LorBert Series (Part 5) - Jay & The Chaplin Chick

Chaplin's, located at Holland Village, was home ground to me as I lived nearby and knew everybody there. As a result, I never needed to call anyone to arrange to meet there. I just needed to show up and "my people" would already be there ahead of me. Such, was the pinnacle of my social life but yet, I was incredibly lonely then.

It was a couple of months after my separation from Tiffany when I met Lynn. I was introduced to her via Hoon, whom was my close girl-buddy back in school.

As the exams neared, Lynn would travel all the way to NTU to join us in the library to study. Thereafter, I would drive her home, before heading back to my own.

Come Friday, after we were done for the day of studying, we would all hopped into my car and we would all go partying the night away. We often partied so hard that we always ended up crashing at my place. Perhaps the good thing about living alone is that I could do whatever I wanted, have whoever I wished, and whenever I desired, at my place. Before anyone know it, Lynn was spending more and more nights as my place to the extend of having her own toothbrush in my bathroom.

Contrary to what everybody is thinking right now, nothing happened between us. I just got out of a crash-and-burn and wasn't really ready to get back onto the saddle again. Still, I appreciate having an additional person in the house.

Then one night at about 2am in the morning, my phone rang. It was her friends calling to tell me that she got pissed drunk at Chaplin's and they were on the way over to dump her at my place. I took the elevator down to my lobby shortly after and there they were waiting to unload her over to me. I carried her back and laid her on my bed.

A thousand questions must have been racing through my head then.

"What the hell is she doing on my bed at this very moment?"

"Why me? Why of all places, come to my place? Why not go back to her own home? Why here?"

"She REALLY drunk?"
"Is this some kind of an open invitation?"

"Should I take her?"

Frustratingly, there were not a single answer to any of those questions as I found myself sitting in the dining room playing back the questions over and over again.

I couldn't sleep as I was struggling mentally. Ended up sitting there until the sun came up. It was a beautiful sunrise but I was too distracted to appreciate it. She woke up, washed up and left without a word.

I blew it.

I was too stupid/scared/chicken/thick to have seized the invitation laid out in front of me. I may have played the gentleman that night, but I certainly didn't come out feeling like a winner.

She soon graduated a year ahead of me and starting working for a Japanese company in a sales position. She struggled initially to meet her monthly quotas and I had to jump in to help her by stringing some of my contact together for her. Her office was near my place and unknowingly, I got sucked into the role of the enslaved chauffeur again. Whenever she needs me to pick her up, I would be there within a single phone call. Ahh.... what a nice "friend", I was.

The last day we were together was a Friday. I was to go partying at Chinoiserie while she was to be meeting her friends for drinks elsewhere. We had an early dinner and got a couple of hours to kill before our separate appointments. As we were walking and window shopping in Wisma Atria, I tried to hold her hand for the first time.

She flinched.

The message was deafeningly clear. It was over and the simple withdrawal of her hand was all that she needed to do to get the message across.

I never called her again after that day and neither did she since.

Song that triggered my memory of her each and every time? Love, Me - Colin Raye.

- Voxeros

1. vandice left...

Friday, 12 August 2005 3:21 am

Love, me? This one not lorbert leh... This smells like true love to me, one-sided unrequited though it is. You must have had deep affections for her, or did you paint her wrongly?

Aniwaz, after all these years, are you glad both of you chanced upon each other in this haphazard game called life?

2. Lynne left...

Friday, 12 August 2005 4:59 am

Funny, I was just singing to "Love, Me" last week ... almost everyday during my drive home. Makes me want to run away with the one who ran away from me ...

3. JayWalk left...

Friday, 12 August 2005 6:08 am :: 

Vandice: It was Lorbert, believe me. Yes, I painted quite a mild picture of her in the blog. I just didn't have the heart to up the intensity of the negatives, closer to what reality.
Just couldn't do it.

Lynne: Funny how your name and affinity to the song are so freakily similar. I hope Lynne and Lynn are different persons.
Fate can be pretty cruel at times.

4. kIm left...

Friday, 12 August 2005 10:46 am

You are incredibly sweet. Sigh. If only I can have such a 'friend' in my life.

5. akk left...

Friday, 12 August 2005 3:53 pm

u are too nice already lah...

