This was what Lawrence sounded like: "BREEEAGGGHH! -pause,one,two..- "BREAAGHHHHH!" -pause,one,two- "BREAAGHH!" For one hour?? Nauseating? Lawrence's introduction with the toilet for the night was beginning to affect me to some extent.

Lesson #2: When playing Bluff (a localised card game), never choose to play when you know you're high unless you know you're ready to get your ass kicked. And should you choose to play, you gotta be good (like me) and you gotta know how to hold your liquor (like me).
Should you fail to keep to these guidelines, you're better off hugging the toilet. In Nigel's case, it couldn't have been more exemplary.
3 house pours of vodka-sprite and 7 shots of tequila later, that jackass is out like a bulb. It was amusing to see popcorn being stuffed up his nostrils without garnering a reaction from his liquor-induced coma.

Lesson #3: While planning to attend a NYE celebration, do not procrastinate till the final hour downloading games into your PDA before leaving yourself 45 minutes to rush from Harbourfront to Punggol.
The result? Me spending the final minutes of 2004 on the bus before rushing up to Daryl's place whilst in a lift at the stroke of midnight.Hip-hip-hooray. The best part? Hearing people go "5..4..3..2..1..HAPPAY NUUU YAAHHH!!" and grinning as you stand in the lift while looking at your own reflection.
Hur hur you dumb f*ck..

I must have called Daryl about 10,000 times asking for directions to his place before spotting the right block. I swear to ANYONE, people who live in Punggol get bloody lost the first time they step into that area. It's a place so isolated, you could have a space rocket take off in an open field and no one would even know about it.

"Hello? Daryl! Where's your place? How in the hell do I get there?"
"Hello? Daryl! I forgot to ask which block it is!"
"Hello? Daryl! What's the damned unit number??"
"Hello? Daryl! Could you just get your lazy ass down here and show me the bloody way!?"

But there are several things I want to point out this season that make me realise how fortunate we actually are. On a more solumn note, while young pricks like us are dancing and fucking around on sentosa island, many more didn't have that privilige. Service workers sacrificing their New Year to get you transported around; staff to serve you food only for you to throw up one hour later and more importantly, families who spend their new year remembering the loss of their loved ones.

Wakes in HDB void decks, burials to commemorate those lost in the disaster, so many things going on around us which we don't realise. So my friends, do me, and also yourselves a favour for the start of this year. Make a resolution to yourself: To remember those precious around you, to treat your loved ones with true respect and hold everyone close to you, neighbour or stranger, as you would hold yourself.

Happy 2005 and Love,
Sherwin.