Sixoh class chalet!
I'm just back from swimming straight after reaching home from the class chalet this evening! It's a remarkable feat that I managed to sleep throughout 95% of the two-hour bus journey back! But maybe it's natural considering that I broke my sleeping-time record, setting an alltime low of ONE HOUR during the chalet!!!
Yesterday we met up for "class" lunch (consisting of sadly only Jon and me), before we went shopping at NTUC for food with Zi Chong, Jin Quan and Geordie. What a surprise that the guys knew how to shop better (or rather, more efficiently) than me! It was extremely amusing watching them choose the sweet potatoes. Jin Quan scrutinises and weighs the sweet potatoes critically, commenting that the sweet potatoes that are not-so-thick and not-so-skinny should be chosen because they cook the best, while Zi Chong goes, "Heck la, just choose the biggest!" While Jonathan and I (the amateurs) stare on in amusement and dazedness. In the end the bill amounted to over 80 bucks, and it turned out that there were leftover food. (but we'd planned food for more people than half the number who turned up)
After checking into the chalet--Halton Bungalow D, (at which point the people present were only: Zi Chong, Jin Quan, Geordie, Jonathan, Bryan, Siobhan and me), Jonathan and I went to scrutinise the bedrooms (and me to jump on each and every one of the beds--a weird habit of mine), while the conscientious others went to sort out the kitchen utensils and prepare the sweet potatoes and corns for barbeque. It was really interesting watching how pro Jin Quan and Zi Chong washed the stuff and cut it up, and funny watching Geordie chop the stalks off the corns. Argh, I'm put to shame!
And we finally got to try Dance Dance Revolution (after having to lug a DDR mat and Playstation all the way to the chalet)! I'm glad to say I introduced some people to DDR and got some people (relatively) hooked onto it too! And I managed to pass Paranoia-Rebirth-190 FOR ONCE because Geordie was using the controller which saved me.
And played Scrabble. It's funny how the weirdest letter-combinations (like, "cwm" if I remember correctly) can actually be considered words, and how both Jin Quan and Zi Chong mug the Scrabble-List-of-Words to win Scrabble.
In the evening, we started preparing for the barbeque! Thanks to the PROs: Zi Chong-the-Blow-Fire-Person, Jin Quan-the-Arrange-Charcoal-Person, and Geordie-the-Fan-Fire-Person, and not forgetting Siobhan-the-Aunty, we managed to get the fire started in less than one hour (around 30 minutes)!!! The three-hour-experience of barbequeing foods that I'd otherwise not normally eat, and chatting random stuff, was strangely satisfying, despite the heat from the grill.
Charmaine joined us for the barbeque, and as night drew, Siobhan, Charmaine and I decided to go for a walk by the beach, bloated and in need of exercise as we were. The walk was really nice! To feel the wind blowing in your face, in your hair, to see, smell and hear the sea, to look at the full moon and the dim stars in the cloudy night sky, to sit on the railings facing the sea talking about issues close to your heart with your friends...The experience is really good.
After a while, we went back. And we went for a second beach walk, this time with Zi Chong, Jin Quan, Geordie, Jonathan, and Bryan (and later, Billy, Chris, Sam and Wai Hong joined us as well). It's really wonderful walking and talking with friends you feel comfortable with at night. Somehow the experience is just different from daytime. The night soothes you, it releases your mind from the hectic pace, distractions and frustrations of the daytime. And the sea, and the breeze, they overwhelm you with a sense of tranquility and open-ness. We strolled along the Changi Board Walk, and stopped by Changi Sailing Club to look at the sailboats there, while the pro sailor Zi Chong explained all about them to Jin Quan, Geordie and I.
Looking at all the sailboats and sitting in them (illegally) just makes me relive the passion for sailing from years ago. I still remember the exhilaration, the wind in your hair, the sea spray, the lapping of waves against the boat, the feeling of the wind in the rope, and the remarkable sense of speed that you feel as you skim over the waves. I really want to go sailing again.
