Monday, December 17, 2007

Our Leisure World 'bonding' trip...

Last Saturday, I went on my first ever casino cruise on Leisure World with three of my dear frenz from AHS sports class - Yijia, Daniel & Weimin. Was kinda apprehensive & yet very excited about it the whole week. Haha. Despite catching a mere 3hr sleep the nite before after Jovan's bdae celebration at St James, I managed to wake up at 6plus and arrived on the dot at Bedok inter to meet the guys. Hehe. So sad huimin didn't come in the end, but well, I guess none of the gals are reallie as 'addicted' to gambling and have an itch to check out casinos like I do.

It was quite an experience for me, although I’ve been to several casinos like Genting, Amsterdam, Sydney etc. Firstly, we missed the 8.45am ferry because we happily went to drink kopi after we bought tix but by the time we went to the gates, the officer said it was closed and refused to grant us entry. ARRGGHH. Dat was quite farnie actuallie. Cos the guys all tot we could catch the ferry based on their last experience. Well. Ren suan bu ru tian suan. SO, we had to pay another five bucks each to amend our tix to the 9.45am one. & we had another 45mins for a second round of kopi. Haha. But we ended up sitting down and chatting instead. Which felt really good.

After two ferry rides, we were finally on board Leisure World. We had buffet lunch and dinner!! Not bad right. The dishes ain’t fantastic, but it’s not bad already. Quite a good spread, with desserts like cake, fruits & ice cream to top it off. Haha. Except for our lunch time and dinner time, the rest of our day was spent in the casino. Actually I love to go casinos to observe and watch, but of coz sometimes also quite gian to play. Each of us had $500 worth of house chips. There were the usual games like bacarrat, blackjack, dice, roulette, carribean stub (one of mine and jw’s fav casino game =p), Si Kee Puay (aka SKP), 3-card game (see who add up biggest), jackpot etc. Basically I spent most of my $$ betting on the 3-card game and dice for that day. =) I like to ‘bee’ cards, so was quite excited when I got to sit down and be one of the players at one of the tables. Hee hee. Was also quite thrilled when I guessed the total number correctly for dice, for 3 rounds!! Dat was heng, though my bet only $5. Keke. & I also kept supporting this old auntie, who looked at least 85 years old, and she played the 3-card game. Laying bets on her alone won me over $140. Fwah. Zai auntie. It kind of amazes me to see so many old people here who still seek the thrill in gambling. I wonder if jw and I will be like that when we have grey hair.

I started off as the biggest winner and ended up as the biggest loser of the day. Haha. Cos daniel only lost abit, wm bo lai, and yijia won abit. I think I need more self-control when it comes to gambling. Haha. & I can really feel the adrenaline rush when I played higher stakes at dice, following jw’s theory of double or nothing which is wat we did in amster. Quite scary actuallie. I fully understand why pple can get so hooked on gambling, and why so many precautions must be set in place in anticipation of the IRs.
I think I still prefer playing mj with mum popo and jw, and playing tai tee wif frenz occasionally. & on CNY we will play si kee puay, blackjack, in between etc. Casino trips shouldn’t be a too frequent thing, although I really enjoyed the entire experience.

Well, thinking back about it, I guessed I really enjoyed the company more than the activity. (No, dun get me wrong, I’m not saying this becos I lost $$$, keke). Regardless of whether I won or lost $$, I still gained something else very important to me. Time well spent with cherished friends. Think about it, how many chances will I get to spend so much time alone with these frenz and can chat about anything under the sun. How often will I get to listen to them talking about their lives, their hobbies (like tennis!), as well as update them about my own (like my wedding =p)? How rare is it for me to spend one full day with just 3 of them, a nice no. for a small grp gathering, and listen to their endless gao xiao and suaning? Haha. RARE, indeed. We also spent a long time talking about huimin and how we are gg to help her find her Mr Right. Haha. Good to noe everyone cares so much about her. I guess once again, it’s the emo shuang stirring up in me again. Maybe it’s cos I know I might be gg away for a long time, and I’ll truly really deeply miss all my loved pals, so I’m trying to cherish all the happy moments I have with them. Or maybe I was born like that because since young, I have felt very sentimental about things, about pple. Well, I do hope I’ll stay this way then. & see life beyond the superficial surface, and not be upset by things like losing $$ or losing passports or losing digicams. WAHA. Tata.