6. Pam left...

Friday, 12 August 2005 4:41 pm

oh jay........................ let's speak soon.

7. JayWalk left...

Friday, 12 August 2005 4:41 pm :: 

kIm: Lucky never met you or else it would have been...
LorBert Series (Part 6) - Jay & The *cough* Sexy *cough* Little Smile.
 
akk: Good guys get trampled on. That is one lesson that I learnt.

8. JayWalk left...

Friday, 12 August 2005 4:49 pm ::

Pam: Hmm... you miss my "comedy talk show" already??!!! wow.... heh heh

9. Lynne left...

Friday, 12 August 2005 8:32 pm

Hahaha, I am not your "Lynn" lah, plus I am about 10,000 miles away from SIN, so can't be me. Tho', I have a female cousin named Lynn ... might be her?

I just listened to Collin again this morning ...

10. JayWalk left...

Friday, 12 August 2005 10:07 pm ::

Lynne: What a relief! Hmm, 10k miles away, North America or Europe?
"Lynn" should be 31 yrs old this year. Your cousin?

11. Lynne left...

Friday, 12 August 2005 10:51 pm

I am in the US, Minnesota.
Hmm, I think my cousin Lynn is younger than that, she should be 29 this year, so she can't be your "Lynn" too. But she's single, slim, pretty and very sweet, maybe she replace your "Lynn" one day?

12. JayWalk left...

Friday, 12 August 2005 10:59 pm :: 

Lynne: Hmm... I am seeing your comments here for the first time.
Oh dear, where are my manners? Welcome to JayWalk! Bon Lecture!
Better don't ask your cousin come and replace "Lynn" or I will have to write
LorBert Series (Part 7) - Jay & The Minnesota Replacement

13. JayWalk left...

Friday, 12 August 2005 11:00 pm :: 

Lynne: Then again hor, got picture? :P

14. Lynne left...

Saturday, 13 August 2005 12:17 am

Mr Lobert, please make up your mind leh! My cousin Lynn is back in SG lah, I am the only one in the family who is living in the US. She works in the Tampines Central area, if you hang around there, you might bump into her. Long (rebonded) hair, fair-skinned, big eyes, and very sweet-mannered gal ... Oh BTW, she graduated from NTU too (like you)!

15. JayWalk left...

Saturday, 13 August 2005 7:10 am :: 

Lynne: sigh.... thanks for the offer. That's very sweet but then hor, given that you only recently come aboard and hadn't the chance to catch up on my archives. Need to let you know that I am already married liao i.e. game over.
You studying in Minnesota?

16. jaschocolate left...

Saturday, 13 August 2005 2:22 pm

Sugar daddy got some many daughters liao.. still want one more ah.. GREEDY PIG!!! Anyway, i thought you wanted to write only 2 of ur stories, how come got 3? Hee..

17. JayWalk left...

Saturday, 13 August 2005 5:02 pm :: 

jaschocolate: Do I hear a thinge of jealousy?
Harlow, I never ask for more daugthers ok? Don't anyhow greedy pig hor...

I originally plan 2 of my own and 3 of other people. But there was that one (The Sweet Barracuda) that was so heart wrenching that I had to stop halfway. I couldn't finish it despite the fact that it wasn't even my own experience.

And so, I had to fill it in with The French Ballerina which I originally, didn't want to reveal coz too many people in my circle would know who I am talking about and would luuuurve to get their hands on the "inside story".

But in the end bor pian. Gaping hole must be plugged and so I 牺牲了!

18. vanna left...

Saturday, 13 August 2005 5:35 pm

so sweet & nice guy that you are.
not many nice guys exists in the world today.. lol.
and if they are nice, they are attached or married already

19. JayWalk left...

Saturday, 13 August 2005 8:01 pm :: 

vanna: You see me too up already lah. For that I thank thee.

I definitely no way near the "perfect man" benchmark that you are referring to as I too, have my fair share of quirks and flaws.

If I am really that "good", then I would still be, on this very day, the proverbial doormat that girls trample on.

20. Sheena left...

Sunday, 14 August 2005 3:17 am

Wah lau. THE FUCKING BITCH!!!
But you know something, that song "Love Me" always brings back memories of my ex-boyfriend (the one before Andy), because once he did something very sweet for me - he strummed the song on his guitar, sang it, recorded it down on a cassette tape and gave it to me. Awwww... everytime I hear that song I think of him.

