Shawn’s 21st

I was invited over to RB’s new house on Friday night for a gambling session where he planned to turn his house into a casino of sorts, hence the dresscode was “strictly formal” although a few people didn’t really adhere to it. I also became a middleman of sorts for him and delegated the message to “our gang”, and on a somewhat last minute decision, invited Alvin after acquiring RB’s permission.

Kai picked me and Esther up from my house, then we went all the way to Kota Kemuning’s McDonald’s to wait for Alvin, before we reached RB’s house at about 9pm.

Playing gin rummy that Shawn’s mum brought, along with the table – Shawn’s dad and Yen were there too.

The other table played Blackjack – eventually Sharon, Wei Leong (sp?) and co. came, followed by Shawn and his collegemates.

We collectively taught Alvin how to play gin rummy, eventually both Alvin and I shared a tab and sorta played together – at one point I had to replace Esther/Kai Tzin and it was sort of a conflict of interest problem because I was playing with their money, while my money was at Alvin’s hahaha. I thought Alvin eased in quite well because eventually he was telling Shawn’s mum how when he was drunk he acts like a child and will start to hug and kiss everyone (on the cheek) wtf.

I also drank a Blue Caracau (sp?) + Sprite concoction, which actually tasted pretty good despite the high alcohol content of about 27%.

We played all the way till 2am before we went back – I won a small sum of money, enough to cover my losses, after I magically ‘tin wu’ (win immediately after I opened my cards) in gin rummy, plus an even small sum from Blackjack.

I followed Kai Tzin, who fetched Esther back to her Old Klang Road house first before fetching me back.

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Then yesterday night, Shawn’s family held a birthday dinner for him at Tien Tien Seafood, Sunway – Esther and Adrian picked me and Wai Hong up and we were actually a little late to arrive. And even so, Shawn and his collegemates arrived even later than us, followed by Andy, Sze Vien, and Sarah.

Our air-conditioned ‘room’.

The people who were at our table (WH was sitting on my left, and Shawn’s cousin was on my right).

We had three tables in all – Shawn’s neighbours, uncles and aunties were also invited.

Adrian and Esther.

Very happy occasion undoubtedly, especially with Uncle Chua who kept forcing Sarah to drink hahaha.

Till now I have no idea what that T T is supposed to mean. Titties?

The birthday boy celebrating his 21st.

Shawn taking forever to make his wish, after singing the birthday song in multiple languages including Tamil.

Shawn (after smashed slightly with cake) and his ahemahemcoughnod. It was also alleged that there wasn’t really anything between the two, although time would tell.

Kai Tzin looking somewhat cute here hahahaha.

Yen snapped this of me.

Our group photo! <3

Shawn and his collegemates.

Jengjengjeng wtf. Girl’s name is Sze Tien or however you spell it.

Shawn and his family.

Shawn, RB, Andy, and the uncles.

We headed back to Shawn’s house (Kai decided to head off to Zouk instead) and on reaching there, Esther, WH, Adrian, Sarah, Andy, and I were like the marginalised group or something wtf, ‘cause we were clearly outnumbered by the presence of Shawn’s collegemates. I found it quite amusing that we felt this sense of rivalry between the two groups lol, although it was felt mainly by us.

Shawn opened his presents in the kitchen, and he could not fit into Esther and Adrian’s gift of an apron with embroidered words on it, even though the apron was a ‘Free Size’ hahahaha. WH gifted him a cute-looking cap that has a ‘mouth’ on it.. pretty hard to explain without a pic.

As Shawn’s living room was too crowded with people, we had to place ourselves in the kitchen instead, joking that we only belonged there lol. That was also when we played Blackjack, with Uncle Chua occasionally coming in with his RM10 note which was a little too big for us, as we only play a small sum of RM1 to RM2.

Yet again we gambled till nearly 4am – by then plenty of people have collapsed and succumbed to excessive intake of alcohol, and seeing one particular girl somewhat drunk (not our own gang, thank god) is not sexy at all.. RB and Sarah had collapsed together on the sofa hahaha. My own inebriety, thankfully, was halted by a very controlled discipline in refusing drinks offered (in the form of a nasty-tasting whiskey, though I downed a glass once) and drank both my Carlsberg and Tiger’s fairly slowly.

