Glorious Feasting - That CNY Thing

Chinese New Year 2012 - It's all about Feasting.

ScrabbleliciouS

The last few minutes of 2009 shall be remembered for the scramble to a certain house in Bukit Timah to pick up Scrabble and other assorted board games, and then fervently praying that I would not have to celebrate the new year in a car with T or, worse, while we are rushing from the carpark to jw's home. That would have been, well, pathetic. We did manage to dash into the apartment in time, and even had a few minutes before the fireworks began - on the screen, of course. Instead of sparkling champange or wine, we had pokka green tea to toast to a new year.

The first few hours of 2010 would be remembered for a mind-boggling session over forming English words, short and long, common or never seen before. I also learnt a new word - the first in a year that had just barely begun: Tufa. It sounds suspiciously fraud but, yes, there is such a word. Henceforth my vocabulary expanded by one more word - within the first two hours of 2010.

Scrabble can be an intense game. No, change that to - Scrabble IS an intense game. Or as my friends would likely say, yours truly takes forever to make his move and, going by rumours, need the help of women to compete (those treacherous gossipers!). I was one Man pitted against 3 pairs of brains. I put up a brave fight, but was defeated still in the end, no thanks in part to Mr Z and Ms Q which are notoriously known to be difficult to rid of. One of them cost me negative 10 points, which is negative ten too costly. By the end of the game, nearly two hours later, I was brain dazed.

But scrabble is a lot of fun. In fact, Cal & Sab played scrabble for 12 hours while in transit during their honeymoon. I don't know how they did that, man. It must have been many rounds because Sab the strategist and analyst must have easily killed off Cal!

Untill the next game, I shall endeavour to unravel more Tufa-esqe words and unleash them at the battle. Hear my war cry, Scrabblelicious!!!

Triple the Joy

One book of Labour


Twins of Happiness


Trio of Friends

Unbeknownst to Mr See, I was trying for a long time to capture his side portrait - except that his arm was resting against the table and covering his face.

After a while, the ladies got bored and, like an earnest child making yet another plea, reiterated their ultimate - and sole - objective: the hooters' photos! What was meant to be, would be. And so the stars were finally aligned, and the WIFI connection was suddenly working.

So the Nepal photos gave way to the hooters' photos. As I (wisely) told Adrian: 'the girls are only interested in two kinds of photos - those that have cute guys; or scandalous pictures.'

Well, the hooters' photos belonged to the latter category. =)

all in a night

i just came home from sx's home not long ago. Never a games person, tonight i was introduced to WII, having played it at her place only a few hours ago. Yes, i'm not very updated on game consoles and until today i only knew the existence of Game Boy, Playstation and XBox. (if it's any consolation, jw doesn't know it either; he's still at Bridge and Poker, he says.)

Tam says after tonight my 'cool factor' would have upped a little. Great.

sx, by the way, is a lawyer who works nearly 7 days a week. She gets home, i suspect, usually past midnight. Take today for instance, the bunch of us met for supper way past 11pm. But SX came after 12.30am - from office. It's a Saturday alright.

She invited us to her place to play WII - that's why i'm still awake at this hour - and during our supper and at her place, she had quite a couple of calls. We joked that her social life starts after midnight; and being the nice folks that we are, we wanted to make sure her social life materialises.

We played tennis, boxing, wrestling and bowling. i think half the time we were laughing and amused by the graphics more than enjoying the game per se. This is probably what the creater had in mind, for you don't have to be a pro gamer to be able to enjoy the games. You don't even need to execute any precise hand movement with the gadget to hit, box, wrestle and bowl; they are all programmed in such a way that you only need to move your hands, press a few buttons, and things will work themselves out; nothing sophisticated or complex.

Still, Jo struck powerful serves and trounced us all at tennis, except once when julie - finally - dethroned her. Tam provided value-added entertainment: she commented how Jo's girls - her doubles' players - could strike before hitting the ball whereas ours couldn't (in other words, Jo's an advantage); and how her girl always ended up falling and missing the ball. When her wrestler (Cartilo or something) exhibited limited movement, she remarked that the person who created the character had forgotten to programme the attack moves. Funny, funny. Coming from the dimpled girl.

When at last it was time to stop, the host reminded us that she had to - yes - continue working (at home). I asked if she's going back office later (Sunday, that is) and her answer - no surprise - is yes.

It was cold outside and there were condensed water droplets on my bike's handlebar. Dressed in a singlet and riding my bicycle down the road, i was shivering with cold as i felt the chilling air bite my skin. So i pedalled hard - the first time i was on the saddle after many months off the road - hoping my body would generate warmth quickly and provide some protection against the biting cold.

4:30am: Hair still wet, i decided sleep can be delayed still. Hence this.

