Archive for 'Hanging Out'
Happy birthday, Reta!
Posted on November 11, 2008, by soph, under Hanging Out.
To one of the coolest, nicest persons I know, have a very happy “Forever 21″. This photo, captured on my mobile phone at a random gift shop during one lunch hour, was too good not to put up on Reta’s birthday. If any of you are on Facebook, give her a lil’ poke, won’t you?
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This is how I contribute to the conversation
Posted on October 14, 2008, by soph, under Hanging Out, Movies Music TV.
The boys and I are having supper at McDonald’s one night.
A: Watching Friday Night Lights makes me want to play American football.
B: Ya, I know what you mean. Watching 30 Rock makes me want to work on a TV show too.
Me: Watching Lipstick Jungle makes me want to go shopping!
Silence.
B: Watching porn makes me want to have sex?
Okay, fine.
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Bridge on a rainy Saturday afternoon
Posted on September 27, 2008, by soph, under Hanging Out.
Because we had to wait an hour for Y’s mobile phone to be repaired, Y, J, C and I made ourselves comfortable at a nearby bubble tea place and ended up playing games to pass the time. It’s been a long time since I played bridge and even longer since I played Snakes and Ladders, and it was nice.
With gloomy skies overhead - we didn’t mind because that meant cool weather, bubble tea by our sides and nothing to do but relax, we had fun. I won our only game of Snakes and Ladders thanks to an unbelievable streak of good luck. Then we moved on to bridge. I used to play lots of it during my first two years in Melbourne, but that feels like such a long time ago.
It was so good to see the boys relaxing on a Saturday afternoon without having to think about work. Y and J didn’t even talk about advertising once!
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Celebrating Lantern Festival
Posted on September 17, 2008, by soph, under Hanging Out.
I can’t remember the last time I celebrated Lantern Festival. It must have been when I was still in primary school. I remember lighting candles along the length of our balcony with my sisters. I remember we got a little bored because it was just the three of us. I remember we never did it again. I don’t remember the last time I had a lantern - or what shape it was.
This year, I had a dragon lantern with a movable head. My colleagues/friends and I lit candles. We walked around the neighbourhood. We went to a nearby playground and pretended we were kids again. We went on the slides - many times. We went on the swings. We went on the see-saw. We played limbo rock. We were a group of adults in our 20s playing our hearts out. It was fantastic.
I’m so glad I have colleagues/friends who are not afraid to take off their shoes and wander around barefoot. Who are not afraid to get on the slides with me. Who are not afraid to push off the ground as hard as they can to see how high they can swing. Everybody should get to be a kid once in a while. Even if it means the other (real) neighbourhood kids stare at you.
This year, I celebrated Lantern Festival. I will always remember my dragon lantern. And the people who made the night special. We might even do it again next year. Let’s.
(Photos courtesy of Sherelyn.)
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We got all dressed up for the party!
Posted on June 12, 2008, by soph, under Career, Hanging Out.
When: 11 June 2008
Where: Pulse, Grand Millennium Hotel
Why: hot magazine celebrates its 100th issue (woohoo!)
We took photos:
I give up. There are way too many photos. In fact, some of these are from Mei Ann, Reta or Sherelyn’s collections. I didn’t get photos with any of the celebs either, but I did get these of the bosses:
Sean was so happening that night. And these photos are priceless.
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The last time my hair was this short
Posted on May 16, 2008, by soph, under Hanging Out, It's a Girl's Life.
Back then, we had monthly checks to make sure everyone’s hair was short enough, our nails were neat enough and our hemlines were long enough. That’s Chinese school for you, not that I regret it now that it’s been almost nine years since emancipation.
Reta and I are trying to feed Dawn a fry and a soft drink in her absence.
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The alcohol last night made me sentimental.
Posted on May 11, 2008, by soph, under Hanging Out, Psychobabble.
A friend has gotten engaged and I am truly happy for her and her new fiance. She’s a great girl and he seems like a really cool guy. As the wedding invitations taper off after the boom of last year (or was it the year before last), I am reminded every time somebody takes the plunge that I, too, took the plunge, and have been swimming for the last almost three years.
