Monday, July 16, 2007
I was hardly home for the past few days but let's talk about the main event for yesterday first. Joint birthday celebrations for both Alex and Jason at Alex's condo in town. Alex's birthday falls on the 15th while it's the 21st for Jason but they decided to celebrate it together. At the same time, they made it a 4.7 gathering. I met Paul at the bus stop in front of hotel phoenix before taking bus 14 to alex's place at leonie hill. Having not been to his new house before, we had a tough time finding it. We weren't the only ones. Numerous calls were made to alex's hp to ask for directions. His previous place was behind shaw centre and his new one never cease to amaze me. What's the thing in common? Can you imagine living like 5 mins from town? That is so convenient.
After walking down a long stretch of road, we still couldn't find his apartment so we decided to take our chances and ask 2 indians(I reckon they are expats) for directions and they somehow gave us the wrong ones? Well, we just followed ous instincts and found the place. In the end, we realized it would have been better to maybe walk from somerset or taka to alex's house. It was like so much nearer. The security guard was definitely very helpful when we approached the guardpost. He wasn't like your typical fierce and unreasonable guard who views people with suspicion that they are out to make trouble. He even knew there were 2 bbqs being held at the same time and guided us to the correct pit. I'm definitely impressed with this new house of his. It was better than the previous one.
The area for bbq was like your small mini pavilion in a bintan-style resort situated by the poolside. Neither was it smoky or stuffy. Just the correct location to get together to not just eat, drink but also catch up with friends. The turnout was good but it could have been better. Let me try to recall who was there. Me,Paul,Keith,Jason,Alex,Chieh,Joe,Lewis,Charles,Kevin,Ash,Adrian,Noel and Paulus.
James had something on while Kwok is in Phuket with his njc friends. It's a pity they couldn't come because it would have been good to see everyone yesterday. I'm sure they would have loved to be there but I'm sure there will other chances when we can meet up. Starting from the end of july when wongs is back from canada. Everyone seems to remain the same while a few have change their appearances. Let's start with the most obvious one - ashley. I met him at acjc on saturday evening when he was there playing basketball. I was on my way to the water cooler for a drink when this guy who looked pretty familiar but I can't make out who he was. So I decided to walk closer and realized he was ashley! It's because of the long wavy hair and the unshaven look that I can't recognize the man. Not to mention that my specs weren't on so everything from a distance away would seem blur to me.
I gave him a new name when he turned up yesterday for the birthday. Rivermaya. The rest called him Jonathan Leong or the new Singapore Idol when he worn his jacket. It was pretty apt. Another lawyer friend who's heading for LSE come september. I'm sure I'll miss him when the time comes but let's meet up for some tennis and badminton when charles and james are free. Keith,Joe, Lewis and Charles are finishing up with their ns. Kevin started his special term in smu business. Noel aka Noe-ge is going to fass. Jason is putting on hold his ntu studies to pursue a accoutancy diploma at acca. You gotta respect the man for going after his dreams. Paulus is taking design in ntu while adrian is going nus business. Alex the birthday boy is back in singaproe for a break before going back to resume his studies at melbourne university. Chieh the dentist I will be paying a visit to when he starts to practice. Paul is into his third year in nus life sciences.
I didn't eat much of the bbq food because I just had alot 2 days ago so I just ate a bit and instead drank alot. So much that my face literally turned red. It was thanks to Jason and his excellent drink-mixing. Everyone liked the fruit punch with tiger beer followed by the bailey with fruit punch and sprite. However, nobody liked my chivas with green tea. So in the end, I had to finish up quite a bit of my own mixture. So 1 hour after my drinking binge, I became the justice bao that everyone else called me. It takes alot to get me drunk but it takes only a little to make me red in the face. It was such a happy occasion that it was all right to drink a little bit more. Add to fact that I don't drive so it doesn't really matter. No fear of drink driving and getting caught by the traffic police.
We packed up and cleared up the rubbish before leaving for upstairs to eat the birthday cakes. The chocolate cake was really sweet and was the the excellent mango one as well. Many thanks to Alex's mother for getting them from Tanglin Club. Seriously, they are really sporting parents. After the cake cutting session, she just said "I'll just disappear so you guys can have fun". She doesn't recognize the most of us since it's been 5 years. 5 years since sec 4 is really a long time. Everyone has grown up and have changed one way or another. I spent a good time petting Fluffy, Alex's dog, and you could tell it was pretty happy. The short little tail was just wagging non-stop. He seemed to know it was a happy occasion and was making the most of it, going around the place asking for small little pets on his head.
While the rest were in the room playing with driving games, Me, Paul, Noe-ge, Jason, Keith, Ashley and Kevin were chatting over the cakes and you guess it, wine. I decided to just have a small cup because I don't want to have a hangover the next day. The usual bottoms up with plastic cups instead of glasses was quite funny because all of us were expecting to hear that "chink" sound when glasses collide. There's a child in all of us so instead of expecting to hear it, we decided to produce it ourselves by saying it out loud.
We left at 11pm and kevin sent us out to far east plaza area where I shared a cab home with Charles, Paul and Noe-ge. Just to side track abit, it was like the first time I saw so many porsche, lamborghinis and the usual sports cars(all in the basement of alex's parking lots). That's pretty cool really. Imagine having neighbours who drive all those cars. Alex even told us during the recent motorshow in Singapore, the organizers borrowed a few of those cars for display purposes because they were extremely rare. Considering you can live in town, such cars are basically toys to the rich people. I'll never have a chance to drive those cars but I'll be happy with a honda civic or jazz. That's good enough for me.
I was extremely tired and thirsty when I got home, it could be due to the long soccer session which I had on saturday but also partly due to the amount of alcohol I've consumed. Decided to drink more water before I sleep or I'll definitely have a bad hangover the next day. Meeting up with my sec 4 classmates is such a rarity these days because of the different commitments we have. However if there's nothing important on, I would definitely go for it. I can't imagine missing the chance to catch up with everyone.
Now that army is over for most of us, it's time to start on a new chapter in our lives. That is to get back to the world of books and immerse ourselves in campus life! 4 years later, we will be embarking on our different careers. We have really grown up.