Anyway, back to the bitch. You know why I say she's a bitch? Because she couldn't even reject you in a nice, classy way. Trying to act "gu niang" when she goes to your place and spends nights and sprawls on your bed... yeuch. I may be liberal, but there are some things a girl shouldn't do, and one of them is spending too many nights at the place of a guy who isn't your boyfriend (once or twice, under unavoidable circumstances like no transport home is ok lah).

21. JayWalk left...

Sunday, 14 August 2005 7:33 am ::

Sheena: We meet all kinds of people don't we? Funnily, I mini-cringed when I read the word "bitch". Perhaps I am a softie for I can't really get myself to really call somebody a "bitch" with such a gusto of hatred. 

Oh well, it's over and in the deep past liao.

LorBert Series (Part 4) - Wee & The Teenage White-Musk

Her name was Clara and it's the same girl from my Tuition Series though I was not the "Carrot-Top" in question here. After the thwarted attempt to "capture my hands" over Christmas, she had since moved her sight to the next target. Wee, from my earlier blog entry who happened to be tutoring Clara's cousin, was it.

How they got to know each other? I have no idea and I guess I'll never know.

The week before school started for new school year was the week we resumed our tuition. It was there that I found out about their clandestine affair when she pestered me to guess what Wee got her for Christmas. Initially, I refused to play her game but soon relented as I realised that the tuition wasn't going to get started until I accede to her demands.

First, was the Christmas card that she insisted that I read. I cringed internally at the amount of sweet diabetic mush that was penned inside. My skin crawled so bad that I had to grit my teeth to finish reading it without frothing at the mouth. Ahh... I began to realised what this was all about. She wanted to spite me for rejecting her advances earlier and she was trying to rub that in my face. Well, it didn't work as far as I was concerned coz I really bor chup about the whole ding dong. Please lah, she was only 14!!! Tuition KID some more. Well, obviously Wee thought differently but hey, it's none of my business.

Next, it was the pestering to see what gift he got for her. It was a little square box with a pink slip of paper inside. The paper turned out to be a receipt that you usually get from the old Chinese jewelers, and beneath it, was a pair of gold earrings. WTF??!!

Perhaps I was the swakoo one for I didn't know that it was appropriate to buy jewelry for a 14 year-old girl as a Christmas present? "Oh well," I murmured to myself, "thou shall not judge."

Here's the thing. This happened just 2 weeks after the thwarted Operation: Hand Capture. Boy, how fast she did move!! OK, so they became an item. No big deal although I quite disapprove of it, due to her age. However, I kept this to myself before being guilty of appearing holier-than-thou.

Then one Thursday evening*, I received her page when I was about to reach her place. She called to cancel her tuition that evening as "something at the last minute came up". I was quite peeved with the late notification for I had already traveled from Bukit Panjang via Woodlands via Mandai via Nee Soon via Upper Thomson and almost reaching her place already only to find out that she was going to call it off. Nah beh….. Si beh doo lan…

It wasn't days later, when I found out that she went to Fire with Wee that Thursday evening. WTF??!! I don’t mean to impose a double standard here against going to a nightspot but for fuck's sake, she is only 14 and still schooling while we are in NS. What the fuck is a 20-year old army boy bringing a 14-year school girl to Fire? Did I forget to mention that it was a fucking SCHOOL NIGHT??? WTF??!!

Anyway, the relationship lasted only a few more months thereafter when she kena potong jalan by Wee's campmate. I later found out what happened and boy, was it a lame-assed story.

Apparently, she called the camp looking for Wee, one fine evening, to chit chat since Wee was on guard duty that night. Wee wasn't around and so campmate David took the call. David, the weasel, chatted her up and the rest, they said was history as Clara jumped ship for the next guy. One phone call was all it took. Wow!

Poor Wee was in pieces when he got dumped. He couldn't sleep. He couldn't eat. Even to the extend where his folks had to call us for help.

For a 20-year old guy who got played by a 14-year old girl, I slap my forehead. *piak*

Song that triggered my memory of her each and every time? Don't Miss That Party Line - Bizz Nizz

* Knobby: That was the same night I ended up hiding in the TPH nurse's wardrobe. Heh heh... another story, another time if *cough cough* I am ever drunk enough to pen it down *cough*.

