I know I said that I won’t update my blog until the weekend. But I’m seriously in no mood to study and just witnessed something quite, quite amusing.

I came back from a rooftop BBQ that ended a few hours ago. It was organized by my hostel management to help us get to know our neighbours and hopefully, make a few friends, even though we (tenants) all know that we’re probably never see each other again after our six months contract end and we move out to better lodgings.

Unless we go to the same school. Even then, we’ll probably not see each other unless we are in the same faculty. Even if we were in the same faculty, we will probably be doing different courses. Even if we were doing the same course, we will probably have different class schedules.

So the chances of maintaining friendships are quite slim. Unless we become very chummy during the next six months. If we even bother to meet up.

During the BBQ in the cold, crisp night air where I enjoyed piping hot Aussie BBQ and music from a live band and generally, just soaking in the atmosphere and enjoying myself, there were quite a few rowdy people. No alcohol was provided and it was strictly BYO (Bring Your Own alcohol, for those uninitiated). So a number of people bought their own beers and liquors.

And it was a lot.

I decided to abstain because frankly, I rarely drink on weekdays and I hate Wednesdays (another topic). So I got myself a Pepsi and just waited in the long line for my hot dogs. A few Australians came up to me and joked with me that about the no alcohol, no hot dogs policy. I joked back that I had one Heineken in my fridge (I do) but didn’t want to lose my place in the line. It was just some bantering around to get to know each other. They were very friendly guys and they offered me beer. Of course I accepted their offer (even though I decided to abstain) but they later forgot about their offer.

I didn’t want to bother them about it because after all, its their beer and they were the ones offering me it. Anyway, after I got my hot dogs and stood in one corner devouring it, two girls from my floor, whom I knew, came up to join the party. They didn’t want any hot dogs so we stood that chatting. To be more accurate, they chatted while I was watching this girl.

This girl had a beer and was talking and giggling with a group of people near us. Let’s call her girl A. Now, Girl A was a little boisterous and was being a social butterfly, flittering here and there with her friends. As I was at the BBQ earlier, I knew she had a Heineken previously and so just assumed that she was high.

Well, I was wrong.

The two girls whom I was with decided to head back to their rooms and so I followed them. But after a few minutes of moping around in my room and acknowledging the fact that I was in no mood to study, I headed back to the BBQ alone to just enjoy the festive mood.

I recognized one of the Indian dudes and started chatting with him. When he remembered I was Singaporean, he started to look around for another Singaporean guy he met as he wanted to introduce us. Thankfully he didn’t (See “Secret Societies and NDP” for reason).

Meanwhile, Girl A was now very boisterous. She was staggering around, laughing and talking loudly to every person she met. One of the guys who was subjected to her constant laughing told us that she just had one beer.

One beer? Really? I thought it was two or three?

Girl A generally made a fool of herself. She grabbed and pawed at this French guy (I assume, because of his angular face) who did not look please and told her to stop it.

The rest of us just grinned and laughed at her antics.

Someone mentioned that she was Malaysian. But I could be wrong. She could be Singaporean, Thai, Filipino or something else. Anyway, her nationality is not of great importance.

Her friend was trying to calm Girl A down and at times, had to drag her away. This farce continued for the the next 10 minutes or so, Girl A talking to people, being very chummy and friendly, laughing and hopping around and her friend following her, desperately trying to calm her down.

Then for some unknown reasons to me, Girl A broke down and cried.

Girl A started shaking her head violently every time her friend tried to talk to her and later, Girl A sat on a bench and continued sobbing.

Oh, has the beer haze lifted?

Girl A’s friend bought her water and after a few minutes, Girl A calmed down sufficiently. I think the reason why Girl A broke down was because she realized she just embarrassed herself  in front of half the hostel tenants, not to mention the staff too. I can’t confirmed this because I was just standing at one side watching the whole drama. So its just an assumption.

That was one reason why I abstained from any alcohol. If you ever want to impress anyone and give a great first impression, the first rule is: DON’T GET DRUNK. DON’T GET DRUNK. Have one beer to loosen up, if you must. But DON’T GET DRUNK.

Especially when you are in front of a group of people who will bump into you in the lobby for the next six months. It’s okay to get drunk with your group at a pub or club. Because it is a pub/club and they’ll be 50-100 other people drinking their heads in. But at a get-together BBQ? Sure, it’ll be fine if there was a group of males (and females) playing beer pong and having a drinking competition.

Unfortunately the rest of us were sober.

Note to Girl A (If she ever reads my blog and identifies herself): Its okay to get drunk. I get drunk. Sometimes really, really shit-faced drunk. And those times are not the times you would want to be around me. Unfortunately, you were the only one drunk/high/tipsy and the rest of us were not. But don’t take it to heart, take it as lesson learned, ok?

P.S. Damn, Aussies can really drink! I saw a lot of empty beer bottles but no one seemed out of control (except Girl A).