My friend was adamant that we had to go to Colbar. And she got quite angry when we googled and exclaimed, “We wanna do brunch! Why are you bringing us to a coffeeshop?!” She insisted that we were ungrateful to her for uncovering this hidden gem.

Located at Whitchurch Road, Colbar – which actually stands for Colonial Bar – is an unpretentious eating place that was shifted down the road to make way for urbanisation. I read online that they dismantled each and every tile and reassembled them at the present location. More than fifty years of history there.

I was quick to compare the surrounding greenery with Dempsey or Seletar, but our friend declared that the colonial ambience was unparalled, and that I should stop mentioning the over commercialised Dempsey. Uh huh. Someone really loves that place.

The service was great, but the plate pictured above and priced at $12 was average.

Head to Colbar if you like hanging out in an expat-dominated cafe, or like to chill in a rustic setting. Stay away if you can’t do without airconditioning.

#1: Cruz Teng doesn’t have much patience. Do not repeat a question more than twice.

I suspect she was testing me. Vulgarity censored.

#2: Cruz Teng is a show-off.

#3: Do not leave your iPhone unattended.

Note: The milder update is from me. Someone else keyed in the crude statement.

But that turned out to be fantastic. She was clearly enjoying herself on stage, and that was infectious. Finally, everyone had warmed up.

I think we (referring to the media, record label and production house) all want to see her succeed. As she surprised everyone by acknowledging her former boss- Lim Sek, whom she was involved in a legal tussle with, she presented a splendid finale segment comprising of some of her greatest hits- 双栖动物、记念、抛物线 and Beautiful Love. It might not have been a commercial success, but I think we were glad that Tanya finally realised her dream- doing a concert in the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Photos by One Production

Movies the next day.

I totally enjoyed 让子弹飞. Boasting some of the biggest names in the Chinese film industry, this project attracted attention right from the start. Each of them were accomplished actors who delivered their roles with distinction. The dialogue was witty and the adapted screenplay was pretty engaging. The ending however, was executed in a rather flimsy manner.

Rio, in my humble opinion, would be a movie to be watched on weekdays only. Not weekends. But that’s just me. A few of my friends loved the movie to bits…

I’m very impressed with the marketing though. Apart from the Angry Birds tie-up, there’s a lucky draw for SQ tickets to Brazil. And the soundtrack was playing in the theatre before the commercials began. There were a couple of other things I noticed- but can’t remember right now. Everything just fitted nicely together. Well done, folks!

And that was my weekend.

Just five days more to the next one!

I don’t think she’ll win the bet. This conversation took place on Friday evening.

很单纯的Whatsapp group chat掀起了大家对彼此的想念。是该出来好好聚一聚了。

就这样，我们陆续出现在许阿荣的百万豪宅。巫许阿莉和陈阿仪分别从公司赶来，还有一群外人喊不出名字，但对我们十分重要的人也到了。可惜杨阿伟、林阿宝、林阿芝有事。对了，到底谁有本事联络上翁阿汉啊？

我们的主题：90年代。那跟出席者的衣着打扮与听歌口味没有关系。这班人都是在上世纪认识的。

吃饭、喝咖啡、看电影、打保龄球、打麻将⋯⋯在彼此的PAGER语音信箱留言⋯⋯还有在地底层的小房间一起做那件我们很爱做的事⋯⋯

这十几年，大家都成长了。聊的话题当然也不同。

不知道是谁先谈到老花眼镜。有人接话，说很快就要找眼科医生动激光矫正手术。然后又有人提到听力很快也会开始退化。不一会儿，有人露出一根长长的白头发。新陈代谢率下降几乎已成定局，多聊无益。

我是这群人当中，年纪最轻的。说实在的，我已经开始担心自己的身体，更何况是我眼前的这些人。

我掩饰惶恐，大叫：“你们不要再谈这些了！我们还是聊别的。来，我们说人家的是非吧。”

哈哈哈哈！

我想我这辈子可以少一点钱，少一点可乐，少一点麻将，少一点睡眠。但是不能少了朋友。

The two pieces of fried chicken from Popeyes, plus some coleslaw, corn and fries, made up my first meal for the day. It was a happy start to our weekend mahjong marathon.