- Voxeros

1. Vandice left...

Thursday, 11 August 2005 2:30 am :: http://twiuc.blogspot.com

ONE call? Clara out window shopping ah? She is out looking for older lorberts to bring her to cool places lah. Classic case of using men as 'tools' But ain't it a lil too young at 14 to start? But I must say she has intuitive understanding of dicks, urm sorry, men.

2. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 11 August 2005 9:00 am :: 

Vandice: ONE was a figure of speech lah as in it all started with that ONE call. Not literally ONE call lah. At least that's what I thought.

I mean, this type of thing how to ask? It is pretty humiliating history liao and you still want to go dig for details? I didn't have the heart to do it leh.

In Clara's defence, the "using men" was probably unintentional lah. Ask any girl out there if they too were fickle at the tender age of 14. Can't say for the kids these days though. Back during our time, we were more innocent that the "monster brats" of today. *tongue in cheek*
 
However, it probably was through those experience that the girls start to learn and discover the fine art of chopping Roberts. Yes? No?

3. vandice left...

Thursday, 11 August 2005 9:26 am

Muahaha. Yes, bro. Willing lorberts though.

4. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 11 August 2005 9:30 am :: 

Vandice: I am sure that you are aware that the human DNA has been fully decoded. Yes?
I bet, upon closer look, there will be that one chain of protein that marks "Lorbert" in the Y-chromosome. Confirm sure got one.
sigh....

5. akk left...

Thursday, 11 August 2005 3:35 pm

sorry lah, but nice young girls aren't like that...damn! how i wish i was a bad girl last time...

6. Pam left...

Thursday, 11 August 2005 5:26 pm

maybe the 'Lorbert' DNA chain will one day be Darwin-ised...?? :) not sure if that's good or bad for man (woman)kind.

7. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 11 August 2005 5:37 pm :: 

akk: You know hor, nice young girls these days are hard to find liao loh....

Pam: We'll never know. Would we?

8. akk left...

Sunday, 14 August 2005 1:26 am

muhahahah...thank u hor, so now i nice OLD girl liao leh...sighz..:)

9. JayWalk left...

Sunday, 14 August 2005 1:46 am :: 

akk: You ah? Like I said, you animal animal one... how to be nice young girl? wahahahaa....

Lorbert Series (Part 3) - Jay & The French Ballerina

It was the start of my second year in University when I met Tiffany through Wee. The start of the new academic year also meant that the orientation activities were in full force. We were there at NUS to crash the Arts Jam N Hop when we met Wee and her.

I guessed she clicked well with the group and soon became a regular member of our partying gang. It was quite obvious that Wee had taken a fancy to her but the unfortunate thing was that it was equally obvious that the feeling wasn't mutual from her end as she had a hard time fighting off his advances.

Whenever the partying is done for the night, Wee was sure to volunteer his services to send her back. As you would have guessed, the offer was turned down just as often. I fell into this triangle as it was me who would end up sending her back, given that she lived very near me. It was only a matter of time and countless rides home that I’ve gotten to know her better than anyone else in the group.

I lived alone in a private apartment and she lived in the HDB flat a couple of blocks from me. I remembered there was one time when she had a big mid term coming up and the Hungry Ghost Festival's GeTais was driving her nuts. I got into my car, went over and drove her back to my place to study. My place was a conducive environment to study given that I lived on the upper floors and it was quiet and breezy. We would study and chat until the wee hours of the morning. Eventually, it became a regular thing for her to be at my place to chill and hangout. Knowing that I am the lazy bachelor that rather eat out then cook in, she would occasionally whip up something like a casserole of Mac&Cheese to bring over. She was such a sweetie.

Before you know it, we were going everywhere together, courtesy of the convenience of having a car. Be it fetching her from dance class or French class, I became the enslaved chauffeur without even knowing it.

Tiff and I were both aware of Wee's feelings towards her and we wanted to make known to him about this but we were afraid to break the news to him right before his exams. So we thought we would tell him when the exams were over. As luck would have it, he found out before we had the chance to tell him. Wee and I had a major falling out and it got pretty ugly as I appeared to be the bad guy who butted in.

