Sunday, February 25, 2007

On the first day of CNY ...

I am now back in Singapore. Came back yesterday evening so that I can have a day's rest before starting work on Monday.

I think my brain will need some time to defrost from the holiday mood. Heck, technically it's still the holidays as Chinese New Year is 15-day long. I heard from a friend working in Taiwan that they actually got the whole of last week declared as public holiday.

I went back to KL two Fridays ago. Took half day leave as my bus was the 2.30 p.m. one. I was expecting long queues at the immigration and expected the Singapore-KL journey to be delayed for at least two hours, but luckily I was wrong. There was practically no one at both sides of the immigration. Traffic on the highway was smooth as well.

Thus, I was arrived back in KL at half past five. Some of my friends who came back after work hours on Friday had to suffer 8-10 hours of traffic, both human and vehicular.

As soon as I reached KL, I had a craving for nasi lemak. Truth be told, there is no good nasi lemak in Singapore! I thought of Madam Kwan's in Midvalley, and thus my best friend and I were headed there.

As luck would have it, Madam Kwan's was closed. So was Oh Sushi! And so was Dragon-I. Hence we made our way to Little Penang Cafe instead.

After dinner, Nyk finally showed up and we headed to Coffee Bean for two more friends to show up.

We made some small chat and I was all over him.

The two appeared half an hour later and we sat there till the cows came home. Not really, we left about half past eleven as some of them had to work the next day.

New Year's eve was a no-no for going out. I stayed home the whole day and looked forward to the reunion dinner.

Reunion dinner dishes were a bit different to previous years. We had fish, roasted duck, some vegetables, ah chat and prawns. There wasn't soup or chicken this year.

Chu Yi (First day of CNY)
Nothing much happened. Nyk came over in the afternoon for a while to spend some time with me.

At night, went out for mamak with a friend who is flying off to Australia to fulfill his PR requirements. He is going be there for two years and his company would be missed.


Chu Erh (Second day of CNY)
Went back to my grandma's house, as is the custom for my family. We usually go back to my maternal grandma's house on the second day of CNY.

Luckily my younger cousin who is married didn't give me any ang paus (red packets with some money) this year. It so embarrassing to receive it from her when she did last year. Instead I gave some money to her children.

At night, I went out with some friends for dinner. I wasn't feeling so well; feeling hot and feverish. Went to yam cha at Wong Kok OUG. Came home and took some Milidon before falling asleep at 3 a.m.


Chu San (Third day of CNY)
Didn't go out either. YF (my ex) came to visit after FFK-ing the day before. I really wasn't in the mood to see him, but it turned out to be quite an enjoyable evening with him. He was telling me about his current boyfriend and how the boyfriend was freaking straight in all aspects. The strong silent type.

That was followed by a schoolmate dropping by and also Nyk. We took a can of beer each and went down to the pool side to chit chat. We had mandarin oranges and basically just had a good time talking till two o'clock.


Chu Shi (Fourth day of CNY)
Dinner plans at Itallianies at 9.30 p.m. But it was changed to Kuchai Lama food court instead, which was very near where I live.

As I would be starved to death at half past nine, Nyk and I had dinner at this vegetarian shop. I had been there before with another friend who is vegetarian and the food is quite good.

After that, we walked around a bit at a shopping place nearby to kill time and then proceeded to the food court. There were four others already there, Apollo and defiant, CK and his friend.

Talk, talk, talk, they went home as they had to work the next day. The two of us went to some mamak nearby to do more talking.


Chu Wu (Fifth day of CNY)
This was the most happening day for me. Went to visit my ex-babysitter at 1 p.m. Then I had to meet up with ex-colleagues in SS2. This was followed by a trip to Subang to visit the same group of ex-colleagues. Then two of them came to my house for a short visit as they drove me home.

At quarter past six, Nyk was waiting for me to go for dinner. My colleagues left at the same time. He and his wife were generous enough to give me 6 ang paus; five were for my other colleagues in Singapore.

We went to Xenri for dinner. The price is slightly on the high side but the food was good. The bill came to about a hundred and I said there and then that we should come only for the lunch buffet (forty ringgit per person).

Next stop was Bangsar Shopping Center where we watch the premier of Ah Steve.

I have never watched any of de Silva's work before and from what I heard, his works are quite good. Overall it was an enjoyable play, which was about an hour long and not 90 minutes as stated. Acting was commendable all around and Carol Wu as Ah Steve's sister was more outstanding than the rest.

I think it hit home more for Nyk than it did for me. A cocktail of Catholicism, Mother Mary, Chinese culture, transgenderism and a My Little Pony (does anyone still remember the cartoon?) and we have a heady mix of hilarious and spot on observations on the peculiarities of Malaysian culture and human behaviour.

After the show, we went to another group of school mate's house for a round of card-playing, which was followed by another mamak session.


Chu Liu (Sixth day of CNY)
Nothing eventful except for visiting a junior schoolmate's house. Time stated was 7 p.m. but I was the only one there from 7.30 till 9.

My friend's dad forced everyone who came to his house to finish a can of beer. If not, he would sit there and watch you till the guest do, no matter how long.

Scary right? LOL


Nyk came to pick me up at 10 p.m. and we spend a little us time before I go back to Singapore the next day.

And now I am back here, dreading tomorrow when tonnes of work beckons.

7 comments:

Ganymede said...

Ah dem it. I totally forgotten about Ah Steve...

Wanted to watch it. :(

Anonymous said...

Hmm... looks like Nyk is featuring more prominently in your life... or at least your blog ;) regardless, it's nice to have more close friends.

Gong Xi Fa Cai to you!

William said...

Oh... Ah Nyk. :P

thompsonboy said...

Aiya..Dragon I sucks...Crystal Jade is the best

Prince of Darkness said...

Man...I am still having CNY mood, and guess what today, we had a long lunch with my boss :) Haha still CNY mood :( Work progress is slow...

Well dude, Happy CNY :)

Spot said...

Nyk has wife???? Read and read Para 2 of Day 5 and still can't decide if I'm reading wrong.

Wow exciting! :)

Derek said...

Hi Spot

Er ... I meant my colleague and his wife. Nyk definitely does not have a wife! LOL