Anthony's stag event begins with a round of paintball!


Slim as she is, Cheryl just can't find a way to slip through the grille.


Invincible Vince, victor of the last-man-standing challenge.

Early morning paintball began in dreary weather. A light rain kept things cool for us as we got to grips with a game requiring some of "us" to shoot at and kill some of "them" Some adapted faster than others, though our initial game was still a tentative affair. Objective: pop the opponents' balloon while guarding ours at the same time. Lesson 1: camping is no fun. Anthony made a very daring run and came very close to popping my team's balloon but he had no support and he was driven off in the nick of time. My team learned and through an overlapping maneuvre won the game.

A speeding Edward won the second game for Anthony's team. We had barely begun the game -- I was still fiddling with my safety switch -- when it was all over. Lesson 2: speed has the advantage over inaccurate firepower.

We also played a couple of other variations including one where it was Anthony vs the rest of the world, in honour that it was his special day.

Biggest lesson: we wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes in a real war. It took a lot out of us just trying to move and keep low at the same time. Very quickly our legs cramped up and our knees protested. So much for visualizing leaping over crates, rolling in a tuck somersault and catching the enemy off-guard and in shock. Visualize all you want, our bodies just wouldn't respond to such ludicrous commands. After an hour, though our hearts were still in the game, our bodies finally quit. Time to hit the beach.

Paintball practically drained our energy for pretty much the rest of the day. We settled at Club Bora Bora on Sentosa and sat around for a while staring blankly into space. Then we remembered we were here to play so we had something of a chuck-the-frisbee-around session. It was here that I was running after a bad throw and I tripped on a granite rock that someone had thoughtlessly left lying around on the beach. The skin on my big toe opened up in 2 places and started bleeding quite impressively. The lifeguard on duty did a good job of mummyfing my toe so I could go back to playing with the guys. Anthony got dunked into the lagoon chasing another bad throw then realized that his new mobile phone was still in his pocket. It got wet, it refused to function, so that was the end of our frisbee toss.

We had a pool (billiards, not swimming) challenge and insisted that Anthony had to win 3 games in a row because "it was his special day." He won 4 games in a row, and I don't think anyone made it easy for him either. Me, I discovered I could probably play a decent round of pool, though I could use a lot more practice.

We went to dinner at Hooters where the service staff are supposed to be the main attraction. Indeed, they were friendly and attentive and, I guess, cute too -- though I didn't notice any that were of knockout calibre, like those whose photos adorn the "wall of honour" in the toilet. I appreciate the service and the food was pretty good too. American-sized portions, tasty and very satisfying.

While the rest of the party was busy playing "The 12 Tasks of Anthony" involving him answering a series of questions of a personal nature, and also requiring him to make impertinent requests of strangers, June and I decided that our geriatric bodies needed rest. So we left the party while Anthony was still pondering how he could get a female stranger to reveal to him what kind of underwear she was wearing.