Eight's A Party
Friday, March 16, 2007
Eight's A Party
Something unusual came over me, looking through the photographs that we took during our army days. I understand how most of you must be cringing right now, reading that first line I just typed. That is how a standard Secondary School Chinese composition starts anyway. It'd almost always involve the protagonist flipping through the pages of a year book, a photo album, or some sort of memorabilia. Teachers never minded marking the same beginning of a hundred different essays back then, because technically speaking it wasn't wrong to do so. But the sick and tired might just decide to give you a big fat zero or 'F', for the simple reason of conformity or cliche.
Anyway, surfing through the army pictures brought back hips of memories, especially the pictures taken during the India trip as well as the ones taken after ATEC Stage 2. The way our green uniforms were covered in dust and mud after three to four days of sweat, blood and exhaustion. Despite everything, it was the end of the grueling outfield, and the lot of us were just happy that we survived through the ordeal. It was like the graduation parade of sorts, though not nearly as glamorous. The fond memories attacked my head, taking it away from the other issues that lurked in my head.
So I figured sometime last week that the boys should meet up again. So I made a few phone calls and messaged a couple of my old friends, and eventually agreed on yesterday evening to meet up after their work. I was glad to see all of them making it, all eight of them, and at Sketches' we had a lot of fun catching up with one another.
Of course, the inevitable teasing and army terms started to pop out from every corner of the table. See Hwee was still teased as the Potato, QinYou was still teased as the chimp, Martin was still teased for the National Day incident that happened two years ago, and Kenneth Kwan was still teased for his strange habits and preferences. When required to write your name on the menu itself, I changed the names to everybody's nicknames, so that when the waitress came to serve our food, she had a hard time reading them because they were either too long, or too weird. 23 Bravo Driver, anyone?
Everybody fattened, save for QinYou. He looked incredibly sick when I saw him, though he claimed to be okay and has gained a few pounds. I guess having a girlfriend must have taken a toll on him, balancing work and love life isn't the easier thing in the world. Of course, QinYou being himself, was teased from the beginning of the gathering till the end about his relationship. The conclusion was that he shouldn't let his beau meet any of the boys, because we will eventually reveal all the embarrassing things about him, so much so that his image might shatter in her mind. We wouldn't want to do that of course, but if we are forced to do so one day, please do not make the gathering involve any hiking or strenuous activities. The girlfriend might end up carrying him and his load up the hill.
See Hwee looked like a Taiwanese school kid, and a very smart one at that. Of course, he was especially proud of the comment and saw it as a compliment of sorts. But of course, we meant that he looked extra nerd with his hair shaved off and those eyes seemingly sharpened. I don't remember it being nearly as small as before, or has his cheeks puffed up? I have no idea.
Martin appeared again without shaving, hair growing all over his chin and upper lips. As usual, the way he ate reminded us of the infamous Great White we drew on the white board in green marker. But of course, Martin being Martin, brushed off the comment with his trademark "Aiyah!". His recent trip to Thailand was the topic for a moment, and the shaky picture of a trans-sexual had us intrigued, for we were thinking he must have been doing something else while taking the picture, if you know what I mean.
WeiJie never allowed See Hwee or QinYou to eat in peace without some form of insult to either of them. The three of them basically ended up throwing insults at each other, but WeiJie always wins in the end. There is a video somewhere in my computer where he puts his feet to See Hwee's face. I wonder if my youtube account is still available for some uploads. We will see about that.
Jonathan Teo was fat, and he is even fatter. To make matter worse, he is pale now and not dark anymore. But I guess the days spent away from the sun paled his skin more or less, same case as everybody else in the group. But despite the obvious shed in complexion, Lao Da never gave up his menacing personality towards the queerness of Martin and QinYou, making fun of Martin's uncertainty over his sexual orientation as well as QinYou's ability to act as a human Velcro.
Kenneth Kwan and Alphosus joined us a little later, and the both of them looked pretty much the same. QinYou was probably the guy with the biggest change, taking off his ridiculous pink spectacles and changing into a presentable top(No more Summer in Love!), he looked very much different, though sickly. However, the red and silver Nike shoes remained, and same as the wardrobe Martin came in. White Polo T-shirt with faded jeans, standard.
It was nice to catch up with the boys again, however brief the meeting was. To relive the booking in feeling, we headed downstairs to grab cups of bubble tea. I suggested that we buy a bunch of Long John Silver and McDonald's if we really wanted to relive the feeling, but was of course rejected for the absurdity of the idea. The eight was certainly a party, and I'd like to thank the guys for keeping my mind off certain issues in my life that I am trying to deal with.
It is better now, to see that everybody pulled through and is still alive. I was alive when I met them, and still very much so at the moment. But like I said, something is missing nowadays, this purpose in the morning when I wake up. But that shall pass, and I will get used to this mundane and aimless life of mind. But that is to put it crudely of course, for I do not think that my life is pointless or meaningless nowadays.
It's just that, you don't know bitter until you have tasted the sweet. And I have tasted the sweet, and now it is back to bitterness again. But swallow the bitter pills I must. And to make things easier, I'm thankful to have these amazing, wonderful friends to act as the water in my life, to down the bitter pills just so slightly easier.
