Gathering with the Gals

Last Sat I had a high school class reunion with a small group of pals. It was one of those quarterly get togethers which are hard to come by due to everyone's busy schedule. But lately we have been making more effort to meet up.

Pat hosted dinner this time. We were pleasantly surprised by the elegant table setting she has prepared. There were fresh flowers, tealight candles and wine glasses. For dinner, we had delicious home-made cream of mushroom soup, honey roast chicken wings, veg salad, mushrooms tossed with garlic and olive oil, beef with mozeralla cheese pasta, and Cabernet Sauvignon for our drink. Chris made and decorated the interesting soya dessert.

Well, the only thing missing was nice music accompaniment. We had to compromise with Pat's kids who were watching their disney channels in the living room. :)

It was a lovely meal and memorable time together. We exchanged gifts, hugs and laughters. Too bad Joyce was unable to join us.

My Thanksgiving

Well, we don't celebrate thanksgiving here. But I have an item of thanksgiving. Last evening, I had dinner with a colleague at Holland V. We had a great time catching up as we work in different depts and rarely get to meet.

I thank God for her as we could confide in each other on problems we are facing at work and home, and we know that it will stay between us. I cherish this friendship because most of my colleagues are non-believers, and the faith makes a great difference in our views of life and the world. It was through His love that brought us together as friends.
I thank God for giving me a few good friends, enough to help me stay sane in this individualistic corporate world.

TGIF

The weekend is finally here again! I have been looking forward to this day, again! :-)

For dinner today, we decided to try out the Harvest Thai Restnt at ACS (Barker). It is located by the Olympic-sized Shaw pool where we watched the swimmers do their laps while we dine with Christian music in the background. Not crowded. Nice ambiance.

Sam must have been really hungry as he ordered a lot of food. We had olive fried rice, green curry, a veg dish, seafood salad and a Harvest harmony drink. The food is Thai with some local flavour. They are also pretty generous with their servings and we were really stuffed. We will visit again as it is closed to home, free parking and food is reasonably priced. In the day it is opened as 'Cafe Daily Bread' serving snacks and pastries.

After dinner, we headed for CG at the Choos' new residence at Lor Selangat. It's a lovely terrace cluster housing, 4 stories high consisting of 16 units, ample basement parking, an infinity lap pool and a baby pool. When you enter from the car park there's the maid's room, and on the next level is a big living/dining room and the kitchen/laundry area. The 2nd level houses the master bedroom and a study room. On the topmost level are 2 bedrooms, one belonging to Don (decorated all blue), the other to Laetitia (EVERYTHING in there was her choice color - pink). Each level has a balcony and at least a washroom. It's a very lovely and cosy home, with good choice of wall color and furnishing.

This evening, Sam led us in a comparison study on the story of Zacchaeus and the Rich Young Man. We concluded that the Rich Man was unwilling to give up his earthly wealth to inherit eternal life. The self-righteous man despite living a righteous life, has forgotten to obey the very first commandment "Thou shall have no other Gods before me". These other Gods need not be deities but material things or putting of self before God. It is indeed a good reminder for all to remain humble like Zacchaeus and to seek God first.

Gathering of Old Friends

After church today, we met up with Min, his wife June, Joyce and little Jun for lunch. It has been some years since we last met Min. He is still pretty much the same, except that he now prefers to read in large prints :p

I came to know Min in 1991 at York. Then, I discovered that he and my bro went to the same school and were classmates. Sam knew Min from MSBC and they were both in the mime team. We had the opportunity to travel together to Florida, whitewater rafting trip to Ottawa and some of the YAM camps.

