An evening with friends @ Restoran Ayoob, Batu Berendam

There are those who shun work, as working life has it's rough edges and nerve-wrecking moments. Especially for those who work in a semiconductor manufacturing facility running 24-hours round the clock.

Outside of the factory walls, after office hours are over, I'm fortunate to have a close circle of friends, who have instilled in their hearts at least one of the four of Don Miguel Ruiz's famous Four Agreements - don't take things personally.

To be honest, I was not very sure where exactly that was, so luckily I happened to look left when I was trying to look right - and just managed to make the left turn off the main road. Good thing no cars or motorcycles were near me - otherwise I'd have to drive onwards and U-turn somewhere in front.

I was "highly engaged" at office today, so just lost track of time, resulting in my arrival some ten minutes after the official starting time of 8.00 pm *sharp*. It was still relatively early, so there was a lot of available parking spaces. My friends were already there - joining together four separate tables to accommodate everyone.

Kam and Florence were there with their two sons at the far end of the table, with Kua, Amelia, Lim KS and Chong Wee Kiong seated along the opposite length of the table. On "my side" were Tan SH and wife, and Lo Chea Thin as well. Our group of friends go back a long way to a time when Infineon was Siemens, when there was still the OJV department. Still keeping in touch although some have already left Vishay for Sunpower, Texas Instruments (formerly knows as National Semiconductor) and Infineon.

It's not possible to have a single group discussion with such a large crowd, so there were several "chat rooms" discussion different topics (different languages too). So, it's somewhat like channel surfing where I occasionally switch to a different group and join in the discussion. I find it's a good mental exercise to be able to do this seamlessly.... :)

Kam and Florence were the first to leave, not a surprise as they had their two sons with them. We had some some more friends joining too (arriving later than me, so I wasn't the last). Jenny See, Heng and Chong FC with his wife Sim BL kept the headcount balanced after Kam and family left.

I found out that Chong FC was going on a trip to ascend Gunung Kinabalu next month - unfortunately he did not tell me earlier, as I'm still keen on going there. Have yet to see for myself what lies beyond Laban Rata - failed the last time, just like the attempt before....

We were there for some time - it was not very hot that day, and the volume of the TV was not so high as to impede our conversations. Something that I strongly emphasize when choosing a place to sit down with friends. By the end of the session, I had consumed 1 roti kosong, 1 roti telur, 1 cheese naan, 1 kopi-o kosong, 1 teh-o and 1 teh tarik. All for the price of RM8.70. Expensive or cheap, you decide....

Coincidentally, patronizing Ayoob too was a senior colleague (former big boss) who I refer to as "Uncle Terry" (our friend know who I'm talking about). Also saw Yeo EK there too. The world is really small - at least when everyone is still in Melaka. After my friends decided to call it a night and head for home, I hopped over to the next table for "second round" of catching up on times since we all went our separate ways.

Time moves quickly in the company of old friends, so it wasn't until someone realized it was already midnight that we finally decided to call it a night (for me, the second time).

Today's gathering was a good one, as usual, as it was always good to see friends together outside of work (though sometimes in large companies, this doesn't always happen). Apart from Heng, Kua and Chong FC trying to figure out how to check whether it was high tide or low tide (all set for going fishing next), none of us were glued to our phone / tablet. Chea Thin did share a video clip of some of our other friends dancing to a "quite famous Korean song". It's the one like riding a horse, so you can probably guess what song I'm talking about...!

I'm always happy to meet up with my friends and not only keep in contact in cyberspace. Hope we can keep ourselves together as we have done throughout these years - from single and young to family and... still young (just not as young as before)! :)