Rainy day of fun (5th April 2008)

The weather may be really crap outside, cold and just pouring relentlessly, but that's not deterring me from having a nice day spent with friends!

I had organised a get-together yum cha brunch at Regal Restaurant today for me, Hew and her boys, Edmund and Jonathan, as well as Ben and partner, Kaiyi. Hew, Ben and I have been friends since university and it has been a long time since we all caught up at the same event. Ben and Hew probably haven't seen each other for a year! Pretty obvious because Edmund doesn't seem to remember who Ben was :P Photos taken at brunch:

A few pigeons getting drizzled by the rain and fluffling their feathers

on a signboard outside the restaurant

Group photo of us at brunch (l-r): Kaiyi, Ben, me, Hew, Edmund and Jonathan

Just me, Hew and mischevious Edmund

And here's another photo with Ben

Did I mention that Hew and Jonathan are engaged? Yep, and I'm so honoured that Hew has asked me to be her bridesmaid! They have been busy with wedding plans though no fixed date yet (so far, what we all know is that the wedding will be sometime early next year). That's so cool - I've never been a bridesmaid before (ok, I take that back - I probably have been once or twice before I turned 15 but that was more like a flower girl for my aunt's or uncle's wedding which didn't really count :P). Looking forward to it! And congrats again guys!

Hey, we'll all have to catch up again for another group meal. Perhaps steamboat next time? Yeah? Sweet...

Picked up my travel pack for my Tasmania trip after lunch. Can't wait to go - work and life in general has been so busy and I'm REALLY looking forward to this break. I then headed back home to do my week's chores before heading out again tonight with Hew and the boys to Westpac Stadium. Hew had roped me into a Hurricanes rugby game tonight! Having lived here for nearly 7 years, neither of us girls have been to a live rugby game nor have a keen interest in it (I know, that's so very un-Kiwi of us). Hew managed to get a good deal for tickets tonight and decided it'll be fun for us to check it out. The boys are going too but Jonathan and Edmund will be sitting elsewhere with 2 other guy friends so we're kind of having a girls only time at the game. By the way, if you didn't know, rugby is the national sport in NZ and Hurricanes is the Wellington rugby team. Lucky for us, we have seats in the sheltered area of the stadium though I had better take my ski jacket, scarf and gloves since I'll be out in the cold during the whole game...

Totally off topic but have you seen anything like this:

Bought this horned melon or kiwano (fruit native to a region of the Kalahari desert) earlier when doing my groceries. The 'horns' of this oval, bright orangy-yellow fruit caught my attention and when I cut it open, the insides has dark-green pulps very similar to those of a cucumber. You must think, hmm, it would taste either like a cucumber or melon but you'll be surprised to know that it actually tastes like a mix of banana, lemon/lime and kiwifruit/passionfruit. How interesting! You can eat it as it is (the pulp, that is) or use it to make a range of desserts or as toppings. This one I'm having is ripe thus orange in colour; unripe ones are green. Yum...

At around 5.45pm, Hew and gang came to pick me up and we met up with their friends, Mark and his son, Shawn, at The Long Bar on Brandon Street for dinner. Tried the chicken rice today - hmm, very nice...reminds me of the Hainanese chicken rice back in Malaysia...Shawn and Edmund are of the same age and I could see that they get on very well :) A photo of the 2 boys taken just after dinner (all wrapped up for the cold weather):



The rugby game at the stadium was alright. I guess not knowing much about how the game was played and its rules, it didn't make a lot of sense to me why the men in the field were smacking and stacking onto one another in a battle of who gets the ball across the line. Looked rather brutal to me! And painful!! Still, it was an interesting experience since I've never done this before. It was the Hurricanes versus South African team, Sharks, and boy was it funny to see the mascots of both teams making fun of each other as the game went on. It wasn't very crowded and Hew and I had one of the best seats in the stadium, smack right in the middle of the field! Awesome! Better still, we were sitting on the Hurricane side (oh yeah, we have to support the NZ/Wellington team). The game was tied 13-13. Though I doubt that I would become a rugby fan overnight, I had a fabulous night thanks to Hew and family! Photos taken tonight: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157604402914927/detail/

Oh, and did I mention that I've moved up a notch in Edmund's list of favourite people? He held my hand most of the walk back to the car after the game. I somehow ended up with both 5-year-old boys, one of either side of me, walking hand-in-hand - wow, ain't I popular with the young guys tonight! Phew! Having not been in a relationship for awhile (and not holding a man's hand), this is the first time I had another 'man' hold my hands and I've got 2! :P

To cap off the night, I caught up with 2 other boys, George and Jason, for a few drinks in town. I have not really had a catch up with both guys for awhile and coincidentally both were keen to come out for a drink despite the bad weather - good on ya! George took us all to Kazu Yakitori & Sake Bar for a few drinks where we chatted about things of all sorts and had good laughs. It was actually a nice quiet place to drink and chat - hmm, I like...We were the last 3 left in the bar around midnight and left for Vespa Lounge on Allen Street for another round of drinks. Jason had thought the place would be quiet but it turned out to be a little too loud for me and George. I don't know about George but it wasn't a place for me - I suddenly felt rather old being there, seeing so many former Unicomm students dancing while us 3 were just sitting down at a corner, trying to shout our conversations and sipping our drinks. Not sure why but I can't seem to connect to the whole drinking heaps and partying at my age. Perhaps I've outgrown that stage??

I decided to call it a night after Vespa Lounge. My system is not used to staying out so late and was about to shut down! It was lovely to see the 2 boys and we'll definitely do this again soon :) A walk back home would do me good to get the alcohol out of my system and curb this niggling hunger I keep feeling. Instant soup noodles is calling me...or maybe I should just sleep on it...