it was a pretty tiring day yesterday, having two picnics on the same day, at the same place.. if there is one thing i learnt from planning both picnics, is that no matter how well you plan for everything to go well, something unexpected or half-expected always happens, not that they are necessarily bad though..

Picnic #1: with the secondary school friends

there were just 6 of us..

background history: we were in the same class in Sec 1 and Sec 2, though some of them continued to be in the same class for Sec 3 and Sec 4 as well..

some of the unexpected things that happened were:

1) the plan to get satay failed.. although it was well-compensated with pizza

2) i had expected the blazing hot sun when we got to Marina Barrage, but i didn’t expect it to be hot AND drizzling.. my make-up melted in no time.. we had to take shelter at the crest gates and share it with two teenagers who were apparently drawing the scenery.. we talked about politics, played Last Word and a little of Who Would You Rather Date.. i also did not expect Eela to think that Donald Trump was President..

3) there was some kind of International Carnival along with rock-climbing event by Singapore Poly.. that made the place a lot more crowded and congested, and parking space a lot more limited..

other than that, it was fine when the day went on, the weather got cooler, and we could move up to the Green Roof for me to fly my kite..

you can’t see the details on my kite but it had 3 dolphins on it..

in the midst of the first picnic, a few things happened in relation to the 2nd picnic, which brings me to,

Picnic #2: with the JC/Uni friends

1) Jannah Short called to tell me that she couldn’t make it for the picnic after all, got me panic for 10 seconds, before laughing at me for believing her bad joke.. the purpose of her call was simply to tell me that Alfiyan would be joining us..

2) due to the carnival which contributed to the congestion of traffic and limited parking spaces at Marina Barrage, Arisya called me up frantically because she couldn’t find a parking spot and had to parallel park somewhere pretty far off from the Barrage, to which i did not know how to remedy.. thankfully, her parallel parking worked..

3) Syaf was actually the first to arrive there but because her phone died, she rounded the Green Roof a few times looking for me, gave up, and drove home to charge her battery so that she could call me to tell me that she was there and had to leave and that she would come back again after her battery has been charged.. all this while, i was at the Green Roof the WHOLE TIME.. that place may look small to you people, but it was just not fated for Syaf to find me bright red tudung and all..

4) this happened before the picnic, but Jannah Tall, the heart and soul of the team, could not make it for the picnic last minute, and this time it was no joke.. this bummed me quite a lot.. but being the sweetheart that she is, even though she was not turning up, she still made sandwiches for us and got Faris to drop by her house to collect them.. We had awesome chicken mayo sandwiches thanks to her..

if the view from Marina Barrage was beautiful in the day, it was even more breathtaking at night..

now you may wonder, how were we supposed to have a picnic at night where there are no proper lights?

improvise, people..

Hanis brought the mother of all torchlights (the one i was holding in the picture) which could shine a beam to the sky like Batman’s light you know? Nurudin came too, another pleasant unexpected thing that happened..

i dedicate the next few lines to my chicken wings.. well i didn’t make them, but ordered from my aunt who works at a food stall in Harbour Front.. to cut the long story short, i was worried on how to get the wings to the picnic because Jannah Tall who was supposed to collect them could not make it for the picnic, Hafi and Syaf had to run some errands before coming for the picnic, lalalala skip to resolution: Arisya’s mom had to drive her to the food centre to collect them, after which Arisya drove her mother back to Eunos and then turned around and came down to Marina.. so this line is also dedicated to Arisya’s mom, who took all that trouble.. and of course, Arisya too, who brought the most things to the picnic..

i got to fly my kite again at night.. Halimah brought hers to fly too, but Hanis broke the string and lost the kite.. so, rest in peace, Foxy..

we played a few games, got bored, played a few more games, halfway through me and Syaf went to pick Musa up from Marina Bay, the girls played ball games while the guys sat and gossiped (the irony..) and soon it was midnight and we had to clear off the place and drive home or be driven home.. and now i’m still tired..