The weeks have become somewhat of a routine rather quickly.
Human beings like routines. Tend to get lost without them.

6.00am - Wake up

7.20am - Meet at the lobby

7.25am - Drive to office. Wisecracking along the way. To break the monotony of wisecracking, I would try to raise issues that I've come across in the news, or ask personal questions in an attempt to get to know the boys better.

7.50am - Arrive at office + set up lap top

7.55am - Check emails

8.00am+ - Short briefing on to-dos for the day + more wisecracking


I like this picture. It tells a rather accurate story.


Sometimes we get bored and doodle during discussions.


11.40am - "Where are we going for lunch?"
Up till last week, there has been only 2 options, i.e. DFO or Get Grilled. Then, we discovered Ascot (which turned out to be on the way to work anyway =_=)

11.50am - Get into the car, punch the address into the GPS, and head for lunch.


1.00pm - Back from lunch + short briefing before starting work again.

5.00pm+ - Start packing and head home. On the way home, more wisecracking.

Late 5.00pm - While walking from car to lobby, we would agree on when to meet for dinner. Usually #4 would prefer to have a jog or something... We would meet later say 6.30pm/7.00pm for dinner.

6.00pm - I would be in the room. Checking the Cambridge clock. Oh... Too early... 'Good Fren' is not up yet. I'd then put the laundry in the washing machine. Sometimes, take a shower, put the damp laundry in the dryer, before meeting them at the lobby.

7.00pm - Meet at lobby and walk to dinner location.

The default dinner location is called the Beach House where it's self-served food and beer with naturally ventilated seating and live acoustic guitar and some singing.


One evening, we managed to make it to Redcliffe for some fresh seafood at Morgans. It was a really long drive. Like going to JB for seafood.


8.30pm - Dinner is over. Either go buy groceries or go back to apartment directly.

8.45pm - Chat with 'Good Fren' online before passing out... I've been trying to finish reading Roald Dahl's "Tales of the Unexpected", but I usually cannot make it past 1 story per night.

As much as we try to make our life here in Brisbane a routine, surprises kept springing up. There were 3 special events last week.

SPECIAL EVENT (I)

On Monday, #2 and I went to the trade show where we saw all sorts of stuff related to the gaming industry.



SPECIAL EVENT (II)

We had 2 back-to-back SKYPE calls on Friday morning. The first with our client who's away, and the second with our mentor who's in Vancouver. We ran through our work so far and the feedback was tremendous. After getting some external perspectives on our work, the team felt reassured. We still cannot believe that our mentor will be coming to Brisbane for the final presentation. I felt a strange sense of familiarity when I heard his accent on SKYPE.

SPECIAL EVENT (III)

And most surreally, on Friday night, we met our classmate, Scott, on a bar round the corner from the serviced apartment. It was even more surreal then hearing our mentor's accent on SKYPE.

Ok, Scott is an Australian who is currently residing in the UK. His parents and our client's folks are good pals. And Scott told our client about the Global Consulting Project. So when our client agreed to sponsor a project, we got into the picture.

Last Friday, we met Scott at Port Office Hotel, and noticed he had 2 reddish bruises just above the space between his eyebrows. He then told us, while looking at me, that he was in Singapore for the transit when he decided to get a haircut at the transit hotel. Along with the haircut was a head and neck massage. The middle-age auntie apparently got over-zealous during the head massage and left those 2 red marks on his face. He was to attend his sister's wedding in a couple of days. =_=

After the drinks with Scott, we left to seek dinner by walking around the tiny city centre once again.

The main shopping street, i.e. Queens Street Mall, was buzzing with lively activities.


We walked and walked and walked... Even lost one member along the way.

In terms of distance, we must have covered miles, but in terms of displacement, it's probably like 2 inches or something.

Finally, we gave in and settled for a little joint which we walked past earlier.


After dinner, the boys were energised and opted for a showdown at Timeout. This is our 3rd time there.


Somehow we ended up in #5's room for chocolates. I couldn't figure out why on the way, because the team tends to mumble alot.

Upon entering his room, #5 started to tear open a box and revealed this bouquet of roche, chocoloate strawberries, lindt (#3 got very excited coz he is Swiss) etc. We even bought a bottle of champagne to wash it all down. (Which reminds me... Who paid for the champagne? I owe someone money...)

So... Allow me to explain the situation... #5's chick is currently also reading her MBA... But at some other school which I shan't name... Apparently, these 2 young people often send each other flowers and stuff... So this time round, she sent him a bouquet of chocolates/strawberries.

I felt a little weird consuming stuff from his chick though. As I ate the strawberry chocs, I could almost hear the thing say,"This love is not yours!" O_0
Dun ask so much... Just enjoy...

After some time, #2 passed out on the sofa... intoxicated by all that love in the chocs and strawberries... That's when #5 and #3 started to 'attack' #2 with the iron and whatever else they could get their hands on.


Here we witness #2 getting up from his coma.

At that point, I was all ready to go to bed. What's more... It was raining cats and dogs!! But the little boys just wouldn't give up... Just then... #4 called to ask if we were going back to the Port Office Hotel... and we did... =_=

I was so tired... But I went along...

Because I saw that the boys were gunning for a big night, I generously offered them a Tequila Pop each. No one at the Port Office Hotel, including the 4 boys in the team, Scott, his high school friend and the bar tender had any clue what a Tequila Pop was. HUH?? Is it a Singaporean thing then?? How do people party WITHOUT Tequila Pops??

Well... That wasn't gonna stop me. I got the bartender to make 7 of them and gave a demonstration how to consume it. After that, #4 declared that if anyone was to buy him a shot, he would pour it on the floor. #2 was threatening to convulse as he has had bad encounters with it. So... Apparently... Tequila Pops are not too popular...

Anyway... We finally got our act together (group decisions are tough) and started walking out of the Port Office Hotel to make it down the streets. The clubs are only 2 streets away.

That's when it started to rain... SERIOUSLY...
Like biiiiiisssshhhhhhhh... RAIN!

We were stuck between the clubs and the serviced apartment. We would get drenched either way. There is only one way to describe that feeling... KNN...

In the end, the younger boys made a run for it... And one of them slipped and fell... #2 and I watched from across the junction with opened mouths... then waited for 3 more changes of traffic lights before we dashed across the street.
No meaning... I still can't believe I was doing that at my age... It must be peer pressure.

Finally, we made it into this club... I can't even remember its name... It has a huge karaoke lounge on the ground floor and a dance for upstairs... The tiny space reminded me of Madam Wong's back in my uni days. The crowd is rather Madam Wong's-like too... Just replace the Ah Bengs and Ah Bengs with Angmoh Bengs and Lians... with a sprinkling of Asian faces.

Since I was there... I might as well dance... in the only way I know how to... aka... the Ah Lian Zoukette way... I think it shocked the boys a little bit coz they were still talking about it the next day. They even 'analysed' me and decided that I would love to go out for parties, but something was 'holding me back'... Yeah... In short... That something is called AGING... In long... It's a long story which the younger ones would hardly begin to understand till they get older.