We were sitting around in a keelboat (illegally) until the rather-retarded security guard chased us away. And then we continued on the Boardwalk. Somehow, perhaps because of the dim lighting, the trees, the proximity to old Changi Hospital, the lateness of the night, and the weird interplay of shadows cast by the lamp-posts, buildings and trees, people scaring each other. Or rather, evil Chris, Sam and Zi Chong tried to scare me and Siobhan, and I'm ashamed to say, rather successfully, though each attempt made us slightly more immune to the next. And Zi Chong made the Ultimate Unsuccessful attempt to scare the bunch of people behind while Sam and I tried to divert their attention away from his hiding place by staring at some guy fishing in a folding chair by the beach.
Finally, as it approached 11plus pm, we headed back to the chalet and continued playing DDR till midnight. Then I learnt how to play Mahjong for once! though I still do not find why people can get addicted to Mahjong.
After several rounds of Mahjong, we (the Noisy Table: Chris, Sam, Wai Hong, Zi Chong, Geordie and I) started playing Blackjack. The Quiet Table (consisting of Jin Quan, Jonathan, Bryan and Siobhan) joined us after a few hours. That was the most hilarious, interesting and rowdy cardgame I've ever played! I think the number of F words I heard that night (80% of it originating from Chris) is more than or equal to the number of F words I've ever heard before!!! Also, I observed, much to my amusement, that the guys like to exclaim that they're "being raped" a lot, whenever they lose money! And very obviously, I do not know how to hide /control my expressions/what comes out of my mouth whenever the sum of the cards I took exceed 21, and bankers take advantage of that fact, which is why I end up losing most of the times whenever I take more than 3 cards. Some other observations:
1. I seem to bring luck to the banker, and cause the players to lose whenever I "cut" the cards. Which explains why whenever I try to cut the cards so many hands block me from touching the cards.
2. My presence seems to bring Zi Chong bad luck. E.g. when I went upstairs to use the toilet he scored a Blackjack!
That can be said as the most interesting night I've ever had (most of my other nights are spent sleeping). I only went to bed at 4 plus, and woke up at 5 plus, (woken by the shrieks and laughter of the people still playing Mahjong downstairs, namely Wai Hong)
The next day, most of us were rather dazed and like zombies. Billy, Jonathan, Siobhan and I took a morning walk around 7plus to Seven-Eleven some distance away, to buy breakfast (4 cartons of milk and 16 roti pratas!) before we headed back to wake the rest. (I tried unsuccessfully to wake most of them up using the "enticing" smell of prata) After breakfast, we slacked around, played DDR, and watched cartoons before we finally checked out at 10 plus (Miao Qin joined us at 9plus). Thereafter, we walked to Changi Village area to rent bikes and cycled for an hour till 12 plus. It was breezy and scenic cycling along Changi Beach, but it was a pity I had to cycle rather slowly and for such a short time, before we headed back to return the bikes.
After taking the bus back to Tampines Interchange, we had lunch at Tampines Mall and met up with Rachel. I bought a plate of Tempeh (fermented soybeans) and we played Truth (only for Billy's case. HEHE) or Dare (dare the people to eat the Tempeh I'd bought) so Miao Qin, Siobhan, Jonathan and Geordie now know what Tempeh tastes like (hehe!). I am puzzled as to why I'm the only one who finds Tempeh appetising.
Then Siobhan, Jonathan, Billy and I headed home while the rest went to find a place to play pool. The end of class chalet!
Even though I was disappointed at the low turnup numbers from our class, I still enjoyed the chalet greatly. Yes, "the more the merrier", but having a smaller number of people doesn't mean that things will turn out badly. It really depends on the enthusiasm and the people there, not the absolute NUMBER of people (though obviously it'll be much more like a class chalet and more interesting if more people turned up). At least I got to experience things I've never experienced before, understood some slightly better, got to interact more with some, and overall, had a great time instead of slacking and stoning and being overwhelmed by boredom and loneliness at home.
Argh! So much for my plans of being a piggy (though I fulfilled the Eating part of the criteria) and sleeping early tonight! :( But at least I shall sleep with sweet dreams (though it's actually better to your body to have dreamless REM--i think--sleep, I love dreaming! Nice dreams, obviously.)
