It's not broken, just dented. I believe that after the dust settles following any bumps in life, I will say "It's not broken, just dented'.

It’s been 6 years since I went to school, on a regular school day.

Some things have changed-the teachers are greyer, there are projectors in the classrooms now, and the biggest change -I’m not a student there anymore.

Some things have not changed- the teachers are greyer, but I hear they are the same in class- one teacher still swings into a new class on the first day of school with the greeting “Okay buka muka surat 7 dan salin contoh ini” and PJ teacher is still the ‘steadiest’ teacher, as he charms another generation of boys with his ready jokes.

Some things have not changed- the classrooms still run on good old chalk dust, as we heard the projectors, as impressive as they look do not work.

Some things have not changed- I still feel like a student there, it’s hard to believe I’m going to be 23 this year. I think, in Form 5 my friends and I were thought 23 is a ripe old age-the age when you would have done things, and tentatively but surely set foot on your chosen path in life. Our conversations would have probably sounded something like “waah 20 something already we’d be working by then man” ” Hey who do you think will get married first?” ” Eh if I die because of the stupid SPM, I want 99 white roses for my funeral okay. I don’t care how much it cost, you better buy for me.” ” Eh once we are 20 something we go for a holiday togetherlah. Somewhere overseas lah”.

At 23, I’m afraid I’ve only just graduated ( I haven’t even had my ceremony yet!) so that means, no job yet.

At 23, none of us have gotten married yet. A few have gone through a bout with the four letter word-love. Some came out abit tattered, some came out glowing. Some left before the bout even began. But we are all still here, at 23.

At 23, we’ve never had to fulfill the old high school pledge of 99 white roses. We have that to be thankful for.

At 23, we think back about our ‘overseas holiday’ plan, and we think about our finances, or lack of finances and we shrug. We shrug and say “25 lah. When we are  25 we would have worked for a couple of years, then we can go for a holiday. We start with an ASEAN country firstlah.” So we have learned some wisdom- taking old dreams and not discarding them, but trimming them, and making it fit and putting it back on the mantlepiece where it will wait patiently.

We look back, and we laugh. After all, at 23 we are all still here. All still students, and all still friends.

Now, at 30….