THE LATE LUCH SESSION AND A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION WITH EX-COLLEAGUES

Someone is celebrating his birthday today and initially the idea was to just have coffee with him. We tried to extend the invitation to other friends and we successfully managed to gather six people who used to teach under one roof once upon a time.

The chosen venue: Chamek Kopitiam in Taman Universiti. I was there last week for another reunion session [READ HERE].

Four of us have already retired while the other two are still in service.

We eventually had cakes for dessert so as to celebrate Mr. Azhar's birthday. Too bad, my other friends were too shy to sing the birthday song loudly so I was the one who had to do it solo.

We had to part ways by 5:00 p.m.before the road got congested when people rushed home from work. Thanks to my friends of SMK Taman Universiti and hopefully we can do this again real soon.

THE TEA SESSION WITH AN OLD FRIEND IN SENAI

I had to go to Senai International Airport for an urgent matter. That should be the best time to ask an old friend/ex-colleague [of SMK Taman Universiti], Mr. Masrizal Sayute, whether he was free to meet up for tea. I was glad his answer was positive and we decided to meet at Chamek Kopitiam like we did last time.

It was just a short meet up and we had to leave before 5.00 p.m. so as to avoid the possible traffic jam as people were leaving their offices. Looking forward to more meetings to come with my friend.

MEETING ANOTHER OLD FRIEND AFTER THE MCO

13th NOVEMBER 2021 ~ We had not been seeing each other for quite some time because of Movement Control Order, especially when my friend is currently residing in another district. The original plan was to meet up at this one Mamak restaurant near Senai Airport where we used to meet. To my surprise, the restaurant had already closed down, which showed how long we had not been there, so we had to go to another place.

The best option we had was Chamek Kopitiam which was the nearest restaurant. We decided to have "teh tarik" [milk tea] and "Lempeng" [thin, flat, tasteless pancake] with chicken curry which had no chicken meat at all.

It was a short meeting with Mr. Masrizal Sayute, an ex-colleague of SMK Taman Universiti, who has been promoted to the Head of Department of Technic and Vocational in SMK Gelang Patah. Looking forward to having other frequent meeting sessions with Mr. Masrizal after this.

WHEN AN EX-CLASSMATE FROM SCHOOL WAS IN TOWN

12th MARCH 2018 ~ At this (young) age, I am always excited to get the chance to see old friends and will always try to meet them when they are in town. So when an ex-classmate (Budiman class of 1986) of SMS Muar announced, Mr. Abdul Razak Sapian, he would be arriving in Johor Bahru, a date was quickly set. He is now attached with UIAM Kuala Lumpur and that is a reason for the rare opportunity to connect except on Whatsapp. So we met at this restaurant called Chamek Kopitiam in Taman Universiti as that should be the most convenient venue to meet for both of us.

Unfortunately it was just a short get together but I was still happy for the time and company. We definitely need a longer time to sit and chat - there are just too many things to talk about.

On another note, it is high time for my classmates to hold another reunion gathering again. The last time we had one was like... I don't know - it has been too long I can't even remember. Guess someone needs to get the ball rolling.

ONE DAY IN MY LIFE...

First, there was this so-called professional briefing for the district's principals held at SMK Desa Skudai by PPD Johor Bahru. Since my principal is retiring real soon, and the Senior Assistant of the Administration is not around, I was asked to tag along. The briefing started at 8:00 a.m.

Then, all the participants adjourned to SMK Taman Universiti because the school principal who has retired was giving free lunch to all the other principals of the Johor Bahru district. Believe it or not, this was the third retirement event of the same principal I had already attended. Unfortunately, we had to make our way back to SMK Desa Skudai to continue with the briefing.

The whole thing ended at 4:00 p.m. By that time, I was already having a headache which means, very long briefing is definitely not good for me. In fact, at this moment while I am updating the blog, my head is still throbbing.

Right after that, I rushed to Dataran Bandaraya to meet our angklung guru from Jogjakarta who is here in Johor Bahru. We decided to have tea at Chamek Kopitiam at Plaza Kotaraya, and had a short talk - definitely about angklung related matters. Then I had to take him back to Dataran, said our "goodbyes" and hopefully I will be seeing him in Jogjakarta one day.

There was one more event I attended after that but I will post about it later.

ATTENDING A FAREWELL GATHERING AT CHAMEK KOPITIAM

31st May 2015 ~ A farewell gathering was held at Chamek Kopitiam (translate "Kopitiam" from Cantonese - coffee shop) , Taman Universiti, Johor Bahru, by the non-academic staff of SMK Mutiara Rini. The event was to bid goodbye to a retiring senior clerk, Puan Ainon, of the school whose service ended today. She was one person who was trying hard to convince me that being transferred to a new place was actually a good thing. And of course, she was not successful.

Thank you Puan Ainon for all the help given and may you lead a stress-free life after this. I really hope my time will come soon.

And I have found a new place to hang out in Taman Universiti. This helps a lot when I have people visiting.

OUTING WITH PEOPLE WHO JUST CAME BACK FROM JAPAN

3rd JUNE 2011 - [The title is a bit exaggerated to attract your attention!] This was an outing with another batch of ex-students comprising of Mr. Azeze, Mr. Hazizul and Mr. Megat. It was not easy to get people to meet, sit and eat at the same time especially when one of them is now residing in Kuala Lumpur. The first restaurant that we went to was Chamek Kopitiam [translate: coffee shop] in Bandar Baru Uda. However, the food selection was a bit formal for the occasion so we just had the drinks there before moving to a less formal venue.

So we went to the open-air eating place near Dataran Bandaraya where it was more happening and definitely less formal. We could not stay there for long because it was getting late and they needed to send me to the bus terminal so I could catch my bus to Kuala Terengganu. So thanks a lot guys for the time spent and perhaps we could do this later when Mr. Azeze come back home.

And thanks also to bot Mr. Azeze and Mr. Hazizul for the souvenirs from Japan. Yes, they just came back from JAPAN, holidaying and I am still JEALOUS of them.