Eventually, Tiff and I too went our separate ways when she wouldn't take the relationship forward since I wasn't a Christian which I thought was a lame excuse to give. At that time, I wasn't a Christian then and was not about to be one just because of her. It would have been for the wrong reason, wouldn't it?

At the end of it all, Wee and I made up shortly after falling out. Our years of friendship may have taken a beating but I was glad that it was strong enough to survive that. We are still good friends till this very day.

As for Tiff, we are still in touch via email although we have never met up since.

Song that triggered my memory of her each and every time? Return To Innocence - Enigma

- Voxeros

1. Meepok left...

Wednesday, 10 August 2005 8:32 am

Glad Wee and you patched up. Yep, friendships can survive irrational hormonal surges over the opposite sex.

Is Tiff married to a very rich and old man now?

2. vanna left...

Wednesday, 10 August 2005 1:32 pm

but sometimes heart rules over head especially when u r in the midst of the turmoil.
at least, you guys have made up even though there was a crack.. tat's sort of good news, i guess

3. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 10 August 2005 1:41 pm ::

MeePok: Don't know who this other guy is except that he is a Hong Konger and she had since moved over with him.

He older than us but not Anna Nicole Smith's type of old lah.

Rich? No idea but given he is older that us, no surprise if back then, the guy is more financially established than the rest of us.

4. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 10 August 2005 2:10 pm :: 

vanna: We were both relief and glad that we were able to put it behind us. I guess the fact that we both finished empty handed, allowed us to take a step back and laugh at our own follies over a mug beer.

5. Vandice left...

Thursday, 11 August 2005 2:27 am :: http://twiuc.blogspot.com

I took some time to think abt this. JW, do you sometimes think abt what could have been? As in, if you were already Christian?

6. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 11 August 2005 9:04 am ::

Vandice: That's a good question that I know not myself.
I think my take on this, is to leave things as they were and not speculate "what if this" or "what if that". Chances are, you will never get an answer that you would be satisfied with anyway.
Let It Be. Just remember the good bits, can liao.

7. vandice left...

Thursday, 11 August 2005 9:28 am

Tt is as good advice as anything. Take it as it comes lah hor? One door close, another open no?

8. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 11 August 2005 9:52 am :: 

Vandice: Like the Chinese saying goes "要拿得起, 放得下".
Every day you saved by not mourning your loss, is a day gained to a new discovery.

9. akk left...

Thursday, 11 August 2005 3:30 pm

at least in this case, it's nobody's fault leh. all just big misunderstanding...at least she never string ur fren along leh.... but did u feel that she strung u along??

10. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 11 August 2005 5:34 pm ::

Akk: Sure got string string a bit one lah.... or else how come he doesn't know when to quit? 

I never kena string. Mine was rope. Thick thick no horse run one. haiz....

LorBert Series (Part 2) - Kang & The Swiss Miss

Kang and I were buds since Sec 1 and being neighbours, we were going to school and back together everyday. The year was 1986 and we were both in Sec 3. We would wait for each other at East Sussex bus stop every morning and we would alternate our 2 routes to school with each semester.

Route #1
Bus No. 200 or 5 to go down Sixth Avenue where we would change bus at Dunearn Road to take either 170, 171, 172, 175, 180 or 182. The "scenery" would include girls from Whitley, Swiss Cottage, RGS, SCGS, NanYang, MGS, Monk's Hill, St Margaret, just to name a few(!).

Route #2
Bus No. 7 down Holland Road, where we would alight at Specialists' Centre to take CSS No.3. Scenery was lesser in variety but higher in concentration of the SCGS, MGS and RGS pedigrees.

Yes, we were very much enslaved by our own adolescent hormones back then.

Then there was this one day when we were about to embark on another Route #1 when Kang decided not to take the 200. He said that he needed to take the 165 to Clementi instead, which by the way, was totally illogical as it was the opposite direction to school. I didn't put much thought into it initially until curiosity got the better of me after two weeks of traveling to school alone.

I met Kang at East Sussex bus stop as usual and we both boarded the 165. We got off at Clementi and took another bus across the street and got off at the far end of Dunearn Road where Yeo Hiap Seng bottling plant used to be. It was there, where all was revealed. Kang was smitten with this Swiss Cottage girl whom he had gotten to know recently. LM was her name and Swiss Cottage, being a bus stop before ours, meant that Kang had the whole stretch of Dunearn Road to be with her.

