Q: It's not fitting in!! *fist punch the puzzle piece*

If there ever is an award that goes to “the happiest boy today”, it would go to ktsiong. Birthday boy has never laughed so hard, he had to ask for several time-outs just to catch a breather. This was because kt (admittedly) was expecting a simple pool party but instead we threw him a “Birthday Running Man” and he was stunned beyond words as though he had just stumbled into a cave filled with Kit Kats. In the end, the boy could only muster a huge hug and gave plenty of thank you’s to both Clarisse and I. Once again, I was all for helping to make dreams come true.

The pool party was scheduled to begin at 3pm and thankfully, the sun wasn’t showering us with much love, preferring to peep beneath the clouds, wondering what these twelve people were up to. I like that kind of weather, and should the birthday boy arrive on time, this whole thing will end by seven and we can go straight for dinner at Chili’s. Thankfully, Clarisse knew the guests well. I knew Gavin, Liong, Yumi, Ramesh, Laina (his ex) and Gerald; not the other four (they are kt’s colleagues) but they turned out to be decent people. Plus they had the invitation cards on them, so things were going as planned.

I won’t go into detail, but shortly after the arrival of the birthday boy, Clarisse surprised him by doing the tell all. In short, we’re playing Running Man and I will also be a player while she’d be game master slash MC. You should have seen the look on his face.

Game 1
To form three teams, Laina, Yumi and myself stood at one end of the pool with our backs facing it. The boys will have to duke it out deciding which team they want to be in. If they choose Exhibit A, they will have to stand behind the chosen girl. Sounds simple? True, but they would have to swim before getting to them. I ended up having kt, Gavin, and Liong on my team. I was deeply agitated because, should our team lose, we get double doses of the punishments simply because of having the birthday boy.

Game 2
Catch the thief. Each of us gets a card that we soon pass around. After that initial round, we played a round of Jenga. The winner gets to choose who he/she wants to give his/her card to. The privilege went to Ricky, who delightfully gave his card away to kt. Then we did a short musical chair to shuffle the seats around. All I can say is thank goodness I had great luck; for Yumi lost the game. So both my team and Laina’s team members got a running ball each.

Game 3
Finish the food and drinks. Clarisse bought twelve large boxes of mash potato, cheesy wedges, and coleslaws with twelve cups of iced Ribena (kt’s favorite drink). Teams compete to see which one clears them first. Guess what? We won that, narrowly beating Yumi’s team. So we four got our running balls.

Game 4
Hide and seek. Mission: Search for five gashapon balls each carrying a puzzle piece that the team must bring to the MC upon completing it. The seeker team has to tear off the six member tags within one hour. Yumi’s team was split; both Yumi and Ramesh joined us. Poor Ramesh having to be the bait all the time. Our team won and the mission ended within 54 minutes.

Punishment was easy on seven people (five will be spared via lucky draw from their running balls), mainly to pay for dinner. I miraculously got spared from it upon the fourth draw and that I had to hug Clarisse for it. I would say we were all bloody tired and satisfied by nightfall. This has got to be the longest post I've ever written in awhile. It's all for you Mr. ktsiong. Happy birthday yo!

Love,
Vonnie S.