Interlocking Squares: Ching Juan (2)
Thursday 5 January 2006
Note to self: some people just don't mix.
Reminds me of the first, last and only time I had a birthday party – a proper birthday party. It was back in Form 3, I remember. I invited some friends from my class plus some other friends I knew from primary school but had gone to other secondary schools. Result: well, not exactly unmitigated disaster, but it was awkward. The way they stood around in two distinct clumps, and me rushing back and forth between them trying to get Clump A to talk to Clump B, trying to make up for the awkwardness by acting as manically cheerful as a chipmunk on a sugar high. No wonder I swore off birthday parties for life.
What brought this on, you ask? Not that you can ask, exactly, being an electronic journal and all, but still. Let's start from the beginning, shall we? No, not the Big Bang. You get what I mean.
Anyway, so there I was, after the letter-writing class – what possessed me to sign up for it in the first place? No, don't tell me, I know: I forgot I needed to take another external elective for the credit requirement and by the time I remembered it was the only remotely acceptable course left. Another note to self: keep track of required electives. Oh, wait, this is my last semester and with any luck I won't have to repeat anything, so scratch that! – Hm, where was I?
Okay, okay, once again from the top. It was after the business correspondence class and I was getting into Selina's car when who should come along but Vincent Yap – you know, the guy who gave me a lift to the station after the same class last week? So I waved to him. For some reason he looked a bit discomfitted.
'Oh,' he said (as nearly as I can remember anyway), 'I thought you might need a lift back.'
'Not now that Selina hasn't got extra lab work,' I said (or something like that anyway).
He mumbled something to the effect that oh, okay, that was good, and since I had someone to take me back he'd be going now. Then he turned to leave, and somehow he looked so all-alone-ish – and I remembered how he'd mentioned last week that if he hadn't run into me he'd probably be having dinner by himself – that I called out rashly, 'Wait! Would you like to have dinner with us?'
He looked pleased. Surprised, but pleased. So off the six of us went.
Yep, six. Aside from Selina, there was also Tee Siew, Ming Jien and Alex. Which is what brought on my sudden fit of epiphany about some people not mixing. You know what happens when the five of us get together. I'm only grateful Beng Yee, Beng Kit and Marcus weren't there as well.
It started out with Tee Siew telling us gleefully how he'd pissed off his guild members in WoW by doing a Leeroy during a battle against a rival guild, and Selina threatening to tell his latest girlfriend about the number of elven priestesses he's seduced on Azeroth. Then he and Ming Jien started their usual WoW vs Everquest debate, which was only broken up when Alex proceeded to annoy the Nine Hells out of everyone by humming 'I Got My Gmail' accompanied by appropriately Sims-ish dance movements. Then Selina remembered the combat modifications I was planning for Citadel of Tales and asked me about them and we got into yet another heated debate over whether armour strength should count as AC or damage reduction, and Alex broke that up by showing us some maps he'd sketched for part of the Citadel (not that anyone could map the whole of the Citadel). Then Ming Jien pissed the three of us off by complaining that our Citadel house rules were plain stupid because he kept dying the first, last and only time he played, and I responded by saying of course, Citadel is designed to kill off powergamer characters, and Tee Siew chipped in with yeah, but what else could you expect from an Evercrack addict?
And all the while Vincent was sitting there with a bemused, increasingly bewildered expression on his face.
I did try to bring him into the conversation – tried to explain some of the things we were throwing around – but really, how do you explain all that stuff to someone who hasn't spent years up to their ears (oh wait, that rhymed!) in it? And I couldn't very well change the subject to... to... I don't even know what accounting students talk about! The double-entry rule? Come to think of it, what is the double-entry rule anyway?
To tell the truth... I could have tried harder, I know. But it's tiring when one part of you wants to jump straight into the conversation and the other part is hovering around wondering anxiously how it sounds to an outsider. And there were times I'd forget Vincent was there altogether and get as caught up in it as the rest of them. Damn, should have been more considerate. Ming Jien, the idiot, didn't help matters when he looked up at one point, caught sight of Vincent and exclaimed very loudly, 'Oh, you're still here!' One of these days I'm going to wring his neck. Ming Jien's, not Vincent's.
The absolute worst part was when we were leaving the eatery. I got Vincent a bit to one side and apologised and said I hoped he wasn't bored. And he said no, it had been really interesting.
Guilt. Drip drip, drop drop.
Got to make up for it somehow... but how?? Gargh. People. I think I'll go look over the combat modifications now. Selina brought up a point about AC I hadn't thought of.