I could see that she was enjoying the company but warned Kang that he wasn't going to get anywhere with her. She was leading him on. Alas, 当局者迷，旁观者清, he wouldn't hear any of it and I went back to going to school via my usual routes.

Things gotten worse for Kang as another guy from our school, showed up regularly at the Yeo Hiap Seng bus stop, doing the exact thing that Kang was doing. Alan, too, was bitten by the LM bug and the damsel then found herself with 2 escorts to go to school each morning. As luck would have it in all Taiwanese soaps, Alan and Kang were classmates and both fell out with each other, turning their friendship into rivalry.

After countless bus rides, coupled with the showers of little gifts and cards, both bit the dust at the end of it all. I knew about the gifts as I was always the guy to lend money to Kang to tide over the rest of the month.

Hitomi: This is the LM that I mentioned from SAJC. I bumped into her a couple of years later at Shaw Towers Burger King when we were in JC and again in Canteen A, when we were in NTU. What happened in between will be another story, another time, if at all.

Song that triggered my memory of her each and every time? We Build This City - StarShip

- Voxeros

1. Zhe Bin left...

Tuesday, 9 August 2005 2:07 am

gosh. im from swiss cottage. ya back then swiss was in dunearn rd. now it resides in bt gombak. = )

did your 2 friends make up?
yes, we'll be waiting for the story.

2. vandice left...

Tuesday, 9 August 2005 3:51 am :: http://twiuc.blogspot.com

Warraoz... Eh JW, how did you know she was leading them on huh? Must have been a babe rite? Somehow you sound like a big brother sorta character to yer frens leh...

3. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 9 August 2005 4:52 am :: http://voxeros.blog-city.com

Zhe Bin: They never made up coz after O-levels, they went their separate ways and had lose contact since.

vandice: Unknown to the two clowns, I knew LM but I just kept quiet about it. I tried to warn Kang about the upcoming brick wall and like I said earlier, he wouldn't listen and so I let him go ahead and long piak lor. I mean, that's what friends are for right? ~LOL

Babe? OK lah... not bad lah. Short hair (like Anita Mui in the 80s) and very bubbly. Then hor, I thought her friend Brenda more chio leh. *blush*

Big brother? I guessed so in this case but not everytime I tai kor one lah. There are other friends who were big brother to me too.

4. ahdokboy left...

Tuesday, 9 August 2005 9:39 am :: http://ahdokboy.blogspot.com

hey man...was reading your last post. Eh your wife doesn't read your blog? Won't she get insanely jealous when she reads it?

5. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 9 August 2005 11:11 am :: 

ahdokboy: Good to see you back online again.
I am not sure if she reads my blog. I seriously doubt so as blog is not really her thing.
Even if she does read the blog, she won't go postal on me for the following reasons:
1) The events were before her time.
2) She probably knew about them already.
3) Would she rather I lie about it?

6. akk left...

Thursday, 11 August 2005 3:24 pm

aiyo....young puppy love...

7. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 11 August 2005 5:32 pm :: 

Akk: Yah.... 2 of them somemore.

8. hitomi left...

Monday, 15 August 2005 4:10 pm

Was LM from SAJC Commerce? Need to refer to yearbook to see how she looks like.

9. JayWalk left...

Monday, 15 August 2005 5:34 pm :: 

hitomi: I think so but she is 2 years older than you. Can still locate meh?

10. hitomi left...

Tuesday, 16 August 2005 11:58 am

my sis, who is your age, also went SAJC. think she has the year book too.

11. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 16 August 2005 2:06 pm :: 

hitomi: Eh, if you can locate her picture, scan and post it up to see, can? Heh heh.... very kaypoh leh... ahhahha

12. hitomi left...

Tuesday, 16 August 2005 7:37 pm

Uncle, my service doesn't come free. Bribe me first. ;-)

13. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 16 August 2005 9:56 pm ::

hitomi: Bribe you? Easy peasy.

14. hitomi left...

Wednesday, 17 August 2005 9:13 am

Really? What's your "offer"?

15. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 17 August 2005 1:38 pm :: 

hitomi: Let me think about it first... heh heh...

