So, this geek had absolutely no idea what to do when approached by Asia Pacific Breweries (APB)’s agency on hosting a party promoting savvy drinking. But they knew it was a cause close to my heart having seen my tweets and sure enough, I decided to host a party to promote this cause amongst my friends. To start off, I checked with some friends what date was best for them and then sent out a video invite along with my email invite:
Guests who signed up received this ‘e-ticket’:
(this ticket is Joe's, the dude who helped me take some pictures of the party)
This geek had many crazy ideas for my party, including making my guests complete at least a couple of rounds of racing on the XBOX before they leave to prove that they are sober enough to drive home. But I realised that wasn’t very savvy cause if they did get stopped by the traffic police, they can’t say that they passed the Geekonomics drinking test before they left.
Jael (left) and Lay Hiang playing Street Fighter IV on the XBOX360 while waiting for the other guests to arrive.
I thought then maybe I can give my guests a lecture on savvy drinking tips like taking liver pills, eating pork knuckles like the Germans, how and where to avoid the road blocks, and all. But decided that without enough alcohol, nobody would want to listen to this geek.
In the end, I decided to play a game of drinksavvy bingo where guests shared their drinking habits with each other:
and boy, did they go for it:
Then I manage to invite the audience-shy Janet Chew, best-selling author of Mile Hi! Club, to come share about her stories of passengers on flights who have created or got into trouble because they did not practice savvy drinking. Boy, did we enjoy her stories of “lousy aiming after drinking”, leaving a trail behind while leaving the plane, passengers unwittingly exposing themselves on flights after drinking, and many more:
Thanks for the wonderful sharing, Janet! We really enjoyed it! You should do this more often!
Some lucky guests were honest enough to admit their drinking habits and walked away with personally autographed books by Janet!
The honest Lennie (leftmost) and Jason got rewarded 
What’s a party without food, right?
Chicken Wings, Garlic Mantou, and Onion Rings from Hua Li Xuan Fusion. There was a tub of super yummy mango sago pomelo too!
And drinks:
Kinda had my guests fooled there for a while. I had earlier ordered alcoholic drinks only to cancel them, replacing with sparkling juices because some guests had asked me about driving home after drinking at a drink savvy party. I struggled with this for a long while and decided this was the most savvy way to drink, at least for this party!
Thanks to my 20-odd guests who stayed sober to celebrate good times and friendship!
Sheylara and Adrian Teo
Gwen and Bernard from SGEntrepreneurs. Gwen had just landed back from a 6-weeks stint in New York City the day before. Thanks for coming!
Elvin and Caryn
Special shout out to Joe Teh (leftmost) for taking the great pictures!
What’s a Geek’s party without some good LAN gaming on Left4Dead 2? Lester Chan seen here in foreground.
More photos of the party here and here.
Before I sign off, I just want to give a special mention for my army mate Jason, who was the main reason why I decided to throw this party. Jason left us on National Day’s eve 10 years back. He was just standing at the traffic light when he got hit in a fatal accident by an irresponsible drunk driver. I remember all our utter disbelief because he was the nicest guy ever and all he ‘did wrong’ was to stand by the traffic light, totally sober, on National Day’s eve.
Remember, when you drink, don’t drive. Please.
p.s. I like what my clients in Japan told me recently about how in Japan, there’s this law that in a dinner table, it’s the responsibility of all your friends on the dining table, as well as the waiter or waitress, to ask if you drive before they allow you to drink. If you get caught drink driving, or worse still, get into some horrible irresponsible accident, not only you, but all your friends on the same dining table, including the waiter/waitress, will get the same court sentence as you. And this law has been enforced before. Maybe the whole world should introduce laws like this. Better still, the whole world should learn how to drink savvy without the need for such strict legal enforcement.
February 1st, 2010 at 2:11 am
Bro,
Thanks for the invite. Had a great time! And yes, all of us stayed sober with those drinks, haha..
February 1st, 2010 at 2:21 am
Hey bro, you are up late, as usual! I realised that 80% of you drove to the event so it was wiser to keep everyone sober :p
February 1st, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Hey looks like I missed a great party, bro! Very commendable of you to throw a responsible drinking party on your own expense for poeple you care about! God bless!
I like the Japan story by the way - dun think it would ever be suggested in China!