[Finally the big day for the most eligible guy of Mars. In order to get the most eligible gal from Venus, Scope's embarking on a dangerous adventure to Johore for the sake of Mars and Venus!]
In a man’s life, there must be some memorable ladies. For Scope, there are a couple, more than 10, ie. They exclude mum, grannies, sisters, cousins and bla bla bla… Particularly for Scope at this point in life and with the perception of human relations is developed over these years in society, Scope can sum up basically four of them whom are important.
Lih HL, Kathryn K, Cathy Y, Hillary C. （四大美人）
I am blogging this because… I became rather sentimental as the friends’ wedding was coming to an end, that old memories of innocence caught up with me when Scope is now busy fighting for his future and fending off horrendous bullies in this island of despair… to an online artist.
Actually this is just a cultural desert lah~
It is not really memory, because they are memorable only because my heart will always feel something in the mentionings of them. But biologically speaking, I know memories belong to the brain.
[Kathryn K] The story with Kathryn started because of an earlier story with Lih. And because of Lih, I had chosen to repeat a year in the JC (Junior College). Lih was the first serious crush in Scope’s life.
Back then, I expected Lih to join SIM (Singapore Institute of Management) in the future, but my repeating one year was a mistake because Lih did enter SIM…
…but it was wrong timing, wrong branches and wrong external schools we took. She was with RMIT, I was taking UOL. And by the time I chanced upon Lih when she finally moved to Clementi Branch for the last few months, she was already not the Lih I knew. We never started, anyway.
Lih was a great loss, and a great life experience. She would be 32yo now, and maybe someone’s mother already.
If I had not chosen to repeat a year, which was… fuck care meritocracy, I had neither the interest in the education system by then… if I had never repeated, I would never have known Chok Soon, I would never have known Cindy, and I would never have encountered such a lovly lady named Kathryn.
It was all fated, all at the wrong timing.
Chok Soon had a lovely smile for all, but he was actually a shy boy. He also had a pretty great deal of… temper, but seldom did he explode. That was the childish time when a boy would meet a girl he fancied. It was the work of fate again, that handsome boy Chok Soon was struck by cupid’s arrow and spotted the much mature girl named Cindy.
I was marvelling then: What a match…!
Now Chok Soon was a shy guy after all. And I was his consultant (Cindy, Kathryn, Chok Soon, and me were in the same club) Fuck~ I was worse than him in girls. But as a friend, I had to suggest woo-ing tricks to make advances… which was actually more like assurance to psycho him that he could succeed. That was my role: A support.
But it really depended on Chok Soon.
I didn’t see much problem because he was handsome, he was proper, and he smiled like Ken (Barbie’s boy boy). Why would Cindy reject such a cute proper boy? I just gave him the fucking kick as a moral support in case he suddenly chickened out, and watched.
Hey~ Guys chasing girls are not easy lor, mentally. Especially the nicer the guys, the more sincere the guys, the harder it is for them to move out.
Now if Cindy had 吊起来卖-ed (Meaning: Play hard to get), this shy boy would probably got stucked, and backed off. But Cindy just grabbed the right guy, and yesterday they were happily wedded.
Their story happened in 1995. And it was also then Scope first knew the existence of lovely Kathryn. Kathryn was Cindy’s friend lah~ But it would be sometimes later that no-know-who encouraged Scope to check her out.
It was going to be a disaster. And it was by fate, because at the beginning, not only was Scope at a loss, I got myself injured when I promised her that I’d show up in an occassion and I couldn’t turn up. Unlike Chok Soon, I didn’t have another Scope as consultant. So it went like loose balloons~
Whatever… it was a total failure.
I didn’t understand girls. I don’t understand girls.
You see… when guys then was visiting pubs and discos, going to Geylang (Singapore area known for prostitution) and were talking about girls, I was actually more tied up in another field. And I am still an anti-prostitution to these days. Hence, prostitutes in China may be mesmerizing… and cheap, but I have never taken any in the stays I had in China.
Actually, I was and am also a guy who is not easy to understand by others as well.
But the crush with her was worthwhile, no matter how disasterous it was… because she is really quite good a girl.
But of course, after I emailed her and sent a bottle of stars which I folded every one of them myself, I knew it was quite hopeless. So I ceased the ‘craps’.