Yep, another ten hours of mahjong there because I’m on leave again.

Yep, I have 21 days of annual leave and 30 days of unpaid leave for the financial year ending 31 March.

So while we were playing, Jan happened to log on to Facebook and saw that Justin and Irvin were having ice cream. I wasted no time in starting a group chat on Whatsapp.

To my utmost astonishment, they appeared minutes after!

I was joking there. Really. If any one of them were to ask me to do something like that, I would either show them a finger or reply coldly, “Which part of Cruz Teng looks like a delivery man to you?”

I was speechless.

Thanks both.

And in case you were wondering, I was left with five miserable chips at the end of the night. Tragic.

Wisdom comes with age. We’ve finally decided not to do overnight mahjong because a lack of sleep is detrimental to health and complexion. Our 11 hour mahjong began at 12pm on Saturday. T. fed us well. I could taste the shrimp, lap cheong and luncheon meat in every bite.

I proclaimed on Twitter that I was the 自摸天王 for the day. There was this 清一色平糊 and this 自摸kar long一台 when people were doing splendid combinations. The exhilaration and luck! Oh, and I won $180 at the end of the night.

Simple planning required. Look at the duration of each movie, buffer in an estimated 15-20minutes of ad time, and you should be able to shuffle between cinema halls at a comfortable pace.

Got out of bed at 2pm. Can this get any better?

中學同學：2名
中學同學的妻子：1名
因工作認識的好友：5名
朋友的朋友：1名
前任朋友的朋友：2名

我的好朋友，都成了彼此的好朋友。他們現在都“背著我”外出。呵呵。

原本想要像過元旦一樣錄個賀年視頻，但咳嗽咳得不清不楚，計畫只好擱置。

各位，新年快樂！

感謝各位長輩在大年除夕給的壓歲錢。

長大了。不像以前會火速打開，然後開始盤算要買甚麼。如今的紅包都只收在抽屜里，哪天一次過拆開，我可能會瞬間變成富翁。呵呵。

那麼巧，958城市頻道的春節倒數活動《新年歌曲大家唱》就在餐館80米以外的地方舉行。吃飯前，我跟菁雲、得明和勝揚大哥說我會過去。勝揚大哥就說：“很好。你來走一圈，我們的聽眾認識了你，你會很更紅！” 我答：“呵呵。是，我是為將來鋪路。” 午夜12點，醒獅團熱鬧登場，還有隔鄰《春到河畔迎新年》的煙火燃放－兔年到了！恭禧發財！

曾幾何時，這成為了春節的“傳統習俗”？！ 倒數後，直奔B的家。才剛放下年柑，就掏出錢包。PICTURE!

給父母的紅包。祝他們身體健康、萬事如意。

網購的新衣二月中旬才會送到。櫃子里的新衣就這麼一兩件，不過新鞋很多！哈哈。

金玉滿堂～紅運當頭～富貴吉祥～甜甜蜜蜜～大吉大利～年年有餘～遍地黃金～HUAT AH!

年初二，開工大吉。

感謝所有餐飲業與服務業的朋友－因為有你們，這個地球在農曆年才能夠繼續轉動。因為有你們把我們這些媒體業的人餵飽，我們才能on air.

曾經，我家是拜年大本營。所有親朋好友必定到我家向祖母拜年。她的離開，加上丁家的女人陸續出嫁，我們的年度大團圓就定在年初二。踏進三伯母家，五分鐘內收到了十多封紅包，也面對排山倒海的盤問。

“阿勇啊，甚麼時候輪到你？”

我想到我不能用那句“已在拉斯維加斯祕密結婚”的慣性對白，否則就要派紅包－哈哈哈哈。我吞吞吐吐想答案的當兒，發出問題的人已準備好答案：“你不要再那麼挑了。一定很多選擇，不知道該怎麼選，對不對？你把她們統統帶回來，我們幫你選。” 哈哈哈哈哈。真是想像力豐富。

