Living between Realism and Idealism

June 22, 2009

[404] BBQ.WTF.SMS

After being in recluse for a good period of time, I finally got out of the house to meet good, old friends for a barbeque party at Avinesh's place yesterday. The word recluse that I am using would gravitate me being M.I.A. at almost all outings and gatherings. It was supposedly arranged to be on the 27th of June at PhooiYee's place. But something happened, and Avinesh had to play host instead.

I'm here extending heartfelt gratitude to him for picking me up and sending me home, arriving as the earliest guest and left as the last few ones.

Honestly speaking, after not seeing these friends for a long time, there were moments where I could sense awkward silences, imagine crickets, and it did make me feel distant. I no longer know how to say hello. The friendliness felt seemed superficial and customary. Then it popped into my mind, "Geez. Tonight will be a long, heck of a night."

Personally, I don't think of myself as that much of an extrovert. But I cannot survive alone, this is for sure. I need comfortable companionship - wherever I go.

After the first few rounds of food ..

As more and more friends arrived and hyped up the place, I have had a very brief moment of isolation. And at that moment, a tinge of regret is slowly radiating from within, eating me up inside. Regret - for being there, but not being in there.

But these amazing friends I have, the ones that have been with me when I went through my awkward teenagehood, the ones that grew up with me, and the ones who would still see me as a friend through the years of not unavailable - they made me realised that I am still a part of them, and that I am a friend who mattered and still do.

Scratch the awkwardness. Scratch the regret. Nobody had even changed a wee bit since the last I remembered them. The only thing that is different - everyone has definitely graduated from their awkward teenagehood.

The people who came for this BBQ gathering were inadvertently segregated into two groups. The MGS group and the non-MGS group. Us, ex-MGSians, were the ones who hogged the front porch, gossiping, hollering and shaking up Buntong the whole night, whereas the others, were banished to the barbeque pit at a small corner of the house. Sorry!

Food was bountiful. And the crowd was great.

Before I continue this monologue, I would like to send loves to Gel for being the one who marinated the chicken wings, skewered the chicken wings and helped clean-up the things while we were busy chattering away. Sorry that I couldn't sit down and have a decent one-on-one update over Bacardi with you - instead, you had to have it alone while standing at the door, overlooking the front porch, observing us monkeying around.

The girls were immersed in juicy gossips and updates about everyone who was anyone in our network. And after years of not speaking in the same, comfortable lingo which was mutually understood by everyone in MGS - guess what? We never did lose touch! We were talking in a codified manner at one point, and another minute, we were shouting like hooligans. There will never be a reason as to why we behave like that - we have been like this since we set foot in MGS. Other people might be disconcerted, but who cares?

Surprise Birthday Cake!

Further into the night, the June babies were presented with a pleasant surprise, which I wasn't really expecting. Drop-dead honest lor!

Gel brought a cake out of the house, got everyone else to sing "Happy Birthday" harmoniously and for a split second I asked myself, "Whose birthday is it today?"

*smacks forehead* Since I don't know anything about this, probably it's for me! *inner child jumps in joy* Then I saw a few others with equally blank faces. Ahh, the June babies!

June babies with The Cake

*Sorry PooiYeng. This is the only picture I have which involves all four of us with the cake*

Cake-Cutting Ceremony

*FooYine, what were you looking at? Got eye-candy meh?*

Uniform presents~

*And we have presents - such a memorable memento! All four of us have the same present!*

The June Babies with their New-Loves

| pooiyeng.2506 | phooiyee.2706 | cy.2706 | fooyine.2906 |

Here's a closer view of what we've gotten from them ...

Mooo ~

To those who had taken the effort in making this gathering a success, I do not know how to express my appreciation and happiness, it is just so overwhelming. Each and everyone who was there - you guys made my day. The little surprise celebration was indeed the finishing touch, a cherry, to complete the cake. I am still at a blur as to who was in-charge of what just to make everything a success for the night.

Thank you for making me feel so happy and loved that night!

Compulsory Group Picture

[BBQ Party pictures, courtesy of Ah9/Crystal.]