And so Shawn turned 21, as slowly but surely, will I.

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The moment I was woken up by mum at about 11am this morning after finally sleeping at about 4.30am (also this morning), I was immediately thrown into confronting this aspect of my future that I thought I would bury away forever, perhaps only with a slight tinge of regret. For some reason, my mum told me that she had discussed with my dad last night that I should go to Melbourne for my final year of studies, as, in her words, “it is our dream to see one of our sons studying overseas” or something of that sort.

If you’ve been following my blog, you’d know that I had at one point seriously contemplated studying in Melbourne for maybe my final semester, but I eventually pulled out of the idea as the costs were way too staggering. But my parents told me not to worry about any of the financial aspects of my studying abroad at all as they’d have the education insurance and a certain sum borrowed from my grandpa to fund my studies there.

To be honest, I’m straddled with a slight guilt of having to burden my parents financially unnecessarily.. even though it was them who rekindled this idea.

Not to mention all the mixed baggage of emotions that come with something as big as studying abroad – I’m excited, afraid, apprehensive, but most of all, afraid. The thought of being in a foreign land living an unfamiliar independent life is hugely scary for me – good lord I think I’d need to learn how to cook! (This coming from a guy who detests the idea of cooking, and this guy is hopeless with anything cooking, much less cooking an egg.) And iron clothes. And learn how to use the washing machine.

Ironically, Kenneth, one of my classmates who happened to be taking all the same 4 subjects as me this semester, had asked me a few days ago if I’d be going there – and I told him no, I initially wanted to but changed my mind ‘cause it’s too expensive etc, then he told me that he thought the same thing as me too, until he recently realised that with the financial crisis, which brought about the strengthening of the MYR against the AUD (meaning slightly cheaper for us Malaysians), this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to study in Australia cheaply, not to mention for the experience. He certainly nearly convinced me when he told me that because of this conviction of his, he’d even be taking out loans to finance his studies in Melbourne.

Of course I’ve yet to factor in all the culture shock because I’m pretty certain the lecturers there do not spoon-feed us (this is, of course, good for us overall), we’d have to buy original textbooks (which still didn’t explain why Kenneth photocopied a colour version of our Law of Investment textbook that made it resemble the original), shops close at 5pm, no mamak, the list goes on.

And guess what?

I’d have only about 4 months left in Malaysia if this Melbourne thing really takes off (seems very likely so far). And I wasn’t even mentally prepared for all these – it looks like I’ve just celebrated my final Chinese New Year here because I certainly wouldn’t be around for next year’s CNY. =( (I know it sounds as if I’m not returning ever, but hell I can’t predict how the future holds, and my parents really want me to work in Australia wtf. Easy to say, but hello global recession and increasing unemployment worldwide.)

Fucker that means I only have a few days left to seeing Sarah and Esther (who are leaving in the next week), and if Jess and Heng don’t come back before I leave for Melbourne somewhere in June, that means last two weeks would be the last time I’d see them in a long time. =( I don’t know if friendships can hold water or not through a long distance sigh, especially when most of you would probably be working already or something when I get back. (PS TO EXTENDED FAMILY: PLEASE REVIVE THE MAILING LIST AGAIN!!)

WTF.

And my family, sigh. I’m going to miss Brandon’s daily rituals of asking me to burn him CDs, snap fake photos for him, entertain him with his football antics; my mum’s frequent nags and the latest tales of our relatives’ excursions to Hong Kong or something; my stoic dad; my bro.. etc.

I’m also going to have to derail my immediate plans that I’ve constructed for myself, like my current ongoing French, Chinese, and piano classes.. and I’m not sure how my NZ plans will now hold – I’d have to decide whether to work during summer in Australia (for $$$ reasons) or forgo one month of Australian wages for backpacking in NZ or do an internship there (possible?) or come back to Malaysia…

Fuck lah so many things to think about right now.

I think I’m already homesick before I even fly there.