Steamboat Hurray....

Today went to eat steamboat at Chiau Hui's house. Brought some crabmeat, cabbage and chicken balls. Literally one minute after I entered the house we went out again to let Louise in, who was quite peeved she wasn't the first. (smirks) Then we watched a little tv while raiding CH's DVD collection while waiting for the Qin Kum Xiu Che, Miss Gloria Chan, who was running late.

Then Glor arrived and CH taught us how to play Chor Dai Di (dunno how to spell, my Cantonese is crappy) and we were playing the second game when CH's mom asks if we wanna eat yet. We were ready to leave the cards there but someone (I think it was Glor or CH) said, 'Haiyo, we put the vege and all that in, must wait for it to cook right? So while it's cooking we play lah!' All said in Chinese. So we figured, what the heck.

Only we never got to play the game while waiting (and Lou had such nice cards too!) coz we, well, I was busy relating stories to everyone. Somehow I've got plenty of stories for every topic they were talking about. Told them about the Sexual Harasser and Glor offered to thump him for me if the guy was in Scouts. (Unfortunately not!) Then Louise told how she got a stalker after she broke up from Anselm and how this stalker asked her parents to be his godparents (they're Catholics) even though they barely knew each other!

So we started at 11.00 and ended around 2.45 pm. Finished two cans of Revive myself, then we went out to play Chor Dai Di again. Won the first two games and everyone got so mm song they started to pakat against me! We played till four and Lou had to dash off. Fifteen minutes later Glor's mom and dad came to pick her up and I suggested to CH that we walk Glor to her car and all that. CH then joked that we do that to receive ang pow from Glor's mom. Surprisingly Glor's mom really gave us Ang pow wei!~

Went home after that. Ate dinner. Typing at comp. Tomorrow gotta go out and see my aunt and uncle (the lawyers) and their three brats. Gonna post another Girls Night Out chapter for you, okay?

Cheerio!

Girls Night Out [Part 3]

Lou's eyes shone. She loved having her friends around for company; even better when they were all having fun on a night like this. Elle had pulled out a deck of cards, shuffled them and given them to Gwen, who was apparently tonight's magic victim. Lou had to smile. Elle had a thousand and one interests, magic being one of them, all of which she never completed, and all of which she could talk about or demonstrate whenever she felt bored.

With Piper dancing to Jessica Simpson's Public Affair, and Mina finally taking a sip of the Cosmo she'd liked--instead of the Sex on the Beach Piper had tricked her with--Lou watched as Elle told Gwen to cut the deck into half, and half again from both decks, resulting in four smaller decks of cards.

'Right, now, you do exactly as I say, yeah?' Elle ordered in her British-accented voice. 'Now, you take the first deck, take the first three cards, and put them under the deck.' Gwen took the first three cards and slid them under the deck she was holding. 'Alright, now. You deal one card each on the other three decks, yeah?' Gwen dealt the cards. Elle was beaming. 'Right. Then, you do the same with the other decks. Go on. Do it.' She leaned back on her chair, and lifted her White Russian to her lips, catching Lou's eye as she gave a saucy wink.

'What now?' Gwen had finished dealing the cards. Elle made a show of licking the cream from her lips, and gave a smug smile. 'Now, you've noticed that I've not touched the deck in anyway whatsoever, hmm?'

Piper and Mina nodded in earnest. 'Yes.'

Elle continued. 'Ergo, I couldn't have tampered with the deck at all, can I?'

Lou couldn't resist a jibe. 'Unless someone's managed to learn telekinesis in the past 5 minutes...' she left the sentence hanging as Elle managed a mock glare at her good friend.

'Guess what?' Elle turned back to Gwen. 'If you open the first card on each of the deck, you'll find the Four Aces.'

Gwen snorted in disbelief. 'Let's find out.' She turned the first card of the first deck over slowly, creating suspense, before throwing it on the table. Smiling up at her was the Ace of Clubs.

'There's one,' Elle grinned delightedly. Shooting Elle a scowl, Gwen turned over the first card of the second deck. 'There's two,' Mina chimed in as the Ace of Hearts was revealed.

Piper reached in and flipped the first card of the third deck. 'Ace of diamonds, people,' she announced proudly. She proceeded to the last deck. Now everyone was certain they'd find the last ace waiting for them there. Gwen flipped the top card, and everyone found themselves looking at the Queen of Spades.

'Whoops!' Elle chuckled wickedly as she threw a card down. It was the Ace of Spades. 'So sorry,' she added cheekily.

Gwen and Piper proceeded to pummel her as Elle shielded herself with her forearms. 'Lou!' she cried, half laughing. 'Help!'

Lou tsk-tsked her. 'You brought it on yourself, baby,' she replied, unperturbed to her friend's pleas. Her cell phone buzzed, and Lou read the display. <Message from Kate> A smile lit her lips as Lou opened the message and started scrolling.

