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Guess I won't be giving up my day job anytime soon!

Went gallivanting around the Queensway area with Amy and Anthony in the Swift. NBS, who was probably tired of Anthony pelting her with Amy's plushies, abandoned us after lunch for the ice rink. We were looking for the fishing pond apparently behind the McD's at Ridout Tea Garden but instead found ourselves at the Queens Townclub Driving Range, just around the corner from the remand prison. Interestingly enough, this location has a couple of quaint outdoor pubs, the Waikiki Spa, and a Chinese tea shop (fronted with a dramatic statue of a highly inspired T'ang poet) which, upon inquiry, informed us that the fishing pond had ceased operations long ago. Bah!

Plan B was to visit the Island Creamery in Serene Centre and sample their frozen desserts. There was an odd combination of flavours on offer today: soursop(?), Tiger sorbet, teh tarik, cookies & cream, reversO (cookies & chocolate, not vanilla cream), burnt caramel (my choice), and a few others I don't remember. The draw is that the ice cream is made on-site, the flavours are mostly local and authentic (Amy's teh tarik did really taste like teh tarik, right down to the bitter tea aftertaste), and they patiently offer generous samples to the fickle-minded.

In the evening, June, Q-tip and I were lucky enough to find the original Jerry's of Jalan Kayu. Thanks to Amy's excellent over-the-phone directions, we wound our way through Seletar Airbase to meet her and her friend, Michelle, for a light dinner, though we hadn't planned a meeting.

The place is now called Sunset Grill & Pub and is located somewhere near East Camp. The drive is along a stretch of narrow, winding, unlighted road (high-beams and fog-lights time!) leading towards the runway where we can actually watch planes taking-off while we eat. Cool.

The buffalo wings were crispy and the chilli flavour penetrated all the way into the white meat, making it hot through and through. And this was only "Level 1" hot. My half-dozen NZ mussels were wonderfully fresh, and almost completely covered with garlic and sliced onions. And white-wine sauce. Excellent. Dunno about June's fish 'n chips but because she removes the skin from anything she eats, the staff advised her to order the already skinned pan-fried fish instead next time.

Just getting there was already an adventure. Considering the menu, the service, and how dog-friendly it is, the trip was certainly worthwhile.

And below are another few pix of World Animal Day, this time from JY's cam. Keep scrolling down if you aren't tired of doggie pix yet!


Out in the sunshine.


We look like volunteers or staff at this event . Heh.


JY prepares to pounce on an unsuspecting retriever with a devastating hug attack!


Corgis at play.


JY lets Q-tip win the longest tongue contest.

Today begins with M2 being blocked in the parking lot by this truck. June locates the driver, who is busy with his coffee. "Horn and I'll come and move my truck, lah," he says. Obviously, we understand different forms of social etiquette.


Plain water or berry smoothie? Decisions, decisions.


Fur is such a faux pas at the beach.


Way overdressed for the beach. People who stopped to pet Q-tip ask us if we are locals. Doi.


This cute little doggie loves playing "fetch" with her tennis-ball-on-a-rope.

One of my PW groups arranged to meet me for an OP rehearsal, but didn't show up at the appointed time. No word from the group to postpone or cancel, so maybe they forgot? Fortunately, there were other duties to perform on campus today, so I kept myself busy and made quite a productive day anyway.

Bowling training as usual in the evening with Vince and Amy. I did good tonight, posting a 5-game average of 158. My highest score was 195, a bit low for a Clean Game, but what more can you expect if you can't string strikes together? I had one awful game though, a paltry 124; but Amy just had to record her latest personal high, 150, beating both me and Vince soundly in that game.

Had dinner at Founder's Bak Kut Teh (the signboard on the side of the building says, "Bar Ku The Founder,") on Balestier. The walls are plastered over with blown-up pix of celebrities posing with the unsmiling Founder himself, who scarily looks a little like June's dad.

The pork bones are meaty and chunky; the soup is well-peppered, giving the stomach a warm feeling going down. Their xian cai (salted veg) is prepared with lots of garlic and is slightly sweet as well. Even their home-made barley water is sweet and cold, very refreshing. Will definitely go back again with June when we get the chance.

Oh, and as a service to Vince that he'll probably appreciate, let it be recorded herein that he, Vince, got to drive the Swift before Anthony. He drove us back from Founder's to collect our cars at the CSC. Thank you.

Amy sent me her photos from yesterday, so I'll just upload a couple of her best shots below:

Q-tip prepares for a lengthy modelling session.


