Keeping Close Ties

I came across a number of occasions in the past couple of weeks that bring me into close contact with my batch mates again. Alhamdulillah. No, it was not that I did not try to keep myself in touch with them before. You see, the distance, coupled with the diverging life paths that we are taking now seem to have its toll on the relationship that we have worked on for the past seven years. At least that is how I felt.

I spoke to Ammar again last night for about 30 minutes. I tried to persuade myself to give him a call whenever I have a chance to, before distance plays a greater role as he is leaving for US. I will try to do the same for Nageb and Mukhlis. Ammar was his usual cheery self, despite the personal problems he claimed he was having. Now, I do not have a slightest idea what on earth his problem is, but Ammar being Ammar, I am pretty optimistic that at the end of the day he will able to handle any problem he is burdened with. Thanks to Facebook, I have also managed to exchange remarks with Kandaq, Mukhlis, Jaya, Ober and a few others. Also, a couple of days ago Jemel sent me a message on Friendster telling me about his personal problem which I would want to disclose here. It was our first interaction since probably last year, and I was just glad that he turned to me to talk about that problem (albeit the extent of that problem is in no way pleasing). Sunil, out of nowhere, started his own blog. He did also give me a nudge on Facebook yesterday, but I certainly did not expect him to be one of those who would eventually turn to blogging. Come to think about it, however, I realize that it should not be of any surprise given the fact that he was one of our few fine English debaters back then. What better way for a former debater to extend his arguments other than putting them into writings? Speaking of writing, I got a shock of my life yesterday when getting my daily dose of updates from theCICAK, as I discovered that the latest article on the website was contributed by none other than my good friend, Am. OK, I was more green with envy than shocked to be honest. I really did expect a man of his rank to someday be able to venture to such length, but I certainly did not expect it to be this early. Well, what does ‘early’ really mean anyway? Maybe I should change the definition in my own personal dictionary. Anyway, you get a bow low from me Am for that feat. Keep up the good work.

Moving on, I should be able to meet Lemi and Hasif at Brisbane come winter break. Too bad Maikel could not make it, or else it will be perfect. Zaim will come to Melbourne to start his degree next semester; that should add more excitements to this continent. I was a bit disappointed that Dino will not head down here too, but well, perhaps God has a better plan for him. Other than that, I still could not get rid of the thought of missing the chance to visit Syarel at Japan at the end of this year due to financial constraint. A good news, however, is that Que plans to come here for a short holiday in August before he leaves for UK. Let’s just hope that the plan will turn out to be a reality and I would be too busy come August.

I should end my writing here and go back to my course notes. The new oil price is certainly an excellent drive to study petroleum engineering now and do well in exams.