A Personal Touch

How important is the personal touch? I'd say very important. We receive gifts all the time - I may be prone to exaggeration but you get what I mean - but if you think about it, what we remember best are the gifts that have a personal touch.

From something as simple as beautiful wrapping to a present as priceless as a painting, I admire the effort taken to make it extra special. When I receive such a gift, I appreciate it. If handmade, I don't look for flaws, instead, I marvel at the artistry, the originality. Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder so they say, and for me, the beauty lies in creativity, inventiveness and the personalisation. The effort.

Here's a photo of Izlyn, just having won the lucky draw grand prize at our primary school reunion recently, a painting of acrylic and crayon by our friend Shazlina. When I first suggested at one of our organising committee meetings that Shazlina do a painting to be offered as a prize, she was hesitant. Who would want her painting she contemplated. I said I would. And my other friends concurred. I am really glad that our tacit coercion and gentle persuasion worked. And when the time came for us to allocate the prize, the committee at once decided that it had to be the grand prize. Afterall, what could be more meaningful than winning a painting created by a childhood friend? We're happy for you Izlyn, we notice that the painting is now proudly hanging on a wall in your office. As for Shaz, well, she's deluged with demands from the rest of us ... we want a painting too!!

Photo of Shazlina and Izlyn at the SSP82s @ 40 birthday party and reunion.

SSP Party Planning

My primary school mates are planning for a party to celebrate a milestone in our lives. Scheduled for October, it will be an opportunity for all of us to get together again after having not done so as an entire group since 2003 or thereabouts. Some of us meet up every now and then to catch up, either over a meal or teh tarik, but it is always exciting when the prospect of having a large group turn up is about to be realised.

Planning for such a gathering is not easy. The last time we attempted it 7 years ago, it took about 12 of us 3 months to accomplish the task, and that involved phone calls, emails and going door-to-door every weekend trying to canvas support. In the end, we got approximately 150 to attend plus 10 or so teachers of ours. That's what I call commitment.

This time round, we are 2 weeks into the process and so far the effort has yielded 40 confirmations. We hope to get at least 100. Here's a photo of the 7 of us (including the photographer) who were at the 2nd committee meeting hosted by Shazlina and Nik Azhan last Friday. Airini, Thariq, Naguib, Nina and I made up the rest. Our friends who read this post, we hope you will confirm your attendance soon.

Photo shot by Nina on 6 August 2010.