JY warms up with Q-tip. She'll go find a golden retreiver to hug next.


"Are we going to walk some more, or are we just gonna stand here and take pictures all day?"


"We are not impressed." Q-tip is such a diva.

And before I forget, Happy Halloween, everyone!

Am kicking myself for forgetting my digi-cam this morning. We woke up late and in the rush to deliver breakfast to Sunday service I left it lying on my desk. Doh.

We had Q-tip with us, so not really knowing our church's policy of having dogs in service with people, we did the prudent thing and deposited our sandwiches in the breakfast area, then took Q-tip out for our breakfast elsewhere. We tried our luck at the Cartel, Raffles City, and were indeed welcomed as long as we sat outside on the sidewalk, in the furthest corner possible from the outlet's doors. We had a decent continental-style breakfast and a free-flow of tea and coffee. Despite it looking like a blazing hot day, the corner we sat in was unexpectedly breezy and cool. Wonder if it's like that all the time?

Q-tip came with us to celebrate World Animal Day at Bishan Park -- our weekend hangout these days, it seems like. Which is why I missed having my digi-cam. So many photo-ops of dogs and their owners (well, mainly dogs), and nothing to show for it. Grrr. But Amy and JY both brought their cams and were happily snapping away at every cute canine walking by. JY promised to pass her shots to me later this week, so maybe a delayed upload in these pages over the next couple of days.

Knowing how fearful JY is of dogs, it was amazing how happy she was, getting up close and personal with some of the larger retrievers. I never pegged Amy as a dog person either, but she seemed pretty comfortable ambling amongst the crowd of 4-legged friends. June was, of course, right at home flitting from booth to booth, animal to animal, looking for causes to support or dogs to pet respectively.

Broke for lunch at... the Cartel again, this time in nearby Gardens. Guess if Q-tip gets accepted at one Cartel, she'll get accepted at another too, under the same conditions. Amy split after lunch and JY followed us back to Bishan for more 'blading practice. While she's practicing moving forward, I'm practicing moving backwards and I'm quite happy that today I managed to actually move backwards with intent, at least for a couple of steps. That's better than before when I couldn't move at all.

Meantime, June was persuaded to sign Q-tip up for the "slow dog" race, top prize going to the last dog to cross the finish-line. Q-tip was the fastest to finish, which meant she lost big time, but the sponsors were generous and gave spa vouchers (for human beings) as consolation prizes.

'blading over, JY and I rejoined June at the event tentage. They both got me to sign up for a 'poetry for strays' contest. So I penned quite a depressing few lines echoing a dogcatcher's thoughts while on-the-job. The judges thought it was quite good (we talked to them) but because the objective was to encourage people to adopt strays, my poem was so depressing it got disqualified. Oh, well.

It turns out the organizers were current student-teachers undergoing "service-learning," their version of CIP. Despite their anxiety that the programme wasn't turning out well, I'd say that considering that so many people and their pets showed up; that there was a brisk trade going on amongst the booths in the tentage; and that everyone and their pets enjoyed themselves under the trees and basically said, "hello," to each other, the event was quite a success. Well done, future teachers!

Day began with June waking up earlier than me, an unprecedented event on Saturday morning. She did a little marketing then returned to awaken me for breakfast. Chong Pang market for chui kueh, yu tiao and tau huay on a brekkie delivery run to the Wongs in Sembawang.

We rushed back home to get Q-tip bathed, then back off to Bishan Park for more 'blading. Meantime, I'm coordinating orders for a KFC take-out which Amy picked up for us on her way over. By the time June, Q-tip and I arrived, Vince and NBS had already done quite some exploring of the park on their rented in-lines. JY joined us soon after and we all had a picnic under the trees when Amy pulled in with our lunch orders.

After another hour or so in the rink, we broke up the party and took Q-tip home to get her ready for tonight.

Robertson Walk threw a "Halloween with a Howl" event in which pet owners could bring their pets and dress in costume for prizes.


Q-tip went as a fairy dogmother. Haha.


But in order to participate in the festivities, we had to spend some money at any of the F&B places there. We chose Bistro Cameleon where the tuna sashimi salad (above) was deliciously fresh, the tuna so smooth, and the garlic chips were surprisingly addictive.


My order was the hot-plate beef (again served with those yummy garlic chips). The beef was tender, juicy and had streaks of cow fat, so it tasted really good. Have to remember not to soak the beef too long in shoyu. It doesn't need to be that salty. Cameleon's menu prices don't seem too expensive for individual items, but it all adds up if you lose control and order whatever the staff recommend.