LorBert Series (Part 1) - Jay & The Dancing Ruby

This would probably by far the hardest series to write about as I journeyed back into the painful parts of my past as well as that of the others. I will start with my own and end with another of my own with 3 other LorBerts to fill in between. Two Lorbert ordeals of my own is probably more than I can take and I shan't write more.

I met Ruby when I was in NS during one of our Christmas parties at my place. She was somebody's sister who tagged along. We kinda hit it right off that night and chatted all the way till the end of the party oblivious to rest of the world, despite the fact that I was the host of the night. She, to me, was "the rest of the world" that night.

We were very different in our backgrounds but it didn't seem to matter then. She stopped schooling after her O-levels and was a dancer on Channel 8 variety show while I was an NS boy with a place in the University nicely secured and waiting. It didn't matter that night as I got her number and we started talking on the phone regularly.

We went out together pretty often after that but only as friends and always late at night for I was still in the army and she had practices and rehearsals. Wednesdays were "Ruby Nights" as I had to stay at home at 8:45pm to help her record down her performance off the telly and then rush over to Caldecott Hill to pick her up and pass her the videotape. Like a regular routine, it's off to supper where she was most impressive at seeking out all nooks and crannies, scattered all over the island, for good food. Good thing I had a car or I would never be able to make it back to camp under the cover of darkness each time.

The most memorable would be the hawker stall at Rochor Road market where they cooked instant noodles. I kid you not. They sold instant noodles which we could have easily stayed at home and do it ourselves, thus saving us the dosh. However, what set them apart was that the stall top off the noodles with lots of "liao" like egg, mince meat, mushrooms, veggie, etc, in addition to the very very yummy soup base. Absolutely delicious for the humblest of fare.

Most of the time it's sending her back after supper but we did, from time to time, have the occasional impulse to take long walks together in the dead of night. Be it the beach at East Coast Park or the street along Balestier Road, we just wanted to stroll and chit chat under the open night sky. You gotta love this country where it's safe to be doing that without worrying about getting mugged.

Chinese New Year's Eve was the most depressing time of the year for her. They were the "second family" and that was the day where the dad has to go back to his wife and family for the reunion dinner. It was a bitter pill to swallow to see her mom aka the mistress, brother and herself miserably abandoned on that day where families were supposed to be together.

I was there. I was the shoulder. I was the pillar. I was the cradle. I was there.

We went our separate ways after a while for she said that she wasn't ready to get into a relationship yet. I backed off and gave her the breathing space and pining for the day when she would come back to me, realising how much I adored her. She stopped her dancing shortly after and left for Malaysia to help her uncle with the business.

We lost touch there and then until one day from out of the blue, I receive an invitation to her 21st birthday party. Two years had passed since. I called her up to catch up and was more than eager to accept the invitation. I found out over that phone call that she had returned about 6 months ago and had started flying with Singapore Airlines.

I made my way to the party at Chinese Swimming Club that fateful evening, hoping to pick up where we last left. Alas, I bumped into Luke, a fellow campmate from the NS days, there at the party too. We were both surprised to see eachother and we talked, updating each other on our lives since we RODed. He dwelt into his "how-Ruby & I-met" story and shockingly, it was the same story that I would have told had he not started first. I kept this to myself and offered an alternative cock and bull story about how it was the brother that invited me and not Ruby herself to the birthday party. I wanted to save him the devastation of finding out that we were both being two-timed right from day one.

I was there. I was the LorBert. I was there.

Despite all these and the 15 years that had passed us by, I still have fond memories of her and the time we spent together. Hopeless Lorbert, I was. Yes? No?

Song that triggered my memory of her each and every time? Fantasy - Black Box.

-Voxeros

1. Meepok left...

Monday, 8 August 2005 12:23 am

Thanks for sharing your Lobert story. Makes me feel much better about my mis-adventures. Good to know that I was not alone :-) May your postings this week help Loberts-to-be wise up to the fact that there are many char bors out there who will not hesitate to exploit them.

2. ris left...

Monday, 8 August 2005 12:33 am

...oh no...that's so sad! what happened in the end?

