MAY you live long and prosper

'Leaving on a jet plane'

John Denver

all my bags are packed and i'm ready to go
i'm standin here outside your door
i hate to wake you up to say goodbye
but the dawn is breakin it's early morn
the taxi's waitin he's blowin his horn
already i'm so lonesome i could die

so kiss me and smile for me
tell me that you'll wait for me
hold me like you'll never let me go
cause i'm leavin on a jet plane
don't know if i'll be back again
oh babe i hate to go

ther's so many times i let you down
so many times i've played around
but i tell you now they don't mean a thing
every place i go i'll think of you
every song i'll sing i'll sing for you
and when i come back i'll wear your wedding ring

so kiss me and smile for me
tell me that you'll wait for me
hold me like you'll never let me go
cause i'm leavin on a jet plane
don't know when i'll be back again
oh babe i hate to go

now the time has come to leave you
one more time now let me kiss you
close your eyes and i'll be on my way
dream about the days to come
when i won't have to leave alone
about the times that i won't have to say....

oh kiss me and smile for me
tell me that you'll wait for me
hold me like you'll never let me
cause i'm leavin on a jet plane
don't know when i'll be back again
oh babe i hate to go

i'm leavin on a jet plane
don't know when i'll be back again
oh babe i hate to go

i'm leavin on a jet plane
don't know when i'll be back again
oh babe i hate to go

but i'm leavin on a jet plane
leavin on a jet plane
leavin on a jet plane
leavin on a jet plane
leavin on a jet plane
leavin on a jet plane
leavin on a jet plane
leavin on a jet plane
leavin on a jet plane

Sob, sob... I dreaded that this day might come, WM's last day. On Friday, she packed her handbag and left the Orange for good, never to return. Well, maybe she didn't leave on a jet plane, I mean, Tiong Bahru ain't that far away, but she sure as heck left on a blue kawasaki motorbike. No prizes for guessing whose it was either. There's gonna be one lonely Ah Beng in the Orange now, I can tell you...

Why did she have to go? Why did the captain have to go? Er, why did I mention the captain? Hmm, strange... heheh.

I'll always remember WM as being extremely demure, cute as a button, petite le fleur, dainty and wistful little gal who always seemed to bring the sunshine with her wherever she tottered about in the Orange. Many an ardent male suitor have fallen for her doe-eyed 'sayang sayang' demeanour.

It's interesting, when we observe human relations, how different people seem to bring out different qualities and aspects of our ownselves, as we interact with them. With WM, she always tended to bring out the protective instincts in all of us. Perhaps, ironically, it was she who was protecting us all the time (the pri sci team), from the dark forces that tend to inhabit the Orange.

Yet, WM was also someone who was a super powderful editor who had a razor sharp eye for detail, a vociferous appetite for sliced fish soup (which she seldom finished, by the way), a weather-tested tenacity for overtime and weekend work, and a steely determination to see a project through to success.

She was an inspiration to the Pri Sci team and also the most experienced member that we had. How will we cope after her departure?

Sigh... "gather ye rosebuds while ye MAY."