A Date with Autumn

I had to blog this in two parts well... cause I had a little difficulty sorting through my thoughts over the week.

12th June:
A little cloud misted over my vision recently. I was talking to a friend when he asked what I was up to for the day. I said I seemed to have triple booked myself for I had lunch plans with my extended family, a birthday dinner and a couple of drinks till 11pm. There was supposed to be drinks with another bunch of friends after midnight that day but it was subsequently pushed to sunday. He asked if I wanted to watch The Omen. I wasn't too keen to spend the night glancing over my shoulder in fear, within the confines of my own room, so I said I would go only if it was for Xmen.

He said he would get the tickets then. We met and well... it was disconcerting. It felt like ... well... it felt like a date. It dawned on me only when I was sitting in the movie theatre. All the signs of a juvenile first date surfaced... or at least it seemed so to me. I won't embarrass myself further by describing what those signs were but it made my eyebrow arch a tad. Yes... just a tad.

I feel embarrassed and ancient beyond my time. Why? I hear someone ask nonchalantly? Well... personally I feel a little too old for this song and dance routine. I am also tired. I want things as simple and transparent for awhile.

Fastforward to 14th Jun: We spoke again today and the bomb I have been waiting for finally dropped. He asked me point blank if he thought we had a chance in hell. I had to be honest. I told him that I have no propensity to care for anything or one other than myself.

I think he said ok or something. I don't remember. I just remember a detachment when I said it.

Well... the conclusion of the story is that we are watching yet another movie tomorrow. This is before I am supposed to meet friends for another birthday and drinks session.

I think after all the birthdays I am celebrating for the whole world... when it's my turn, I shall crawl into my hidey hole to hide for the day. hehe

Japanese Course

I have been toying with the idea of trying out an apparently new system of learning Japanese for some time now.

In this scientific method of teaching which is patented in Japan, they try to impart the conjugation of verbs right from the start so there is relatively little need to memorise entire sentences (which is also something I find myself doing for slightly more complicated French).

Today, B called. He asked if I was still interested in taking up this course. I told him I was game as long as we start the course in July. B was so excited about this that he called me immediately after a couple of sms exchange. He said the most feasible would be 9 July, which is a Sunday. It is rare to see B get this excited about something. He is so excited about it that he said he would fax me the application form first thing tomorrow morning.

Ok... so I guess I will be learning Japanese soon. Sugoy-i...

The Upcoming Week

Ok as of today, plans for the weekend is full again.

Dinner and drinks with colleagues on Friday.
A cozy birthday dinner on Sat with Dor and Jan. Followed by Drinks at 11ish 12 with drinker buddy (Not another case of double booking again I hope)
Sunday... bake maybe? But definitely a day for rest and an alkie-free day.

Next weekend... I will be jetting off again from the 16th.
This trip though, is my final time spent with Jan before she moves to Kazakhstan with her husband. We did make plans for me to travel up to Kazakhstan next year. She made mention that she might join me in my plans to visit Russia. But then again, she might be preggers by then so ... we shall see. I can't quite fathom how we can travel together for we have very different travel habits. She is more goal oriented and cautious. I am more laissez faire and bold (or stupid as some might call it).

Over the weekend, I found out a friend's dad had passed away and I asked if he wanted to meet me on the trip for a dinner and a hug. He seemed to be taking it quite hard and perhaps all I can really do as a friend, is just to sit there and give him a firm hug, telling him it will really get better with time. I feel badly that I am unable to squeeze the time to visit him personally to express my sympathies. His dad's passing brought back memories of how badly I took my nanny's death 12 years ago. This might also be why I feel it is important for friends to just be around during these difficult times.

I am also trying to find the time to squeeze in dinner with ex's best friend and his wife and their newborn. I do not think it is possible at this point in time but then again, they have been on hold for at least a month now.

I know I should take the time to pace myself and schedule some quiet time in. But I think I am now in the 'Let's Go Out and Come Home Doggone Tired!' phase. Being this busy is a good thing right?

My MOS Excess Night

So... eluding have I been, of the culmination of drinks with the colleagues drinking session, which is a party for 12 pax at Ministry of Sound (MOS) on 2nd June 2006. For some of us, it was the first time into MOS ever since it opened. For me, it was stepping into an actual club after years of retirement that was refreshing.

We had 9.30pm reservations at PURE Room, however when we arrived, we were told PURE would not be open till 11pm. We were told to hang out in the disco first and after that, we could transfer to PURE. Upon which, I was promptly ushered to pay for the 2 bottles of liquor we had to order in order to reserve 2 er... beds at PURE. After we seated ourselves at SMOOTH with our drinks, we were later told we couldn't bring our two bottles into PURE. It was fortunate I had a little booze in me to calm down before I really lost it. I do not think I promptly signed over $450 of booze only to be told I could or couldn't do this or that. Especially not when I had to arrive at the club like a doofus at 9.30pm. They managed to resolve this matter for me and the night continued.

I was slightly mortified when I realised that 85% of those present were not really drinkers, nor were they familiar with drinking games. After a quick knowing glance with my closest work buddy, she knew she had to assume the role of Imp No. 1 and promptly started the ball rolling. She made everyone down two glass of my favourite Martell with Green Tea.

Following this, I am happy to report that, Imp No. 2 (ahem.. that would be moi), taught them a couple of sure fire games, guaranteed to make them drink loads as punishment. After a couple of rounds, I am glad to report that we made it into PURE with our 1.25 bottles of liquor intact (I tried to upload an image of PURE but Blogger has been wonky for the past 2 days I think?).

It was really comfortable in PURE. The plush cushion managed to seat all 12 of us comfortably, with more fun and revelery to pursue. We finished both bottles in record time and followed this with a couple more jugs of booze. Strangely, we still had a carafe of mixer left over and no more liquor to mix it with. Check out how comfortable PURE is... (Ok check it out WHEN and IF Blogger manages to fix this upload pics prob)

In the end, only one of the girls got a little high but other than that, no great big puking scenes, sobbing dumped girls or even overly happy people resulted. There seemed to have been some underlying reason of why we were there and something was definitely happening between the guy in my department and a new girl. Albeit not in the romantic sense... something was just happening that isn't quite convenient for me to relate here (Yes... not even on the internet, where everyone thinks they can really remain anonymous). We decided at 2am that the old folks needed their rest and started leaving. I left with a colleague who resided in my vicinity, with a stopover for them to have supper.

I suspect the older you get, you grow more resistant to liquor for I managed to shower, and read till just before dawn.