In Continuum.

In Good Company

It was Saturday last weekend, and it was a blast. The nine of us occupied the sofa seats at Mindscafe and had a great time catching up with each other, over great snacks and games. To tell you the truth, I've never had such a good birthday celebration before - though I saw it as a gathering more than anything else. It might be due to the fact that it is my twenty-first birthday this year, or that I have been spending the past two birthdays in the army, alone and single. So to be amongst such great and admirable friend over snacks and boardgames was probably the best thing I can ask for right now.

Ahmad and I never had plans for our birthdays, though everybody wanted us to hold a party together. His birthday is five days after my own, and having a party together would seem like a logical thing to do. However, neither of us like the idea of holding a great big party very much, the thought of it puts us off I guess. Like what I said before, neither of us like to have a bunch of strangers thrown into one room, and have yourself worry about whether or not your guests are going to enjoy themselves. After all, there will be people who will be left out or neglected during the party, and it's not like we are able to split ourselves into a dozen different parts to entertain everybody. So throwing a party was definitely out of the option for us. Besides, it costs a lot. And I'd rather use the money to buy new books or DVDs rather than on a party that I am probably not going to enjoy myself on.

So the girls of Guitar Club decided to hold a small gathering for us over at Mindscafe down at Boat Quay, and it was a great way to spent the day to be honest. Though I expected gifts from them(It's a tradition), I never really expected them to put their hearts and minds to the card itself. It was a lovely card, and I was truly touched by the fact that they managed to make the card in between their busy schedules this year. Which sort of made me feel guilty for the fact that I failed to hold a party for these people. Next year, perhaps. Next year.

We met up at Raffles Place MRT, and it was XinYu's familiar smile that greeted me just outside the control station. It's been a while since I saw Yilin as well, being attached to a new boyfriend rids her from the rest of the club. I was glad that she actually made it today, and I must say that she has moved out of that closet girl look into a true blue woman. Fine, maybe not there just yet - but at least she gave me that 'Office Lady' vibe when she first appeared around the corner with her new hairstyle and wardrobe. The usual suspects appeared as well, with LiPing in her usual elegance and Ahmad dragging along his new found toy - Nikon D-40 camera - around like a new wife. Valerie dashed in from the stairs as if she was taking part in a marathon, and it was nice seeing CiPei as well, really.

I still recall the last time I was here in the same station, the time when we met on the rainy day. You were waiting by the pillar with your cellphone, and it was the first time I grabbed your hand. It was raining out there like it never did before, and we were just beyond the reach of the storm, contemplating as to whether or not we should make a run for it. Making up our minds to not care a thing about the rain, we ran into the rain screaming our heads off, hand in hand, so many months ago. We turned the corner at the bar, dashing into the shelter of the McDonald's and waved at the lady behind the counter. Those were the days when I had much hope in life, much faith in love. But gone they are, and it was being reminded again as the lot of us emerged from the station and made our way to the cafe. However, in the company of these friends, I cared little of the lingering shadows in the corner of my eyes. Because I was brave, and because I was in such a great company of people, who gave the same amount of love to me - and more.

After taking the long flight of stairs at the cafe, we reached the top and joined Choon Guan at the table, already with a hill of games stacked up before him. We ordered snacks enough to feed a whole village in Cambodia, and those Takoyaki balls and cheese sticks were - awesome. I never expected the food at Mindscafe to be this good, but I was sure craving for more food the moment I finished the baskets single-handedly. At this point in time, the satisfaction that I had from the food was so great that I almost forgot that I was missing part of the UK concerts for Live Earth. Damn.

The games started, and Rick was kind enough to give us instructions for Snorta and Quelf. I won't exactly recommend Snorta to everybody, since it requires you to make strange animal noises. So we changed the rules of the game by changing the animals to the names of dishes. I was "Lao Shu Fen", Choon Guan was "Lamb Chop", Yilin was "Mao Rou" - or "Cat Meat", LiPing was Chicken Cutlet, CiPei was "Ma Rou" - or Horse Meat, XinYu was "Donkey Sticks", Valerie was "Jia Zua", and Ahmad was "Ba Cho Mee". So it was kinda weird to have a bunch of hysterical teenagers, yelling names of food in the middle of the cafe, when we should have been making animal noises instead.

Quelf is definitely a game that should be played in a large group. The rule is very simple: Try to move your pieces to the center of a spiraling game board as fast as possible. Every step is marked by different colors, and every color represents a different stack of cards. Every kind of card represents a different form of quest or task, and you have to do the tasks accordingly before you can proceed on with your turn. For example, the green cards usually involve trivial questions, while the purple ones usually requires you to do idiotic acts in front of your friends. Like Rick said - the guy in charge of the store - this is the game to humiliate yourself, and have others take unglamorous pictures of you.

This is the kind of things we had to do throughout the game: LiPing had to do belly dancing in front of everybody. Choon Guan had to bark at every stranger that passes by our table. I had to keep a bunch of keys on my head until the next turn, Ahmad had a tissue stuck onto his forehead with the word "Cocks" written in bright purple. Not to forget the task when he had to have a cup of ice poured down his pants, and was only allowed to remove them until he rolls a six on the dice. Valerie had to have her face wrapped in toilet paper like a mummy, and Russell had to laugh whenever somebody else does, or else he'd be penalized by moving backwards on the board. Everybody else had rather easy tasks that involved singing or reading stupid paragraphs from the cards. But all and all, we had a lot of fun laughing at each other - especially Ahmad, as always.

Halfway through our games, the sound of explosions cracked through the air from the outside. Peering out of the windows in the shop, we saw the night skies on the other side of the shop houses bursting into a vibrant display of fireworks. It was the NDP rehearsals happening on the other side of town at Marina South, and they were firing off their fireworks right before our eyes. Armed with our cameras, Ahmad and I dashed out into the balcony and watched the fireworks exploding before our eyes, the impact of the explosions reaching deep into our chests and hearts. The other people at the cafe crowded around us on the small balcony, admiring the colors and the sounds in silence. It must have been a strange sight for onlookers, to have a bunch of people crowded on a small balcony, and our attention on the fireworks from far away. For a moment, it was all quiet around me. Everybody stared at the display in awe, as if a word spoken would cause the firing to stop. But they didn't stop firing those fireworks until five minutes later, leaving a ball of smoke in the air that drifted towards the OUB buildings. But it was great there, leaning on the railings with the camera in my hands, knowing that I have yet another memorable night with a bunch of admirable friends.

I received a cool leather bag from them, and it probably costs a little more than a hundred dollars. It's interesting how I've been wanting to throw away my old leather bag just the other day, and here comes a brand new one made from real leather. It smells like the interior of a brand new car, and sure fits my idea of a perfect bag. This sure beats the sub-standard birthdays I have been having over the past two years, which were spent in an ant-infested hole and a hawker center in Tampines at 3am. Taking Ahmad's car back home that night, I looked upon these people from the corner of my eyes, and smiled under my breath as the car passed through the CTE tunnels and the yellow lights from above made eerie shadows in the car. These are the people who are going to stick with me for a long time, and I am proud to be associated with them. Thanks for everything guys, the day was phenomenal.