Many thanks to Ms Sukhvinder, our then-NS Br head for organizing an NS Br Cohesion at Ban Heng Pavilion Restaurant in the evening!
The ride to Harborfront on a Friday set-up the anticipation for something warm, delightful, and preferably big to satisfy our palate. Traffic was bad and the weather was just so-so that day.
The choice to go to Ban Heng was troublesome.
Old NS Br Photo-shoot!
The dinner was set at 1800hrs. Imagine the journey from my workplace to home was twenty-five minutes and preparation alone took me another good thirty minutes. By the time I met up Wee Kiat, it was already 1930hrs owing to another forty minutes train ride.
Personally, I think it was a bad plan for whoever that schedule the destination at such a far distance. Especially the amount of time given for traveling was ridiculously short as it would have been too rush and unrealistic for certain people like me where my work only ended at 1700hrs.
Under the convivial atmosphere, all of us were merrymaking over an array of chinese dishes. Casually sip our Chinese tea in between spoonful of shark fin and bites of Gong Bao chicken.
The chinese dishes here are not in the least delectable, albeit the dessert - Chin Chow & Cocktail mixture.
However, it's not nice to tell them how awful they taste, especially it was chosen by Mdm Tan. She is a woman with full of ego. Although I would say that we have the freedom of speech, but lets keep the negative comments to ourselves. After all, we had the buffet on the house.
After Mdm June's departure, I told everyone in the table how 'bunnyish' she looks like in the photo. To stir up the mood of the dinner, I actually made the pose Mdm June did in the photo as follows.
Everyone to see the display on my handheld device. They were all like, show me or hey send this picture. MS Sukh laughed it off and commented, 'You are so naughty. It's not nice to call her that.' Mdm Tan snatched over and laughed heartily as she scrolled the photos I took with Instagram.
When asked how Sebastian thoughts for the food, he replied, 'I don't like it'. He continued, 'Before attending the dinner, I have checked out the ratings of their service and dishes. Reviewers rated them two stars (out of 5 stars).'
All the clerks during Ms Sukhvinder's period have finished the two-year liabilities in our full-time National Service. Some of us are required to complete 10 more ICT cycles where NSmen like Marcus and Alson Tan are pardoned due to their PES Status.
However, PES E personnels that ORD-ed in Apr 2012 onwards would be called-up for their ICT due to some changes in MINDEF.
Back to topic, I could smell gratitude and happiness from Ms Sukh when she saw us. Handshakes are part of her grateful gestures for attending the dinner. Everyone was still their same old self. I spent most of the time chatting with Sebastian because Marcus decided to move over to chat with Wee Kiat. You know, both of them are pretty much games-fanatic.
After-dinner
Marcus left the table as early as 2100hrs, claiming that he had something else to attend. Subsequently, Mdm June had to leave too. Before she left, the woman gave Ms Sukh a warm hug as a gesture of her heartfelt thanks.
Ms Sukh caught me pointing the handphone at them. When both Mdm June and Ms Sukh asked what were I doing I told them I was capturing the precious moment in our dinner. The rest of them was giggling away as they knew I had something up on my sleeves.
When Vadi returned from the restroom, he left his eyes and mouth opened wide for a few seconds when he saw Mdm June extending her arms out and cheekily asking me, 'Ryan, show me my photo!'
LOL Big misunderstanding!!
Mdm Tan called for the waitress to help us for the incomplete NS Br shoot !
Both officers exchanging their well-wishes.
Mdm June and Ms Sukhvinder duo shoot.
Chin Chow Tail (suggested by Sebas)
Before leaving for home, I snapped the interior of the restaurant so as to better remind me of this special moment all of us spent merrymaking as an old NS Br gathering of this year.
Last updated on Sep 29, 2012 at 1049hrs