What happened from Friday nite to Sunday morning

For more background info, refer to my previous post on Wednesday (“Busy/eventful next few days”).

Friday nite social (18/5/07, nite)

A sizeable number of Clayers (from both the St Lucia & Southside groups) turned up to my place for the Clay social. We had takeaway pizza (& watermelon & some brownies & cupcakes), & caught up & chat with each other in small groups. Some played pool. A few of us (including myself) played 2 games of poker. I did rather well in both games. I came second in the first game behind Belle who was aided by Steven in the latter stages of the game. I came equal third (with BT) in the second game, won by Winston ahead of Belle. With the first game, I wonder why is it that everytime there’s 1 girl playing poker among guys, the girl often ended up winning??!! Belle somehow pulled off some amazing hands. Still, at least among the guys that played, I beat everyone at least once – BT, Winston, Kwang, Sean (who came in time for second game), Wong, Steven. After the poker was done, those remaining watched what remained of a competitive & thrilling pool game between team BT/Sean & team Wong/Steven, which BT & Sean winning by the narrowest of margins. That took us past midnight.

We ended up not watching any DVDs – a couple of people tried to watch the Ravi Zacharias DVD but couldn’t as the DVD would not play on our DVD player. Never mind, I’m sure an opportunity will present itself in the future for us to watch that DVD.

All in all, it was a fantastic Clay social.

WALK4BIBLES (19/5/07, morning)

I didn’t get much sleep before waking up just after 8am, & after a quick breakfast, headed to Toowong to join Terence & Catherine. My cousin Darren was chatting with Terence when I arrived at the Toowong Village foodcourt. Darren then went his own way & the 3 of us caught the City Cat to Southbank, to take part in WALK4BIBLES along with some church members.

It was quite warm, though not excessively hot. A few Clayers, including birthday guy Hung (& Stella & baby Nathaniel), turned up. Interestingly, Darren’s eldest brother Davin was also there. Apparently, Pastor Steve was still searching for a parking spot when we started the walk! But not before ST said a prayer, reminding us as to the reason we do the WALK4BIBLES thing.

We did the 7km route which started from the Galleria along the Brisbane River, then crossed the Story Bridge & then walked along the other side of the river before crossing Goodwill Bridge & then back to the Galleria. I joked with some friends that I arranged for a van to pick me up along the way & drop me off to walk the last 500m. But jokes aside, of course I won’t resort to such under-handedness – not if I remember the reason why I’m doing the walk.

I did ok, although I have to say the walk reminded me (yet again) of my lack of fitness & that I’m no longer 18-19! Having said that, I didn’t feel that tired after completing the walk (which, according to Terence, is a good sign as it meant I haven’t exerted myself too much). After all, I didn’t pass out or anything like that. I only stopped once along the way, to get an ice bar. And I took some pictures, too – although haven’t yet checked how they turned out. Before catching the City Cat back to Toowong, I had a New Zealand Natural chocolate ice-cream. Good….

All in all, the walk was an excellent exercise. Definitely for a most worthy cause, & I will certainly be back next year. May God bless the event, & the proceeds raised from it.

Hung’s 30th birthday party (19/5/07, afternoon)

I got back home & had a quick shower before heading off to Hung’s place for his 30th birthday party. I did a quick stop at Yuen’s Market along the way to pick up Chinese liniment, called pak fah yeow (white flower liniment, similar to tiger balm).

It was on arrival at Hung’s house that I started to feel the effects of WALK4BIBLES. Suddenly, I felt dehydrated, & I quickly gulped down several cups of soft drink before feeling slightly better. Some of the participants in WALK4BIBLES were there, including Sam, Keiyeng & Pastor Steve. All up, there was quite a number of people. A lot of them were people I don’t know (Hung’s relatives & friends outside of church & Clay).

The birthday guy managed to mess up his shirt while cutting some chicken pieces which looked remarkably similar to Nando’s chicken. In doing so, the bottom of my shirt got stained a bit, too, as I was with him chatting while he did his work on the chicken.

Of course, I chat with some of the Clayers there, & even talked about cartoons of the 1980s with Melina, Pastor Steve & Wong. I also took some pictures, but unfortunately, my camera malfunctioned before I managed to snap the birthday cake, & also couldn’t get a picture of myself with latecomers Ivan & Maria. So, I think I’ll get a picture of the cake from Winston when I get the chance to ask. But ai yah, looks like I’ll have to get my camera fixed…..really dunno what happened.

Anyway, I didn’t stay too long – overall, only stayed for about 2 hours. I then left to head back to the Westside for dinner with friends. I thank God for blessing us with a godly friend & Christian brother Hung. May The Lord continue to bless u & your family richly.

Group dinner @ Singapura & FA Cup Final (19/5/07 evening/nite - 20/5/07 morning)

After showering & changing (had to, because of Hung’s chicken stains), me & BT headed to Terence’s place to pick him & Catherine up. We went to Singapura in Milton, which was chosen as it was very close to Terence’s place. We were to have dinner & relax before the FA Cup final at Nigel’s place. Ivan & Maria would be joining us, presumably from Hung’s place (I had left before them), & Maria had called me to say they would be running late. Huh, there’s no need for her call, as we all know those 2 are always late for everything!

We ordered when Ivan & Maria finally arrived. The dinner dishes were reasonably nice, & the 6 of us had the usual fun conversations. This time, I didn’t order the customary ice kacang, as I was feeling under the weather & didn’t want to fall sick. Terence even pranked Nigel when he called, saying we all won’t be coming to Nigel’s place for the FA Cup final as we would be staying at Terence’s place to play poker prior to the match. Nigel bought it hook, line & sinker, & sounded irate that we all piked from the original plan. It was funny. Terence had his mobile on speaker so diners in Singapura could hear Nigel’s ranting! Nigel later SMSed Terence vowing revenge for the prank. Hahaha…

After the dinner, we went to Terence’s place. I had some liang teh as my throat was sore. Everyone except me & Maria played chor dai di. Shortly after, we left. Maria headed home, & Catherine stayed back – neither girls wanted to stay up till midnite for the FA Cup final. Us boys went in my car & we picked up Mark from Unicell at church, & then off we headed to Nigel’s place.

We watched the build-up to the final, which was between glamour London side Chelsea & Manchester United. Most of us were going for Chelsea, except Ivan & Nigel’s dad. The final was a drab, cagey affair, with both teams not performing to expectations. Perhaps the fear of conceding the first goal got to both teams. I thought overall, Chelsea were the better team during the goalless 90 minutes. The stalemate meant extra-time, during which Manchester United were better. Nevertheless, with just 4-5 minutes of extra-time remaining, Chelsea scored from some good team-work which saw Drogba advancing into the penalty area with only the keeper to beat, & he did the honours. Up went me, BT, Nigel & Terence celebrating the goal. Poor Ivan just sat passively. The goal meant that the dreaded lottery of the penalty shoot-out was avoided, & Chelsea secured victory & the FA Cup for 2007.

We left shortly after, & by the time I arrived home (after dropping off Ivan, Terence & Mark) & got myself into bed, it was 3:45am Sunday morning! What a long long day! But it was fun.