Tuesday, August 15, 2006

A Tribute to Beach Gals... Part 1

I met up with my uni frens last night. I was reluctant to go at first bcos i felt like I was coerced to go. A made it sound like if I dont join them, its the biggest sin in the world. And I didnt like that feeling, thus the feeling of relunctance. But of cos, as always, since I have decided to go, I tried to enjoy myself. We had a good time catching up. Somehow, the topic became the need to do a PAP Smear. A was asking if she should do it, bcos she has never done it before. All of us encouraged her to. Especially me. I told her it was definitely necessary. Though she is not sexually active (Yes I think she is still a virgin), every women should do it once they hit 25. P voiced her views that doing a PAP Smear will break her hymen. Florence and I went -_-. Never expected that to come from P. I mean, so what if hymen is torn? You mean men will still check if women bleed after sex to see if they are virgin? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease lor. Nowadays, hymen can be torn bcos of many things. Simple things like cycling or exercising can do the job, no need to go for PAP Smear. Besides, I checked with the doctor the last time I went to do it. PAP Smear is to check for cervical(?) cancer, NOT STD or HIV and sexual-related illness. So please, all of you women out there, go do it every once or twice a year. Do not think that you do not need it if you are not sexually active....

Ok, I know that all the above have got nothing to do with the title. I know I know. Just that I wanted to voice out the necessity of PAP Smear. My friends out there, if you are reading my blog, please do it too, ok?

Ok, back to the title. I just thought I will blog about my pals here. Erm.. post by post la, not all together. Cos I think if I mention all together, I will never be able to finish what I want to write hahahahaha.

Beach gals: how did that name come about? It started when some of us started wakeboarding. Thanks to our Dajie, who introduced us to the sport. I enjoyed it very much. Maybe bcos it did not take alot of effort to do it ;p. But to me, it is an expensive sport, so I did not continue after the coach retired. Anyway, yes, that was how we named ourselves the beach gals. Not that we are THAT sporty, but we just sort of liked the name so stuck with it till now. Actually the only thing we did related to the beach was probably wakeboarding, unless you count picnicing at East Coast in too hahahahahaha. Well, then I should probably mention that we blade at East Coast as well. Yes, I think that was how the name came about.
Members of the Beach gals: Dajie (of cos), Bubbles, Gangster, JB-ren, Teacher, (the following are the not so involved with the beach, but still count them in as we are a 'gang' mah) Ms Travolta (the finger pointing gal), Ms HP, Ms Fit (Now in Germany), Director (Neh, the one in Mediacorp), and of cos, myself.
We have known one another for like 20 years? Ok, some 18, some 20. A looooong way back since our secondary school days. Back then, maybe not all of us were close to everyone. Its like A is close to B, B is close to C, so A, B, and C are a 'gang', but A actually not very close to C. Understand? With your wit, I am sure you do ;p. But over the years, gradually we become more closeknitted. I got to know everyone of them better, in one way or other. Maybe not very well, but better than I used to. Since I have a blog now, I will talk about each one of them, and how my relationsip with each and everyone of them is.
Let's start with Dajie. She is one that I was never close to back then. I remember on the first day of school, there was this gal with small eyes, with a pony tail tied high up on her head. I was thinking 'wah, so lian'. Well, erm... she was quite lian to me la, though some would say she is the more fashionable one. I cant really remember how all of us got together, must be the above A+B+C theory, but somehow, we formed the 10 sisters. Yes very chak chak, but we enjoyed giving ourselves the name. No1 was Dajie, No2 was S (who after Sec 2, no longer joined us for anything), No3 was P (who after Uni, also never joined us anymore), No4 was Ms Fit, No5 was JB-ren, No6 C, No7 Gangster, No8 Bubbles, No11 Ms Travolta, No10 me. Yes, I was the youngest (December baby mah).
Dajie was the one with alot of 'first': The first who had a boyfriend, the first to leave a tail with her bob, the first to teach us 'line dancing' (that time somehow people liked to dance standing in 2 lines or in a circle), the first who 'tatooed' herself (but failed and got a scolding from our chinese teacher hahahaha), the first to wear the off-shoulder top and kenna pulled down by JB-ren in public....
Dajie may have looked lianish then, but still hung out with tood tood people like myself (I wore big glasses and wore a typical bob then, always in my jeans and t-shirt.. hmmmm must be the ABC theory). To me, she always exuded the kind of confidence I never had. No matter what she was wearing, she just seemed so comfortable and of cos pretty. She is also smart, in fact, all of them are smart, and know what they want. She seemed to know when to say and do the right things. I recall the days when all of us would sit together and pester her to tell us about what she and her boyfriend then did. How the first kiss was like etc etc. Secondary school was also when I started to stay out late, or even overnight. To BBQs at East Coast, chalets at Pasir Ris and Sentosa. And we shared alot together during these outings. Tears, joy, laughter, gossips. Oh, and did I mention that Dajie was a girl guide? I am not sure if it was from there, or she naturally was, kind and helpful, and had loads of initiative. Whenever we had BBQ or gatherings, she would be one of the few that were kept busy cooking or cleaning up after the rest.
When it was time to decide which stream we wanted to go to in Sec3, everyone had an objective (For me, it was just following the crowd). It was then we had to split up, cos not everyone chose the same path. Gangster, Ms Travolta and me were in the same class, Dajie, Bubbles in the next class, JB-ren 2 classrooms after. We drifted a little distance away since then, cos everyone started hanging out with other people. From then on, I never really saw alot of Dajie and Bubbles, cos they were like part of the center of attraction in school, one of those few that were prominent in their own ways - being outstanding or loud in looks. I did not want to be, or rather, could not be part of that group, so I stayed away. After O levels, I drifted even further away from them, and even the rest of the group, bcos all of them went to JCs, I was the only who went to Poly. I felt a little inferior, and left out. They did their part to try to include me in all the outings and stuff, but still, I felt a little not-part-of-them, know what I mean?
Anyway, back to Dajie. She did her degree in Accountancy at NTU, and after graduation, went on to do abit of auditing before going into insurance. In my eyes, she was one of the few successful financial advisors I see. She had her own car, joined the million-dollar-round-table, which to me was something I can never do, she had a boyfriend back then (though I cant remember which one it is now). To me, she had everything I wanted. But I also noticed that while I gained confidence (not that I gained alot), she was losing hers. I felt that she was like... lost? Lost her direction in life. She quit her insurance job to look for her ideal job. In a way, I felt that she was too choosy, too particular in the industry she wants. For me who practically had to grab whatever comes my way, being choosy was a luxury. Plus she could still afford to go for holidays, do the things she enjoyed. But at that moment, I did not want to be like her. Bcos I was happy with what I had. Of cos, there were down periods, but dont forget, I am a Master at Pathological Lying (ahahahah). She was like perpectually unhappy. She laughed and played with us, yes. But I could feel her unhappiness. She could not find a job that was 'ideal' to her. She was unhappy in her relationship. Somehow, she became more withdrawn.
I felt a little worried for her, but I did not know how to help her. Surely, I did not have the credibility to tell her anything, being the quiet one, and not having a stable career myself. All I could do was to show more concern and be a good listener. Yes, that is the only thing I am good at. Only to people that I care about ;p.
Now that she has settled down in her job, and had a rather stable relationship with G, I hope that she can continue to seek for the happiness that she wants.
Ok, abit drained today. If I can think of anything else, will update in my later posts. Going to have an early night tonight. Bubbles, dont miss me too much. I have tried my best to write a long long post. Dont read so fast ok. Will do better tomorrow ^o^.

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