Navigate

So my first posting will be with the school services. Bleah.

The thing to do when feeling blue is go to a party. Darren's "Navigate" was held on his 3-storey 100-footer at Keppel Marina. This is the first time I've gone to a party alone, knowing nobody except the host himself.
Of course in Singapore, there's only 3 degrees of separation. And there was booze, chicks, music and ciggies (the best ice-breaker). The boat left the harbour at 11pm, cruising by the Rasa and the dark beaches of Sentosa, then past the bustling port. It swept along the commercial heart of Shenton Way, finally entering the Esplanade Bay.

By the Fullerton waterfront we stopped, taking in the view of our blazing metropolis on a Saturday night. The last time I was here on the water was shortly after National Day, when the fireworks rained ash upon us like a volcanic eruption. Was it almost a year ago? But this night the sky was dark and quiet, offering no bearings or clues.


By the time we returned to the marina 3 hours later everybody was itching to disembark. The thing about these things is that once the bang is over, no-one wants to stay for the nuclear fallout. Darren was completely drunk, but still just as responsible. Me and a few of his oldest friends helped him tidy up, and then I drove him home. It was 4 am.

"Get any numbers?" I asked him in the car. "None." And that was that.