I can’t believe I’ve been married that long, even though it really isn’t very long as far as happily ever after goes. People still ask me how’s married life because in most of the circles I traverse, I’m a minority. Married life is great, thank you for asking, I’ve finally succeeded in teaching Y to actually glance in my direction when I start one of my rambles. I reckon it’ll be another ten years’ worth of work before he learns to make suitably responsive noises.
No, seriously, married life has been/is great. And I thank God almost every day that I got lucky. But that’s not what I really wanted to blog about. A bunch of us went out last night - friends from my university days, either my age or give or take one to two years either way. And it struck me that right up to the day we graduated uni, we were pretty much on par in terms of where we were in life. We all went through school, we became friends, we hung out, we shared meals, we earned our degrees, we knew the same people, we were even fairly similar in terms of background…
Then we graduated, and everything changed in a flash. We got jobs in different industries, we saw each other once in a while, I got married, others were dating then they got married, others broke up, others remained single, some of us climbed the corporate ladder, I still wear slippers to work when I feel like it, others travelled the world, I wished I did, and really, we were not ‘on par’ in any sense of the word anymore. Each of us were on dramatically different journeys that we had forged for ourselves, sort of yelling across the grass to our friends on their respective paths every time the jungle cleared enough that we could see each other. And it had all happened so quickly.
It’s no groundbreaking revelation, I know, but I guess it never hits me hard until I actually come face to face with these friends. And I don’t know exactly what I’m trying to say, except maybe I had a good time. It’s always nice to catch up and see how we’re all so different now, that even though life has thrown us for so many different things, whenever we get together again, it reminds me of when we were back at uni.
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Two’s company
Posted on March 30, 2008, by soph, under Hanging Out, It's a Girl's Life, Married.
So Y is back from Singapore. He arrived at 2.45pm today and I made the rare drive to KLIA to pick him up, trusty C playing passenger for the first time in case I lose my way.I will admit, I was initially a teeny bit unsure about staying home alone for three nights, but not having to pack up my toiletries and clothes for stay-overs far outweighed the hassle of having to stay somewhere else (my in-laws’ for instance). So I stayed alone. And armed the house every night. And realised only after the second night that our CCTV wasn’t turned on. Oh well.
The secret, I’ve discovered, is to not let my imagination get the better of me, and to make the most of my alone time. I am mildly anti-social, after all. Reading in bed lots, going through Jay Chou music videos, watching the Heroes marathon, catching up over pancakes, visiting Grandma and the siblings… I had a to-do list in my head and I’ve ticked off all but one. Bummer.
Then there was the totally unexpected / unplanned treat. Late Friday night, after a disappointing event, the colleagues decided on the spur of the moment to pop by with a tub of Baskin Robbins. So there we were, pigging out on ice cream at midnight, eating right out of the tub, talking and laughing and ignoring MTV playing in the background. It was a very nice way to end the work week, and a particularly indulgent way of ending what had been a rather trying deadline Friday.
Guys, we really should do it more often, eh?
I forget what flavours we had. Something chocolate, I’ll bet.
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On a restless Friday afternoon…
Posted on March 7, 2008, by soph, under Hanging Out.
Silence, I kill you!
(If you watch Achmed, you’ll understand why.)
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It’s been too many moons
Posted on February 17, 2008, by soph, under Hanging Out, Psychobabble.
This sudden sentimentalism was further boosted by a gathering of primary school friends yesterday at The Curve. It was a small one, about eight of us, but it was great. Some of them I haven’t seen since I left primary school at 12, others I’ve seen here and there but never really got round to having a conversation with. Yesterday, we did, and it was pretty cool. I always did have a soft spot for my Chinese-school roots.
I stole these off Chang Chang’s (above, second from right) Facebook page. And speaking of Facebook, it’s been heaps fun tracking down people there too. I just found an old friend from high school; it’s been years and years since we spoke, and I can’t wait to catch up with him.
What is it that makes me want to seek out people from the past as I get older? That makes me finally start to appreciate and enjoy time with family and relatives? That gives me a warm fuzzy feeling as we gather after umpteen years and sit around a table to make conversation? We weren’t exactly best pals back in primary school or high school, and sure, the conversation probably did feel a little forced at times, (one too many pauses, the occasional awkward sips from our drinks), but speaking for myself, I had a good time. I hope they did, too.
