on my TG family

Dear TG,

I'm sure this letter will find each one of you well. A lot has happened to us since our high school graduation in 2005.

Honestly, I may not remember much of our times together, but I do have a warm feeling thinking about us altogether. Do you remember our 10-cm-below-the-knee-tablecloth skirt? Someone mentioned to me one time that the skirt was supposedly able to tell a baby bump, just in case on of the girls got knocked up!

I remember our regular hangout time and place at school: during the first 15 min break at the elementary auditorium.

We would always meet up at a mall, wander aimlessly until we're tired, and go take picture at a photobooth.

Do you remember our chemistry class project in 10th grade, where we got together for the first time? I remember being some sort of fairy using that plastic magic wand. What were you at that time? Who was the carbon dioxide? Who was the bajaj driver?

I remember the first time we started our "family lineage." I was very chatty and loud, you said (I was not the only one, clearly) and that's why I got to be the grandmother (grand-mère in French as JQ was obsessed with Princess Diaries, I believe? and hence the nickname mère). It was ironic, becase I'm the youngest in the group. Not only that, I got to have four (yes! Four!) "husbands"; Jerry Yan, Tetsu, Raul Gonzales, and Bae Yong Joon. Do you still remember who were you? whose child? whose grandchild?
This sounds sooo silly today, but hey, aren't we the silly group?

Anybody remember going to Vita's house to surprise her on her birthday? We went to eat Pizza Hut afterwards.

I remember not being to go every time you guys went out of town, Bandung or Puncak. Remember, my overprotective parents? ;p But I did attend that one swimming time at Amanda's usual place. I feel like Amanda was the one who always going somewhere, Mangga Dua, Pasar Baru and always be dressing up so girly. Oh, remember, Amanda's mom and my mom grew up in the same state! Hahaha. Her brother was pretty famous too among us.

Then I remember our TGF book. So sad that a few of the books got lost in circulation :(

Do you remember that A LOT of teachers thought Angie and Vita were twins? That was funny! Is Angie still singing? Other than Angie, who can sing in the group? Definitely not me.

Vita and I would call each other at night. It raised my mom's eyebrows, "Don't you think it's enough time to chat at school? What else could you two possibly talk about?" Oh mom. I mean, we'd discuss schoolwork too, you know with some boy talks in between. I'd share everything with her! I'm glad I got to see her (the only TG I saw) the last time I went home. She must be busy preparing for her wedding!

What can I say about Tiffany. Another TG who can not stop talking. The one person with whom I shared the same class three years straight. I remember working on our biology group presentation. I mean, she put the best freaking animation. Well, I'm sure I helped too. Our powerpoint compared to any groups was a KILLER. It was pretty narcissistic too. Our group pictures were like on every slide! Good job, though! It's impressive.

Remember the conversation about Sunny wanting to be a nun? But then she went to medical school instead, insisting that she still could help others by doing so. What a saint.

Angguni. Remember our live-in? I remember our bathroom, separated from the house itself. Remember that one dog who's about to chase us and you said, calmly, "Don't be afraid. Just walk normally, he can smell your fears you know." Then, we planted corns :)

Talking about live-in. I remember one night the students were about to gather for something (maybe a mass?) and Tiffany brought along her women's napkin and suddenly threw it out into some sort of field. That made JQ upset. JQ insisted she find the darn thing. Haha.

Tiara always had the latest cellphone. Remember, she had that one Nokia phone with a shape of a leaf? Haha. Pretty sweet. Even look at her glasses. It's blue! I'm sure she's the only one who can pull it off with her cuteness. And this year, she's getting married too. Sad I can't come (yes, I'm sure I'm invited).

When we got separated into science, social science, and linguistic, it was pretty hard. We didn't share the same stories anymore. But we took Chinese. I think it was 8 of us. I don't remember who took it, but it was hard. I did homework last minute. Every single time. For me, it was just a time to get together again. I took Fashion Design too. It's horrible, I just did not want to spend time cutting magazines for inspirations. By that time, I should have known being creative is not in my vein, but I loved me some physics or maths (though the math teacher was beyond ridiculous). Anyway, art is subjective :p

I liked the time when we're just copying down notes from the blackboard. We'd pretend (or maybe not) we couldn't see from the back so that we would sit with one of us seated in the front that week. To chat of course. Regulated seating sucked.

Almost everyday, my goal was just to make Sunny or Clara laughed. I felt really good if those two laughed when I started telling jokes or just being funny. (This confirms the fact in previous post that I should be a comedian) Anyway though, Clara would laugh at anything and wouldn't stop laughing. I had to re-think, "Was it really that funny?" and Sunny sometimes got irritated by me.

I'm sure we all remember Tiffany and her highschool sweetheart. If teachers knew about your love life, then it's a BIG deal. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding with him :)

I remember that story when Tiffany and Clara were on a bus, met by an exhibitionist. Ugh! It's a very different story, but it's still funny!

JQ, we took Japanese together. Well, you did. By the end of this post, I feel that I was practically fooling around in high school. I mean, yeah I had the lesson, but we would just play with Agatha's little brother. I don't remember any Japanese, except for Hajimemashite or Doumo Arigatou. Didn't we have that one Japanese class drama performance? Since I was so behind (well, I started attending in the middle of the session), I did not have any parts. Lame.

JQ, we also took batik together. We went beyond creative with our prints and tie-dyes. Now, I love this extra-curricular of mine! Go batik!

Oh! Remember I cried in 10th grade because my bean sprout did not sprout? HAHAHA. I felt like I put so much time into it and I did not want to disappoint my dad who helped or failed on the first high school biology project. I also cried when I got 1.0/10.0 for accounting class? It wasn't fair. The girls from St. Mary middle school had accounting class before! I'm sure I missed a lot of stories among us, between you and me or between you and another TG. But, if you read this, please write one or two kind memories that you remember. Anything with TG is a good story! :)

The Gillass Family

Front row (L-R): Tiara Kartika (Tolly), Anastasia Adeline (Mere), Maria Angela (cuteh/cutie), Wuri (Orrie), Sunny Orlena (does she have a nickname???)
Middle Row (L-R): Maria Jaclyn (JQ), Veronica Amanda (Mandako), Yoselda Malona (Yos), Vita Aprilia (Shippou)
End Row (L-R): Giasinta Angguni (Gone), Clara Vania (Chubby), Benedicta Tiffany (Popoy)

Love,
Mere