3. Vandice left...

Monday, 8 August 2005 1:21 am :: http://twiuc.blogspot.com

Ooh, dude. You make a really good campmate. You spared him the heartbreak.
Mebbe she was looking for companionship and both of you thought she was loving ya. Mebbe she dun trust guys enuf to let them into her life, being in the unenviable position of a mistress's offspring. But I'm sure you know tt.
Bittersweet hor, like that stubborn walnut tt took half a day to open, yet taste bad cos never remove the bitter stuff fully. What could have been...

4. JayWalk left...

Monday, 8 August 2005 6:40 am ::

MeePok: Wise up? Never. It is the law of the jungle where the coyote is destined to fail to capture the road runner again and again and again and again.

ris: Nothing much. I bump into her on the streets years later when I was working shortly after graduating. We went for coffee and had a chat.

She left SQ and was hinting about wanting to settle down and blah blah blah.

Too bad, too late. The fire in the torch had long been extinguished. Even the ambers were cold and dead for a long time liao. No chance whatsoever coz I've moved on with my life.

So I said good luck to her when we parted and have never contacted her since.

5. JayWalk left...

Monday, 8 August 2005 6:43 am :: 

Vandice: You look me too up lah. It wasn't that I wanted to spare him the heartbreak. I did it for selfish reasons. I didn't tell him so that he won't find out that I was being two-timed, like him.

Walnuts are my favourite. It is THAT bitter part that I love about it. haiz......

6. AKK left...

Monday, 8 August 2005 10:26 am

Hmm....I've never been two-timed, at least...not that I know of...but i know the feeling of being used again and again, so what's the female version of Lobert?

7. vanna left...

Monday, 8 August 2005 12:52 pm

oh my god.. so evil to find out about being two-timed.
i never two-timed anyone cos i was afraid of retribution. bad karma... haha

8. JayWalk left...

Monday, 8 August 2005 1:07 pm :: http://voxeros.blog-city.com

akk: I have no idea of knowing if there is a female version of a Lorbert for mostly it is always us guys who are baited into slavery.

vanna: I have done it before but technically, it was just an overlap of relationships with the prior break-up not as clean as I would have wanted.

Speaking of karma, perhaps you are right about this one. Perhaps this was the karma for the previous two-timer.

And speaking of two-timer, I was wearing the Tissot Two-Timer during that time when I two-timed. :P

9. vanna left...

Monday, 8 August 2005 2:07 pm

hmm.. gals are always being cheated or two-timed besides guys.
but i got to admit, some gals luv to make use of guys' attention to the fullest. & that equates using 2 or 3 guys to make up all the attention a gal need.
anyway, i just need one guy & its more than sufficient. very tiring to spend time with both.. haha
btw, i luv ur watch.. haha

10. JayWalk left...

Monday, 8 August 2005 2:35 pm ::

Vanna: I wore that when I was in JC, a time when plastic watches was starting to come into fashion (pre-Swatch era).
Anyone remember Smash watches?
Strangely, I am still wearing a Tissot Two Timer 17 years later, albeit the updated model.
I can't say the same about the other kind of two-timing though. ~LOL

11. kIm left...

Monday, 8 August 2005 7:31 pm

I hate two-timers. Those HK drama serials kind are sufficient to make me infuriated. Not to mention real life ones.

12. vish left...

Monday, 8 August 2005 11:46 pm :: http://vish-upon-a-star.blogspot.com/

Awwww... you poor thing.
But then again, maybe she just treated the both of you as friends only leh, like good friends?
I liked that coyote and lode runner quote. So so so true.
Why love so complicated?

13. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 9 August 2005 10:42 am :: 

kIm: I won't be that quick to pass judgment just yet.

While I am not saying that two-timing is right, I have to say that some times, we were unwittingly led by circumstances into that situation.

What mattered more is if the two-timer/timee has had the chance to get out of it and start afresh.

People make mistakes and so have I. I think we should be given a chance to redeem ourselves rather than burning us at the stake.

I have been on both sides at different points in my life and both were very different experiences and they are now both little spots in my life's path that Jay has Walked on. :)

14. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 9 August 2005 11:03 am :: 

vish: Well, I made it out alive and so I guess it's all good.

You may be right if it was merely one-way traffic on our parts and that we were making fools of ourselves. 

Perhaps the greatest reward from that experience was that I learn to be able to laugh about it, when I look back. 

Love is complicated simply because that is the one and only way to make you feel alive with its roller-coaster ups and downs.