Memories are made of this
“I asked you to buy a loaf of bread yesterday, and you forgot. But this conversation from 16 years ago, you remember perfectly!”
That was the home minister’s exasperated lament before we drove to Central i-City Mall on April 7.
She was trying to work out how I could remember a chance encounter with former Malay Mail and New Straits Times (NST) staff, Yeoh Oon Chuan at a coffee outlet in the middle of 2008, but not what she had asked, a few days earlier.
I left The Malay Mail in October 2008 but used to visit the old office to meet former colleagues for teh tarik or coffee in Petaling Jaya. While waiting for them, I bumped into Yeoh, just as he exited a well-known coffee joint.
We said hurried goodbyes but promised to meet up for coffee “one of these days”. However, that day did not come. We did “bump” into each other on Facebook, though. Our usual greeting: “Eh, when are we meeting for coffee?”
Yeoh subsequently moved to Singapore after leaving NST in 2017, but we kept in touch, thanks to Mark Zuckerberg.
Fast forward to April 3, Yeoh messaged me on Facebook, asking if I was free for lunch that weekend. And that was how the home minister and I ended up in Central i-City Mall. Although we had not met for 16 years, Yeoh and I got on like a house on fire.
We spent hours reminiscing the fun we had in Balai Berita in Jalan Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, where The Malay Mail used to be.
Ironically, although we had lunch, we did not have coffee but promised to meet again at the end of the year or early 2025 – certainly not 16 years later.
Also, on April 3, I attended a buka puasa event and had the pleasure of meeting Emily Lee, assistant vice-president of group communications at Prasarana Malaysia Berhad.
Unbelievably, we had not met for more than 10 years, but it didn’t feel like it, as we are friends on Facebook. I also get daily messages from her husband, Victor Yong.
On April 9, I met another old media friend, Edward Rajendra, who was with The Sun newspaper in the mid-1990s but is now with The Star. We were at a press conference in Klang. Although I had not seen him for over 20 years, I immediately recognised him.
I felt proud that my memory was in tip-top shape – prematurely, as it soon turned out.
After the press conference, I stopped at a fast food joint to get a bite to eat and to file my stories. I also didn’t want to drive in the rain. While chomping on my burger, I realised I had left my notes from the press conference in the car!
Once done with my stories, I rushed home as the rain had stopped. Upon entering my home, my mother asked: “Did you get the peanuts I asked you to buy?”
Looks like my memory is not as good as I thought it was. As Dean Martin sang: “Memories Are Made of This.”
TRIBUTE TO P. RAMLEE AND SALOMA
Summit Mall in USJ 1, Subang Jaya, will organise a tribute to the legendary Tan Sri P. Ramlee and Puan Sri Saloma on April 20 with a ‘Best Dress Competition’.
Dress to impress and unleash your creativity to win cash prizes and food vouchers.
GREAT BRITISH CIRCUS MALAYSIA IS BACK
The Great British Circus Malaysia will be at IOI Mall Puchong, Jalan Puchong, Bandar Puchong Jaya, Selangor, from April 26 to June 3.
Catch the two-hour performances from an international cast of direct from Europe, Asia, South America, and the United States, including a 30ft ‘King Kong’.
FREE HEALTH SCREENING
Columbia Asia Hospital, an international private healthcare company incorporated in Malaysia in 1996, will conduct a free health screening at Pearl Point Shopping Mall, off Jalan Klang Lama, Kuala Lumpur, on April 20.
The hospital will conduct screenings for cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose levels.
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