Today... was probably the most happening day in my life as a San Diegan.

Woke up early at 5.30am because I volunteered to save a spot at Mission Bay for the bbq party which my boss was organizing. So, yes, prepared myself, my satays, chicken midwings and everything I needed for the party as well as for spending that 5 hrs there waiting.

So happily, after having prepared and loaded the things in the car, I set off at 6.40am, 10 min later than planned. I swung by McDonalds for their sausage egg mc muffins, which I was tricked into getting the meal again, cos I thought the meal would still be cheaper even with the $3.50 deal for 2 sausage egg mcmuffins and a separately charged coffee. I was totally wrong. And a little digression here. It's kinda weird how much they try to differentiate between egg mcmuffins and sausage egg Mcmuffins. My colleague couldn't get the $3.50 deal for 2 egg mc muffins. He had to order 2 sausage egg McMuffins instead in order to get the $3.50 deal. They wouldn't even take out the sausage. So my colleague has to dump the sausages himself, cos he doesn't like it. Weird. Inflexibility is not something I favour.

Back to story. And so, after da-baoing Mac, I reached Mission Bay at 7.16am, 16 min later than
planned. And blast! My spot was taken by this orh lang.


I think he just got there 5 min before... damn... so i took a table just beside his spot after confirming with him that he's having an event there... and guess what he did after that?



wtf?!! Marking territories eh? That's kiddies' play man... But then again it was a pretty good idea though... But I had to shift because I was left with little space. I moved down to another spot which was really neat. Had wanted to grab a better one with two single tables close by, but when I walked off to grab something to chope the place, someone stepped in to take it!!! So I had to settle with a single table, with a large clean spot. And being an adaptable engineer with abundant military experience, I feel the need to mark my territory as well. And this is what I call, Man's play.



Oh please... Bags, shirts and boogee boards? What is he thinking man? Please use real man's toys to protect your turf next time... And there I have it... 4 gas cylinders to mark my territory...

The next thing to do was to call my boss to tell him my location... and guess what? I left my phone at home!!! Of all times and of all things... I just got to do that... and I wouldn't be so troubled if I had another person with me... Alone, that is. Either have a spot and hope someone familiar will walk past, or risk losing the spot and go back to get the phone. Since boss sent out an email telling everyone to a specific path to start searching, I expect that he, a past commando guy, would be able to find me easily, especially when I wasn't really far away from where I said I would be.

Everything that could be done, was done to increase awareness of my locality, such as this...
I had to reposition that several times to find the best spot so that people could see from a distance away... But after a while, I realized that probably there has to be a simpler of doing things, like this...


But even the simplest way has its problems...

Thanks Mr Wind... that was really nice of you... Engineering spirit isn't part of me without reason... Mr Wind has to be combated!

This should do the trick... Satay sticks at the bottom of the paper to increase the weight of the base... Feeling smart and proud of myself, I started working on skewing the satay meat together.

Impressive eh? This is one thing that I'm really sure ang mohs will love... Because even their ang moh pets love them...

If birds could pay for what they eat, I would definitely be rich! Or in the least, it's only probably right to trade something for another... I seriously don't mind a bottle of this from the birds for a few satays.


After finishing satay skewing, I got bored and started looking at people flying kite. I wanna fly kite!!! Reminds me of the last time I tried flying a kite at Marina Bay. I sucked totally... Now I felt a little better... cos the daddy in front of me oso donno how to fly kite! hahha his slack is too much lahz... the string must be short enough for it to be tight to fly. I learnt that logic just two day ago when I saw another chinese daddy fly kite with his little daughter. That was just so nice and happy. In the end, the daddy finally figured out, after the mommy pointed out that the slack should be as little as possible after reading the instruction manual... And here it is... American Eagle soaring into the skies. Neat!


And as I was watching, I realized I had company.
Damn you bird! Will you ever stop touching my stuff??? There's no more egg mc muffin in that mcDonald's Bag!!! I was just using that to finish up my letter "Y" on "SONY" (see above)!

After a while, I realized more has to be done to make my location known. No one familiar seems to be passing by. So I went over to the entrance of the car park and made use of whatever I had to build this sign.

Pieces of paper, angled nicely at 45 deg with satay sticks and pieces of leftover satay ingredients to keep the papers in place so that it would not slide down or be blown away by Mr Wind. Ain't I smart??? Well, all was perfect until...
Damn you, Mr Bird! Stop eating that satay glue!!! gah... In the end, I settled for a less innovative idea...

That was tied using a ear phone wire that I got from United Airlines.

Yes, that was 5 hours worth of activity with Mr Bird and Mr Wind. And no, no one actually passed by... So in the end, I gave up at 12 noon and asked a nearby auntie (at another party) to help look after my things while I took on the 1hr round trip home to get my phone. Auntie says okok... Ok my foot man... When I came back, they're gone!!! And some idiot took 2 of my gas cylinders!!! Much threat these cylinders pose... And yeah, needless to say, I had 16 missed calls on the phone!

And guess what? They found another site and had everything set up already! Bestest... waste my time roasting at the park the whole morning on top of having to wake up at 5.30am! Alright, it's my fault for forgetting the phone.

Anyway, in the end, everything turned out well... and it was a blessing in disguise cos that place they found was pretty good as well, and even had a fire ring in front of it, which they had planned on having a campfire at night... And because I was late, everyone is pretty much full... And I was glad that even so, my satays and honey glazed chicken mid-wings were very welcomed, and they were gone in as soon as they're cooked (by me of course). hehe~ Only 2 people know why I'm so on about making satays and glad that they're well received. *winks at her* :)

Anyway, it was a really fun event... and for the first time, I experienced an American life... to sit round by the fire when the sun goes down, chat and making smores (melted marshmellows with graham crackers). Making smores at a fireplace... Nothing can beat that. Everyone contributed their part (some brought camping equipment, some set up the fire, and some brought food) and it turned out to be quite a success in the end. Enough of rattling, enjoy the pics.




This is Mission Bay... ... ...

They look so cute making smores!!! hahaha~ the little one keep moving his stick around, so much so that I think his marshmellows weren't even warm at all... hahaha... Fun teaching them how to melt that marshmellows... And felt good that I was able to entertain the kids. Maybe it's time to be a daddy after all... hahaha~

Yummy!!! So cute!!!

Kids are just sooo cute!!! This girl's only 23 months old!

Alas... what had Mr Wind done to my hair!!!


Grand Chef Tian Cai making chicken and tilapia.

Where's the satay man gone?

The next generation of kampung fishermen...

This guy is good at setting up the fireplace.


Kids making Smores from the fireplace! I like this pic.

Burn burn away ya! Burn away all the troubles and worries in life!

Round the fireplace talk. You never have this in sg.

This dog's name's Tembo... Some weird name in some weird language, meaning elephant I think... This gigantic fella is only 10 mth old, can you believe it? And it actually bit a hole in the frisbee!!! Bad dog!!!