Mother of All Reunions

Ivy and Allen who flew home from LA to join the fun

from left: wati, kim, aida, me, shimah and norida (who got 'feelings' to sing as an entry for our karaoke competition)

shamni and christine, looking glamorous

another happy couple who flew from Oregon, Kim and Steve

at the registration counter.Kai Chong has projects everywhere (the Curve was his)

vacuum, pak, jangan tak vacuum

Finally, the mother of all reunions which was planned for 2 years came to reality last night.

What a night!

Despite all the plannings (mostly done over the net via our mailing list), we still experienced last minute alarm and panic. We should have checked out the layout of the venue earlier.Luckily I went early cos' Peter Yong (a millionaire by day, in charge of technical stuffs) said he'd be there by 4 pm to check the sound system for our multimedia presentation and karaoke competition.So as the chairperson of the event, I had to come early to oversee stuffs. By 5 pm, Peter had not shown up. When I rang him up, he said he was still testing the system at home and would be there in 30 mins.I went oh oh..if the system failed, we didn't have any plan B.Or C. Or Z.

But it was good I was already there.I had to supervise the cleaners to properly clean up the hall (the previous event left it in a messy state and the cleaners did not bother to vacuum up).Then I realised we needed to do some touch up on the decor.A few phone calls here and there to buy rose petals, candles etc.

Then the comm came and we decorated the place. CEOs tak CEOs, Chairman tak Chairman. All were instructed to help out.Hee hee.It looked and felt like a wedding place in the end. :)))

As people poured in (some we didn't recognise, those who we did -- got screamings and huggings from us), the level of noise and excitements were beyond description. I am glad it was as planned.Alhamdulillah! Ivy and Kim and their spouses came and they said they enjoyed the do as much as I did. Allen and Steve (who flew from the US, for their wives) were judges for the karaoke competition (and Kim had whispered to her husband to give extra marks for our group/table when we sang 'Feelings'.Hahaha.But we didn't win)

I think the Reunion was timely.Outside us, in the morning, a peaceful street demo took place in protest of the way Bar Council handled its forum on Muslim conversion (this is how I read it.The protest to me is not against the topic of the forum but the bias Bar Council had in organising the forum). Had it been held at a neutral venue, organised by a neutral body, the dialogue might have worked.But I do not understand why the few experiences of non-Muslims who had a bad deal with bad Muslims could be used as a basis to create an uproar on Muslim conversion. They should also have invited Muslim converts who had good experiences to give a balanced perspective on the issue.Definitely we have issues and problems to settle but by setting an agenda to serve a certain quarter of the population is not ethical, methinks.One must be mindful of the sensitivity of 60% of the population.We can dialogue but means of the doing it must be well considered.

So last nite amidst what went on on the streets, my school reunion may have represented the ideal life of what Msia should be (or what it was before).I grew up with a very mixed group of friends in the 70s and 80s.We were colour blind. Last nite we celebrated this although the country may have changed and if left unguarded, would have taken all of us on a different route.I think the ordinary people like my friends and I have no problem with each other.And I pray it is people like us who will hold the country together.

More pics at this link (thanks to Ricky): http://www.freewebs.com/mahmud80/apps/photos/.

Someone who went through the pics spotted a ghost's hand (trying to eat kacang Sempalit?) in Pic no. 4.The arm is transparent! Don't view this if you live alone and it's midnite!