Now that I have time on my hands...

'O' Levels are finally over! Yes, let's celebrate! Our class did, so some of us spent three days at the Aloha resort house at Changi. Prepare yourself and get some coffee, we’re going for a long ride.

- Friday -

It was our last paper for the whole thing, Chemistry. After the exam and a cliché "Freedom never tasted so good", I went home with Krishanth to finish the last touches of packing my stuff for the stay. When I got back, I confirmed what I needed to pack, because most of it has been done by my mom anyway. Then I had early dinner at about six, and Joseph came over to go meet the others later. I played my last minutes of computer, and it took a while to realise that my time was up, and I hurriedly saved my game. By the time we got onto the car and was on our way, we were late, and by five minutes when we got there. Nobody was around. It took a while more before we saw Kheng Ling approaching, and then the rest of the girls who were going to spend the night.

We loaded our stuff, and got onto the bus. We talked, made noise and other stuff on our way there. Joseph and Kheng Ling directed the driver where to drop us, and we dropped off at a bus stop in the area. We got off, and preceded to lose our sense of direction. Everyone was led to a big, empty house with a metal fence facing the sea. Then we found out it was not it, and went off in search for the right one.

Joseph ran down the road and saw Mr. Wong, so all of us followed him a distance down into this barely lit area, and then reaching our house. It was open, except the rooms. We threw down our stuff, and I set up the TV immediately for the Singapore Idol results this week! The two contestants who would reach the Grand Finals on December 1 were to be determined tonight, and everyone was excited! But at the end, most of us (maybe all) were disappointed, because Olinda was eliminated. I thought Sylvester should have been out after that horrendous performance the night before.

So after that we proceeded to other activities, like the girls doing I-don't-know-what in their rooms, mahjong, and Twister (the girls too). Krishanth and Joseph were generally watching everyone else, while I busied myself with Mahjong. It seemed like only a while before it turned midnight.

- Saturday -

We played Mahjong a bit longer, until about 1, and left as a group with Mr. Wong and some left behind towards the hawker centre for supper. We guys had Nasi Lemak, and the others ate fried noodles and other stuff. Also, I tried the Teh Tarik there and it was great! So on our way back I got some drinks for everyone, and then we went back in the rain. We saw some “solicitors”, by the way, and everyone were pretty amused. When we got back, whoever ordered the Nasi Lemak I bought for them got it, and I went to playing other stuff like Blackjack. And I gave Juliana the gastric tablet I promised her. I was on a roll, and sucked Krishanth and Meiling dry (their coins, Krishanth had a lot of five cent coins), and then more Mahjong and then some Risk.

I coached Pearlyn, Joseph taught Puay Boon and other two players were Juliana and Lynette. Juliana was blindly attacking, and finally had all her troops concentrated on China (a story there). Puay Boon’s targets were Australia and Asia, and Pearlyn’s target was Europe. Lynette occupied the Americas and surprised me as a pretty good player for a first timer. Probably from the experience from other war games she’s played.

Eventually, Puay Boon had Asia and Australia, Pearlyn had Europe and Africa and Lynette had the Americas. During Pearlyn’s turn, I knew it going to drag for a long time if I didn’t do anything. So I told her now that’s everything’s fixed, she should go ahead and try to win it. If I remember correctly, she took Middle East from East Africa, and then Greenland from Iceland. Joseph saw the consequence and decided to tell everyone to end the game because there was a clear winner and everyone was getting tired of it anyway. So it ended with Pearlyn the winner.

It was nearly six in the morning by then and the rain hasn’t stopped since the night before, and I just couldn’t sleep. My body was exhausted, but my mind was wide-awake. So I decided to forget it and played more mahjong with the ones who were awake throughout with me.

The sun rose and I got hungry again, but my body was too tired to walk that large a distance. The people going out for breakfast helped us buy it back, but it was just fine. The Roti Prata they brought back was burnt and was anything but crispy, and the curry was bland. But I was hungry, so it was okay.