All the people who turned up for the chalet, you guys rock!!! THANKS for coming! You just made my two days and 1 night a fabulous time!!! Hope you all had a great time too! :)
Yesterday we met up for "class" lunch (consisting of sadly only Jon and me), before we went shopping at NTUC for food with Zi Chong, Jin Quan and Geordie. What a surprise that the guys knew how to shop better (or rather, more efficiently) than me! It was extremely amusing watching them choose the sweet potatoes. Jin Quan scrutinises and weighs the sweet potatoes critically, commenting that the sweet potatoes that are not-so-thick and not-so-skinny should be chosen because they cook the best, while Zi Chong goes, "Heck la, just choose the biggest!" While Jonathan and I (the amateurs) stare on in amusement and dazedness. In the end the bill amounted to over 80 bucks, and it turned out that there were leftover food. (but we'd planned food for more people than half the number who turned up)
After checking into the chalet--Halton Bungalow D, (at which point the people present were only: Zi Chong, Jin Quan, Geordie, Jonathan, Bryan, Siobhan and me), Jonathan and I went to scrutinise the bedrooms (and me to jump on each and every one of the beds--a weird habit of mine), while the conscientious others went to sort out the kitchen utensils and prepare the sweet potatoes and corns for barbeque. It was really interesting watching how pro Jin Quan and Zi Chong washed the stuff and cut it up, and funny watching Geordie chop the stalks off the corns. Argh, I'm put to shame!
And we finally got to try Dance Dance Revolution (after having to lug a DDR mat and Playstation all the way to the chalet)! I'm glad to say I introduced some people to DDR and got some people (relatively) hooked onto it too! And I managed to pass Paranoia-Rebirth-190 FOR ONCE because Geordie was using the controller which saved me.
And played Scrabble. It's funny how the weirdest letter-combinations (like, "cwm" if I remember correctly) can actually be considered words, and how both Jin Quan and Zi Chong mug the Scrabble-List-of-Words to win Scrabble.
In the evening, we started preparing for the barbeque! Thanks to the PROs: Zi Chong-the-Blow-Fire-Person, Jin Quan-the-Arrange-Charcoal-Person, and Geordie-the-Fan-Fire-Person, and not forgetting Siobhan-the-Aunty, we managed to get the fire started in less than one hour (around 30 minutes)!!! The three-hour-experience of barbequeing foods that I'd otherwise not normally eat, and chatting random stuff, was strangely satisfying, despite the heat from the grill.
Charmaine joined us for the barbeque, and as night drew, Siobhan, Charmaine and I decided to go for a walk by the beach, bloated and in need of exercise as we were. The walk was really nice! To feel the wind blowing in your face, in your hair, to see, smell and hear the sea, to look at the full moon and the dim stars in the cloudy night sky, to sit on the railings facing the sea talking about issues close to your heart with your friends...The experience is really good.
After a while, we went back. And we went for a second beach walk, this time with Zi Chong, Jin Quan, Geordie, Jonathan, and Bryan (and later, Billy, Chris, Sam and Wai Hong joined us as well). It's really wonderful walking and talking with friends you feel comfortable with at night. Somehow the experience is just different from daytime. The night soothes you, it releases your mind from the hectic pace, distractions and frustrations of the daytime. And the sea, and the breeze, they overwhelm you with a sense of tranquility and open-ness. We strolled along the Changi Board Walk, and stopped by Changi Sailing Club to look at the sailboats there, while the pro sailor Zi Chong explained all about them to Jin Quan, Geordie and I.
Looking at all the sailboats and sitting in them (illegally) just makes me relive the passion for sailing from years ago. I still remember the exhilaration, the wind in your hair, the sea spray, the lapping of waves against the boat, the feeling of the wind in the rope, and the remarkable sense of speed that you feel as you skim over the waves. I really want to go sailing again.
