Sunday, September 7, 2008

Nigel's bucks day (6/9/08)

My good friend (Nigel) is getting married next Sunday. Of course, we are all excited & happy for him. So yesterday, some of us took him out for the first instalment of his bucks day/nite. (The second instalment is this coming Friday nite, when more people will be available to catch up with Nigel).

We kicked off yesterday with lunch at the Little Taipei foodcourt in Sunnybank. We mostly ordered either Korean or Taiwanese-style steak. My Korean dish was ok. I also shouted Nigel a taro milk tea. All up, about 11-12 or so guys turned up for lunch.
After lunch, most (but not all) of us then headed to the Gold Coast. We went in 2 cars. Melvin took Nigel, Winston, Jay (who didn't join us for lunch) & myself in his BMW 4-wheel drive. Wong drove Sean, Kwang & BT - these 4 would head off to Byron Bay later in the evening for Maria's birthday celebration. Melvin's car arrived first near the Surfers Paradise Boulevard.

We arrived at a place called Sling Shot/Vomatron - basically motor-powered devices designed to give passengers a fun/amusement ride by spinning & propelling in the air, creating the sort of "adrenaline rush" that is not too different what u would get from roller-coaster rides. Nigel got worried when he saw the slingshot & vomatron, & protested his reluctance to take the rides. We watched as some of the other riders in the vomatron screamed & screamed as they Wong's car then arrived. Eventually, after much persuasion, Nigel relented after Wong agreed to accompany him to the vomatron ride. It was fun watching both of them spin clockwise a few times, then anti-clockwise a few times. And we can't forget Nigel's facial expression when both he & Wong were up in the air, as well as how tight Nigel gripped the bars while Wong appeared calm & had both his hands free. Fortunately, neither of them threw up, although Nigel said he might have had the vomatron ride carried on for a few more rounds. But both of them looked clearly hammered.


After that, we walked over to King Tutt's Putt Putt just a few minutes away, for a game of miniature golf. Part of the place had ancient Egyptian theme, the other part had Jurassic Park theme. We had to settle with the outdoor mini-golf course, as the courses inside were already taken. We had an 18-hole course, so that meant 1 game of 18 rounds. Some of the guys displayed flair for golf (Sean & Jay being among them). There was much laughter all round, especially with the various putting bloopers (at one stage, Wong & BT managed to put their balls out onto the road!) & botched attempts to get the ball into the hole. It was quite windy, so that made it a tad more difficult for us to putt as well as we want. I yelled at my golf ball a few times, telling it to stop at times when it kept moving (at the final round 18, I let slip some expletives as I was frustrated that the ball didn't go well). Anyway, Sean ended up winning the game after the 18 rounds, with the lowest score of 56. Jay & myself were tied on 58 (but Jay is definitely better than me). BT had the worst score of 104! (At one stage, a fake crocodile's head protruded out of a small cave at the side of one of the course & gave Nigel a scare.)


We managed to get a group photo together, in front of the dinosaur at the entrance of King Tutt's Putt Putt. Then we headed out separate ways, with Wong, Sean, Kwang & BT off to Byron Bay to join Maria & friends. The rest of us returned to Brisbane, to play poker at the Woollongabba home of Kris, one of Nigel's groomsmen. Jay got dropped off (he didn't/couldn't join us), & Nigel & Melvin went straight to Kris's place while I grabbed my car (which I had left at Jay's parents' place) & headed with Winston back to his place. We rested for a bit, & after Eilen came back, me & Winston left in separate cars to Wolloongabba.


Henry was at Kris' place when we arrived. Long time no see, Henry. He seems to be well, which was good. Most of those present at Kris' place were Nigel's high school & uni friends. They were extremely loud & boisterous. We played a round of poker (about 12 people took part), with me & Winston being the earliest casualties. We only had finger food (some dips & nibblies), & I left relatively early (around 10pm-ish), without getting to have the pizza dinner that we all thought we would have. Nigel would later tell me (earlier today at church) that he stayed on till 4am & that the only thing he did after I left was play Risk.


Anyway, it was a good bucks day. But that is just the first instalment. The second instalment on Friday nite will see a lot more people turn up, & promises to be significantly more wild! But not if Nigel has it his way - because on Saturday, he has to do arrangements at the church where the wedding ceremony is held. It will be interesting to see how easy (or not) people will go on Nigel this Friday nite!


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