Our friendship was forged from playing bridge all day long when we were supposed to be working. Ok we did do our science shows (this involves one narrator and one actor prancing around pretending to be certain animals), squid dissections and guided tours and we were all good at what we do (I was a pretty convincing giraffe, or so they say) so we deserve our little breaks now and then (actually they took up abt 70% of the hours we clocked per day). And bridge is really the perfect way to build up a good relationship--- Trust and gratitude for your partner, suspicion for your enemies, co-operation and communication with each other… I recommend all couples to try it. And if you can endure playing the game for 7 hours everyday, you’re sure to endure whatever setbacks that may come your way in the future.
You might wonder how we can afford to slack on the job without our boss noticing. It involves a complicated scheme that requires brains, charm, connections and wile.
First, we arranged with the counter people (this is actually our good friend Bao, who just happens to like bridge too) to inform us when they see any big heads heading our way. Then KK and I would rush to the main exhibition area to meet and distract the heads while Liang and Zah would enter via exit B such that while I’m charming the heads, they could appear from behind them and mill around looking useful. Yan would stay behind in the rest area and pretend to be ill so that she could pack and hide the cards. Ingenious, don’t you think? But of course there were glitches at times, like when our dear lookout also played bridge with us, then we might be caught by surprise by footsteps just outside the rest area. That calls for drastic plan B. Liang would quickly grab newspapers, cover the cards and pretend to read. Any remaining cards would be swept under Zah’s arms and she would flop down on the table and pretend to sleep. Yan and I would try to arrange our faces into slightly less guilty features and face the big heads. Extremely terrifying, those days. I had many a nightmare about it.
So you can imagine our love for bridge when we continued playing against the odds. And it was really fun, we weren’t like a bunch of old fogeys playing quietly, sometimes we even got high. Some of us may burst into song (Remember Liang’s ‘I’m sorry’ song?) and others into expletives (Zah) and some (me and yan) would just suddenly go crazy and laugh continuously or do our head-shaking thingy to Jay chou or sing silly meaningless songs. Also, we cheat.
Remember Roald Dahl’s story about the couple who came up with a complicated pattern of codes and gestures to cheat at bridge? Well, our method is slightly simpler.
When bidding:
Nod meaningfully and make agreeable noises (me) when someone bid for a suit you’re strong in and you know you’d be called as partner. Or you can show a big thumb’s up sign (Bao).
When calling your partner:
Let the bidder know what cards you have by making some discreet signs like putting your fingers together to form an acute angle (Ace) or swinging your arms around like how a mother would when she carries a baby (queen). These are thought up by yan and I, much to the exasperation of Liang.
When communicating with your partner:
Let your partner know what suit you’re strong in by playing the suit then tapping on the card twice with your index finger (Bao) or cough and wriggle your eyebrows expressively when that suit is played (me).
When a player has strong cards:
If a player has 23 points and above, bully him into a 3 v 1 and then cheat shamelessly among the three using the above methods and more. This happened to Liang, who got 25 points. We coughed and tapped and even ‘accidentally’ showed each other our cards, but still, we lost.
Even now I still enjoy playing with these people much more than with other friends. And we still meet up regularly to play.
To you RZ folks, I love you guys to bits. You brought out the zany side of me and I’ve never been able to return to my demure self ever since.
Photos of us!
The M.A.D
Us acting cool
The M.A.D is a name given to us by another ex-colleague (we call him our Ah pa) and is a spoof of S.H.E. Yan’s Maddy, I’m Ah Gong3 (blur) and Bao’s Dummy. So chio right? The girl on the left is looking for any male, rich doctor, the girl in the middle is looking for someone tall, dark and handsome who plays basketball and preferably looks like Xiao An and the girl on the right is looking for either Brad Pitt, Jude Law or Legolas. Interested males, pls contact me.
(Disclaimer: This blog is not a subsidiary of SDU, any matchmaking services are strictly not for monetary rewards.)
Shu nus
Happily digging her nose
Backstabbing each other at bridge
How i look when i'm backstabbed
How others look when i'm backstabbed
1 comment:
i love this entry to bits
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