The coupon booklet entitled Q-tip to a free pedicure (above), us to free ice-cream, and some discounts on other stuff we bought for her, like food and fashion accessories. Blush.

But when the festivities ended, we were such lucky sods. We walked away with the 3rd prize in the Grand Lucky Draw, thanks to No. 0040 who didn't collect the prize she won, thus causing the re-draw that our ticket won. $100 worth of Centrepoint vouchers, though only redeemable at Robertson Walk. Good enough! Food and drink. What better way is there to spend unearned money?

This is Amy's car as at 0709hrs. A dark green Echo. The interior has lots of nooks and crannies to fill up with all sorts of her plushies.

This is my CT for this year. Congrats on your promo results. It's great you're all staying together next year! Keep up the good work, 'k?

And as of 1620hrs today, Echo got traded-in for Amy's new car: a pearl-white Swift. Hardly any space for plushies, except for a cubby hole in the front dash. It's now being occupied by a duck and a baby seal jostling for elbow-room with a blue hippo. Good luck!

Too bad Anthony isn't around to see the car-shopping process we started through to completion. But he's off to Japan so he's probably got the better end of the deal.

Since we're on the subject of halloween, this news item is just sad. click.

Just realized that Halloween is around the corner and for the first time in 4 years, I haven't made any plans for it. When I first proposed the idea in 2001 to the college I had a great team of librarians (led by ZL who was heart 'n soul of the inaugural fete) whose ingenuity and passion overcame our meagre resources and made it a truly memorable event, for me at least. 2002 we had a 'live' band jam session and a movie screening, 2003 a bhangra-themed event (although I suspect the bhangra music was more accidental than planned). And 2004, despite the valiant efforts of the Drama Club, and a few other CCAs, that was all she wrote for our post-exam celebration. Doubt it'll ever be revived again, and suddenly I'm in mourning.

Times have certainly changed. In these last couple of years, the JC1 cohort lost the post-exam period. That's because immediately after the promo exams were over, they all had to face a real Cambridge exam -- PW. And a lot of importance has been attached to this new subject, too. It amounts to 10% of local uni admission criteria and as such it's not to be trifled with. Kids are all so busy preparing for the exam after the exam there's no time to celebrate the end of their first year in college. As of last year, we threw a party, but hardly anyone came. This year, no one can be bothered any more.

What's ironic is that before PW became serious the kids were informally working on a real project that actually had to come to fruition -- they had to pull it off for real. They were already collaborating with one another, and even across disciplines by involving talents and skills from a variety of CCA groups who were willing to pitch in mostly for the fun of it (ok, maybe I'm romanticizing a little here). They had to plan schedules and activities, organize logistics, mobilize human and economic resources, and be ingenious in creating something out of very little. There was an actual purpose behind the Halloween Project. It was entertaining, it was student-led and run, it was creative, it was compassionate (proceeds went to charity), and there was potential for community outreach as well, given time.

Wait. Did I say Halloween is dead because of PW? Maybe not. It'll take a brave PW supervisor to mobilize a CT's worth (or two) of project groups to make Halloween the focus of their group projects. Each group could focus on different aspects of organizing the festival, after all according to the Ministry, the project task -- regardless of how the question words it -- is flexible enough to accommodate any proposal the kids wish to put up.

Halloween might be the perfect project focus because of its timing in the PW cycle. All the plans have to be laid down, carried out and documented in the groups' Written Reports; following which there are a few days left before Halloween to get the logistics and publicity together; there can be one huge bash involving the entire college and maybe the community outside as well; and everything ends just in time for the groups to report on their involvement during the Oral Presentation.

But like I said... that's gotta be a brave PW supervisor, or a pretty smart one, anyway. He or she will have to run by his or her own schedule, not necessarily in keeping with the college's schedule but still abiding by Cambridge's. Not easy. Anyone wants to revive Halloween, next year's JC1 tutors?

I hadn't anticipated it, but it's turned into another mad week. PW rehearsals seem to be going ok. The kids are taking this last stretch of the PW cycle seriously, maybe because most of their hard work is done already. Now it's time for the assessors to get into full gear rehearsing, assessing, commenting, calibrating and recalibrating our standards so as to be as fair as possible to all students in the final assessment exercise.

It's going to be like this for the rest of the week, plus a few other duties and details to take care of as well.

Am lookin' forward to the weekend already...

