Took this photo (left) of 4-year-old Lav at the food kiosk of the mrt station where I have a meal at least once a week. She's the youngest daughter of the kiosk owners and she can talk. Really talk. Every time I take my seat, she drags a stool to my table and sits her tiny frame gingerly on it. I'm always afraid she falls off cos her feet can't touch the floor. And then she talks, and she makes me laugh and laugh and laugh.
Her favourite colour is pink. And she can't speak mandarin, or so she claims. And she readily sings "number" songs for you. Like this: "Straight across, diaaagonally down. Straight across diaaagonally down. Straight across diaaagonally down, you get the number seven." HAHA. And when I leave the table to head home, she always asks: "Tomorrow you come?", and then "Saturday you come?". I walk a little further and she shouts after me "XXX jie jie, BYE BYE!!!"
Children like her really make you feel so loved. I wished I was surrounded by more of them.
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Today my agency organised a seminar at a hotel. And I met my PAP idol. Yes, my PAP 偶像 Teo Ser Luck. It was quite embarrassing cos colleagues were egging me on to take a picture with him, cos I had brought my camera!!! They were coming up with different ways for me to be in the picture, like "eh go go go you stand behind him then we take for you lah!!! you will be in the picture one!!!" Determined not to suffer another "Mayday tragedy" (yes, I had the op to be in the same pic as them, but I was too damn shy), I waylaid him on his way out. And I got my picture!!! Haha. My colleague was even more stressed than me cos she said she was afraid she wouldn't get the shot right!
Saw also Mrs Carmee Lim!!! MY RGS PRINCIPAL!!! Now ex. She's still EXACTLY the same. Never one to go unnoticed, never one to be disinterested. Always enthusiastic. I want to use the word effusive. But it's not quite right, cos you can feel her genuine sincerity in what she says to you. Guess what colour she turned up in? Bright red. The jacket was bright red. But it suited her well. Dull colours would never do this vibrant lady any justice.
She gave me her namecard and said, call me anytime, if you need someone to talk to, a mentor or anything!
And at 65 years old, she's still an amazingly keen learner. Copiously taking notes during the workshop and responding to the speaker with guffaws and "oh!!!" and "mmm" like she's the only person he's talking to. Fantastic. I'm proud to say she was my principal. :)
2 comments:
recently i've been feeling rather nostalgic about rgs & carmee lim too. one night tx and i were comparing school songs...don't ask me why we were talking abt it. but anyways, i started singing the rgs sch song for him to hear. somehow the lyrics always touch me even though they are very simple. it's a reflection of everything that rgs stood for, what carmee lim inspired in us, and the standard that she set for the rest of our lives. daughetrs of a better age!!! sigh i wish i was back in rgs again!!
and then, when he asked me abt the rjc school song, i couldn't remember it for the life of me.
~oinks
that's cos it's the RI school song and not worth remembering!
but then.. I cannot rem our rgs sch song also..
I only rem singing "If we hold on together" to DEATH!
:)
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