FRIENDSHIPS
So after 4 years worth of memories it’s finally time to insert the period. It has been an exhilarating and scintillating ride of self-discovery, continuous learning and maturing throughout this third of a dozen years. But after all the “negative b plus or minus the square root of b square minus 4 ac over 2a”s, I realised something, that friends are so much more important than finding the roots of a stupid parabola, which doesn’t even exist sometimes. The friendships forged and bonded among our school community is something that I’ll treasure and never be able to forget.
In these four years, people come and go, The people who you talk to everyday, share your worries, your sorrows, your happy experiences, they’ll just suddenly camouflage into the color of the air. However, there will also always be the people who will stick by your bloody side no matter how big of a grave you’ve dug or how deep of a shit you’re in. They’ll somehow be able to tell when something isn’t right in your life, even when you refuse to let it be known, and then always be there for you when you’re at your lowest point in life and need someone to talk to or be with. Not only that, they’ll relentlessly support and encourage you to go forth and pursue your dreams no matter how cray cray it sounds. They’ll be happy for your achievements, heap plenty of praises, but at the same time, tell you when you’re wrong and the stuff that you always refuse to tell yourself. And most importantly, they don’t just… go.
In Secondary 1 and 2, I didn’t really have many friends, because back at that point in time I was really so obsessed about playing soccer that I didn’t really care about my ‘PR’ and ‘HR’. I didn’t went out or even bother to interact with my peers extensively, because seriously, I was even kicking balls in my dreams. What I did have tho was a few close friends. The usual, routine fooling around we did around the old campus, the times where we recorded podcasts and vidcasts every week, the times we argued and squabble over trivial stuff that’s, in hindsight, tinier than a nanobacteria. All this nonsense that we did made me realise what it means to have “a few good friends rather than a bunch of fake friends”, albeit only recently, when I recounted the memories back during those two years. In Secondary 3 and 4, I started interacting more with my cohort and my juniors. Honestly speaking, this was an eye-opener and a numbing experience. They were more receptive and welcoming than I thought they’ll be, and gradually I got to know more and more of my school community. Crazy, quiet, dynamic, shy, outspoken, fun, and crazy (did I mention that already?) became part and parcel of my everyday life.
Everybody who I’ve got to know have made an impact in my life, and I’m really not kidding. Even if you’ve never really told me encouraging words or stuff like that, by coming up to me and constantly asking me to make a new video, that shit means a lot. It doesn’t have to be direct, but sometimes actions do really speak louder than words, and I’m grateful for everyone who have played an influential and impactful role in my life. I’ve never really understood clichés like “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you guys”, I genuinely thought it was alarmingly fake. But speaking in retrospect, if you really take a moment and think about it, if one of your friend did not exist in your life, who you did not get to know, your life might have gone down a road containing a total contrast from what you have right now. Without reassurance from one of your friends for example, you might not have engaged in this activity, that brought about such an active and significant change in your life you’ll wonder what would have happened if this change had not happened.
So, I would like to say thank-you for those who have been part of my life for the last 48 months. Truly amazing ride, learnt a lot of lessons in the process from you guys. It’s heartwarming, and certainly makes me sweat thru my eyes, that ya’ll know all about me, but still accept me for who I am. It’s a true blessing to have a group of incredible individuals that I can call my friends, with the word true in front, without the open and close inverted commas :)
GRADUATION
I‘m not a big fan of graduation. It’s definitely a fun experience don’t get the wrong idea, but there’s just this part of me that doesn’t wanna let go. Gosh I’m so deep I can see Adele rolling in me. Anyways, I managed to get some photos with the people, both students and staff, who defined my enriching secondary school experience.
A letter, some typography encouragement letter, and 6 duct tape flowers from Valence <3
Letter from Carven :)
Letter from Claire :)
Letter from Shamemi :)
Valence. I’ll probably miss her the most. Everything about her is amazing. She is so talented in a lot of things, and has the prettiest of smiles that always brighten my day. She makes me wanna be a better person, and I did become a better person. The memories that I share with her are just truly magical. When I first interacted with her after she just grabbed my phone and ran to the ladies, I have no idea that that very girl will mean so much to me now. Thank you for making my final year so, so, so special.
Shamemi. My best friend. #nuffsaid
Aaron. One of my closest friends who’s very supportive of the things I do.
Norman (right), one of my close friends as well who I always talk to and turn to for help with my studies. Izzat (left), a really nice person and one of the first people who I met in my new form class.
Claire. LOL we met cause I was emo-ing on Twitter and she sent me a DM asking me if I was okay. At the time I didn’t know we were going to be this close now.
Imran. We’ve been close friends since Secondary 1 and I’m pretty glad I met him cause yea he’s teasing material.
Jia Le. We have had many arguments but they’re way too weak to strain a strong friendship. We did quite a bit of things together, and we have great understanding and chemistry on the field. Our partnership is rather deadly if I’m playing as a striker and he’s playing as a center forward. My life would definitely be so different if I hadn’t met him.
Pranavi. Okay before secondary school I met her once at our tuition center’s farewell/graduation celebration. Fast forward to Secondary 3 and never have I expected us to be in the same class much less be sitting beside each other for class for as long as I can remember. Sitting with her and Norman was one of the things that made going to class really fun.
Abigail. A complete weirdo who I quite frequently bump into and end up walking to school together.
Carven. My birthday buddy!