Hey peeps, sorry. Can't come for GNO, but will meet you at P's place 11.45?
xxx Kate :)

'Who's it from?' Mina asked curiously, trying to see the name on the message.

'It's Kate,' Lou informed them. Everyone cheered. 'Yo, Katie!' Piper yelled. Fortunately her scream went unnoticed as everyone was busy dancing to the loud music. Gwen shook her head wryly as Elle ordered another White Russian.

Kate Morris was one of the Six, and she just happened to be a famous supermodel. They were all anxious to hear from her as she'd just returned from Milan for the Fashion Week and said she had some news to tell them.

'What could her big news possibly be?' Elle wondered aloud. Gwen chuckled. 'Knowing her, it's probably a new man.' She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. 'You know, one month it's Horatio, the next is Fabrice, then two days later she meets Yurik.'

'Well,' Lou commented. 'You have to admit, she'd got good taste.'

'Even if she changes her mind like a girl changes clothes?'

Everyone turned to look at Piper. 'Aw, no,' Mina moaned. Piper grinned devilishly and played a new song. The familiar beats of Katy Perry's Hot N Cold started playing.

Lou shook her head in despair. 'Not punny, Piper.'

Her friend just smiled.

Clubism

I don't know if you know how to pronounce this word or not, but Glor and I pronounce it 'club--ism.' She coined it today, quite an interesting day as it was.

You see, today it was the co-curriculum (actually, the word doesn't even exist. It's just curriculum, no co) registration day, and everyone had slips of paper on which they'd written their names, particulars and their club/badan beruniform of choice.

So Gloria, Chiau Hui and I were in my classroom, which was really crowded, and we were talking when all of a sudden, two Form 4s came into my class, and informed me that Pn. Doreen, my English teach. had asked me to write a 200-word report on the Registration Day, due Wednesday. Yes, yes, did I forget to mention that I'm on the Editorial Board?

Well, it was cool but scary, 'cause you see, the writing part's a snap. It's the "make a boring event sound not boring" part that's much difficult. I can write well, but how am I supposed to turn a boring article (one that I myself even skipped over in the Samudra - that's the SMK Taman SEA's school magazine) into an article that will, at the very least, capture the attention of the what- the whole school?

Was mulling over that when Glor and I walked up to 5 Mawar to register for Christian Fellowship (CF). Then as we were walking down the stairs, Glor and I started talking about the whole thing.

Me: Hey you know, CF very crowded lah! But I think out of the many people that sign up, only half of them turn up in the end. Same like scouts and KRS. I think many people join CF coz they wanna get marks since, you know lah, CF gives lotsa GERKO marks and all that. Sure a lot of people wanna join Leo and Interact Club and stay away from the not-so-popular clubs.

Glor: Yalorr, that's like...Clubism!

So that's how the whole thing got started.

Anyway, after we left 5 Mawar, we went to the canteen to sign up for scouts, after which we went back to class and brought our bags down 'cause after that we had our Annual House Meeting. At first it was in 6 Atas Teratai, but we couldn't find the class and spent fifteen minutes or so walking past the KRS registration classroom which was on the ground floor of the block 6AT was supposed to be. So we hung around the KRS, laughing with Xin Wei and Tim, the only two people I know quite well there. Glor was surprised to find out that Tim played volleyball.

Then when I finally found the 6AT class, I dumped my bag there and lepak a bit. When I went back up, was so freaked out to find that I was all alone in the class. So I grabbed my bags and started climbing down the stairs. Was almost late for the meeting. Seems like they'd moved it to 5 Angsana. *bites back a groan of annoyance* Anyway, nothing much at the meeting. Didn't vote for anyone 'cause I don't know how capable they are and frankly, I couldn't care less. Besides, it was hot and stuffy. So I just hung around till the bell rang and I went back, trying to figure out my report.

And here I'm waiting, listening to Kenny G (of all things) trying to find inspiration while I wait for Lou (my oh so brilliant bestie) to finish her dinner (she's in the EdBoard in Catholic as well) and give me a call, yeah?

And I'm so bored that I'm multi-tasking: checking my Facebook (which I've not gone to in ages - only go in, like, once a year?), reading Pride&Prejudice fanfiction, blogging. And I've just realized that the laptop clock is slow by one hour, so I went and changed it.

Tomorrow I'm going to school though it's Saturday 'cause of the CNY replacement. The next replacement is on Valentine's Day. Thankfully, Pn Doreen is going to be there for Double Period English and hopefully I'll be able to finish a rough draft and show it to her to see if it fits or not.

Besides, I really need to work on my story. NOC is currently on hiatus until my brain-dead brain is able to connect the dots on how DR meets CP, and how SC and LK gets to Russia and all that bit. Mind you, I've already got all the plots planned out; the transition from brain to laptop, however, takes much more work than that 'cause of the amunt of research you gotta do just to make sure it's all right, that everything's leading up to the grand finale, and all that.

