Done it!

Dear Diary,

Going to add one little short entry before I hop into bed. =) I just came back from my first Social Development Unit (SDU) activity! Quite an eye-opener indeed. Glad I tried doing for the event alone, haha…. It was surprisingly a test of courage. Maybe if you don’t know what is SDU all about, it is basically a matchmaking organisation for university graduates who just can’t seem to find a life partner. Oh well… When I was approaching the restaurant, I felt butterflies in my stomach. Goodness, I remembered I went to the toilet back home before I departed for the destination. It was “big business” if you get what I meant. Hmmm…. Couldn’t be the goose liver spread I ate in the afternoon, could it?

Reached “the coffee connoisseur” (tcc) restaurant in Bugis Junction and looked around…. No SDU activity in sight. Approached the waiter and casually wanted to ask if SDU was holding the dinner there. However, just couldn’t say the word “SDU” out. Was describing to him but… alas, gave up and told him “it’s alright”. Where on earth is the event? Then I remembered vaguely that there is another tcc restaurant just at the periphery of Bugis Junction and took a walk there. Called the host on my mobile and there she was in the restaurant.

The two hosts were pretty friendly I must say. Most of the people were older than me no doubt about that. I smiled, took a seat and ordered some food with drinks. I could notice that quite a number of them seemed to be regularly attending these SDU events. They knew the hosts very well and had gone on many camping trips organised by SDU too.

Okay, the place was cosy and it was surprisingly comfortable to be engaging in conversation with people whom I met for the first time. They spoke a lot on backpacking tours, snorkelling and scuba-diving…. You know…. Or at least I now know that if you get too interested in these kinds of activities, you just forget about looking for your “other half”, haha… Think most of them have tonnes of “touring” experiences but their love lives are as stagnant as before. Nonetheless, it was interesting to listen to them talk about their trip to the Himalayans or their rafting adventure. Opens my perception of backpacking. The female host was getting married in India at the end of the year in some castle and it was fascinating to hear how her Hindu marriage will be carried out. =)

Then came in a girl by the name of Pamela. Not sure if I should put the name down here but then again, oh well… that is a common name, haha… I sat up for the first time that evening. Quite a nice young lady but she sat at the other side of the table. Now, the tip in choosing a SDU event: Always choose one that has some speed-dating program in the meeting! Well, this evening’s one did not. Wanted to chat a little with her but the groups were segregated into the “touring adventure” topic (which was the one I got stuck in) and the other group which I don’t know what they were talking about though I overheard a possibly 40+ year-old guy saying that he was from Anglican High School a long time back. Hmmmm…

One of the guys in my group gave an excuse to go the gents and ended up in the other group. Okay, he is obviously experienced in getting out and “hunting” what he wanted. I couldn’t be giving the same excuse shortly, yeah? So sadly, I remained in my comfort zone… just chatting and reclining on the couch. Then my group “disbanded” when it was close to 11pm. The other group was still chatting. I thought she looked at my direction, I really thought so! Anyway, I just gave up since it was already so late. I bid farewell to her and the guy who sneaked over to the other group earlier… Pretty biased of me especially when there were many others in the other group there, haha… Bidding farewell to a girl you never spoke to the whole evening…. Hmmm…

That was it. Theory and practical are really two different things. A comfortable evening but fruitless…. At least now I know how that Crusty Curry Chicken Patties tasted like… Marvellous! =)

Goodnight!

God Bless,

Andrew