A fine evening

The place was Grill-Out at Sunset Way; the atmosphere was laid-back and casual. Most of the restaurants seemed quite fully packed, but the scene was neither messy nor overcrowded. It was a fresh change for a dining venue.

Despite having decided on our food, we still asked the staff for recommendations. It seemed only a natural thing to do after all: asking about chef's recommendations, seeking explanation on dishes with obscure names - as if these are part of a customary procedure expected of serious diners. And, ahem, we are serious about our food all right.

A man of stocky built walked us through the day's specials. Judging from his demeanour and speech - he had an authoritative voice, spoke crisp English, demonstrated good knowledge of the menu - he could very well be the owner of the restaurant. But we didn't probe further beyond what he listed (which could be read from the display board, to be frank).

I felt sorry for wasting his time to tell us about the day's specials only to have us placed our orders immediately without any appreciative comments. And while he was speaking, I saw JW's face and nearly broke into a guffaw: he had that unmistakable oh-i-see-hmm look. As if he was deep in thought pondering hard about the recommendations.

Before heading for ice-cream nearby after dinner - well, we ended up at good 'ol walas though - JW fished out from beneath the table a birthday cake for Tam. But instead of just celebrating Tam's birthday, three candles were lit, one for Caleb and Tam each, and the short one for JW. It was quite funny. We sang a birthday song - nice and warm - and the three birthday folks each blew out their candle. Oh, and the cake was yummy!

Over at Walas later, plans for a year-end party were thrown up and the date and venue promptly decided. Now all that's left is for JW to utilize every resource he has to invite the others. Even if that fails, well, there's still the small group of us. And that's cool.

sunday night at walas

Sunday night, time being before 9pm, i found myself one of a handful of customers at walas. I hadn't expected that kind of crowd. But now i know.

Jo saw me - it's hard to not catch her attention - and i waved at her, before taking a seat at the other side away from the speakers. Good thing i managed to catch her in action - three songs, to be exact - before the band called it a day.

I have to agree with Tamk and W. It's absolutely wonderful now that walas has turned smoke-free. No more feeling like im in a smoke chamber. I can now enjoy a beer and the band in a smoke-free environment. Lovely!

Looking at the kwongs, I couldn't help but feel a little envious. Really, i've never seen any siblings hang out at a pub together. And they were so at ease in one another's company. When i asked D why she didn't want to go overseas for her studies, Tamk and W both cried out before she could utter a word. 'B'coz she's a baby!' The spontaneity of their response carried warmth and showed the level of closeness the sibilings share. Tamk said it half-smiling as she mimicked the cradling movement; W, like many an elder brother, spoke in a half-reproachful-half-resigned tone that only a concerned brother would.

Meanwhile, Jo's friend, Brian seemed to think that all of us at the table are only related to one another as friends. Introducing himself as Jo's fuck-buddy (at which point Jo would roll her eyes in helpless protest), he was very friendly and always smiling. At one point, he started going into some technical description of computers. But no, his line of work is far from dealing with 'hardware'. I was quite surprised to learn of his job, especially since he's working in Down Under.

If Jo starts performing regularly, perhaps i will find myself at walas more frequently - and getting two beers for the price of one. Coz, well, the set starts before 9pm. :)

Sunday 'seafood' dinner

Sunday - had dinner with elitist pals at Mellben seafood kopitiam.

1. There was chicken, kang kong, doufu, chilli crab etc - everything except the signature dish offered by the restuarant. Bah.
   


2. No butter crabs or prawns, no butter anything - coz Mr Khalib dislikes butterish products.


3. Was on the train and got Khalib's sms reminding me to be on time - he was going to pick me and Julie up from Potong Pasir. A few minutes later, got his call to tell me to proceed to AngMoKio straight, coz his car has broken down. It's his evil plot, i insist.
   
   
4. Think it was Julie who remarked, 'hey the moon is out', whereupon Khalib and I instinctively turned our heads towards the evening sky. Khalib, in a rare moment of sagacity, observed: "It's amazing how such trivial/insignificant (can't recall the exact word, but it's close to that) remarks never fail to get people's attention".
   


5. Jo was last to reach. Her arrival was greeted with a momentary gasp. She earned a particularly amazed look from Khalib who raised his eyebrows and chuckled slightly.
   
   
6. Khalib got his shirt stained by chilli crab gravy. After that he took EXTRA caution at cracking the crab shells, as well as looked out for potential spills from the rest of us.
   
   
7. Jo said she understands and doesn't like it when friends asked her about employment status (when she wasn't still working); then, she promptly proceeded to enquire, "So have you got a job?"
   
   
8. Brought my jc class photo album (those huge adhesive kind) along. Got comments like: 'So girly' (coz admittedly, the pink flowery paper borders in the first page was, well, too pink for a guy) and 'Your photos not in sequence'.
   