Girls Night Out is another story I'm planning to post about quite soon. Hopefully I can figure out the whole thing. Another one I'm trying to revive is Murder on Campus, which I started last year with Candice and Elaine during one of our particularly deviant moments.

It's about this counsellor/psychiatrist, Adel von Gideon, who's contacted by the police when her students are murdered one by one on the Harlan Academy campus. The first victim, Carly Davidson, was killed in one of the most deviant ways you can imagine: her roommate found her decapitated and multilated body stuffed inside a washing machine when the poor girl was trying to do laundry at night.

The next victim was found lying on the sidewalk, her head crushed in. Everyone thought it was either and accident or a suicide, but when lab results showed she was intoxicated, everyone starts to think that it was homicide and that the two murders are connected somehow.

Foul play is, naturally, suspected, and several leads turn up, bringing to light a secret society that's been around for almost as long as the school, which includes Juliette Keynes, the young but brilliant fencing champion at Harlan Academy who seems to know more than she lets on.

The police and academy staff are trying to figure out the whole deal, but when the murderer outwits them at every turn, Adel and the cops, Greene and Mercer, starts to shove back. It's absolutely but brilliantly dark, and the ending is such a brilliant one.

Yep, gotta go now. Kenny G is being replaced by Vanessa Mae, and gotta get ready to call Lou later for the assignment help.

Cheerio!

Girls Night Out [Part 2]

Mina Josef sipped her drink tentatively. The bright red concoction was something she'd never deign to try before. Sure, she was almost 23, but being a chemist working for a pharmaceutical company just didn't fill one's life with enough Oomph that potential boyfriends looked for. It resulted in Mina becoming what people might describe as 'homely'. Had it were not for Mina's group of very loud, party-crazy group of friends, Mina would certainly have never step foot inside a nightclub.

'What's this called again, Piper?'

Piper Langley chuckled. 'It's called,' she leaned in closer, and whispered something in Mina's ear that made her blush. Gwen Seams, their other friend, laughed at the expression on Mina's face. 'What did you tell her, Piper?'

'Just the name of a drink,' Piper shrugged nonchalantly. Mina was still blushing, biting her lip anxiously.

'And here comes the lady of the night, Miss Lauren Knightley!'

Lou grinned delightedly as she dragged Elle towards the trio. Dressed in a light blue tank top and jeans, Elle's sophisticated look was complemented by the tan leather jacket she had slung over her shoulder. What amazed the rest of the girls were the wedges on her feet.

'Oh...my...God!' Piper cried out. 'Elle is wearing heels! And look, no glasses!'

'Of course,' Elle nodded gravely as she took a seat and placed her red one-shouldered messenger bag on the seat next to her. 'I'm sure it's a perfectly good reason to celebrate.'

'She's right,' Lou acknowledged, completely missing the sarcasm. 'All thanks to her wardrobe manager, Louisa deRossi!'

Gwen applauded. 'Very nice, Lou! I'd offer you a job with me if you weren't working here.' She took a sip of her drink. Dressed to impress in a red halter-neck top, a black leather skirt and sunglasses propped in her hair, Gwen looked every inch the professional stylist for the stars that she was.

Piper, on the other hand, was running the club's music system in a sleeveless collared shirt, paired with a plaid scarf wrapped stylishly around her neck - with help from Gwen, of course - and a fedora sitting sideways on her head. The studded belt on her jeans added to the DJ look Piper portrayed.

'Thanks for helping out, Pi,' Elle shouted over the music as Piper danced around the DJ music booth, which was conveniently situated close to the girls' usual seat.

Piper saluted. 'No problemo, boss.'

Lou flopped down on the chair next to Mina. 'Hello, Mina. How is work at the pharmacy? Are they still making you slave over drugs and chemicals?'

'No..' Mina replied shyly. 'They're very nice actually.'

Lou laughed gaily. 'Of course they are.' She caught sight of Mina's abandoned drink. 'Hey, Mina. Why aren't you drinking your Cosmo?'

Mina blinked. 'Cosmo?' Her gaze immediately shifted to Piper, who was turning away. Lou nodded. 'Yeah. Cosmopolitan.'

'You sure about that?'

'Yes.' Lou seemed amused; somehow she had an idea she knew what was going on. Piper was hiding her laughter poorly while Elle and Gwen looked bemused.

With a quick flash, Mina jumped into the DJ booth by climbing onto the cushioned seats, alarming many people, including her friends, as she started pummeling Piper, who was laughing too hard to notice. Gwen and Elle exchanged looks, and Gwen spoke. 'Piper?' she asked, seeking clarification.

Piper just shook her head, laughing harder.

'Piper, what did you tell her the drink was?' Elle asked calmly, her steely gaze even more prominent without the obscurity of her glasses. Piper just kept on laughing, trying to dodge Mina's fists as she jumped around the DJ booth.

'Piper!' Gwen and Lou yelled together just as she started playing Pink's So What. 'What did you tell her the drink was?'

Another gale of laughter, then Piper spoke.

'Sex on the beach.'