Zhang Bo. This guy is just… I have no words to describe him. We talk so much nonsense together and about each other all the time. Fun fact we spent much of our Secondary 1 year arguing if the bun in the canteen was a Man Tou or not. If I hadn’t met him wow my life would lack insanity. Seriously.
Jing Heng. The trip to Beijing was epic.
Sean. Back when I was in Secondary 1 and 2 I was actually playing as a goalkeeper. He was the other goalkeeper, and certainly kept me on my feet and motivated me to train hard.
Niklaus. He’s the Student Council Chairperson that I love bantering about. And he’s always asking me to tuck in my shirt.
Kristin. Hmm I had this crush on her in Secondary 3. Still really nice that we’re able to have hmm, insightful conversations and all that jazz. A really nice friend too. But a bit hard to talk to sometimes cause she just keeps switching from Chinese to English and Chinese again.
Naveena. My relationship consultant that charges like 5 million dollars per advice. But they’re actually pretty good.
Jit Sheng. Used to go home together for quite sometime in Sec 1.
Daniel. LOL it’s hilarious to tease him about ahem. And we practically just spend Bio class looking thru each other’s phone.
Michelle. Haha it’s kinda hard not to literally look down on her. Nonetheless a really nice person to talk to and interact with.
Darryl. Guy that still owes me macarons, and pretty supportive of the things I do as well. We met cause he was retweeting and favoriting my tweets like his life depended on it and one fine day he just pops out of the staircase and just asked “Do you know who I am?” and I’m like “No”.
Hannah. She is just weird out of this world. The stuff she says, the way she thinks, the stuff she does. We met at the weirdest of circumstances. I tweeted her friend’s name and she Twitter DMed me. One thing led to another and another and I’m pretty glad we’re still this close.
Emily. We sit at the back of Chinese class and talk about weird stuff sometimes.
Huda. My neighbor. Like not kidding. My neighbor.
Qadirah. Probably be seeing her for the next 10 years since we have the same life plan. When I think about it, if I hadn’t met her, I wouldn’t have known a lot of juniors.
Thurga. Oh shit man the first time we met it was so awkward. I really don’t know what happened and now she’s a really kewl and fun person to hang out with.
Kang Yan. Super nice and quiet girl that I sat with in lower secondary.
Claudia. Crazy, crazy, woman that has like ADHD to the power of a gazillion.
Farruq. Always asks me when is my new video coming out. And yea his other name is Nearruq.
BG. He’s super nice and he’s really supportive of my work as well. He always ask me questions about my life and the stuff I do so, and he’s great to chill out with. Massive potential in soccer.
Darius. Captain of our soccer team. Great leader.
Yun Shu. My primary school junior.
Mr Lam Hin Chew. Back when I was in Secondary 2, I wanted to quit soccer because my team wasn’t performing up to standards at all. If it wasn’t for him scolding me in front of my whole cohort, I wouldn’t have realised the significance of not running away from problems instead of making a positive difference to improve the situation. He also constantly encouraged me to play as an outfield player instead of a goalkeeper, and even tho I refused to, on my very first match, the coach put me in as a striker. I scored twice.
Ms Doreen Tan. If she hadn’t nagged and constantly reminding me to be disciplined, I might turn out to be a different person. Under her guidance my E-Maths improved from a F9 to an A2. And she through her “I want to see you outside” sessions, I learned a lot about becoming a better person that really helped me mature a lot.
Mr Stanley Tan. Under him our soccer team has improved and got many more opportunities to train and further hone our skills. Thru the matches I managed to gain invaluable experiences that helped me score quite a bit of goals. He also made History really interesting and more fun that it already is, and has a lot of dedication to see our students improve in our academic performance.
Ms Patricia Ng. She is really supportive of my film career, often giving me advice that motivates and inspires me to do more. With the confidence I became more daring and way way less doubtful of myself. She’s always the one helping me to find competitions to enter, and I’m truly grateful to have a teacher like her to guide me thru my road to success.
Ms Evelyn Teo. She claims that Isaac Newton will be pissed at how my hair is defying gravity (cause before the grad ceremony my hair was standing tall and proud 24/7/365). Pffft.
(p.s. There’s still quite a bit of photos to upload, plus I didn’t get a chance to take a picture with quite a fair bit of people.)
The school also screened my class’s graduation video which I directed. It was the most amazing moment of my life there and then and many great things happened after that. I’ll update ya’ll once I fixed the credits proper and upload it onto YouTube, so look out for my blog post some time next week. This blog has also been a great part of my secondary school life, allowing me to express my opinions and improve my writing skills. To everyone who have been following and reading my blog for the past year, a big thank-you to you guys too :)
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Lhu Wen Kai
Lhu 
You know I could literally sit here looking through these pictures twice and then again and again and again, just because they remind me of how awesome I spent most of my Grade 11-12 like. It was humble of you to actually credit so many people, even some of those whom you just sat with in class? I haven’t seen anybody do as much. You’ll go a long way. ;)
P.S. I was scrolling through your blog. It is awesome, and oh, I don’t mind the fact you’re 16. Your humor writing is at its best, who cares about anything else?! :D
Haha I wouldn’t associate the word “humble” with me, but I’ll take the compliment :) Yea I realised some of my best memories, and some of the best life lessons I’ve learnt are not necessarily from the people you interact with the most, but with those who you spend a li’ll and seemingly insignificant time with everyday during boring lessons.
And yea, who cares! I’m awesome!
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