My 2nd Twenty-one

When I received my ElderShield letter from the CPF, it took me a while to realise how far I've aged come. That letter was a rude awakening. And when the message finally sank in that I've arrived at the "senior citizen" bracket, I've nothing but curse for the CPF. It's not a pleasant thought. That was two years ago.

There's just no running away from it - this thing called "age". We try to reclaim our youth - by spending our hard-earned money on plastic surgery to make us look good and beautiful like movies stars (I've always wanted to look like Tom Cruise, until he started jumping like a monkey in Oprah Winfrey's show); we dye what used to be our crowning glory black; we go for Botox injection to smoothen our wrinkled skins, but there's nothing we could do from the inside. We realise that something else is missing - stamina. A flight of stairs would leave us panting for breath. We no longer walk with a spring in our step; but found ourselves unable to keep up with the young people in front of us. In short, we become sluggish, and our movement just gets slower. And worse, some of us men found, much to our horror (and probably our wives' too) that we're no longer as firm and hard as we used to be. Now I know why they call it the "mid-life" crisis.

In ten days, I'll be 42, not exactly old or "senior citizen" material, I must add (CPF be damned). In fact, I've read somewhere that if you're between the age of 38-45, you're considered to be at your "prime". Women at this age exude womanly charm feeding the fantasy of most men. And the men would attract bees like nectars with their masculinity and manliness. I'm not sure if there's any truth in this. Whatever it is, save for the Slim Lady, I'm still waiting for the arrival of the bees. Sigh.

It's really not as depressing as I made it out to be. At least I had a free lunch today, courtesy of BAGUS. They are an incredible bunch of fellas, I must tell ya. And all, but one - cheers to that - is older than me, at either 50 or 51. They are a living example that life at the half-century mark needs not be that bad. In fact, it could be as exciting and fulfilling, if not better than some of the younger people I know. VT is a sports fanatic who jogs regularly. Jen is a mahjong enthusiast. That game has been proven to keep the mind alert and young, but young she is not, alert a definite yes! MJM who is three months younger than me, is the hyperactive one among us, very loud and articulate, and likes driving in an out of JB buying grocery for his family. Then of course, there is Victor, the wordsmith who's never short of wit and who celebrates life as much as he is a half celeb-blogger.

The lunch at Prima Revolving Tower was fantastic, not least because it was a birthday treat. The highlight for me was the Beijing Duck. Call me suaku, but this was the first time I ever sampled this dish, my mouth still drooling as I recall the crispy duck skin rolled on a small popiah skin with spring onions.







The Beijing DUCK was good, but we hope our LUCK would be just as good comes Saturday or Sunday. See, it's kinda weird but we kept seeing lots of figure 6 during the course of our lunch. MJM was issued a parking coupon bearing no. 000666 at the restaurant. He also happened to have lent Jen The Omen today. Those who had watched the movie would know the significance of 666 in that movie. What's more coincident was that on my way home from work today, a car in front of me bears the no. SGH 6666 on its number plate. And today's date 29, incidentally, also forms parts of my office telephone number. There are people who do not believe in buying 4-D, but there's just so much coincidence here that we just had to give our luck a try! So we unanimously picked the number 2966, 12 permutation, for the fun of it.

We wait with bated breath.... Huat Ah!!!

Category: Musings