Time passes, and sometimes I really feel lost. Looking at my brother’s return from his OCIP in Nepal, it reminds me about my own OCIPtrip 2 Decembers ago. Then it reminded me again, not as though I have never realised, how much joy school brought. It was a time when genuine friendships were forged, when life was simpler as all we had to worry about were trivial issues like studying, probably typical teenage popularity issues, crushes and how to get by some lectures which were way too boring. Looking back, I guess it wasn’t such an issue , because of my clique of great friends. Yes, we studied together, we played together, we failed together, went to lanshops together, stayed over at one another’s house together, and I am glad that we still do.

Every time I see students boarding and alighting from busses, going and coming back from school, I wonder, what was it that kept me from seeing this side of school that I now can.

I really miss school now.

The people I meet at my workplace now are so different as they have very diverse backgrounds. It feels so far from familiarity, so far from home, from where I belong. It is impossible to identify with them. Maybe it is because of our diverse educational backgrounds, as I never had such a problem back at BMT !

Perhaps, it is good training for the working world in the near future. Maybe, society requires us to harden up, making it easier to handle the brutality of the corporate world. An article recently mentioned that the dynamics of the work environment actually hinders the formation of genuine friendships, as individual interests and perceptions differ. I do not know how exactly it applies where I am. Probably alot less as I do not see any potential conflict of interests. We are all victims of mandatory national service and we have practically nothing to compete about. Despite that, I still witness people speaking ill of others and hence causing unhappiness. Do they derive joy from such actions? Or is it mere for thrill.

Well, school is good.