A day in 2020
Hey all. In my boredom due to lack of things to do during the holidays, I've decided to look into my magic crystal ball and see into the future. 14 years into the future and let's see what has changed since then...
As I step out of my office at the Integrated Resorts, with the view of the Merlion firmly in my sights, I break from my usual routine as I do not head for home straight away but instead, head towards Orchard Hotel for a gathering. I step into my new Mazda RX8, sold to me by that sales person from hell, Jun Ting. He decided to open a new car showroom so that he could leave and breathe cars. The last I heard, he had opened up the showroom together with Aaron Lim, who also shares his passion for cars. The two of them offer wonderful discounts to ex-classmates and even have wonderful company benefits from time to time.
I'm travelling down the expressway when who else calls me but Chan Junde, the one among us who slimmed down majorly after his appearance on Extreme Makeover: Singapore. Now, his spectacles are gone and gone too is his pot belly, in it's place is a well-maintained body. He's now working as a zoo keeper and last I heard, he got a promotion to be in charge of the reptiles section. How ironic. When we were young, we used to call him turtle. Haha. One thing that has not changed, however, is his penchant for nose bleeds. He got off easily in the army and was classified as PES E, which meant that he didnt have to go thru rigorous training like the rest of us. Lucky bugger.
He calls to confirm my attendance at tonight's NPCC reunion dinner. I tell him that I'm on my way. In the meantime, he tells me to give Baoyi a call and see if I can give her a lift as well. She represented our country in many tug-of-war competitions in the region and is now a trainer of tuggers in our old school, Nan Chiau High. She picks up and directs me to the new location of the school, having moved from Sengkang to the old RI school ground to accomodate more students and have better CCA facilities. With her is her long-time friend, Amanda. Apparently she teaches in the same school now. Oh well. After that big detour, we are finally on our way. During the journey, we share our common anticipation of seeing our friends and one time squad mates again. We all agree it was time we sat down to catch up.
When we enter the hotel lounge, there we find Wei Siang. A few moments of awkward silence ensues after he spots Amanda, having had that unforgettable "scandal" just after we graduated from secondary school. I attempt to break the ice and tension, and enquires about the others. I spot Junde walking towards us. In tow is Rebecca, who apparently got a lift from him. Soon after, Meiqi hurriedly walks towards us, apologising for being late. She's now the pastor-in-charge of City Harvest Church, which has become the biggest church in Asia now. Apparently, she just returned from Melbourne, where she was holding a seminar for pastors in the region. We find our seats in the function room, which Samantha kindly booked for us, with her bring the majority shareholder of the hotel, and wait for the others to arrive.
As we sit down, we hear people from behind us being a little too noisy. The waiter nearest to us shouts to the others that the soccer stars were here. We turn to look and find Yong Yi, Ambrose, Charles and Yong Li walking in. They formed the backbone of the national team which just qualified for the World Cup and are currently the toast of the country. Shortly after, we see that Zhi Yong has arrived. He is now the boss of his own jeans company, which is rapidly becoming popular in the region. He formed his company together with Hui Ting and they have both recently broken into the Forbes' Magazine 500 Richest People In the World list, the first Singaporeans to do so.
As we hear many cameras clicking away, we realise that Simin has arrived. Since winning Project Superstar and Campus Superstar, she has released 4 albums, each reaching the top of the charts in the region in the same week it was released. She walks in together with our Maam Jocelyn! Squeals of delight erupt from the girls. Our beloved Maam has wiped out the Pizza hut chain from Singapore after setting up her own line of pizza fast-food outlets called J's Pizzeria. Her pizzas are so fast and tasty that even famed chef Jamie Oliver came down to try her pizza. And he loved it so much he still comes down to eat at her restaurants. We all patiently await the last two people.
And soon, they make their entrance, hand in hand. Who else, but Jocelyn and Hwee Siang? They have been together for as long as we can remember. Nobody but them is keeping count anymore. Jocelyn's working for the CID now and is in the running for the ASP rank. If she gets it, I think she will be the first woman to get it. Hwee Siang is now a professional gamer and has won many accolades in the now annual World Cyber Games. He used to be a commando in the army but just didnt like that kinda life. So now, he spends his time and gets paid to play games. Lucky bugger.
As we sit down to dinner and talk about past moments, we all get lost in thought. As we go back to the times when we were happy kids having nothing but studying to do and having fun, we really appreciate the people who were there as we grew up. But is this the kinda life we worked hard for? Getting lost in the concrete jungle and losing sight of our childhood ambitions? I remember when we were sitting in hot stinky and dirty classrooms doing our 10 year series. Did we envision such a life ahead of us...
How was that for starters man? Haha. Well it's the first instalment of what I hope will be a four or five part series, with a new instalment coming out every week or so until the end of the hols. Till the next entry of " A day in 20_ _ ", tata for now. Please feel free to post your opinions. This is Dan, signing off for now.
