbook: How far we've come

When people say, bring out the inner child in you, they meant unleash it for a couple of hours, ride along with your childish temptations and extricate yourself from the adult world to breathe a little. But for Ah Gan, Simmy and Kit Teng, maybe Rou Yen too, it took on a whole new definition and dimension. Hmmm…how would I describe their eccentricity AND doing it justice? It was like they were POSSESSED by each of their inner child. Yes, that’s right. Especially that Chao Gan. Other than occasional glimpses into her serious self during some parts of caroling practice and her professionalism on stage during MBE, she has been sanctioned, by all of us, as NOT SANE.

Which probably explained why it was my stomach that felt more exhausted from all the laughing, rather than my thighs, that should have collapsed after having the walk of our lives shopping gave us. I couldn’t remember what we laughed about, or at, even as we were leaving the building for the train station, trying to outrun the drizzle (and did). Not that it mattered, it helped burn some fats ~~like those I got from the McD chocolate ice-cream~~ and soothe the nerves before the inevitable wind-up on Monday.

But that wasn’t the most astonishing thing, me laughing that much (since the worst image was me literally gasping for air for laughing so hard and hyena-like at something me and Eu Chern, or any of the Sluts, said). Oh no. It was my spending more than 250 bucks, half of it on cosmetics. I could feel the beam of silent pride shone upon me through the break of clouds beneath Eu Chern’s Shopping Heaven. Maybe even Amanda’s nod of approval. AHA.

Not that it changed my aversion towards generic shopping. If anything, I think it heightened it. Good thing we had in mind of what we needed to get and the strict specifications. For me, shopping has only 3 steps: make a list (as specific as possible), choose the item and then get the hell of out there. Besides scouting for knick knacks, rare and quirky accessories and clothing at bazaars or indie stalls (or whatever term you use), I have no interest in shopping. In fact, generic shopping pisses me off. Ugh. The tedious sifting through of clothes… *makes a face*

Anyway, today’s trip to Sungai Wang had been unexpectedly a blast. It was kind of like my first day with BRATs, you just had to accept that you were the oldest (semester-wise, in this case), the oddball, the sore thumb sticking out, of the group and open your mind up and be free of any judgmental thoughts, then just plunge into getting to know the people around you. Of course, it had been harder back in June, cuz the ~~kiddos~~ BRATs were mostly 16 or 17, way younger than I am, and coming from different states, races, schools and backgrounds, I struggled to find common ground. But I had always pride myself with being open minded, so I took a deep breath and dove in. And now, not only I have been keeping in touch with that bunch of Cats, but also learnt that bridging the age-gap is not impossible after all. It is simply the matter of taking the first step, because that is always the hardest.

So I took the tentative first step again, this afternoon. Sure, lunch was kind of awkward for me, since everyone there, except me, listen to Chinese songs and was singing along to them. But like Delia from the book ‘The Truth about Forever’ always says, well, at least I knew where I stood, so things could only get better. And they did.

I mean, I may never be one of them (and life isn’t about fitting in, not all the time) but at least I was assured that the days we would be spending in Genting would turn out okay. Everything was going to be okay. I just have to stay open, come what may and not lose my head (or lose it, in their case).

Photos (and the editing) credit to Rou Yen (: