Orientation week

A few things triggered memories of many years ago..10 years, to be close. One was of course I-ben's mail on prom dresses that should never see the light of day, the other, I-ben again, recalling my horrid hair days and thirdly and more importantly, the addition of a senior into a friend's facebook circle..It's amazing how much these facebook notifications can upset you!

Yea, so there we were, all green and wet behind the ears..into the first week of our 5 year long torture..suffice to say, most of the torture was in that one week, the rest was on and off sadistic bits of pain.

I still remember it like it were yesterday, looking at Wilson's shoes ( there's a funny story about this fler, to come later), cos we weren't allowed to look up. Only allowed to look down, at the floor..not at our seniors faces. So we identified them by their shoes..Wilson's were always spotless and shiny. Of all the seniors, I liked him ( and Larry) the most.

Anyway, I-ben and I did many strange funny things, we were forced to pretend like we were Moulder and Scully, and run around the lecture hall, fighting aliens only visible to us. Him being Scully and me, Moulder..why? Cos' I-ben actually is a Scully..heh.

It was ok lar..Malaysian styled ragging. I really don't know why we took it at all. One of us actually rebelled and did they them to shove it, by not showing up for orientation "sessions". He ended up Cleo Bachelor of the year..so much for being the obedient kids.

But what I hated the most was this one particular senior..she was I think 2 or 3 years our senior. It wasn't what she made me do, it was what she said that hurt the most. Plus she had this snide look on her face, the kind you just love to hate. Pretty though that face was, it was not pretty to look at, because of what comes out of that mouth.

That day, I wore a very long dress, one of those things I had back then, when money ( and fashion sense) were a little tight. I recall her saying,

"Why are you so fat? You look like you're pregnant"

I can't remember just what it was that made her say that, or why she did. Why would my weight ever matter? All I can remember is feeling very,very bad..on top of all my insecurities ( being in a new environment, away from home and all), she had to pile on the weight issue. Yea, I was chubby, but did you have to be so mean?

Well, needless to say, for a while, that broke me, my self confidence dropped a bit..but thanks to I-ben and many other friends, eventually, it went away..right after graduation, with some money to spend, guess who joined a gym? Guess who lost all that weight?

And oh...guess who's on Marie Claire's 10 Women of Style and Substance this month? Ya, that right, that would be me.