It rained and it rained in the past two days. I wonder why does it always rain when its the lunar new year. In any case, that didn't stop me from going out and joining some jc classmates for a steamboat at one of girl's house. We bought the ingrediants in the nearby shopping centre but had to be ferried across the road by her husband in his car because it was raining cats and dogs. And so it remained, raining till we had to leave a few hours later. It wasn't easy calling for a cab in that weather, not to mentioned that we needed 3 cabs between the 6 of us leaving. It was a great evening despite the rain though. My classmate's two daughters were really cute and the older one was just at the age (going to turn 3) where she enjoyed babbling to all the "aunties" and "uncles" crowded around her while the younger one was trying to crawl around our feet. It is easy to see how having children has suddenly turned one of the most playful of our classmates into a responsible young mother. As the rest of us "singletons" were bitching about work and laughing about naughty stories (a particular joey from the army days and whether transsexual experience "sexual pleasures" from their new organs), our young mother was busy running around her children, putting one to sleep and making sure the other didn't have food dribbling down her shirt. Her husband was similarly occupied while the rest of us continued making a ruckus in the kitchen as one of our more "culinary-challenged" classmates tried her hand in putting together packaged tang yuan and canned peanut soup. I never laughed so much in a class gathering.

It is great to be back in the loop again and we are already talking about having another in march as there are a couple of us having our birthdays then. Given that i am the one who is staying alone (well, sort of), we are tentatively having a sleep-over at my place during the march holidays. I guess i am "it" for coordinating this one. *grins* It is nice that everyone is so "on" about meeting up together and doing things despite us pursuing pretty much different things in life. I didn't think at first that people would want to meet up in a semi-regular mode but when this next gathering was proposed, everyone said they can make it (hopefully). I know i would tried to make it happen for one. I don't know about the others, but for me, despite having other friends and things to do, i suddenly realized that i am happy to be back in this ex-classmates circle again. And even though it has been ten years and everyone has sort of grown, a hard to describe sense of familiarity and comfort remains when i am with them. I feel like i am sort of detached from my daily life when i immerse in this circle with them and its a protective covering against time for a short while. It is not like i went back in time but that we sat outside time for the short period while we are together before jumping back into the time stream once we got into our individual cabs.

I am not sure if i am describing it very well. Needless to say, i am happy and strangely contented.