Forget Me Not

I went for the shoot the other day for a convocation video. Nah I wasn't chosen by a producer; I volunteered myself. I just wanted to take an opportunity to thank my FYP mates and supervisor because I wasn't sure I would be attending Convocation Ceremony. I was asked what I would miss or remember the most when I left NTU. I had long paused...Hmm My friends. Yeah my friends. I would miss them the most.

I left the shoot and kept wondering myself; what about me? What my friends would remember about me?

I guess, most of people in my school know who I am. I am the only foreigner guy in my batch. All technicians know me, not to mention professors. Although sometimes they still mistake me for Malay. I am famous(to be precise, rather infamous) in my school.

A trouble-maker, I was named.

I once did a quiz on behalf of my so-called friend then got caught.
I once played volleyball in school while leaving editing facilities running; I was barred from using an editing suit for 2 weeks.
I was once dragged out of the class by a lecturer because he thought I was making noise while a class presentation was being conducted...

A porn-director wanna be, I was accused.

The incidence took place during my second year. My friends and I wanted to do something "wild". So we decided to do project on "a history of pornography" without even informing our lecturer. He is from Canada; he should be O.K with the topic, or so we thought. Come a presentation day, I was in his class early. So I told him what we would be presenting and SHOWING. His face turned red. "Go to my office now," he commanded. I went with him and showed him the video. "No! No! You cannot show that in my class. You have two choices, either you change the topic and present it next week or you present today without showing any video or graphics," he added. On the way back to the class, he popped the question,"Do you wanna be a porn director?". I thought he was just joking. " Yeah I do," said me. " If you wanna be a porn director, you don't have to study all the way to university," said he. Whoa! Whoa! easy man, I thought.

We decided to go ahead with the presentation without any graphics. My voice and hands were shaking. The whole class was silent and tensed. Our lecturer's face was still red. We ended our presentation without any comment from him or classmates. We knew we were doing terribly bad. But we thought that would be the end of story after that class.

Few months later, I bumped into one of my lecturers who just got out from a school annual meeting. He told me that the Canadian lecturer told the whole meeting about me being a trouble-maker and a porn-director wanna be. What a jerk! I mean me, of course.

A dark and small guy who looks like Malay, I am.

I am always mistaken as Malay. People speaking to me in Malay is not uncommon anymore. I sometimes joke when food sellers ask me if I can eat pok. "Yeah today is Friday(depends on what day I am asked this question) so I can eat pok."

I attended my first-day Malay class, my classmates were staring at me and one person sitting next to me asked, "Why are you taking Malay?" " I am Malay but I was raised overseas so I can speak Malay for nut!" said me.

All in all, I never regret what I have done during my 5-year study and living in Singapore. I only regret what I haven't done.