很開心，一家人有說有笑地過年。

我們幾個［老］朋友跟彼此家人蠻熟的，過年過節當然也會相聚。Don的母親那天就在說：“我很久沒有見到志勇了hor？”

另一方面，我小舅媽原本打算請Don等人年初二到他們新家。我還沒來得及開口，我媽已經接話：“Don初二和老婆一家人去Kukup，初三才回來。”

我睜大眼：“哇！我都不清楚他的行程。原來他才是你的兒子。我是領養回來的⋯⋯” 哈哈哈。

他們的公寓離我家才兩公里。還沒正式遷入，小舅已經把一張通行證給我。“你這樣肥下去是不行的。你還是來我們家游泳吧。”

他們還有專業「撲克桌」。你終於瞭解我是在甚麼樣的一個家庭長大。哈哈哈！

我們玩的是賭場式Blackjack。每人開兩張牌，補牌無上限。莊家至少補到21點。共有6幅牌，看你怎麼算！

工作這幾年，認識了一些商界的朋友。老闆娘親自發邀請函，讓我年初三到她的聖淘沙豪宅賀年。“是的，我在兔年會再接再勵，希望很快能做你的鄰居！”

很多人過年的口號應該是：嘴巴沒停過，肚子沒餓過。

年初三晚上已無法一人吃完一盤義大利面，而是兩人一起分享。

到濱海藝術中心報到，幾乎已成農曆年指定動作。舞台上的王耀慶實在是太精彩了。李心潔和楊佑寧都是稱職的好演員。只是，今年的《命運建築師 之 遠大前程》和前年的《華麗上班族 之 生活與生存》仍無法超越07年《水滸傳》所帶來的震撼。

We were flying off to various cities for the New Year and barely had time to properly organise this. It took 15 minutes for Jan to decide on a theme, and another 15 minutes for me to delegate jobs. “I’ll send a Facebook invite. Justin and Irvin will collate the RSVPs and order food. We’ll talk when we all get back in 2011.”

The fitting was done hours before the party. San Chin and Andrew exclaimed, “You are going to win hands down if you rent this!!!” Hahahahha. The guys at No. 1 Costume Costume sternly reminded us that no photos were allowed. But will Andrew listen? No!

Elmo totally stole the thunder from Snow White. Awwwww. My sincere apologies. Hahahahahahaha.

Justin and Irvin as Astro Boy I and Astro Boy II. They came with matching mascots! It was a good thing I brought along mine as well.

Gillian had a last minute emergency to settle, while Leo accidentally slashed his wrist a few days before the party. They came in Donald and Bert tees and therefore weren’t thrown out by the door bitch.

Jessica and Don as Supergirl and Superman respectively. Their self improvised costumes were absolutely hilarious.

San Chin from the Flintstones, with Andrew as one of the lackeys to the Queen of Hearts.

The folks from No. 1 Costume Costume agreed to waive the rental fee for Snow White’s wig. We chose red for an image revamp, but the birthday girl couldn’t find her red lipstick. Mandy as Minnie- the costume was 100% DIY! She bought cloth and did the ears herself too. Amazing.

Huiyi as Doraemon. In my haste to 伸出”圓”手，I exposed my flesh. Tsk.

Superman is so strong!

Minnie high on beer! Disney is so going to sue us.

The people behind Sesame Street won’t be amused. Hahaha.

Gee! This is so tiring. How do those people at the theme parks survive?!

It was very very warm inside the costume. But I allowed them to drag me into this mini skit.

After eating an apple from the evil witch, Snow White fell into a deep coma.

The seven dwarves were devastated.

It’s Elmo to the rescue! “Miss, miss. Are you all right?! Let me give you a kiss!”

“Ok. She’s up. I’m going to get out of this costume and go shower. Remember to vote for me!”

Birthday girl flanked by the superhosts.

I won! Muahahaha. Superman and Minnie came in second and third respectively.