Note to self: some people just don't mix.
Reminds me of the first, last and only time I had a birthday party – a proper birthday party. It was back in Form 3, I remember. I invited some friends from my class plus some other friends I knew from primary school but had gone to other secondary schools. Result: well, not exactly unmitigated disaster, but it was awkward. The way they stood around in two distinct clumps, and me rushing back and forth between them trying to get Clump A to talk to Clump B, trying to make up for the awkwardness by acting as manically cheerful as a chipmunk on a sugar high. No wonder I swore off birthday parties for life.
What brought this on, you ask? Not that you can ask, exactly, being an electronic journal and all, but still. Let's start from the beginning, shall we? No, not the Big Bang. You get what I mean.
Anyway, so there I was, after the letter-writing class – what possessed me to sign up for it in the first place? No, don't tell me, I know: I forgot I needed to take another external elective for the credit requirement and by the time I remembered it was the only remotely acceptable course left. Another note to self: keep track of required electives. Oh, wait, this is my last semester and with any luck I won't have to repeat anything, so scratch that! – Hm, where was I?
Okay, okay, once again from the top. It was after the business correspondence class and I was getting into Selina's car when who should come along but Vincent Yap – you know, the guy who gave me a lift to the station after the same class last week? So I waved to him. For some reason he looked a bit discomfitted.
'Oh,' he said (as nearly as I can remember anyway), 'I thought you might need a lift back.'
'Not now that Selina hasn't got extra lab work,' I said (or something like that anyway).
He mumbled something to the effect that oh, okay, that was good, and since I had someone to take me back he'd be going now. Then he turned to leave, and somehow he looked so all-alone-ish – and I remembered how he'd mentioned last week that if he hadn't run into me he'd probably be having dinner by himself – that I called out rashly, 'Wait! Would you like to have dinner with us?'
He looked pleased. Surprised, but pleased. So off the six of us went.
Yep, six. Aside from Selina, there was also Tee Siew, Ming Jien and Alex. Which is what brought on my sudden fit of epiphany about some people not mixing. You know what happens when the five of us get together. I'm only grateful Beng Yee, Beng Kit and Marcus weren't there as well.
It started out with Tee Siew telling us gleefully how he'd pissed off his guild members in WoW by doing a Leeroy during a battle against a rival guild, and Selina threatening to tell his latest girlfriend about the number of elven priestesses he's seduced on Azeroth. Then he and Ming Jien started their usual WoW vs Everquest debate, which was only broken up when Alex proceeded to annoy the Nine Hells out of everyone by humming 'I Got My Gmail' accompanied by appropriately Sims-ish dance movements. Then Selina remembered the combat modifications I was planning for Citadel of Tales and asked me about them and we got into yet another heated debate over whether armour strength should count as AC or damage reduction, and Alex broke that up by showing us some maps he'd sketched for part of the Citadel (not that anyone could map the whole of the Citadel). Then Ming Jien pissed the three of us off by complaining that our Citadel house rules were plain stupid because he kept dying the first, last and only time he played, and I responded by saying of course, Citadel is designed to kill off powergamer characters, and Tee Siew chipped in with yeah, but what else could you expect from an Evercrack addict?
And all the while Vincent was sitting there with a bemused, increasingly bewildered expression on his face.
I did try to bring him into the conversation – tried to explain some of the things we were throwing around – but really, how do you explain all that stuff to someone who hasn't spent years up to their ears (oh wait, that rhymed!) in it? And I couldn't very well change the subject to... to... I don't even know what accounting students talk about! The double-entry rule? Come to think of it, what is the double-entry rule anyway?
To tell the truth... I could have tried harder, I know. But it's tiring when one part of you wants to jump straight into the conversation and the other part is hovering around wondering anxiously how it sounds to an outsider. And there were times I'd forget Vincent was there altogether and get as caught up in it as the rest of them. Damn, should have been more considerate. Ming Jien, the idiot, didn't help matters when he looked up at one point, caught sight of Vincent and exclaimed very loudly, 'Oh, you're still here!' One of these days I'm going to wring his neck. Ming Jien's, not Vincent's.
The absolute worst part was when we were leaving the eatery. I got Vincent a bit to one side and apologised and said I hoped he wasn't bored. And he said no, it had been really interesting.
Guilt. Drip drip, drop drop.
Got to make up for it somehow... but how?? Gargh. People. I think I'll go look over the combat modifications now. Selina brought up a point about AC I hadn't thought of.