Buffed

I can still remember my first day as a UB student.

Walked into that big-ass lecture theatre, sat myself down. Picked the second-last seat in the row, since it was both convenient and not as standoff-ish as plonking yourself down in the very last seat and giving everyone reason to avoid saying "excuse me" on the first day of school, bright and early.

Saw an army buddy, in those Oakleys that I had too (I got them first!). Looked around again.

Quirky-looking girl shuffled in, pushing her glasses up her nose nervously. Pointed at the empty seat.

"Eh-eh-excuse me. But can I sit here?"

I stifled a chuckle, her huge black plastic rims and checkered shirt settling down as well.

Couple hours later, I was outside the freezing room, lining up for free coffee (remember those?), and that quiet girl was cursing like a drunken sailor together with this white girl with loud eyeshadow.

Spent the first few months around the same group of people that the seniors made us run around Orchard with, and to this day it's some of these people who remain some of my most favorite persons. Some I don't talk to or see as much as I'd like, but maybe that will change. Maybe. Some of them shower in four minutes and have an obsession with Pokemon. Others work themselves up into a frantic frenzy about a possibly wrongly-answered question in a Math test, only to ace it, deeming it "OK lah."

Met a few other people quite soon after. Guy with a spandex fetish. Another funky girl with short hair. The business fella. Atas one.

Some time later, grew close to a few others. The one on vacation from Taiwan, with whom things have sometimes been tenuous. He can remember that Vitamin C deficiency leads to scurvy. And come up with an almost encyclopedic amount of written material on command, it seems.

There was a year or so where I tolerated some questionable characters and behavior from certain individuals, though that finally stopped. Some say it should have happened sooner, others say I was stupid to begin with. They're all probably right.

Finally got to know the girl with flappy ears, the innocent short one, and that foul-mouthed White Girl from earlier, who by now was happily attached (and perpetually… attached) to Mr. Spandex. Also people like the celebrity from Chestnut Drive, Captain Cap, the Family Man, the one with the Joker-smile, a Minah, Guiza, Headphone Girl, Baking Girl, Madame President, Orange Pants, Purple Hair. Good times.

Awesome times.

Laughing, football, random outings, projects, pretending to study.

Huddled at Lido late in the evening with Flappy and Shorty, sighing as they tried to make me feel better about things. Crash course in stats, Mortal Kombat with White Girl at West Coast. Driving back and watching the sun set in the distance.

McDonald's breakfasts and introduction to ice cream cakes with the chart-topper from Chestnut Drive. Wonder if she still scribbles, and if she can park yet.

A whole lot of nonsense, usually involving music and singing and acting like an idiot, with Captain Cap and Family Man. I won't forget what you got me to do at Fish & Co. Or the A1 boyband antics. Garlic Naan in Kembangan.

Talking about so many things with Joker Smile dude and his Liquid Designer. DotA, United and Liverpool, NS, people, life. Late night French Fries with Cap'n Cap and Family Man in Chinatown.

LAN sessions with many of them. Ownage and being owned. Terrorists, Zombies, Scouts, Creeps.

Deal with that Minah, so she'd stop smacking me. But she still does, from time to time. Prata and KFC suppers.

Heckload of time with Guiza, not only because of the craptastic amount of work and classes we got dumped together in. Joined by Headphone Girl, with many stupidly late nights spent trying to start studying. Failing but not caring most times.

Brownies and burgers and lollipops and CDs and plastic straw constructions from Baking Girl.

Madame President sat down with me in the smelly canteen, asked me to do something I didn't originally believe in. Convinced me I could and should do it. I don't regret it, and it's perhaps something that really defined the way my time went, and for that I'm thankful and honored. She still owes me dinner.

Crazy talk with Orange Pants. Late night train rides with her red-eyed and wobbly, laughing, people watching us uneasily. Silly quack.

Inside jokes and 80's music with Purple Hair. Mythbusters, Toto, Roti John, b.o.b., Attenborough, black holes, quantum physics, Friends.

Friends.

That's what I remember, look back fondly at, when looking at the past few years. Haven't mentioned everyone. Not nearly. Not even close.