Aiyo~
Old memories. Now I looked back, this is a good story. It was a failure. But at least I tried, and obviously, I was in real a nice guy. Though I wasn’t been taken that seriously by her, but for me, it’s a great life experience as well.
It’s good to be young, and foolish…
Scope now and then would be quite different when mingling with ladies. But after a decade, I still find it strange that I can’t… face her without feeling that bit funny.
Luckily, this happens only when encountering her. After Chok Soon finally got ‘transacted’ out from the bachelor’s account, there won’t be any need for the subsequent decades to handle this weak spot of Scope. Because I don’t foresee Chok Soon will have a wedding again… Hahahaha~
I can face ERC’s threat of possible devastating defamation lawsuits or what legal action. I can face the most powerful figures in Singapore and China. I can face dead bodies. I can face prisoner-at-large, hooligans and fucking bullies. I can face death. But… …
Fuck~ I don’t understand why the uneasiness with a little girl. Is she more scary than bankruptcy, than politicians, than those murderous triad bosses and cunning tycoons in China, and death?
Since Chok Soon won’t have any more weddings to come after this, there won’t be any problem. And since I heard Kathryn could be with SIA fly-gals, embarassing moments in Singapore will be near impossible. Hahahahaha~
Something must be wrong with me.
Actually, when I saw all of them, they reminded me of our younger days. Kathryn is already 30yo, Antony and I are 31yo. How times fly.
[The Gang of New Singapore. Hahaha... We are not after the gold, but after the bride! Hey pretty~ Here we come!!!]
Turtle Race To Wedding: Scope As Brother.
17/11/07, after 12 years of being together, Chok Soon and Cindy finally dang dang dang dang (Meaning: Wedding) at the fine restaurant in the compound of Civil Service Club (or what fuck the name I also cannot remember.).
Boyz… that’s damn too long if it were some sort of drama series, and I have to admit, I have never expected this long march to their wedding dinner. 12 years, man~ You can produce a Manchester United with the youngest being 1 month old in 12 years.
So… I wished them 早生贵子, and I wrote this down in the guestbook.
Since I was away in Beijing, Chok Soon called. And a few months later, I was called up again when I made it back to Singapore. Fuck lah… It was also when I got relationship dilemma when they told me they wanted to wed, finally. Chok Soon’s name is freakingly auspicious, his life is like the newly built China bullet train… fucking smooth and steady and fast-tracked.
Mine is totally messed up. I am not even sure which woman or women will be with me upon my fucking death-bed… And they wanted me to be their Brother. It is chinese tradition that the groom will go to storm the bride’s sisters for the bride with his brothers, all not necessarily linked by blood.
Cheong ah~!
And yesterday, I woke up at 6am… and found myself like back to the fucking BMT time. Waliao… so early sia~ I blur like sotong, and I quickly moved about in the house like a tortise, finding what to wear, what underwear was auspicious, what not to bring, and I actually did not bring my namecards…?!
Just too bad.
But the good thing was nobody cheong-ed (Singlish: Visited, rushed) the toilet that early so that I had full monopoly of it. I brushed my teeth and… like writing a cute primary school kid’s essay… I took a bath, I looked into the mirror to find a handsome in it: Aiyo… who the handsome is that?
Nay… kidding lah~
Anyway, I quickly combed my hair by searching all over the room for a comb. OMG, real pathetically rushing. Because by the time I had found the belt to ensure my pants won’t drop when the sisters screamed, our blur Chok Soon has already driven his Toyota City and was waiting quietly under my block.
And he never even called me via handphone that he had reached my place to pick me up~?! Luckily, I had gone down myself.
It was sure an auspicious day. The drive down to Johor was pretty smooth, and there was no rain no nothing. But mainly because Chok Soon was already an expert in deciding how to choose lanes to get through the customs.
[Hidding away from the world. Alone, Scope becomes Scope. Serenity is an ultimate pursue. But who will ultimately be sitting next to Scope? Life is always so unexpectable. Where on Earth is a cultural garden?]
In Johor: Wasn’t That A Face So Familiar…?
Honestly, I have never known where in Johor Cindy’s family is staying. But by the time I saw Jusco supermart… Boyz, I remembered something called Austin. I knew that project years back, and it was around where a huge golf club was where I was makan-ing abalones and such with fellow high-level people by invitation a few years back.
