This morning on the train, amid the human clutter and despite the yet-to-wake-up state I was in, I spotted a Pri. One classmate across the carriage. I recognised her instantly coz she had not changed at all. Some people never do and that was the case for her. As compared to her appearance as a 7-year-old, it seemed that she only became taller, her hair grew longer and her body got larger. All in proportion of coz. An exact spitting image of her younger self.
Anyway, that is not the main point. Seeing her again brought back memories of my 'glory days' in primary school. Back then, she was this somewhat clumsy little girl who always tripped and fell when she walked. Somehow, as I was behind her in the queue, another classmate & I were often the ones to help her up. Pretty soon, we were assigned to be her 'assistants' in school.
Because of that, at the end of that year, I obtained the Helpful badge.
I managed to dig out these relics after I got home. The Good Conduct badge was awarded the year after that.
Back then, my school had this custom of awarding badges to students with outstanding behaviour. There were a total of five, the others being Honesty, Bravery and Something else if i remember correctly. So all of us little brats wore the badges we got on our uniforms proudly, akin to that of a symbol of our rank in the army.
And because I later became a prefect, I wore mine on my dark red prefect tie with utmost pride. Silly me was searching for my prefect tie earlier when I realised that the school had collected it back after we ended our service to the school. Yes, our ties were recycled batch by batch.
So I shall just replicate what my badges would look like on a school tie:
Ta-Da~!! What a beauty!
I recall some prefects had managed to accumulate all five badges. So you can imagine the vertical line-up on the tie: a flapping strip of red cloth with several trinkets on it. Hilarious image huh?
Sometimes when I think back on my primary school days, I wish that if I ever have the chance to relive those days again, I would do it differently. Somehow I feel that I had not lived life to the max then. There were so many things I could have learnt and done!
- I could have learnt to play the piano. I've always admired friends who can do so. Don't you think a guy who can play a piano seems just that much more charismatic?
- I could have taken part in more things I might have been interested in. Like representing the school for instance, so that I can accumulate medals and display them in a cabinet like people do. Learn to play the harmonica (I got one for my birthday but didn't get to really utilise it).
- Have more of a childhood. I always thought I didn't play enough when I was younger. Like not adventurous enough, maybe? There are so many childhood games I still don't know how to play!
- Have better relationships with my friends then. Things were not bad then, just that coz we were all young and ignorant, we often did superficial stuff like "I don't friend you already". Haha, how childish. Oh well, can that be helped?
- Maybe I should have gone to a mixed secondary school instead. It would have been an interesting and vastly different experience then being in a girl's school.
But still, I guess I didn't turn out too bad after all. :)
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This self-indulgent trip down nostalgia lane must be an effect on an overworked individual. I am still not done with my projects and presentations and this looks like it's going to drag on for another week or two. Oh well, at least the incessant rain looks like it's finally clearing away!
When nerves are frayed and stress levels are upped, it must be inevitable that tensions will arise. Absolute teamwork is really a tough state to achieve.
Wish me luck.
