Nocturnalia II

It's been a strange weekend. As if it's not enough that I didn't sleep on Friday night, and made up for it on Saturday by sleeping till 6 in the evening, I went and did it all over again by joining my sociology honours mates for a boozing session at Newton Hawker Centre before adjourning to Party World KTV at Orchard till 4:30am.

Alcohol, late nights and singing: not a good programme for recovery from a cold. Not especially when it's petering off into a persistent dry cough.

But the company's more than worth it. The sociology honours bunch aren't people I'd take a bullet for but we've got a camaraderie that's quite unrivalled among coursemates at NUS. Today, about 16 of us, 2 significant others and 2 lecturers turned up. We collectively downed more than 30 large bottles of Heneiken and cracked more bad jokes than you can shake a finger at.

Karaoke was a rowdy 10-man session in a VIP room with the standard roster of classic rock, oldies and American Top 40 hits being belted out. Somehow, the dim, enclosed environs and boisterous company actually takes all the embarrassment out of liking songs in these genres.

It's with a little sadness that I indulge in all this, because I know I'll hardly have the opportunity to once I start working.