this smells of voyeurism, but i actually enjoy reading the blogs or FB profiles of people i dont know very well. i mean, the information's all there for the taking, but what's so absorbing about the entire experience is the fact that those people have no idea that i've been catching up (very frequently, no less) on their personal going-ons.
today i stumbled upon the blog (and an extremely active one at that!) of an ex-classmate from secondary school. and she sounds like she hasnt changed the slightest bit since i last saw her some 14 years ago. of course, there are the usual things like work and marriage and the addition of a fat cat, but apart from that she seems to be just the way i remembered her.
the year is 1993 and my classmates are painting banners for the upcoming michael jackson concert at the national stadium. ace of base and pj and duncan rule the airwaves and everyone's favourite radio DJ has to be mark richmond.
the early 90s was the golden age of the pioneering ah lian/ah beng movement. textbooks wrapped in print ads for luxury brands shorn from magazines, valentino paper bags in place of regular school bags, canvas shoes with tucked-in laces, sonia rykiel bags for the girls and long hair combs with sharpened ends for the boys.
she was one of the loudest and most non-conforming girls in class. while that isnt really saying much since we were from a prim-and-proper all-girls' school, to this day i still wonder how her parents let her get away with pencil-thin eyebrows at age 13. she sat in front of me in class so the proximity allowed me access to details of her tea-dance revelling at fire disco and sparks.
not that she would have ever been real friends with me, since i was the one with the geeky gold-rimmed fishbowl glasses and hair with a fringe cut 2 centimetres too high up my forehead. plus the fact that she was the "cool and funky" minah while i was really your typical blend-into-the-wall "guai-guai" chinese girl.
while she has since graduated from her elle shoes and MCM jeans, i was somewhat relieved to find out that her inner minah is still very much alive. she is still loves her labels, although her tastes have become much more expensive with age. and she is still best friends with our class monitress from 1993!
back in secondary school, people like me have always secretly fantasized about being more like the cool girls in class, and i've wondered idly not on a few occasions of how my ex-classmates have progressed since graduation. for that, i'm glad to have found her blog, since it's always a relief to know how the people you used to spent time with are getting along in life.
because really, blessed are the things that dont ever change.
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