Farewell Again and Tai Tee

We had a farewell dinner again last night for our colleagues who were leaving. It was tearful, it was funny, it was meaningful, some who promised to keep their speeches short did not, some who we wanted to hear more from kept it short, there were gifts of wine and flowers, unseen gifts of love and best wishes, obvious expressions of grief, sadness and loss. Its so sad. Life would go on with or without them, only differently. Very differently. I hope not drastically differently.

I was sitting there watching people. Some greenies who stayed back in the canteen to help with the sound systems, I'm sure they felt the quivers. Some colleagues commenting on the wine (there was wine! n beer!), Pinot Noir from New Zealand. It was good wine. smooth and a raisiny finish.

In our midst were some colleagues who are about to retire (but not this year), some secretly planning to resign, some applying for study leave or doing something which would cause them to leave as well, some stuck in a bond -just started, fresh from the institution, halfway through or almost completing, some who are on contract, some who just got promoted, some who have been with us since the building came into existence and many other categories of people which i cannot elaborate much on the net. (that was just a hype). People come people go, they aimed to leave footprints, which they obviously did. So footprints and memories are we left with, many of them. Memories do we treasure, memories hopefully would never fade.

Then there were some who have been working closely with those who were leaving, how they have touched each others' lives in some minute way or another. Some complimenting on the chocolates (I was raving about it!!!!!!), some complaining about the food, mindless chatter, mischevious laughter, servers clearing up dishes, people making small talk.

The food was not good (D'fine Catering). The only good thing was the chocolates from Mezzanine! I must go there!

*JUST A NOTE* There are two kinds of speeches, meaningful ones and unmeaningful ones. and then there are two kinds of speechmakers, One who proclaim they will keep it short and really do and the other kind who proclaim that it will be kept short but it goes on forever boring the whole world to tears. *JUST A NOTE*

Tai tee! Yay! We drove down to the beach for dessert, tai tee and supper. I havent played taitee by the beach for a long time. Sitting there, at the rather newly renovated Lagoon hawker center brought back memories of how we used to chop 2-3 tables after windsurfing for chng tng and roti john at the old place. I miss those days. Hendra, Jimmy, Yiwen, Ber, Deb, Yen, Jiawei. We would talk about food when we were windurfing and talk about windsurfing over food. It was such fun times. We would go there together after school,pay the entrance fee, change, race to get the best board and sails, say hi to Robert ( the in charge there), rig up, place our sail on the best spot on the beach (not too near the rocks, depending on the wind direction) then go for a briefing (*blah blah blah*). Then we were off! At the mercy of the tide and wind, at the mercy of our maximum strength wer competed amongst each other. Who could lean back all the way without getting dunked in. Hendra and Jimmy were really good! And who can forget the times we tried to do stunts? the fancy gybes and speedy tacks. Goodness me. I missed us. Us when we were young, rather silly and carefree (we still are but in a different sense now).

Right, back to taitee with KS, Pres and VP, and supper of one of the most famous wanton mee in Singapore and Satay. Yummmssss.

Disclaimer: I seldom reread my blog and edit misstakkes, who cares? I'm not submitting this to an external examiner for marking, am I?Just so you know.