A Fine Weekend

Woohoo, what a weekend it has been. Saturday started out alright. After a quiet morning, I went shopping with mum and sis. We went to Orchard Road first. Lunch was at Pepper Lunch. It was nice but I don't fancy cooking my own steak at the table. I don't mind teppanyaki but a sizzling hot plate with a raw steak on it isn't my idea of fine dining. After lunch, we went to Tangs to look around. We didn't buy anything but it was nice anyway. Then we went to Lucky Plaza to cash two moneygrams that our relatives in England sent us.

As I had some Robinsons vouchers, we went to Raffles City. Mum and sis liked Robinsons. As for me, I didn't see anything there that I would buy so I walked around Raffles City. There was a wine fair going on but as I was driving, I decided not to taste the wine samples that were on offer. Raffles City is a nice place, but I seem to have outgrown it somewhat. Or maybe it's just not fun when you can't buy anything. Oh well. Mum and sis bought shoes with my vouchers. I have $100 of the vouchers left but I don't know what to use it for. Hmm.

After shopping, we came back west to Clementi for dinner. We went to a coffee shop for dinner which was chilli crab, sweet and sour pork, hot plate beancurd, and blanched spinach. I love chilli crab. In fact, I love eating crab. However, I should offer a word of caution. If you ever eat crab at the same table as me, do not sit immediately to my left. On one such occasion, I was trying to tear a crab claw apart. I succeeded in doing so, but my left hand seemed to contribute more power into the process. What happened next? The piece of crab in my left hand left my hand, propelled by the force generated by my arm. The piece of crab hit my friend's face!

Anyway, dinner was great. A nice quiet evening was followed by a good night's rest.

The next day, I went to the 7:30 service. Our church has a new pastor and she gave the sermon. It was alright in my opinion, but I will wait till she gives a text based sermon before I make any conclusions. No Sunday School classes in my department as we were having Youth Sunday. I decided to go to the Thai office to compile the petty cash statement for August. Anyway, once that was done, Brenda came by (she and I authorise the Thai office's expense requests). Together with Jaey, we went over the budget for 2007 then Brenda and I signed all the relevant expense vouchers.

After that, Sylvester came to me with his usual pool challenge. But first, when I walked out of the Thai office and approached the English office entrance, Jasmine came by and said hello. I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten to do something. I had forgotten to write her birthday card which I had got for her. So I asked her if she would be around for about ten more minutes. She asked why, and I told her about the card. She laughed and said "sure". Anyway I wrote up the card and gave it to her before leaving for pool. A funny thing about the card I bought. When I brought it to the cashier for payment, she looked at me and said, "Do you know what this card costs?". I was taken aback at her suggestion that I couldn't pay for the card as I had checked the price and decided it was worth paying before taking it to the cashier.

Anyway, just before I left for pool, Jasmine passed me a thank-you card. You see, Jasmine writes thank-you cards to the people who contribute to the birthday present that is organised for her. That's a classy thing to do. As I walked out of the office, I took a look at the card. After glancing through its contents, I rushed back into the office and said to Jasmine, "Are you psychic?!" It turned out that what she had written on the card she gave me was very similar to what I had written in the card I gave to her. Gee.

Pool was alright. My stroke hasn't been too good lately but I managed to win 5-3 after an indifferent performance. Nat came by later and I played a series of 9-ball with him, struggling again to a 3-2 win. After that, Nat accompanied me to Gallen sports where I wanted to buy a pair of soccer socks. At first, I could only see Grand Sport socks which are made in Thailand. They were selling for $7.25. However, the product label which was in Thai said its price was 75 baht which is just about S$3!! In the end, I found a Lotto pair which cost me $7.90. Haha.

The socks were meant for a soccer match that I was playing in that afternoon. I was going to play for my church's soccer team against a team from another church. I was tasked with leading the defenders in protecting the goal. That meant I had to coordinate the backline with the offside trap and make sure we kept our shape. The match went quite well, our team winning 3-1. That was a good result as we had never really practiced as a team before this match. An added bonus, I managed to play without having to make a tackle. I managed to keep from playing physically to. Above all, I didn't get upset even when I was pushed in the back.

After that, I went back to church for English class and dinner. Dinner was a little too spicy for me but I ate what I could. After dinner, Brenda and I helped to clear up. Brenda was waiting for Joan to come from the birthday party of a friend's daughter. Anyway, Joan couldn't quite extricate herself from the party so Brenda and I ended up in conversation, which was mostly funny with a little seriousness.

Joan finally comes at 9, and somehow, instead of going home, we find ourselves on the way to Orchard Road for supper! A little while later, we are walking from a car park in Orchard Road towards Youth Park Kopitiam. Supper is satay, chye tow kuey, and or luak. But better than the food was the fellowship the three of us had. I can't remember the last time I had such fun. Actually I can, it was the last time the three of us had a meal together. Haha.

After an enjoyable supper, it's time to go back - 11:15pm! By the time I get home, I'm absolutely ready for bed.

I know there won't be many weekends like this one so I will remember this for a long time!