Drawing Board: Isabel, myself, Samantha, Simon (clockwise from top left)
We called ourselves Drawing Board, and indeed, back to the drawing board we had to go – several times throughout our final year project (FYP) together.
We were an ambitious bunch. Two years ago, the four of us wanted to organize a wakeboarding event for the wakeboarding vendors at Marina Country Club. We knew it was going to be hard work, but we didn’t see the details darting our way.
We did everything. Literally everything. And that included the whole lot from late night meetings in school, spending copious amounts of cab fare traveling to Marina Country Club in Punggol several times a week, talking to vendors who frankly didn’t give two hoots what we wanted to do for them, badgering people to sign up for the couple’s wakeboarding competition, soliciting friends to strut down Orchard Road clad only in their board shorts and bikinis, applying for a police permit to parade half-naked people in broad daylight, persuading different acts to appear during the festival, begging friends to come for the event, petitioning for money from the CDC to finance the event, scout for a guest of honor and persuade her to try wakeboarding, pestering the press to cover the event – while trying not to die of exhaustion, embarrassment or frustration in the midst of it all.
I remember thinking to myself when I was in the thick of it, “One day I’ll look back and have a good laugh.”
I’m glad that day came – sometime back to be exact. And I never would’ve made it without those 3 others in the pic. The four of us had a meet-up finally, after a year of scheduling and rescheduling. I guess
With the team, Esther went on to climb and summit mountains in far-flung corners of the world, including Mt Aylmer (2,699m) in New Zealand; Mera Peak (6,476m) in Nepal; Er Feng (5,276m) in China; Mustagh Ata (7,546m) in Central Asia, and Mt Everest (8,850m) in Nepal.