1 October 2003, Wednesday

Time: 1.30pm ~ 3pm

Where: Home Flavours Cafe 
               Lucky Plaza #01-108 (behind Pizza Hut)

Who: Jordan, Junxin, Arthur, Dino, Mandy, Joel & Me

What: The official opening of Home Flavours Cafe!

Finally, after months of hard work, Dino's boss of his own! The few of us popped by the eatery during lunch time to show our support.

The humble-sized eatery sells chinese-style nasi lemak primarily. Side dishes include luncheon meat, omelettes (sunny side up & scrambled), sausages, yam cakes, cabbage, other veggies, etc. I love the chicken wings! Very tasty right through the meat!

The carrot cakes are nice too. Not the type you get from hawker centres but the dim sum (or yum cha) kind that come in single big chunks.

They're now having opening specials - S$2.50 for a plate of nasi lemak (omelette, veggie & chicken wing) and a drink!

28 September 2003, Sunday

Time: 7pm ~ 10+pm

Where: Jumbo Seafood at East Coast Park

Who: Jordan, Dino, Junxin, Arthur, Kendrik, Harry, Joel, Joel's fiance, Eileen Tan, Harvi, Me, Celestyn, Jeremy & other helpers

What: Post banquet thank-you dinner from Celest and Jeremy.

Jordan, Dino, Arthur, Harry and me hitched a ride from Junxin at Bugis. Before heading for East Coast, we stopped briefly at Funan IT Mall as Dino needed to pick his lucky draw from the purchase of a laptop from Sim Lim. Boy, was he lucky - he won S$580 in cash!

Was half an hour late, as a result. Celest and Jeremy weren't any earlier than us anyway.

Food was good. That explained why the restaurant was packed despite the far-off location. Photos from the wedding banquet were ready for viewing - 2 big albums in total.

The newly-weds gave us each a Cross brand pen as a token of appreciation.

After dinner, some of them proceeded to a bar near McDonald's for drinks. Junxin and Kendrik were having an early morning the next day and didn't want to stay. Knowing how inconvenient to get out of East Coast without their cars, our gang left too.

20 September 2003, Saturday

Time: 7.30pm ~ 12mn

Where: Billy Bombers at Bugis & Marina Mandarin Hotel

Who: Jordan, Junxin, Dino, Arthur, Mandy, 4 Thai friends & Me

What: Initially we thought it's gonna be just another dinner gathering for the usual gang, but much to our surprise, Jordan brought 4 Thai friends, who were holidaying in Singapore for a few days, along.

Frankly speaking, I've forgotten all their names now... har har~

Dinner was alright. Had a little problem communicating with the Thais as 3 of them couldn't converse much in English. The one who could speak more English was basically the one helping to translate. Let's call him Mr A.

Mr A got to know Jordan some 10 years ago, when Jordan and his secondary school band members went Thailand for a guest performance. The former graduated from Chulalongkorn University with degree in music. He's now a full-time music teacher with a salary of only S$400 a month! Unbelievable! He earns extra income by playing saxophone in a jazz bar 2 nights a week. In a month, he takes home about the same amount as his teaching wage.

The other 3 are still undergrads in the same university studying music too.

Following dinner was a chill out session at Marina Mandarin. The live band played evergreen songs like Tian Mi Mi (²¢»e»e), Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin (¤ë«G¥Nªí§Úªº¤ß), Shang Hai Tan (¤W®üÅy), etc., with grand piano, violin and 2 other instruments. Very classy. But not quite my cup of tea.

14 September 2003, Sunday

Time: 1pm ~ 12mn

Where: Raffles The Plaza & Swissotel

Who: Jeremy Chiu, Celestyn Chia, Jordan, Dino, Junxin, Arthur, Kendrik, Harry, Michael Lam, Joel, Eileen Tan, Myself, and many more...

What: Jeremy Chiu & Celestyn Chia's Wedding Banquet

...... I woke up at 10am - 2hrs later than the time I set on my alarm clock. I panicked. Was supposed to meet the gang at 12nn for pre-banquet preparations as well as to rehearse script with Harry - my co-emcee.

I rushed to finish up my Chinese script. Luckily the guys called to say meet at 1pm instead. I completed my script on time.

Jeremy and Celest (as we're used to calling her) had been going out for 5 years. Celest is my poly mate, and so are most of the others who were present today. We received her wedding invitation some 2 months ago - it was quite a shocker yet expected.

It was somewhat through Harry's "recommendations" that we became involved in helping out for this event.

Roles:
English Emcee - Harry
Mandarin Emcee - Me
Head Co-ordinators for entire program - Jordan & Dino
Head of Ushers - Arthur
Head of Reception & Ang Baos  - Eileen Tan
Bestman cum "Wine Man" - Michael Lam
Co-ordinators/Ushers - Junxin, Kendrik, Joel and some other friends of Jeremy's and Celest's.

The NYPians landed themselves in huge responsibilities. Blessing or misfortune? You tell me!

It was a grand affair, without doubt. This biggest ballroom of Swissotel's housed 85 tables that night. I learnt that each table costs S$1,200!

Some of the VIPs included Mayor Heng Chee How and another Member of Parliament whose name I've forgotten. Not forgetting Chen Shu Cheng (³¯¾ð©Ó) - our local veteren celebrity, and a large number of distinguised guests from the States, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Indonesia, etc. Many of whom are Mr Chia's business associates.

The night went well. Everyone joined forces as the NYP team, just like the old days. We certainly didn't let Mr Loke down. Especially with Jordan and Dino's presence, we can always trust them anytime for their competency and commitment.

There were some commotion between Hwee Khee (Celest's eldest sis) and us - her haughtiness and unreasonableness pissed us off. Shan't go into details.

Nevertheless, it was a night to remember. And I treasured and relished every moment.