I first met Dennis during the hari raya open house that I had in 1998. It was winter, and the new IUP students from malaysia had just arrived. dennis was having a bad cold that evening, but he was still cheery! He said he played tennis. So I said, "Dennis Tennis" just to remember his name. IT worked. I still remember his name til today. At that time, he was a transfer student from Inti college, and was instrumental in getting in-state tuition for all Inti college transfers into IUP later on. For that, he was given a tuition-free education at the Master's level... At least, that was what he told me. I told him to go for his PhD too, since it would also be paid for...
He did his Masters and graduated with a gold medal. I remember attending his graduation, and I don't attend too many graduations! All due to Azral who got us IUP Malaysians together. We went fishing a few times, bbq a few times... Dennis (with his friends) even helped me move house a few times, and I also remember helping him move, too. And fix Tomoko's leaky gas tank... haha...Anyway, we had fun. One day, he gave me two folding fishing chairs, through Azra. That was nice of him. I still use those chairs for picnics. He also delivered for me a laptop that I donated to Idah that one time he was back in Msia...
Dennis, like Teri and Azral, is one in a million. You don't meet their kind often.
Today, in Tokyo, Teri was looking for appliances to buy for his new house. He answered two adverts. At the second house, one of the guys asked him, "Do you remember me?". Of course teri did. We were all together during those times at IUP. And so, Teri ended up buying Dennis' fridge and washing machine. Dennis looks like he's moving to China. I had known that he was doing some Japan-China trade, and that he was living in Japan. But for Teri to have met him thru' the classifieds beats the odds. Someone should be buying some tickets today! Anyway, good luck to you Dennis!! Make your fortune, and come back to Indiana and visit us here!!
Here's Teri (left) and Dennis (right) at their chance meeting!