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Saturday, November 21, 2009

My 'schoolgirl' life

The year was 2001, when I was ‘still in my 20s’, and before I had come to Beijing. I went to an F4 concert, courtesy of my then ex- whose company sponsored their concert.
Then, they had just started out as singers (I'm sure there are many out there who will dispute these pretty boys as 'singers' or 'actors')and I was clueless as to who they were, but decided to go along just for the concert experience. Only when I was there did I realize how hot they were, with many young girls going gaga and screaming over them. And there I was, harassing the poor teenage girl who had the bad luck to be seated next to me, and ask ‘Erm… what’s the name of this guy on stage? The one next to him?’. She could only stare at me in disbelief/disgust and politely, and patiently, name them one by one. And then I was hooked.

I bought their music CD and listened to it on end, and then I watched the series,
Meteor Garden, on TV.
I harboured schoolgirl fantasies of having a ‘baddie’ boyfriend like Dao Mingsi (third guy from left in above), or getting to know someone shy like Zai Zai. And my dream was further fleshed out when I found a fellow fan in Vanessa, as we watched some episodes in her house before she left for Beijing. We even wanted to plan a shopping trip to Taipei to see if we could go 追星 and bump into F4, and visit the places the TV series was shot (and of course, visit our dear ex-colleague, Belinda, heh!).

Well, as it develops, we then came to Beijing (kaput the Taipei trip dream), and I can remember Wayne always grimacing in chagrin whenever Vanessa and I sang the theme song 流星雨, or Harlem Yu’s情非得已, or Dai Peini’s你要的爱, as Vanessa’s and my eyes glossed over when we imagined ourselves singing with/to Dao Mingsi…

But alas, we grew up (and out) of this phase, and now we both have daughters of our own who might one day grow up chasing dreams of their own Dao Mingsi’s. But the other day, in Singapore, on the way to the China embassy to get Rosabelle’s visa in place, I was in a cab and heard 流星雨 playing on the radio. I was seated alone in the cab and felt a sudden, strong gush of emotions – my nose and eyes got slightly watery, and I messaged Vanessa something like 'In Singapore on a cab to the embassy and heard 流星雨 playing on the radio – missing you all lots.'

Today, I felt the same way – Wayne and I had a good date night enjoying our meal at Alameda (had my first alcohol – red wine – in a long while, but it was a bad recommendation of Argentinian wine by the wait staff), and then snacks at Let’s Burger. I have not been plying myself with alcohol in a looong while since I’m still nursing, but figured that a little glass won’t hurt (and as long as I don’t feed Rosabelle within the hour).

On the way home, I heard the song Can’t take my eyes off you on the radio and told Wayne 'This is Vanessa’s and my favourite song', yet another karaoke and dance floor favourite that will definitely get us jiving. It was quite late already, so I did not message Vanessa, but it again caused a lump in my throat as I sang along. Well, late by today’s standards. At 11-nish in the past, we would have been planning to go to/meet at some night spot for another round of drinks together…

Sigh, those were really the days… But I’m not complaining, much. It’s all worth it when we come home to our lovely daughter, heh!

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