People started bidding goodbyes after the birthday celebration ended. The crowd subsided. And what's left of the crowd shifted into the living room. Some of the guys started cleaning the front porch soon after.

After cleaning up was done, Avinesh took out the Bacardi and the small group of MGSians and ACSians chatted up random things. About half an hour later, more of them went back, leaving me, FooYine, Shankar, KyEan and Avinesh.

The host was famished at that moment. So we went into the kitchen, rummaging through the uncooked leftovers of the BBQ. We cooked some halved sausages and ate them with chilli/tomato sauce + mayonaise and downed it with even more Bacardi. KyEan was sitting there, hoping that we could empty the bottle quickly enough because he wanted to keep the bottle. Since we were sipping the drink moderately slow, he couldn't stand waiting for us, and he left.

The four of us remained, me, FooYine, Shankar and Avinesh, sitting at the dining table with me picking over the bits and pieces of the sausages, talking about almost anything and everything we could come up with.

It was already about 4.00 am when we started cleaning up the little mess we made in the kitchen. The night ended with Shankar driving back to his place all the way at Klebang, and Avinesh sending me and FooYine back to our places respectively.

When I reached home, it was already 4.20 am, and my brother was waiting for me. Aww, so sweet of him!

After I had bathed and dried my hair, and getting ready to crawl in bed, it was close to 5.00 am. My body was absolutely dead-out, but my eyes, my mind - I was very much awake. As I was attempting to talk myself to sleep, I heard the alarm clock go off in my parents' room. Odd, why would the alarm go off on a Sunday?

Moments later, Lingzilla's alarm began its ridiculous drill of nuisance as well. Then it struck me. It's the bloody Starwalk, alright.

During the time when I heard Lingzilla having her morning shower and my parents talking in their room, I was contemplating on whether to go for breakfast with them. The next thing I realised, I dozed off during the contemplation. Great.

So, if my basic estimation skill is not rusty, I might have fell asleep subconsciously at about 5.30 am. And during holidays, I would require a standard eight-hour sleep. Give or take, I should be waking up at 1.30 pm, at most 2.00 pm. To have hopes that Lingzilla would understand the gravity of frustration that she put me through yesterday, and to have learnt to never devoid me of sleep - the mere mention of her name is already spelling out disappointment effortlessly.

Wake-Up Call

She called me at 10.34 am - I was only 5 hours into my sleep. It has been quite a while that both my phones are in silent mode and I am very sensitive to the vibration of the phone. And I could tell which one was the vibrating one as well. Anyway, back to Lingzilla. I could have pictured me strangulating her when I saw the caller ID.

Don't ask me what/why she called me for. All I could summarise is that, she was born perfect, the limbs and all - except that her common sense was (glaringly) missing. Obviously if you can't reach both of your parents' phones, try the house phone! You very well know that once we get indoors, our phones will be close to dead. Our house is the blind spot of the telco network coverage.

Conclusion: (i) Switch off the phones before sleeping; (ii) Kill Lingzilla.

I have been texting quite too often these days. Probably because I have started using DiGi Prepaid iLike - the SMS Plan. Yes, I have finally forgo the Fu-Yoh Plan.

And because of this newfound hobby, the corner of my right thumb is now sporting an area of callous, small one.

Callous #1

Taken two weeks ago

Callous #2

Taken today

Time to invest on a full QWERTY keypad phone. *grins*

Computerised voice in Tiberian Sun: "Insufficient funds"

So, I guess I will be stuck with a mound of callous for now.

| music | Kekasih Gelapku - Ungu
| mood | sleepy

Filed under Daily Dose | 3 person vomitted

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miewyin (guest)

Comment posted on June 29th, 2009 at 12:00 PM

i finally had the time to sit down and read blogs...lol...
you're welcome, goh!!! it was my pleasure to show off my culinary skills in marinating chicken wings...*ahem*...lol...and avi told me to stay in the house to drink the bacardi...hehe...
i have not forgo fuyoh...i somehow feel it's cheaper...maybe because i have too many "other network" contacts...