Since Anthony visited Blue Jaz a couple of weeks ago, he's been highly recommending the place to us. Today we got our chance to see it for ourselves. It's located on the corner of Ophir and Beach Roads, parking is anywhere in the Arab Street area -- it just takes patience and just a little luck, especially around lunchtime.

We sat in the outdoor area under a large canopy. It happened to be breezy and cool at the time, so outdoors was a good choice. No set lunch today, but today's special was the sirloin steak. It was quite a large chunk, quite thick and reasonably tender. On the side were a handful of crispy home fries and a stir-fry of zucchini and carrot. I ordered my steak rare but it came medium instead -- pink inside, not bloody. Kitchens tend to be rather conservative around here, I guess. Price-wise, for my steak and fresh lime juice: roughly $11.50. Not bad, indeed.

It rained for a spell during lunch, but the canopy held up well and we didn't even get splashed. But the one important thing I found out about this place is that it probably is pet-friendly, as long as we sit outside. "Probably," because the wait staff said, "yes," but her face looked doubtful. Q-tip will have to take her chances if we bring her next time.

Amy and NBS abandoned us after lunch, not at all interested in our after lunch activity: to drive over to Weng's and use his PS2 for the rest of the afternoon. Male bonding time, then, over Pringles, Tai Sun garlic flavoured peanuts, coffee and Konami's "Winning Eleven 8." At this game, Vince and Anthony make a pretty good team. Weng and I are still barely getting used to the controls. Silly afternoon. Wheeee!

We introduced Q-tip to JY today. Q-tip seems to be the perfect advertisement for owning a pet because she has such a good public face. She's quiet, unexciteable, fluffy and allows strangers to pet her. No biting, no barking; sometimes it seems she isn't even a real dog at all but a toy -- a bicycle with training wheels on. Hee.

But because we had a dog in tow, we had to lunch at dog-friendly Acacia rather than at J8, our original plan. No regrets, though. Acacia serves up very generous portions of presentable food, particularly from the a la carte menu. No set lunch on weekends.

My fettuccini with mushrooms and ham was such a delight. The pasta was bouncy and the cream sauce was light and tasty. There was an assortment of mushrooms and small chunks, rather than slivers, of ham. Each mouthful had a satisfying bite to it, and it all went down easily without the feeling that it was too heavy a meal.

Amy's orange duck looked gorgeous: the drumstick lashed with an attractive orangey-red gravy and resting on a mound of mashed potatoes. JY ordered a wild mushroom salad. She went wild over the sauteed mushrooms but couldn't finish her salad. But June's fish 'n chips came in such a huge platter that even with us picking from her plate, there were still quite some chips and June's 2nd chunk of fish remaining at the end of our meal. We were sorry to see it wasted, but there was no help for it. Where's NBS when we need her?

Amy was tired out from last night's nuptial duties (er... coordinating the festivities, not what it sounds like) so no bike for her. June kept her company in the shade but JY and I hit the rink again after lunch. Yay! After 3 sessions, JY is off the railing and is gliding on her own. She still takes tumbles every now and then but she's learned to fall without hurting herself, and she can stand up again without assistance. She's moving with much more confidence and all that's left, as I told her, is to work on looking like she was enjoying herself. Q: can JY rollerblade now? A: She's passed basic theory. More learning needed, but congrats for making it this far.

Next step: to do the stuff the inline hockey guys were training to do. Hur hur.

Things to drool over in anticipation:

Doom (opening 3 November in Singapore though it's already screening in the US).
Quake 4 (released 18 October)
New graphics card so that I can play Quake 4 (my current Radeon 9800 Pro has tragically crapped out on me, rmb? Well, maybe I should bring it back to the dealer 1st to see if they can help, though my warranty has probably expired by now.)

Time to bring the year to a vicariously violent end! Heh heh!

I started the day feeling anxious about M2, though initially I couldn't think why I should be. Then I remembered my dream from last night. I was driving along a busy road when the lights changed. A truck stopped in front of me and I did the same. Except that my leg went weak and couldn't step on the brake hard enough. M2's front coasted into the truck's rear fender and I could only watch as my hood crumpled inwards in slow motion. I remember being upset at the damage in my dream -- the huge dent and exposed wiring dangling out of it -- but when I woke up I had temporarily forgotten everything.