We were sitting around in a keelboat (illegally) until the rather-retarded security guard chased us away. And then we continued on the Boardwalk. Somehow, perhaps because of the dim lighting, the trees, the proximity to old Changi Hospital, the lateness of the night, and the weird interplay of shadows cast by the lamp-posts, buildings and trees, people scaring each other. Or rather, evil Chris, Sam and Zi Chong tried to scare me and Siobhan, and I'm ashamed to say, rather successfully, though each attempt made us slightly more immune to the next. And Zi Chong made the Ultimate Unsuccessful attempt to scare the bunch of people behind while Sam and I tried to divert their attention away from his hiding place by staring at some guy fishing in a folding chair by the beach.
Finally, as it approached 11plus pm, we headed back to the chalet and continued playing DDR till midnight. Then I learnt how to play Mahjong for once! though I still do not find why people can get addicted to Mahjong.
After several rounds of Mahjong, we (the Noisy Table: Chris, Sam, Wai Hong, Zi Chong, Geordie and I) started playing Blackjack. The Quiet Table (consisting of Jin Quan, Jonathan, Bryan and Siobhan) joined us after a few hours. That was the most hilarious, interesting and rowdy cardgame I've ever played! I think the number of F words I heard that night (80% of it originating from Chris) is more than or equal to the number of F words I've ever heard before!!! Also, I observed, much to my amusement, that the guys like to exclaim that they're "being raped" a lot, whenever they lose money! And very obviously, I do not know how to hide /control my expressions/what comes out of my mouth whenever the sum of the cards I took exceed 21, and bankers take advantage of that fact, which is why I end up losing most of the times whenever I take more than 3 cards. Some other observations:
1. I seem to bring luck to the banker, and cause the players to lose whenever I "cut" the cards. Which explains why whenever I try to cut the cards so many hands block me from touching the cards.
2. My presence seems to bring Zi Chong bad luck. E.g. when I went upstairs to use the toilet he scored a Blackjack!
That can be said as the most interesting night I've ever had (most of my other nights are spent sleeping). I only went to bed at 4 plus, and woke up at 5 plus, (woken by the shrieks and laughter of the people still playing Mahjong downstairs, namely Wai Hong)
The next day, most of us were rather dazed and like zombies. Billy, Jonathan, Siobhan and I took a morning walk around 7plus to Seven-Eleven some distance away, to buy breakfast (4 cartons of milk and 16 roti pratas!) before we headed back to wake the rest. (I tried unsuccessfully to wake most of them up using the "enticing" smell of prata) After breakfast, we slacked around, played DDR, and watched cartoons before we finally checked out at 10 plus (Miao Qin joined us at 9plus). Thereafter, we walked to Changi Village area to rent bikes and cycled for an hour till 12 plus. It was breezy and scenic cycling along Changi Beach, but it was a pity I had to cycle rather slowly and for such a short time, before we headed back to return the bikes.
After taking the bus back to Tampines Interchange, we had lunch at Tampines Mall and met up with Rachel. I bought a plate of Tempeh (fermented soybeans) and we played Truth (only for Billy's case. HEHE) or Dare (dare the people to eat the Tempeh I'd bought) so Miao Qin, Siobhan, Jonathan and Geordie now know what Tempeh tastes like (hehe!). I am puzzled as to why I'm the only one who finds Tempeh appetising.
Then Siobhan, Jonathan, Billy and I headed home while the rest went to find a place to play pool. The end of class chalet!
Even though I was disappointed at the low turnup numbers from our class, I still enjoyed the chalet greatly. Yes, "the more the merrier", but having a smaller number of people doesn't mean that things will turn out badly. It really depends on the enthusiasm and the people there, not the absolute NUMBER of people (though obviously it'll be much more like a class chalet and more interesting if more people turned up). At least I got to experience things I've never experienced before, understood some slightly better, got to interact more with some, and overall, had a great time instead of slacking and stoning and being overwhelmed by boredom and loneliness at home.
Argh! So much for my plans of being a piggy (though I fulfilled the Eating part of the criteria) and sleeping early tonight! :( But at least I shall sleep with sweet dreams (though it's actually better to your body to have dreamless REM--i think--sleep, I love dreaming! Nice dreams, obviously.)
All the people who turned up for the chalet, you guys rock!!! THANKS for coming! You just made my two days and 1 night a fabulous time!!! Hope you all had a great time too! :)
posted by Qintan at 10:12 PM
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