A Mind of My Own

This outing got huge. Usually, I would manage to get only at most 6 people confirming their availabilities. It was a huge surprise that I have 12 confirmations. I nearly fell off my chair when I read the email. Happy is WishBoNe.

Since HF and the rest have not been to The Cathay at Handy Road, we decided to go for Billy Bombers. At 2pm, NL sent me an SMS saying she was down with flu and cough. Naturally, MC wouldn’t be going either. Sad is WishBoNe. At around 4pm, RK SMS me that her SO was going since his work got canceled. Happy is WishBoNe. The total number came to 11. We were to start dinner at 6pm. Usually, the group arrived late but whenever we purposely put an earlier time, everyone arrives just within 15 of the said time.

CD was the last to arrive due to her cycling trip at East Coast Park. Her friend drove her from East Coast Park to Balestier, Bukit Timah, Lord knows where else, then to Newton and finally, Orchard Road. She wanted to tell him to go to a particular exit as it was faster but she wasn’t sure and kept quiet until she reached. Some people cannot accept road directions. Best to be quiet about it and learn the hard way.

Since all of us were done with dinner except her, we decided to go to another place and discussed for 5 minutes and came up with 2 options. TCC Orchard and KTV just near The Cathay. Another 5 minutes of choosing either venue and we finally decided on TCC. That’s when we found out that TCC is near PS, thus, saving us a trip to somewhere else along Orchard Road. That was 7.30pm.

CD had half her sandwich at TCC. We all got drinks after the waitresses at TCC helped to arrange the tables to accommodate all 11 people. A tight squeeze but we managed. With only 2 guys in the group, it wasn’t that difficult.

It was 8.30pm when we finished our drinks at TCC. Since the night was still young, we discussed if we should go to another place. Another 10 minutes of throwing up options and we decided on Marina at Keppel Bay. Only JC has a car, so the group had to be split into 2 cabs. I don’t know how the rest split up but since 3 of us knew the way, the ones who knew would take the cab with those who didn’t know the way. RK, RK’s SO and me took JC’s car. Happy is WishBoNe.

When we arrived at the place, the carpark was full and a valet helped JC but he didn’t know how to operate the doors for her 2-door Peugeot. I can’t remember which model but it’s one of the early adopters for auto-door in private cars. The rest had arrived earlier and the staff informed us that all the restaurants were fully booked due to weddings. We chose an auspicious date alright.

Since we had arrived and most of us had never been to the place, we took some time to walk around the place that we could access. I took a few photos and realised that I need more practice in night shots.

After walking around the place with TCC being the only available place to us, we decided to go have ice cream since ES was craving for it since dinner. Walking would be a breeze in the cool night but I wanted to take a ride instead of walking. So, we took the car with RK’s SO, the sweet man, gave the valet service amount to JC.

We arrived at Haagen Dazs at 10.30pm and asked for the seating arrangement for 11 people. After waiting for a few minutes, the rest had arrived and we got our seats. We ordered 7th Heave, waffle with ice cream and brownie. The flavours for 7th Heaven: Mango Sherbet, Cookies and Cream, Rum and Raisins, Belgian Chocolate, Strawberry Cheesecake, Green Tea and Berry something.

The white smoke is the dry ice in case you don’t know. We chatted until 11.30pm. From pool stories by RK with her job as a lifeguard to ghost stories and disturbing couples making out cars late at night when ES’ hubby and RK’s SO were young. Cheeky men.

ES’ hubby used to drive out late at night with his best mates with their cars mod with speakers that blasted out music at high volumes while parked in between the cars. They would even wave hi to the car owners left and right. Other antics included hide and seek in the 7th month at some haunted house. 1 seek, the rest paired up to hide.

Finally, we wrapped up the night and this time, JC sent HF, CD and me home. I saved a lot of transport money. Thanks JC! I have enjoyed my night. Been quite some time since we had such a huge gathering since our graduation. KY failed to turn up nor returned our calls. Wondering what she is up to.

Thus our night venues:

• Billy Bombers at The Cathay
• TCC just outside Dohy Ghaut MRT
• Marina at Keppel Bay
• Haagen Dazs at VivoCity

4 places in a night. Oh boy.