The nasty scratch M2 sustained for real yesterday morning must have been more upsetting to me than I thought. My parking lot at home faces a row of market stalls that take delivery of supplies early in the morning. For their convenience, delivery trucks double park leaving a narrow gap for legally parked cars to squeeze out of. Yesterday, I found myself squeezed too tightly and as I was maneuvering out of my lot I grazed against my (legally-parked) neighbour's fender and got stuck. My neighbour was a beat-up looking pickup BTW so no harm done to it.

I had to wait until 2 delivery trucks moved out of my way while in the meantime being verbally pressured by the uncle who owns the orange March to get out of his way 'cos he was late for work [like I wasn't?]. When the uncle exhausted his patience he resorted to hand signals (no, not the impolite ones) to guide me out of my predicament, but the damage was already done. M2 has a lovely scratch along the rear-left passenger door and a long indentation where the pickup's fender had made contact with him. Fiddlesticks.

Poor M2. He's beginning to look like a bumper car!

"The 40 Year-Old Virgin" is a laugh-aloud take on how difficult the human mating ritual can be. A couple of memorably unpleasant experiences with the opposite sex causes Andy to withdraw contact from womenfolk, until his misguided but well-meaning colleagues discover his "condition." Observing how reserved Andy is with people, they enthusiastically share their individual and collective "wisdom" with him while pushing him in the path of different women, anxious to make a man out of him.

The trouble with Andy is that he's locked himself into permanent boyhood. He surrounds himself with "collectible" toys, cycles to work ("bicycles are for 6 year-olds!"), and is reluctant to take on more responsible roles in his workplace, especially if such roles entail meeting and talking to people, including eligible women.

The trouble with his friends is that while they're sexually experienced, they prioritize sex over their relationships. Hence, they themselves have difficulty holding on to their mates over the long-term, which tears them up inside.

I love the portrayal of comradeship amongst co-workers in this movie. They may initially appear intimidatingly full of male bravado and enjoy somewhat perverted activities, but below the surface they are nice guys at heart and really do look out for each other. Though their initial intention is to have a lark at Andy's expense, his colleagues prove to be a strong support group that keeps him encouraged and motivated in his quest for a mate. And it's all not just focused on Andy either; the guys also help each other out in times of personal crisis. Ya gotta' have friends amongst your colleagues. It gets sad and lonely otherwise.

Thanks to his friends, Andy, the 40 year-old man-boy learns to grow up and put away his childish things. When he does, a whole new world of adventure in adult relationships opens up for him. He may be a late bloomer, but better late than never.

Tag-teamed today's essay review lecture with Avril using the material I uploaded in the previous post. I went on talking as usual, leaving Avril with about half the time she had been allocated to cover her section. Good thing she doesn't panic easily. Hope the audience got the answers they were looking for, though I also hope we didn't scare them too badly seeing as how high our expectations were of their essays. Oh well, pitch 'em high so they'll reach higher next time.

Had a late lunch with a slightly different crowd. There were Vince, Josh, Joanna and Baggy, all sharing Indian Rojak and prata variants at Rosyth. The place is under new management and the pratas are slightly bigger, firmer and chewier. Nice.

Joanna and Baggy both had thosai. Joanna's looked like it had an unfortunate accident. Instead of the long roll it's supposed to be, it had collapsed into itself and lay on its tray flattened and full of shards. Baggy's came out looking OK so it had probably won the Thosai Rumble in the kitchen. Josh couldn't get enough of the chutney dip the thosai came with -- maybe he'll get his own one day.

Nice, quiet evening with June at home. Watched another couple more episodes of 'Lost,' and later 'CSI:Miami' on AXN. And another 2 PW Written Reports to look at before bed, so maybe I should get back to work.

I've been tasked with drafting a couple of essay outlines from the GP promo paper for the review lecture tomorrow. I just finished one and already the outline is longer than the minimum word limit for the paper. I wonder, then, if my expectations for the kids are unrealistic when I'm marking their papers? The question reads: "How important is censorship in today's world?" If you're interested, check it out.

Do 16-17 year-olds think like this?

Not much happenin' today. We're down to the final consultations for the PW groups about their written reports, though the time is so short till Friday's deadline. Somehow, after seeing only 3 groups today, I have to squeeze in time to see my 8 other groups by -- OMG -- tomorrow! Else there won't be enough time for the groups to make my final comments worth anything. I have another 3 confirmed appointments for tomorrow, but the remaining 5 groups... better see them 1st thing tomorrow and find out when they're available to talk.

