Xue, Huiling, Sherry and I were trying to make plans for Thursday. We were thinking of a bakuteh lunch. That includes a trip to Klang, but an issue popped up: Xue had a three o'clock appointment that she absolutely must not be late for. So we spent half the night discussing, and came up with the best foolproof solution. Obviously, this could not have been achieved had we not been so familiar with the people involved.

But since we spent half the night in discussion anyway, i shall not let that go to waste and put up the three possible scenarios that we came up with, with a lil alteration here and there, of course... hey, it's poetic license!

Ideal Scenario (highly unlikely to happen, but possible nontheless like when the moon turns to green cheese):
11.00 a.m.:- Sherry arrives at my place with Xue, give or take 10 minutes, and we leave in my car for Huiling's place.

11.30 a.m.:-  Huiling is miraculously awake and ready to go; Light&Easy reports that the moon has turned to green cheese but that doesn't hinder our merry departure from Huiling's place to Klang 10 minutes later.

12.00 p.m.:- We reach Klang and find ample parking; More importantly, we didn't lose our way; We order our food without any complications, thanks to Huiling, Sherry and Xue's powerful command of Mandarin.

12.30 p.m.:- Steaming pot of Bakuteh arrives; we eat without further ado and silently bask in the wonderful company that we're in.

1.30 p.m.:- The last bite has been swallowed; We dab our mouths with the napkins and enjoy our tea.

1.45 p.m.:- We settle the bill and embark on a leisurely drive home.

2.15 p.m.:- We reach P.J.; Ample time for Xue to make her appointment, be it via chauffer-driven car or public transportation.

Most Possible Scenario (kinda speaks for itself, doesn't it?)
11.00 a.m.:- Sherry wakes up late; arrives 15 minutes past 11; We dash off to Huiling's place.

11.30 a.m.:- All that dashing put us back on schedule; Huiling is still asleep, why are we not surprised?; We wake her up and watch her work her 10 minute magic.

12.00 p.m.:- Everyone's in the car; we make a mad dash to Klang, berating Sherry for waking up late; Huiling's not berated coz she's sleeping in the car.

12.30 p.m.:- The car is parked; Ordering becomes a slight hassle when Huiling sees the pot of Bakuteh at the next table arrive with lettuce leaves in it.

1.15 p.m.:- Food arrives; We do more talking than eating; We also try to convince Huiling that vegetables're good for health; Huiling tries to convince us that the layers of fat in the meat is essential to maintaining a slim body and a healthy mind.

1.45 p.m.:- Panic strikes; We shove everything down our throats.

2.15 p.m.:- We're done!; The bill is settled and we rush home, as fast as Pacman's four lil wheels can go, carrying extremely heavy cargo.

2.30 p.m.:- We reach P.J.; Thankfully, Xue can still make her appointment if she gets there via chauffer-driven car.

Worst-Case Scenario (Highly possible; The moon doesn't have to turn to green cheese for this)
11.00 a.m.:- Xue calls to tell me that sherry called to tell her that she just woke up.

11.30 a.m.:- Sherry arrives with Xue; We make a mad dash to Huiling's place.

11.45 a.m.:- We arrive at Huiling's place; Huiling's still asleep; Again, we're frazzled but not surprised; we try to wake her up, but to no avail; her parents try to wake her up, but to no avail.

12.00 p.m.:- Her parents try to entice her up with the scent of freshly-roasted peanuts, but also to no avail; They think she has died in her sleep; They knew that was bound to happen someday, but didn't expect it to be so soon. or so sudden; An ambulance is sent for.

12.30 p.m.:- All the ruckus causes Huiling to wake up; We rush her through her 10-minute magic, but there's a reason why we call it a 10 minute magic.

1.00 p.m.:- We stumble out to the car, only to find that the ambulance has arrived; We also find that we can't move the car coz a bunch of media guys came with the ambulance and blocked up the whole damn road; We discover that Malaysian news has become so boring and predictable that the possibility of someone dying of too much sleep makes good front-page material.

1.30 p.m.:- We manage to ram our way through and do a Daytona to Klang; We get caught in the lunch-hour traffic and spent half-an-hour looking for parking.

2.15 p.m.:- We order our food. With much chaos; Xue doesn't know how to order; Sherry's clueless; I can't speak any Chinese dialect; Huiling doesn't want veggies; We sort out the veggie problem and everyone's relieved. The waiter's releived.

2.45 p.m.:- Food arrives; we savor it; We chat the day away.

3.15 p.m.:- Sherry glances at her watch; Sherry screams; Xue screams; Xue overturns table; Everyone screams.

Instead of taking the risk, we have decided upon a problem-free, Huiling-and-Sherry-screwup-free plan!

We changed our itinerary to SS2's Pelita! Like, there's really no place like home!

So now Sherry can take her time coming down here and Huiling can take... uh... we can settle Huiling easier and she can come meet us on her own when she wakes up. If she wakes up.

What happened then was not to our surprise, but makes us thankful for not following through with the bakuteh plan, nevertheless:

I call Xue at 11 only to be told that Sherry called to tell her that she just woke up. Huiling calls at 11.30 asking me how come noone's called her yet. She just woke up. I'm not surprised. I hesitatingly tell her that Sherry woke up late and, effectively, might be quite late to arrive. Huiling says "Oh-ho!! So now I can go back to sleep! Yeayyyy!". Now u know why i was hesitant. I sternly warn her that Sherry's due to arrive anytime soon and that she had better NOT go back to sleep. I think she went back to sleep after we hung up. I meet Sherry and Xue at Xue's place and we leave for SS2. We reach by 12. Huiling joins us about half an hour later.We enjoy a scrumptious lunch of nasi kandar with kuah banjir and the works! We talk. We talk and talk and talk. We talk til 2.15. We rush off, but not without first getting Xue's curry puff. Also not without noticing the summons proudly displayed on my windscreen.