My escapades with trying to contact everyone are never ending. Life is sad. One’s friends tend to ignore you when their lives get absorbed by their partners, husbands or something that one doesn’t know about.

[via Flickr]

However, that doesn’t warrant you the right to ignore one totally. KY, you have not been replying to any of us since ES’ wedding. So rude, ok? I used MSN but you went offline and never replied to me. I is very sad. Don’t friend you liao.

The next time, I put your full name and address here. Then you know.

Rant ahead.

NYDC is famous for not allowing anyone to make any bookings on Friday. Thanks. At least that was what I expected since my friend had informed me about it. I just wanted to test them. The next sentence sprouting out of the lady’s mouth was “It should not be too crowded on Friday at Citylink.” Say what? I got 10 people wanting to eat, what if you don’t have enough seats for 10? Surely you won’t be moving one of your dining couple to another table, would you?

Next, I tried New York, New York. The website is slow. I think it’s ridiculous to use Flash for a webpage and it so reminds me of the hideous look of 1996. Slows down my loading time! The lady said last slot is only 6.30pm. So I have to find people to arrive there to ensure the table is not un-reserved by 6.30pm. They sure take their own sweet time to pick up calls too. I am turned off by the offhanded way that she threatened to un-reserve our table.

Frustrated by now, I tried Swensens. The lady replied that they don’t take reservations for Friday, Saturday and Sunday rather happily. This was getting out of hand! How can a simple booking take so much complication?

Since I have run out of places, I decided to go ahead with the restrictive New York, New York. This time a heavily don’t-know-what-accent guy picked up the call. Taking his own sweet time too. I couldn’t understand half the time what he was talking about. I had to repeat my name, how to spell, my mobile number (twice), the total number of people, etc.

All done, now I had to ensure that my table doesn’t get un-reserved. Now, I realised that I forgot to ask them to reserve a corner table. I was too caught up with the frustration of trying to understand what the accented-voice guy was telling me.

As everyone is so busy with their lives due to various commitments, I hereby announce that I will no longer try to organise events such as casual meet ups, Christmas gathering or fun at Sentosa. That Sentosa turnout was rather dismal, only one managed to turn up. I’ll be making my own Family Day if I have the resources to have mini game stalls at the beach. Wait, ok?

I’m very tired of trying my best to organise events of casual purpose because no one else is supportive enough to help out. Your only help I need is your attendance but unfortunately, I haven’t seen much because it’s either you’re tied up with work or you already have another appointment.

After more than 10 years of trying to oragnise, I realise that the best turn outs are usually during weddings, baby’s 1st month, house warming, birthdays (even that has been reduced) and funerals. Funerals are morbid but that’s when we take our time to meet up and talk about regrets. That is not what I want and that is why I’ve tried my best to organise happy events.

However, after all these years, it’s very tiring and disappointing when the take up rate is less than 50%. Therefore, we will be meeting up less because of family commitments. Finally, I will only inform all my friends that if I have any major events that need you to grace them with your attendance, please, do make time for it because we only have so much time on earth.

You never know what you’ll get in life. Even when you have planned for it. Life can be so fragile. One minute, you are there and the next, you might not be there. While I was really excited to be one of sisters for my friend’s wedding, the whole event was tiring as we had to wake up early. It was after the event was over then I started to feel a sense of lost.

It was a lost of youth and time. It felt like yesterday when we were in school teasing each other and skipping classes. Just the Chinese lessons. We would often complain about how she would tell us proudly that some elite school would do so much better. We were in a neighbourhood school, what else did she expect?

Growing and moving on in our lives have impact, both major and minor. We start dating or flying to countries for business or start our own business. We meet up in a group during a major event such as funeral or wedding or babies one month celebration. Other than that, it’s via pitiable emails and they are always forwarded.

I have never asked my friends to my place during Chinese New Year after that one time, that was eons ago when most of us could still make it. Now, I have 3 who are officially married and have to attend their partners’ family events. The rest have their own activities like traveling for free or busy with their work.

I don’t know if we’ll be able to just get together and just chat instead of catching up during major events. Sad to say, I have failed miserably for my own family gatherings.