I have always wanted to get a phase-three Semi-D there. But Austin’s project was rather hot, so it might not be easy, and not the right timing for me. And that was where Cindy’s family was.
When I reached the gate of the Semi-D, I saw a face that I have been wondering about for more than a decade. It was definitely Kathryn. Although the last I had seen her was in JC 12 years ago and she was now in long hair, I could tell right away it was her.
Neither Chok Soon nor Cindy had told me she would be there.
Well~
Now as an entrepreneur who have been through the thick and dangerous moments in China for years, I quickly decided for the sake of this day to feign memory loss. So embarassing… I have literally no news of her in the past 12 years. But I have become cunningly steady, which have been how I could have survived in China times and again.
How I wished I could have talked to her in private.
Anyway, the importance was Chok Soon’s big day. And fuck… those girls were deadly. Now the reason why I said that was pretty simple. It was early in the morning that we gathered, and many of us would have come without proper breakfast. What could be more murderous than super sour juice and a fucking piece of bun loaded with wasabe to the gastric…?!
Not that I had not expected wasabe… but we also had ‘copi’. All totally destructive to our gastric, especially mine.
I suddenly recalled that Kathryn was not a biology student, so were those sisters who were from JC as well. They would fail to be housewives… Hahahaha…
Our hero of the day ate the buns, drank the liquid and proceeded on, anyway. For me and his cousin, we had a bite at the buns, and just dumped them away like we did with grenades. And when we entered, those crazy sisters wanted us to drink a bottle of 100plus…
I don’t know whether they put any lice in it… OMG~
Chok Soon and his cousin drank a bit, and I took over the remainly 75% of the bottle and drank it in one gulp. That was what I did in China, but those were very high graded wines and alcohols we drank in China, and this was just hopefully some harmless 100plus.
Fuck~ Chicken feat.
After all these years, Kathryn hasn’t changed. She still talked very fast, and with high pitch. I still remember when she was younger. She was darker now.
Anyway, the whole crap by the naughty sisters finally ended with Chok Soon kissing the bride, and doing the traditional things. I must confess, I don’t know what the fuck would have happened next or what I should do. So for the entire day, I just hang around and ‘waited for orders’ and decided not to return home in case I’d miss something.
Actually the calculation was like this: 50mins for LRT+MRT+bus+walking to return home + 50mins to come back=1hr 40mins. Before they ciao-ed for wedding dinner, about 4hrs. If I took bath, took medicene, took pillow, and re-dressed again then came back… would waste money waste time and I was so tired already.
Think I so stupid…? I took a quick nap at the couple’s place, went to Bukit Panjang Plaza shot bloody monsters in the arcade.
Boyz… my gastric problem… I was feeling tired because of this. Deadly sisters… And by the time they finished at Chok Soon’s place, I was like half-dead already. Hahaha…
Between then till the wedding dinner at night, it was so bo-liao (Singlish: boring). And I couldn’t help not reminding myself that my own sister’s wedding is also round the corner.
Maybe I should just fly out of Singapore to hide. So troublesome~
To the Chinese, a person is considered married only when they have such wedding ceremony. But in these modern days, you only need a few hours for divorce. So wedding is like not so important anymore. Marriage is never security nowadays, but love is. Marriage may not last.
But love can last eternally.
Luckily, Chok Soon Will Have Only One Wedding Dinner.
We rushed to the restaurant, and I was with two bags of costums and bla bla bla on the cheong-ing to the changing room. And to my surprise Kathryn was there doing no-know-what in the changing room.
Finally…
“I found you familiar, must have er… saw you somewhere…”
“Oh… You forgotten me.” Kathryn replied without hesitation.
Fuck lah… How could I possibly forget her. But if we were going to bump into each other in the small fitting room for the night and not to appear strangly ignoring her, I must said something lor~
She was the 司仪 for the night.
Luckily, she did not replied “Hi big boy, that’s too old a pick up line, isn’t it?”
Anyway, that was the first time we talked since we chatted on phone 12 years ago.
