Like always, there was a theme to the dinner and I really didn't bother to dress up, went in my best "not even trying" look and a few of my colleagues were not impressed by how unbothered I was about my get up. A few others also really didn't dress up so I wasn't the only lazy one present that day.
Once again like last year, there was a long wait before we were actually allowed to enter the Hall, so there was a lot of chit chat going on, people were drinking soft drinks and alcohol as we waited, I just sat in one of the armchair and stayed in that chair for almost an entire hour because that's how early we were expected to arrive.
Sub-Contractors started streaming into the venue, most of them I have never worked with so I also didn't really bother to get up and greet most of them, once a while I would talk to some of my colleagues who were hovering around my area, but otherwise, I was either on my phone looking at Facebook or just staring into space.
When we were finally only allowed to enter the Hall, which was 15 minutes after the stipulated timing, everyone went to their seats and unfortunately this time around, I was seated with a bunch of my colleagues that I don't really speak to, I thought since I will be seated with a bunch of sub-cons that I use often, we could have something to talk about, but that was a bust as well because I didn't feel very chatty trying to compete with the speaker that was constantly pumping really loud music, every time I tried to talk to my sub-con or one of my colleague, I will always have to repeat myself multiple times, so eventually I just gave up completely. My sub-con who was seated beside me probably had something to eat earlier, so he wasn't hungry and spend half the time on his phone surfing Facebook.
Oh, and during the dinner, there was a belly dancing act, there was one during my first Dinner 3 years back that I felt was a little weird, the feeling is still the same after all these years, it's still really really odd to have belly dancers for such a proper event. I didn't really care too much about it and didn't watch much of it because my back was facing the stage and it was too troublesome to keep my back turned to watch a few ladies gyrate.
So after a few dishes and games, the lucky draw finally starts and like the last time, it was a roulette system, everyone's name is one the screen and the computer will spin the wheel and when it stops on the person's name, the person will get the prize.
When the host announced what the first few prizes were, I honestly was hoping I wouldn't get them because they were spa vouchers and flight vouchers that I would never use. I would have preferred to get the consolation prize over those items. Luckily for me, my name was never selected and I got to escape the vouchers.
The lucky draw is split into two sections, the first part is where all the mid tier prizes are being given out, I thought those were the lousy prizes and it could only get better from there, but as the dinner was coming to an end and we started the second portion did I realize that only 4 names would be picked and the rest would be consolation prizes, the 4 names will be winners of the big prizes, which were just straight up cash that were $388, $588, $1288 and $1888 being the grand prize.
The host begins the lucky draw and gets his guy to hit the roulette button, it spins and it lands on someone I don't really know.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
The winner gets up, takes a pic, grabs the angbao and leaves.
The host then gets his guy to hit the roulette button again and it lands on one of my colleague who was seated at the table in front of me.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
She gets up, people at her table were cheering for her, takes a pic, grabs the angbao and leaves.
There were now only 2 big prizes left and everyone was getting really excited, the roulette button gets hit again and this time, it lands on my colleague who was seated right next to me, that expression she had on her face when she realized she had won $1288 was one of utter disbelief, she had her hands covering her mouth as she stood up and made her way to the stage.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
She gets up, takes a pic, grabs the angbao and leaves.
When she came back to the table again, I asked her what was in the red packer and she takes out a piece of paper and shows me what was written on it, there wasn't any cash in the angbao, but instructions on how to claim the money, which makes sense because it is a pretty large amount. Anyways, as I was talking to her, the host was already starting to roll the roulette, I really didn't think too much at this point, this was the grand prize we are talking about, chances of winning is pretty slim, so I decided that instead of focusing on the roulette, I will just eat my dessert.
And then the roulette lands on a name and everyone starts clapping, I looked up at one of my colleague who was seated at another table and I see him clapping his hands and then slowly turning his body towards me, I was still shoveling the mango desert in my mouth when the host shouts out my name and when I looked at the screen, I was shocked!
The same thing happened last year as well, my name got selected when I wasn't looking at the screen and when I was also shoveling food in my mouth, except then, it was because I really didn't want that particular prize because I had no use for it, but I digress.
So I quickly slurped up whatever mango desert I had on the spoon and made my way up, the host then makes a joke about me focusing on the desert more than the lucky draw and when he was congratulating me as I was walking towards the stage, I almost wanted to like dance a bit but decided to maintain my integrity and just head straight for the stage, my boss then tells me how lucky I was, we shake hands and smiled for the camera, I was still shaking at this point, I am sure my smile on the photo is going to look super awkward and uncomfortable, people were cheering from the crowd and then I made my way back to the table with one person at the table congratulating me because almost everyone else had left my table at that point.
When the dinner ended, a lot of people came up to congratulate me and it is kinda weird because I don't really know what to say aside from "Thanks", it just feels a little awkward to have people come up and congratulate me for being lucky. A few of my colleagues jokingly tease me about winning the top prize and started rubbing me for luck and what I was really thinking to myself then was...
"There goes all the good luck I will have for 2020."
... but hey, at least now I am $1,888 richer, which is more money that I will be getting from J&J's project.
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