Something unusual came over me, looking through the photographs that we took during our army days. I understand how most of you must be cringing right now, reading that first line I just typed. That is how a standard Secondary School Chinese composition starts anyway. It'd almost always involve the protagonist flipping through the pages of a year book, a photo album, or some sort of memorabilia. Teachers never minded marking the same beginning of a hundred different essays back then, because technically speaking it wasn't wrong to do so. But the sick and tired might just decide to give you a big fat zero or 'F', for the simple reason of conformity or cliche.
Anyway, surfing through the army pictures brought back hips of memories, especially the pictures taken during the India trip as well as the ones taken after ATEC Stage 2. The way our green uniforms were covered in dust and mud after three to four days of sweat, blood and exhaustion. Despite everything, it was the end of the grueling outfield, and the lot of us were just happy that we survived through the ordeal. It was like the graduation parade of sorts, though not nearly as glamorous. The fond memories attacked my head, taking it away from the other issues that lurked in my head.
So I figured sometime last week that the boys should meet up again. So I made a few phone calls and messaged a couple of my old friends, and eventually agreed on yesterday evening to meet up after their work. I was glad to see all of them making it, all eight of them, and at Sketches' we had a lot of fun catching up with one another.
Of course, the inevitable teasing and army terms started to pop out from every corner of the table. See Hwee was still teased as the Potato, QinYou was still teased as the chimp, Martin was still teased for the National Day incident that happened two years ago, and Kenneth Kwan was still teased for his strange habits and preferences. When required to write your name on the menu itself, I changed the names to everybody's nicknames, so that when the waitress came to serve our food, she had a hard time reading them because they were either too long, or too weird. 23 Bravo Driver, anyone?
Everybody fattened, save for QinYou. He looked incredibly sick when I saw him, though he claimed to be okay and has gained a few pounds. I guess having a girlfriend must have taken a toll on him, balancing work and love life isn't the easier thing in the world. Of course, QinYou being himself, was teased from the beginning of the gathering till the end about his relationship. The conclusion was that he shouldn't let his beau meet any of the boys, because we will eventually reveal all the embarrassing things about him, so much so that his image might shatter in her mind. We wouldn't want to do that of course, but if we are forced to do so one day, please do not make the gathering involve any hiking or strenuous activities. The girlfriend might end up carrying him and his load up the hill.
See Hwee looked like a Taiwanese school kid, and a very smart one at that. Of course, he was especially proud of the comment and saw it as a compliment of sorts. But of course, we meant that he looked extra nerd with his hair shaved off and those eyes seemingly sharpened. I don't remember it being nearly as small as before, or has his cheeks puffed up? I have no idea.
Martin appeared again without shaving, hair growing all over his chin and upper lips. As usual, the way he ate reminded us of the infamous Great White we drew on the white board in green marker. But of course, Martin being Martin, brushed off the comment with his trademark "Aiyah!". His recent trip to Thailand was the topic for a moment, and the shaky picture of a trans-sexual had us intrigued, for we were thinking he must have been doing something else while taking the picture, if you know what I mean.
WeiJie never allowed See Hwee or QinYou to eat in peace without some form of insult to either of them. The three of them basically ended up throwing insults at each other, but WeiJie always wins in the end. There is a video somewhere in my computer where he puts his feet to See Hwee's face. I wonder if my youtube account is still available for some uploads. We will see about that.
Jonathan Teo was fat, and he is even fatter. To make matter worse, he is pale now and not dark anymore. But I guess the days spent away from the sun paled his skin more or less, same case as everybody else in the group. But despite the obvious shed in complexion, Lao Da never gave up his menacing personality towards the queerness of Martin and QinYou, making fun of Martin's uncertainty over his sexual orientation as well as QinYou's ability to act as a human Velcro.
Kenneth Kwan and Alphosus joined us a little later, and the both of them looked pretty much the same. QinYou was probably the guy with the biggest change, taking off his ridiculous pink spectacles and changing into a presentable top(No more Summer in Love!), he looked very much different, though sickly. However, the red and silver Nike shoes remained, and same as the wardrobe Martin came in. White Polo T-shirt with faded jeans, standard.
It was nice to catch up with the boys again, however brief the meeting was. To relive the booking in feeling, we headed downstairs to grab cups of bubble tea. I suggested that we buy a bunch of Long John Silver and McDonald's if we really wanted to relive the feeling, but was of course rejected for the absurdity of the idea. The eight was certainly a party, and I'd like to thank the guys for keeping my mind off certain issues in my life that I am trying to deal with.
It is better now, to see that everybody pulled through and is still alive. I was alive when I met them, and still very much so at the moment. But like I said, something is missing nowadays, this purpose in the morning when I wake up. But that shall pass, and I will get used to this mundane and aimless life of mind. But that is to put it crudely of course, for I do not think that my life is pointless or meaningless nowadays.
It's just that, you don't know bitter until you have tasted the sweet. And I have tasted the sweet, and now it is back to bitterness again. But swallow the bitter pills I must. And to make things easier, I'm thankful to have these amazing, wonderful friends to act as the water in my life, to down the bitter pills just so slightly easier.
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on Friday, March 16, 2007 at 3:49 PM.
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