Min is a very humble, simple and helpful guy. I recall those days in my first year at varsity, when I had to write essays for assignments. At that time, I really have little idea of how to use the computer, let alone MS Word. I only vaguely remember playing computer games on a Commodore via Dos program back home. We didn't have email or MSN back then! So I really struggled to write the essay with my weak command of English and at the same time to learn to use the application. Fortunately for me, Min came to the rescue and spent the whole night teaching me to use the PC and construct my essay in Lillian's rented basement. The essay was due the following day. He pretty much helped pull me through the difficult times and taught me some basic computer skills. Now I have him to thank and have put my technical knowledge into good use and could even design my blog. And he has indeed put his patience and teaching gift to good use too :)

We met for lunch at Botak Jones at TP but I had Japanese instead as I had enough of BJ at the Tuas branch near work. We then adjourned to have dessert at Ben & Jerry's at Dempsey Hill. B&J is a pretty cosy and family friendly place to hang out for dessert. The place was packed but we managed to find a comfortable corner.

It was a wonderful time of catching up, and I am glad to have spent a lazy Sunday afternoon with friends. Thank God for blessing us with good old friends. Thank God also for technology to draw us closer. We could now know how the other person is getting along by reading their blog. How I admire the new generation and what they have been blessed with :)

A Simple and Lovely Wedding

This evening we attended a wedding of an old friend, Wendy and her beau Tomas. It was held at Fort Canning Park. It was a simple wedding, with the solemnisation held outdoor on a lawn and a buffet dinner at Raffles House thereafter.

Tomas is Swede and they met in SG. Wendy has since left for Sweden with him in 2003 and has picked up a fair bit of Swedish. She loves to bake and despite her short visit actually made time to bake cookies for the wedding's pre-dinner reception. Tomas, what a lucky chap! :) Wendy reminds me so much of my late Godma...

Well, I was kind of looking forward to the wedding and to meeting the old friends. But at the same time I was feeling kind of jittery not knowing what to expect and how to react. It's been so many years and I do not know why we drifted apart, or rather why I am no longer in their lives. I do miss those days when we hung out at MYF and Sunday School. How I wish that time had stood still.

Now everyone's found a better half, and have families of their own. But I know one thing we have in common is God's love for us, and our kinship in Christ. Thank God for that.

The Meet-Up

It was great to meet up with Carol over the weekend. She loves the outdoors and returned this time to participate in the Ironman70.3 Race. She amazes me with her stamina and strong passion for the outdoors.

There are 3 legs to the Aviva Half Ironman race: the swim (1.9km), bike (90.1km) and run (21.1km). The race started at the East Coast Lagoon with the swimming leg, followed by bike race through the Benjamin Sheares Bridge and 4 laps from Raffles Avenue through the Marina Bay area, back to ECP and Nicoll Highway. For the final leg, the athletes have to run 2 laps from the floating platform at Esplanade to the Padang and round to end of Beach Road (Kallang Basin) and return. In other words, it is a long tiring race which took Carol about 6 hours to complete coming in mid pack.

There was certainly a lot of training and preparation work she had to do to get ready for the race. She exercises daily (swim, jog, bike), watches her diet and acclimatises her body to the heat and perspiration. It really takes a lot of discipline to prepare for such a sport. Apart from Triathlon, she also does Backcountry Skiing, Snowshoeing, Mountaineering, and whatever outdoor adventure you can imagine. Oh, and did I mention that she shaved her head for Canadian Cancer Foundation?! Way to go, Carol!

We had a great time catching up over slice fish bee hoon soup in Chinatown, and drove around to Far East Sq, Dempsey Hill and Clark Quay. And of course, we had to stop for our afternoon tea at Dempsey's PS Cafe (I should get a discount card for being a regular patron!)

Strangely indeed, even though we have been apart for so many years and perhaps not there for the ups and downs of life, we could very comfortably catch up from where we left off. And what's more strange is that I hardly meet up with friends who reside in SG but am more in touch with the those in foreign soil... technology has certainly helped to bridge the gap.

As for those outdoor sports, I don't think I will ever be drawn to take part in them other then golfing, swimming and the occasional hiking, snorkelling and skiing. The thought of running brought back memories of those school days when we had to run marathons and the 2.4 km. Most of those times I had to drag my feet through the race, and was always panting for breath. Getting into these sports would mean being discipline, watching my food intake and regular exercises. I would be contented to start with a simple step just to keep fit :p