JC1s are freakin' out. They got back their promo papers this afternoon, and now they're worrying if they've done well enough to be promoted next year. I'm familiar with this feeling. Every year I spent in secondary school there'd be a couple of weeks like this one. Only for me, there really was a chance that I wouldn't make it. Such a terrible student I was then. Thankfully, that period is just a memory now, only occasionally resurrecting itself in a nightmare or some other manifestation of Post-Traumatic Exam Stress Disorder.

Not much else to report. Threw another few crappy games on the SAFRA lanes, then stopped by Jalan Kayu for supper. Mmmm... prata.

Rain, rain, go away...

Stuck at home pretty much all day, no thanks to our capricious weather. Well, we did give Q-tip an outing to West Coast Park's McD's, just in time for breakfast. Must remember that June wants Egg McMuffin, not Sausage McMuffin with Cheese and not order wrongly again (repeat 100 times).

This side of the park is a kid's paradise of things to climb, dangle and swing from. The park was just crawling with hordes of little ones, parents in tow. And dogs tend to be in the tiniest minority. June has the idea of bringing the nephews here at the next opportunity. Guess it will be fun for them, and a good excuse for me to test out the facilities for "safety" reasons. Heh.

But the dark clouds gathered very quickly, so immediately after our hot beverage, we left off our recce of the area before the South China Sea got dumped on our heads.

Back home I checked my correspondence with my contemporaries from the Class of '81. They held an informal meeting last Friday evening. It was the first time in years that they had seen each other. Judging by the 3rd person perspective, obviously I wasn't there, already too tired from the college Open House. Let's see if the lo-res pix they uploaded into our Yahoo! group can be seen at all here:

Hmm... just enough to be unrecognizable. It'll do. I only remember 3 of these good ol' boys: Alex (standing 2nd from left), my best friend in Sec 1-2; "Cherry-ann" George (standing 2nd from right), political commentator and the guy I blame for the permanent scar on my right shin in a soccer-related incident; and Mark (seated extreme right) whom Alex and I used to bully all those long years ago.

The others, well, either I have no memory of, or I never really had any contact with them at all 'cos I was never put in the smart classes :P

Don't they all look like responsible, prosperous chaps with families and important careers? And I have to wonder, what the heck have I done with my own life?

Reading through the forum messages, I noticed the guys were also discussing those of us who didn't make it to 40 years old. I hadn't realized that there were quite a number of us already deceased. Accidents, automotive and industrial; disease; and suicide have already taken some of us along the way, leaving the rest of us to raise a glass in their name as we vaguely recall who they were and what they did whilst we were still young.

Being alive at 40, and of reasonably sound mind and body: guess that's enough to be thankful for, eh?

Another weekend day out in the fresh air and bright sunshine. Back to Bishan Park continuing JY's training on her in-lines and Amy on her bike. NBS joined us today as well, so I had 1 other experienced skater in the rink to help keep an eye on JY. June took a bike out again, but once she gets her courage back up in the next couple of weeks, she'll want to resume training on in-lines as well.

It was fun having NBS around. She added on some of her figure-skating insight to JY's training and got her moving better, though JY is still pretty dependent on the railing. Next time, like it or not, JY has to come off the railing else her progress will be stunted. NBS also showed me some "pre-alpha" moves like the "cross-over" which I spent some time practicing.

After the in-line and bike rentals expired, we chilled out in the al fresco area in front of the bike rental store while watching on enviously at the kids who had come for afternoon in-line lessons and who could already do so much more fun stuff that kinda' put us all to shame.

Later, June went for more petanque practice. Today, Eddie put her to work with her new little friend, Geraldine, running pointer drills. Me? I found a nice shady spot to sit and relax, while watching the progress of the exercises and sipping orange-flavoured 100Plus.

June and I joined Adrian, Jen and Mary at Blooie's in the evening to celebrate Jen's birthday. It was odd giving Adrian a lift to the restaurant. Many years ago, Adrian was one of the lucky few people I knew who owned a car, and as such, drove us around wherever. Today, the roles were reversed, though perhaps not for long. Adrian is now considering getting his own car again. Hmm... make that still considering. A white 5-door 2.4l RAV4 maybe? We'll see.

Though it wasn't my birthday, the drinks were on me. That is, my drink was on me -- a whole glass of ginger ale which I accidentally backhanded off the table, the entire contents of which (including ice cubes, brrr!) landed on my lap. The staff was nice and presented me with a new glass FOC. Fortunately, June had the foresight to bring a change of clothes for us, so my evening wasn't as uncomfortable as it might have been.

Happy Birthday, Jen!