the impromptu bbq (hey that rhymed)

This year's birthday was pretty okay considering that the actual day was in the midst of my assignment week.

Thanks fer all the souls who bothered to make it to a last minute barbeque hosted by moi at last Sunday. Much more gratitude goes out to Khai, Greg and Amanda(:*) fer assisting me in some late night grocery shopping at Giant(after an awkwardly crowded dinner at IKEA sitted next to a group of very old homosexuals) and marination(I know it's not in the dictionary but we made that up).

Why is she getting us to smile? Man U just got owned.

There's more where that came from. And that's not my bag.

After the prep, it was off to Carl's Jr. @ East Coast.

Zappel & Zuchinni. Etc., etc., etc..

Thanks fer the presents. (Only managed to snap with one.)

After which, I cleaned up and returned home to find a Wii waiting fer me. -prances-

And ya know there're tons more reasons from YouTube on why you should have yer own. ;)

PS: Gosh, I've been looking rather crappy in photos as of late. I blame sleepless nights and overworking on the computer.

23

It's that number. I'm that age. Everyone else either has been there or is going to.

Strangely, I don't feel any older. I'm not gonna gloat on that babyface crap but I really don't feel much like an adult. Why is that? I wonder. Is it because I don't work in an office? Is it because I don't wear a slick suit? Is it because I still play video games? Is it because I still blog? Is it because I still wear velcro-strapped shoes? Or is it because I go to sleep at sunrise?

PS: One thing's fer sure, the party mood has turned dull. Pure instincts to club and drink have deteriorated.

now with commercial breaks

It's March. More than a month since the last edit and I'm going to apologise, not fer keeping you guys waiting but fer giving you an extremely overcompensating post, all which I have no pictures to show.

BIRTHDAYS
With my birthday in 10 day's time, I can't help but reminisce on the past 2 barbeques I was at.

Gerald's event was basically an easygoing class gathering, with only 8 of us plus a coupla his neighbours and family. Took us a while to get a fire started and turned out it was the charcoal that was the problem, aside from our "skills" and optical support. Anyway, the food turned out edible and we had more than enough to go around. We also had a game of soccer and basketball that resulted in reasonable fun, considering my unsporting laziness. I ripped my shirt though. Never am I gonna see it again. -sob- It's beyond what sewing can repair. T_T Night ended with the usual scene being a group of us sitting around a table by the pool playing with bubbles and peeling oranges, not forgetting the walkman phones, or DSes fer some...

PeiWen had a chalet at Aloha Changi, which to me still seems like a very rural(if you can call it that) area with a decent but rather rocky-looking, yacht-filled shore. Barbeque this time turned out slightly better with experience gained from the previous one, in addition to the amount of helping hands. I have to say, my prowess in grilling chicken wings has improved quite a bit. Ha~ The success rate, I would say, was alot higher this time round and we didn't spend that much time experimenting on time fer different meats or seafood(except fer the caught crabs and squid which I still feel sorry fer). After dinner activities were a little different considering the alcohol and cards involved. I can safely swear that there was no money involved in the games, so you can assume how much Martell(or Jack Daniel's, or Bailey's, or Barons) went into our livers. It was definitely a night to get high but there comes a time at every party when the mood suddenly dies. Birthday girl couldn't take her shots and we carried on without her fer a few more hours before sensing haste among her female buddies who didn't seem to favour her other friends. We decided to bail at 6 in the morning when we're breathalizer-proof and I got home at sunrise. Sounds like a typical night after ChinaBar before I enlisted. Ah... Good times, good times.

Sigh~ I'd be open to any suggestions on what I should be doing. Haven't really been in the mood fer planning with all the school asizzle that's been keeping me bizzle.



THE CAR
The car has gotten into worse condition recently due to carelessness on my part, as well as my brother's complacency. It was along the way to Tanah Merah MRT station, from the barbeque at Aloha Changi(no, I was not drunk, truthfully) when I accidentally drove too close to the right kerb, causing the front tire to brush with the concrete. Oh poor scarred and skinned rubber, not forgetting scraped and bent metal spoke. -sobs- I could, however, imagine far worse things that could happen to a car with 5 20-somethings attempting to overtake a slow van. Touch wood. The afternoon following the incident, I woke to an inevitable nagging of concern. This isn't what I'm complaining about. The next day, my brother got into an accident while driving back from camp as he was replaying an album on his iPod and mismanaged the brake, involving 2 more drivers with damaged vehicles. The damage didn't look as bad as described to me but I'm wondering why my brother never got the earful I received. Beyond that, my mom continued to remind me to be careful traffic-wise. WTF right. Call me childish but I find it unfair. Just because everyone assumes fer me to be more of the careless one and him being unreasonably aggressive does not make it a valid reason to be THAT prejudiced. I could be a little sensitive here but I think it's pretty obvious.



LUNAR NEW YEAR
Not much on this account. The lunar new year is nothing without dishing out the poker cards and mahjong tiles. Rihanna was performing on TV this year, so I suppose it made things less monotonous. I earned quite a big sum from dealing at BlackJack, mostly with relatives over at my grandmother's place but I lost about half of my winnings coupla days later at Leonard's hosting. There's not much to note on this festival, really. I think it's pretty much the same every time. And the holiday vibe dies a little more every year.



SCHOOL
Okay... I know the grasshopper approach fer doing work isn't very healthy but it's been proven to work on my account. While complacency has already started to kick back into my school life again, I suppose it hasn't really posed an academical danger as I've mastered the "art" of creating a crazy-proof alter-ego(imaginary angel if you will) to remind me constantly not to cross the line and be a sloth. Also, having full-time gamers as classmates have a positive effect on me as I look at them and go, "shit no, I don't wanna be like that". Still, not as competitors but as group members, I can't help but be influenced by their ways. I'm just glad I still see it as me pulling them up rather then them dragging me down. =P



MOVIES
Ponyo: No matter how cute you think the artwork is, it'll cure any level of insomnia. Nice animation though.
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button: Magical but sad. Like a silent nightmare. But awesome make up.
Valkyrie: You know what's gonna happen but it's still so tense.
Red Cliff: If war were that easy.
Slumdog Millionaire: Must watch. Although the chances of every single question on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire being based on yer life is clearly very slim, it still has this real feeling to it.
He's Just Not That Into You: 2 words. SO TRUE. And it's also funny to watch when it's not happening to you.