Charmaine, my 2nd oldest friend.

I am typing this entry while lounging by the pool during lunchbreak (much emphasis added as I'm not sleeping on the job) with a diet coke in hand. The weather is perfect... there is just enough cloud cover to shield me from the blazing sun and the random drafts of wind unfailingly soothe the heat on my shoulders. And now, I am jumping through the hoops of one illusion to another: from my pseudo beach resort at the fitness first pool to the child I was 20 years ago.

A very old friend happened to board the same bus as me. We reminisced about memories that shaped our respective childhoods. This included playing hide and seek in the Changi Prison compound, dangling upside down from monkey bars, climbing trees, refusing to attend Sunday school and instead playing various games, pretending to be a soldier playing with rifles, stealing golf balls, kicking my first football and making fun of others. Can't believe it but this conversation yesterday proves that my memory of the prison is nothing but vivid. I must say that I'm glad that my life took all the havoc routes at the many crossroads back in the day cause embarking on the alternative turn would not just imply a different path I might have taken, but a different self I would I have been and that would be far from desirable.

The bus ride didn't feel like it lasted for 45 and I didn't feel like 26 either. Maybe this deja vu might happen to the future version of myself - meeting an ole amigo and momentarily indulging in the 'fling of youth' (this is one cool line by luke) we have today. So, we should be grateful for having anything but unspent youth for the present.
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld from M1.