I've been thinking about putting in ink about days gone by; of younger days. Carefree days. Unburdened heart. Of innocence. In fact, I've been thinking about writing this for quite some time but I guess there is a time and place for everything. And I guess this is the moment.
And in a way
Zana's post on John Lennon made me start this as I too have a story to tell concerning John Lennon during college days. Who'd have thought?
I only knew of John Lennon as a guy from the Beatles. Vaguely. Bangs that almost (or actually did) cover the eyes. Glasses. Or something like that.
When I was doing the Advanced English classes at college I got to know him a little better. Our instructor Mary Pascall, gave us the Imagine song lyrics one day as part of our lessons. She turned on the cassette (sorry dude, there were no CDs during those good old days) and made us all sing the song together in class. It was a song I never knew before then (oh what a sin that was as far as I am concerned!) And Mary told us about Lennon. His life. Yoko Ono. I cant say why I remember this till this day. There must be something although I cant say what (
kalau tak ada apa yang significant takkan ingat sampai hari ni).And I can actually still see Mary standing in front of the class. Blonde. Shoulder length hair like '
maggi-mee', us locals would say. Her favorite outfit was her deep purple dress with black opaque leggings that semester. Or her black vest with her khaki pants.
There is something about her that made myself and Naza, my classmate laughed. She's funny in a way.
Orang Amerika ni kadang2 exaggerate so badly. And that in itself is so weird* to the rather more reserved Asian I suppose.
*and I learned of the word weird in the early days at college too. Strange is perceived as a somewhat more formal word; or maybe used by the more reserved Englishmen I suppose. And you have to learn to roll your tongue too the way Americans do.
Otherwise mat sallehs tak paham jugak kalau kata weird pun.Anyway. Mary is one of the ok instructors. Maybe because she is younger than the rest (?). More open. She loves Rolling Stone (I had wondered why, oh why? Coincidently do you know Mick Jagger is knighted and is now known as Sir?) She was so excited about the Rolling Stone concert at Folsom Field (that's the name of the college football field), that autumn. I checked and yes, Rolling Stone did perform at CU Boulder on the 3rd&4th Oct that year. If I am not mistaken Mary attended the concerts on both days. That's how crazy she was over the Rolling Stone.
I dont remember that weekend but most weekends at college were noisy anyway; with football, parties or mat sallehs being plain drunk. I dont remember what kind of weekend I had that week, but I suppose it wasnt as loud as Mary's. Not even close.
(And as of today I have a new label called Memoir where all posts with similar sentiment will be parked.)
And yeah, life could never ever stay that simple. That easy. Now I know.
*****
The weekend was filled with wedding stuffs. It was a rather pretty wedding; small and nicely planned from the floral arrangement to the seating, the cake, to the arrival of the pengantin.
From top left are my sister (Datin - woohoo..) Poji of Sunway; the other sister, Nari, and two of her kids Shasha & Farhan arriving; the butterfly was worn as a button by the family instead of the more traditional ribbon flower (a pretty good idea); and Alia, one of the many nieces.
From top left, a glamorous purse I saw (and like! but just not me..); Pak Cik Zain, a favorite uncle; the pretty girls of Anti Leli, nieces; and the adorable wedding cake topped with pink and lilac hydrangea.
