New Year's Eve with the SgRunners

I had the most excellent New Year's Eve.

The SgRunners had booked a chalet at Aloha Loyang Resort from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning, with a night run around Changi planned on Friday itself. However, due to work commitments, I wasn't able to join them for the run, nor go to the chalet on Friday. But I would be able to meet up with them on Saturday, and it was with that happy thought that I went to bed on Friday night. :)

On Saturday morning, I took the MRT down to Pasir Ris, and met up with the gang at White Sands Mall. There were seven of them (TLR, Fd, Alvo, Meteor, Philip, Tiwazz and Balasing), and they were having their brunch at the MacDonalds there. I learnt that they had slept at 3 am, and had woken up not too long after to go for an early morning run before heading out to grab some food at the mall. :)

We chatted in MacDonalds for a while, and then went shopping for some more food items at NTUC. Then we left White Sands Mall for the chalet.

From L to R: TLR, Carine, Alvo, DreamRunner, Reno, Chyarose, DO, Tiwazz, Cyberkinetic, Fd

The chalet was really nice. It was roomy, clean and comfortable. *thumbs up* We started to watch DVDs on TV. We were soon joined by DO, Cyberkinetic, Carine and her boyfriend Wei Leong (who, as I later found out, used to be a national sprinter and is now coaching some of the nation's running athletes...impressive!). TLR's family came by too, and I had lots of fun playing with his nephew, Irfan. TLR's mum used to live in a kampung in the Changi area, and TLR's dad shared with us some personal anecdotes about fishing/mussel catching in Changi Beach.

Later on, DreamRunner, Chyarose and Sotong came to the chalet. Sotong was in-charge of the games, and he did a really EXCELLENT job! For ice-breakers, he started us on playing a "Guess the Avatars" game, which tested our ability to recall the forum user nickname associated with each user avatar. That kept us entertained for quite a while :) Chyarose, for whom this was her very first time meeting the SgRunners since joining the forum a week ago, did rather well for a newbie; she correctly remembered over a dozen nicknames. Well done! :)

Some of the materials used in the extremely enjoyable "Guess the Avatars Game", devised by Sotong :)

A little while later, Balasing and Tiwazz said that they wanted to go swimming. I didn't bring my swimming gear, but I tagged along with them to the pool anyway, because I wanted to observe and learn from them some swimming techniques. They told me about trapping water, about how to do the free-style and how the different strokes trained the different parts of the body. Cool! :)

When the three of us got back to the chalet, we found Cosmic and Bee busily trying to complete Sotong's "Guess the Avatars" game. :) Later, while Balasing, Carine and Cyberkinetic started to prepare the charcoal for the BBQ, the rest of us gathered in the courtyard, and began to chit-chat about running - how running can help in losing weight, what races there were in the next couple of months, our running resolutions, the recently concluded ultramarathon (>= 55-km trail route around MacRitchie Reservoir) which many of us took part in, our running injuries, etc. :) By the time the BBQ was in full swing, we were also joined by other SgRunners, such as 136, Cokiee, Sanji (whom we tricked into taking off his shirt for a 6-pack abs photo, lol), Kops21, Seal and Superboy.

Even as some of us were chit-chatting in the courtyard or cooking the food, the rest were indoors watching a movie on Eric Liddell (who was from the UK and was a world-class runner in his time!) on Channel 5 and also "Saving Private Ryan". 136 has a strong passion for war movies and an avid interest in military history, and it was fascinating to hear him share about his analytical opinions on the films and his knowledge about major battles in history! *thumbs up*

The yummy stuff we ate

I must say, the food was great! Many thanks to Cyberkinetic for finding such a good caterer for the BBQ foodstuff, and many thanks to our dedicated BBQ chefs, such as Balasing, Cokiee, Philip, Bee and Sotong! As it neared 11 pm, we were joined by Shaunzer and his parents, and Commando with his wife and daughter.

Soon it was games time again, and Sotong broke us up into 3 groups (the "Huh" group, the "Couples" group and the "Bachelors" group, to which I belonged) to play Taboo. My team won, and we received individualised, single-edition, A3-sized, full-colour SgRunners 2006 calendars. Thanks to Sotong and Mrs Sotong for all their hard work on putting the utterly memorable prizes together! Sotong also brought along his own bingo machine and bingo tickets. And so, we played Bingo, and had a lucky draw too. Everyone had something special to take home from Sotong's games :)

Sotong holds up the specially-made SgRunners 2006 calendars! :)

Before long, we had our final countdown to 2006 :o) This was occasioned with a lot of handshakes and hugs, to warmly usher in the brand new year! The ships docked at the nearby ports joined in our celebrations with loud blasts of their horns :)

Goodwill hugs and handshakes to usher in the new year!
Happy 2006 everyone!

After that, some of us continued to watch another war film, this time about the Americans fighting the Japanese in Papua New Guinea. Some of us remained chatting in the courtyard - still discussing everything about running, running, running. ;) I also had a chat with Shaunzer about his interest in the design aspect of mechanical engineering. Later, I also listened to Seal share his experience as a member of the Naval Diving Unit. All of us talked into the early hours of the morning.

By about 6 am, I started to doze off on the sofa in the chalet. Some of the other guys decided to go out to Changi Village to get some coffee! :) I awoke again at 8 am, to find the same guys crowded around TLR's laptop, viewing some digital photographs and video clips. TLR works as a member of a disaster assistance and rescue team, and has contributed his strength and energy in recovering many casualties and dead bodies from disaster zones in incidents such as the Nias earthquake, the Pakistan earthquake and the Nicoll Highway Collapse. Watching the photos and videos of his work and experiences in those disaster scenarios, I am once again filled to overflowing with respect for TLR, for his strong mental power, his dedication to his work and his others-above-self, humble nature. *doubly thumbs up*

We checked out of the chalet at around 10 am in the morning, and I caught a ride home in TLR's car. I really, really, really enjoyed myself this weekend. :)