A while later about noon, us boys and Kheng Ling, Pearlyn and Loong Ee decided to go check out the arcade that was nearby. The “currency” there was twenty cents. Cheap, but disappointing, it was expected from a club anyway. The games were old and there were zero shooting games. I played my coins on Mahjong and racing games, and continued with Pearlyn and Kheng Ling towards the hawker centre for lunch before stopping at several shops to look around, including a shop that sold pirated PC and PS2 games, but decided to not buy because Krishanth said he was going to buy those for me in Malaysia for about half the price. So after we were done with the food, I followed them to get Satay for the barbeque later that night and we got back.

We got back to find a lot of people here already. Xinyi, with streaks of dyed hair, and Jesslyn with a better do. Meiting, Jiayi and Sherry had arrived too. I played some mahjong (I’m beginning to do that a lot) with the new comers, and after some struggling, decided to lie down in the room.

- Intermission -
Go get your coffee refilled, take a leak, or rest your eyes!

I fell asleep and woke up two hours later when the barbeque had started, and Mrs. Lim and Mrs. Choo had arrived. We found out we were duped and it wasn't really Satay but sticks of chicken meat. I barely got any food, and then went back to Mahjong again, but this time, with the pros, all three teachers. Of course we didn’t gamble or anything, and this one was definitely more challenging with the minimum two points win instead of the “anything goes” with the newbies. A while later Mr. Junus arrived, and declined my offer to take over my seat to make it an “all teachers” affair, saying he “hasn’t played for a long time”. He left and played other card games with the girls.

When we were done, we went to see how the others were doing. Mr. Junus was playing Uno, and I joined in the group playing Dai Dee. Eventually it ended up being me, Mrs. Lim, Mrs. Choo and I forgot who the last person was. I won quite a lot of sets, and then it was time for the two of them to leave. So in the end only Mr. Junus was there to play Heart Attack, a game I might never understand. I lost of course, because seriously, I know nothing about it.

We went out again, but earlier this time, for food, and because some of them were anxious to see the “solicitors” we saw the night before. The rain had stopped during the afternoon, so it was dry and saw only one on our way there. I ate Ipoh hor Fun there, and on our way back, that road was crowded, and Krishanth and me wowed at the Lamborghini we saw. It was midnight when we got back.

- Sunday -

I played more Blackjack with the people who came today, and lost part of the money I won last night. I played more Risk when everyone gave up, and this time we had Joseph, Woon Lam, Pearlyn teaming up with Esther and me. This time we played Missions to try to shorten the game, and I won with completing mine first. We were bored, so we played more Blackjack, and my luck returned to me as I won all the coins again. My wallet was getting heavy and bulky from all the coins, and Joseph decided to challenge me to a simple game of who’s-bigger-wins. We draw a card each and see whose card was bigger. The loser loses ten cents. I lost in the end, but was quite glad about it because I got rid of the five-cent coins.

Woon Lam taught me a new way of predicting your love life using the trusty poker cards, and I was wondering if my results were going to be true. I tried it with Xinyi too, and I took no particular attention.

I got really tired, and tried sleeping on the chair, and barely laid down for two more hours before daybreak. Then I saw some girls leaving already, and then I went to pack my stuff. When everyone got ready, we sat at the TV while waiting for the caretaker to come and confirm everything was in their places. We went off in a shuttle bus to Pasir Ris MRT Station, and had brunch at the McDonald’s there. We guys shared a cab with Mr. Wong, and the girls went off shopping. We got off first, after talking a lot about our class and the school, and came back to my place.

We had already decided to catch a movie, and Loong Ee called Krishanth to catch it together. So we finally got to Causeway Point, late for the 12.45 show anyway, and bought tickets for the 2.10 show. We spent the one-hour waiting time in the LAN game shop, playing Unreal Tournament 2003, and then for our movie, The Incredibles. It was great! Jack-jack was special in the end. Go catch it! After that we separated with Loong Ee and they came back to get their stuff and left.

And thus, ending my great journey, and a memory that I will probably forget anyway. That’s why I wrote it down.

Enjoy the holidays, people, and have fun.