But I was rather stucked because of the subsequent table arrangement. Cindy had placed me at table 8, and at table 8 there was no one I knew. Antony was at table 9. And I was sitting there with this macho indian guy talking on the wrong frequency. He was an engineer, his concerns were about how to get good jobs, how to handle office relations, how to get promoted and so on. My concerns were about the future of business opportunities and something else.
鸡同鸭讲~
And our hero Chok Soon was one engineer placing me with his engineer friends to my left and her wife’s SIA friends on my right. And the only entertainment of the table was a little girl in pink. Luckily, she was friendly. You know, some kids are so arrogant nowadays to strangers…
But there was another ‘entertainment’ at table 8, so I found out from cheeky Cindy. Table 8 was adjacent to table 7…
Because I was so bored. I went in and out, out and in, in and out… and finally I reflected my plight to Cindy.
Waliao… I jokingly told them it might be better to place people who knew each other in one table than simply classifying them by ‘communities’.
And that naugthy Cindy just told me she had a whole table 7 for her girls, and there was one vacancy… which was like next to Kathryn.
Fuck lah~ So pai sei…
Wanted to sabo me eh…
Evil Cindy~
Table 8 may be boring, since I could only sit down there staring blankly for the whole night.
Table 7… I had to sit next to Kathryn, or worst… sit right at the opposite side of her for the rest of the night. Alamak~ It was kind of no choice then. Cindy knew the ‘issue’, and grinned.
‘Yeah… you win, Cindy~’ Hahaha…
I couldn’t possibily feign memory loss and behaved like nothing happened for one whole fucking night at table 7. Kathryn had been the convenient tool for teasing me by Antony and Chok-Cindy Co ever since I messed up. Any conversation struck up with those girls from the same JC would become 自相矛盾 to my already pathetic cover.
So I naturally chose the dignified position at boring table 8. I didn’t want to be embarassed by Kathryn again. Once was enough, not to say to voluntarily choose to be exposed to another chance to be embarassed. I still remember the stars I sent her via Cindy.
Funny. I remember the Genting trip as well…
Ok ok…
It is unavoidable that a guy will like a girl, and that kind of memory lingers for years and years and years. To me, I cherish this as a part of growth, and a landmark of my youth. After Kathryn, Scope proceeded to seek love and affection still from others. When I saw her yesterday… I was actually laughing at myself, and I remembered the happier and silly moments as compared to now.
We were all students back then. She is now an SIA stewardess. And I, by my job, will encounter the most dangerous of moments and mankinds, and the stakes will grow higher in the subsequent encounters.
While I was a pretty shy chap, I never regreted knowing Kathryn or Lih. I am no great womaniser, though I rather be one if I have to choose between that and repealing section 377A. Kathryn will forever remain as a fond memory across the many grand battles in life for Scope.
I fear no man. (Lu Bu’s infamous words, DW) But it is really uneasy for me to face Kate.
And to those I love, I have done as much as I can for the love and affection. For Scope, it is never called affairs with women. It’s always love affairs. I have always scorned those who fuck around girls whom they can’t even remember for a day after the sensation.
Rejections have always been a part of growing up. I am blogging this for those teens in this cultural desert to understand that even in rejections, you stand to gain in sweet memories of your choice and effort. It is more fulfilling and meaningful than to waste money in Geylang or Deska road, and play the scoring game.
You never score anything by fucking 100 girls. Because all you need is one experience where your heart can feel the warmth whenever you recall it because you did something honorable and meaningful in your life. And that makes you feel you are a human in this… cold dry cultural desert.
As one could have guessed the ending of this story. I left as soon as the dinner ended. I didn’t want to shake Kathryn’s hand and say goodbye. Because there was no way I’d say goodbye to her nor Lih in my memory.
There is never such things as winner or loser as such. We never started. But if you are true to your heart. You’d always be able to keep a sovenir of your life, of your youth, of yourself somewhere in you that could accompany you when you are old, when you can’t even walk to Geylang anymore…
You’d never remember the whores. But you’d always remember the ones you have felt something for, maybe long long ago.
———————————–
Anyway, Kathryn is currently married; But no surprise. Good girls are usually ’selling like hotcakes’. As Forest Bum said: Life is like a box of chocolates…
…you never know what you’d get next.
But sweet memories shall always stay at some moments worth remembering. Actually, even if she is still single, what will happen? Heaven knows~
