What does national day mean to you?

National day, is a day I don't have to work, a day I can watch the fireworks a day to celebrate the nation's independence but more important than that, National day, 9th Aug marks a special day of our journey of love.

More than 10 years ago, I knew ky as eng50579 while he knew me as bem50153. Those were our email id while we were in nus. My degree was not particularly difficult so I was spending a lot of free time before, between and after lessons in the computer lab yakking away in leonis. Those days, chatting online was not as fanciful as what we have now, with animated emoticons and tools allowing drawing and picture profiles. Leonis was just a black box with white text but it was good enough to have either a one-on-one chatting, multi-party chatting or even sign on into IRC for a group chat. Presence, the term we use today in unified communications to check who're online was also already available. Symbols were used in place of emoticons we use today in IMs.. :) ;) :P etc.. There are also other symbols like xox meaning kisses and xoxo meaning hugs and kisses. The more creative users will design their own symbols and I rem one interesting flower symbol: @}-'-- which represents a rose.

So there, that was the start of our virtual friendship with eventual turned to courtship, love, marriage, joint parenthood. I never knew ky was dating when we first started yakking. He never mentioned he had a gf, I never asked. Sometimes I felt frustrated after a lesson and would complain to him. You see, a lot of lecturers were ABNNs and it was so hard to comprehend their english. Then eng50579 would compose quite silly stories about some mean things happening to them to cheer me up.

At that time, very very few undergrads will hold mobile phones. I was very lucky to hold a very trendy yellow motorola memojazz which supported alphanumeric paging and he was holding a black one. Messages could be sent from a phone's keypad or through internet paging and if u're willing to pay a premium, text messages can also be sent through the help of an operator.

I rem one evening, I was hiding in the com lab cos it was very very hazy. It was a year where singapore's air reached unhealthy levels due to indonesian forest fires. That evening, I wanted to wait for it to clear a little before heading home. In the com lab, none of my contacts were online and I sent an internet page to eng50579. A while later, he came online. I found out much longer that he actually rushed home anxiously, to get online to yak with me, anxious that I would go offline before he could reach home.

I think it was 2 years after we first met online that I asked him out. For reasons I can't rem, I had a pair of NDP tickets and I asked him to go with me. So, we arranged to meet at a bus stop. I rem the moment that we set eyes upon each other, was when my bus reached the bus stop and I gestured him to get onboard. He was wearing a blue polo and looked cleanly shaven. I was a little embarrassed cos I underestimated the bus journey and was late.

So, national day, the day we said the pledge together, the day we sang our national anthem together, they day we watched fireworks together, the day that marked our first face-to-face encounter..

So what happened to her gf? I knew later that coincidently, he had broken up with her not long before national day He said it seemed to be pre-arranged, that if I had asked him out while he was still dating his then gf, he would not had gone with me to the parade and who knows we would had never met?

If u ask me whether I felt sore about the fact that I'm not his only girlfriend (he had 2 before me!) and him being my only boyfriend, I would be lying to say I wasn't. He told me, sounding quite sincerely, that he's happy that I'm not his first gf. He said his previous relationships taught him how to be a better boyfriend. You qiang hua diao..

National day came and went yesterday. It's our 10th national day together (sorry counted wrongly, should be 11th National Day since this is our 10th anniversary). I didn't spring him a surprise gift, neither did I wish him happy anniversary, neither did he. But in my heart, I know he remembers and yes my lao, of cos I do too..