   
9. My rechargeable batteries failed me again at our dessert stop, hence there were fewer photos taken this time. That's it, i've had enough of those darn batteries.
   
   
10. Clumsy Khalib knocked into the table when getting up to go to the loo, and water spilled all over - and into my bag. Thought it was a few harmless drops, until Tam alerted me. To my horror, i felt a reservoir of water when i groped inside the bag.
    
    
11. Met a jc schoolmate - very outspoken and rather irritating during our schooldays then - who was seated next to us. Bitched about her outside the restaurant only to realise, to our amusement and a little worry, that the person who overheard us whilst walking into the restaurant was a friend of said jc mate.
    
    
12. Took a customary group photo - at a bus-stop in Serangoon Gardens.
    
    
13. Mentioned about ousting the absent Teoks from the group, but the snag is this - he's the moderator of the yahoogroup!
    
    

Twenty-three days ago

The venue: Fish and Co at Wheelock Place. The occasion: A simple dinner, a get-together, if you like. The atmosphere: like the good old days, where conversations, laughter, bad jokes, silly remarks and harmless jibes flow freely.

There were 8 of us, a number i reckon neither too big nor too small, comfortable enough to allow everyone to interact with one another for the entire evening. Five years have gone by - knowingly and unknowingly - but some things remain the same, I realise. Like the yellow-tee that Jul wore. Or the dimpled smile of t*.

But there are other less discernible but surely more salient matters that remain unchanged despite the passage of time: our personalities. This is the one thing that makes us know what to expect of each other, what to anticipate of our meeting and how to riposte that smart jibe spewing out of someone's mouth every so often (of course sometimes you just roll your eyes or laugh mockingly, or you go 'yah..yah..'). Maybe if it were only 3 or 4 of us, there might be some awkard moments; but in general, the presence of a few outspoken and loquacious people ensures that there is seldom a minute that goes by without something being talked about.

Marc is still that rotund, if a little unkempt, guy who speaks coarsely, says a lot of nonsense and has a mind full of lascivious thoughts. Perhaps he never got round to imbibing the finer points of social propriety that limit acceptable behaviour between Man and Woman, what with his sometimes indecent questions or proposals that offend. But by and large, he means no disrespect. If he irritates, i daresay he's behaving in an immature manner that is so his nature. The way to go is to beat him at his own game. Which is not too difficult since most of us are at any time more than ready to join forces and turn the tables on him. Unless of course he is making fun of, well, jw.

jw's the other peculiar guy who hasn't changed much. He is still single-mindedly devoted to his other half who wasn't with us that night. Apart from the fact that he is now even wealthier than he was before, his very-short-haircut, his persistent questions and his deep-seated insistence on not wanting to feel indebted to anyone - these are the traits that very much still inform our opinion of him. There is, however, a persistent depressing side of his outlook which stems from various inhibitions that are self-imposed. As far as I believe, since the day he won the heart of his life-partner, he has gained a new-found confidence that mitigates his depressing outlook of life and friendships. On a different note, he is doubtless the one amongst us who has a certain and promising path ahead of him.

You never quite know when you have made the transition into yet another stage in life, one which is at least quite different from the previous stage to be worthy of being regarded a new phase. But there are significant details or momentous changes in life that hint at or blatantly signal the passing of years and coming of age. And it need not be graduation or landing that first job. Whenever i speak to and interact with long-time friends I am always reminded of how far we have come since our school days. Once impecunious schoolgoers whose duty is just attending school everyday, doing homework and enjoying an occasional gathering with one or two groups of close friends, most of us have unavoidably metamorphosed into preoccupied individuals who now command financial independence. Where we used to dig into our thin wallets to make sure we have enough to pay for our meals, now there are enough credit cards to compete for payment - because there is no cash to spare. Where anxious dads or mums would upon the call of their child drive out to pick them up from anywhere, now almost everyone has attained their driving licence, while some drive their own cars and others plan to buy their own.

It's not feelings of envy or maudlin sentimentality that underlie these remarks. Usually, the most trivial details surrounding our lives cannot but come to my attention or creep into my consciousness. They are a fact and when they come to my attention, I just ponder over their (in)signficance. At some point of time, they simply stand out from the generality of things and force you to take note of them. Inevitably, since they usually constitute connections between certain aspects of our past and the present, there is an element of nostalgia to whatever ensuing thoughts produced.

That evening, we had an ad hoc celebration for jw and t*, one whose birthday was the following day while the other's had just passed. At NYDC, we sang a birthday song that came on rather spontaneously. It's been a long time since we've sang birthday songs in public for a friend, and at that moment we seem to have returned to our school days.

As i recall this now, i remember, fondly, that singing birthday songs was a ritual put to good use during our school days - they delay the tutor from starting the lesson.