17. Fandi Ahmad's number. 7 Beckam's number, well used to be. 23, his new number. But 23 is special. 23 has always been reserved for one person and one person only. Michael Jordan, his royal airness. It is his number, Beckam or not.

Last night saw the coming together of 2 extremes, yet they seeked and settled for the same release. Booze. Drinking till everything around you was spinning and your head feels like it weighed a thousand tonnes. Drinking till you could not even speak without slurring and drinking till you laugh at every little thing.
A couple of them was down, really really down. One chose to drink and just sit quietly in the corner, minding his own business after that. The other was a little wild, which was a little out of character. It was a role reversal really because it used to be the other way round years ago. Age had probably mellowed one, and released the other. One more was just happy to be out.
The last was there for good company. Nope, I'm neither one of them.

I'm surprised because I thought that I would get really sloshed, which would be a good escape from matters. But I did not. Why? Hmmm... good question. I myself did not have the answers. Maybe it was because I realised I actually hated the foul taste of beer and whisky. Or maybe it was because I hated the hangover which came as a package deal whenever a person got dead drunk. Or maybe... just maybe, it was the company? No, don't get me wrong, the company was great, in fact, they were perfect. They were really good people to drink with. But a part of my heart and my mind, it was somewhere else. If your heart and mind are not in the matters at hand, be it work or play, then you are just half a person. Unable to do the job at hand, unable to enjoy and release yourself.

I'm sorry for anyone who would read this and was present last night. To hear that I was just half a person there and not fully 'present' must have been quite a lousy thing to hear. But then again, my happy friend was probably happy because he is going to get married soon and his heart and mind must have been at home with his wife-to-be. My 2 sad friends must have been thinking of someone or something else in order to feel that way. So in truth, we are all 'not there' last night.

Someday, I will go drinking again, only this time with no worries. I will be happy as a lark because my joy will be there with me, beside me and drinking with me. In this way, my heart and mind is right there with me.

Sorry my friends, for not being there. But I hoped that I was there enough for you.