If you haven’t already heard, SDN (formerly SDU) organized a massive dating event at Marina Bay Sands just yesterday, 2nd Feb 2013.
Apparently, the event attracted over 480 participants and broke a world record for mass speed-dating! 
And I was a part of it!!!
They provided masks for everybody! So Sweet!
But I’d also brought my own, and took a picture with this lovely lady, Mavis, whom I feel should have been crowned ‘Best Dressed Female’ last night:
Early bird registration fees are as low as S$31.58 for an 8-course dinner and the opportunity to meet at least 20 or more like-minded people of the opposite gender! There were also stage games and attractive lucky draw prizes (such as an iPad Mini) given away!
For those who didn’t win anything during the lucky draw (like me), the quality of the food served more than made up for the disappointment.
Here’s the menu:
Appetizers:
Ginormous King Prawns:
Abalone and Sea Cucumber:
There were other dishes but you can refer to the menu above if you’d like. 
There were some fun games for us to walk about and interact with people seated at other tables, such as this one which involved us finding the person (of the opposite gender) holding onto half of the poker card which we received. Some people must have been very busy cutting up poker cards for us before this event!
And guess what! The guy holding onto the other half of my poker card turned out to be someone I knew from Toastmasters! LIKE, WHAT ARE THE ODDS, MAN?! Hence, the photo:
Other games involved people seated around the same table,. The Code Word game had us look for objects that would spell the words ‘SPEED DATING’. So we could use a Spoon for the ‘S’, a pen for the ‘P’, etc.
One fun but challenging game involved the volunteers having to pair up – guys blindfolded, girls giving directions. And they had to get into poses, as shown in pictures like this one:
And at the end of all the games and feasting, we had the final segment no one knew we should be dreading – the speed dating segment.
Here are the rules, if you are interested:
Actually, most of the guys flouted the rules. In fact, the first guy who spoke to me (when we were both still OUTSIDE the event venue) had already asked for my age within the first minute or so of conversation. *facepalm*
Anyway, the organizers provided these contact cards for us to fill in and hand out to the people we spoke to. Actually, they should have just told us to bring lots of namecards!
I refused to state my handphone number as what’s the point in that? I expect people will call me days after the event and say something like “Erm, Grace ah, you left me your contact number at the SDN event. Mind telling me more about what you do?”
I left them my blog url and facebook page url instead. Heh heh. Instant blog traffic and Facebook likes. Plus, they will ALREADY know what I do before sending me an email via my blog. Smart, right?
Anyway, the way it worked was that there were 5 guys and 5 gals seated at each table, with, of course, a girl next to every guy. When the ‘gong’ sounds, the guys have to get up and move to the next table. The guys get to meet new ladies and chat for about 30 seconds, then the bell chimes, and they ‘change seats’ in a clockwise direction. Hence they get to speak individually with each of the ladies at the ‘new’ table. This goes on for about 5 tables.
AND EVERYONE IS FREAKING EXHAUSTED BY THE END OF IT!!!
Towards the end, I also had the misfortune of having this guy take the seat on my right. I had to speak with the guy on my left FIRST. Unfortunately, I dropped my pen cap in the midst of scribbling down notes about the guy on the left, and said pen cap landed next to this guy’s feet:
Me: “Do you mind helping me pick it up?”
Him: *Silently moves his seat backwards and does not help*
Me: *Bend over and pick up pen cap*
Him: “Thanks for bending over for me”
Me: “You are NOT welcome”
I have no suitable words to describe this person – perhaps, “jerk”, “pervert”, and “scum of this earth” would fit him.
After the bell went, he took the seat on my left and wanted to engage me in a conversation.
Me: “I don’t like you very much”
Him: “BUT WHY?!” in a whiny voice. Omg I should have slapped him.
Me: “Cos you are so rude. Instead of helping a lady pick up what she has dropped, you make such a rude comment!”
Him: “It was a joke!”
Me: “You don’t joke about such things. It’s just plan rude!”
Him: “Alright, if you can’t chill…” *folds his arms, refuses to talk, and just plays with his handphone. What a loser.
Me: *Leaves for the washroom*
I hope no other girl has the misfortune of meeting this guy!!! He should be banned from all future events, actually! Good grief!
Having said that, the other guys were all very nice.
Here’s one who gamely agreed to a photo when I said it’d definitely make it onto my blog. LOL:
I also got to speak with Violet Lim, whom I’ve interviewed for this blog previously 
And I got to meet Claressa (actually she was the one who recognized me), a fellow blogger who voted for me during last year’s Singapore Blog Awards. How nice!
I think the event was a huge success. Despite the large number of people who turned up, we did not get stuck in registration queues, the service staff were efficient, the food was delicious(!), and most of the people I met were nice folk!
We were also grouped according to age and occupation, I believe. So it was easy for people to make new friends within the same age group:
The goodie bag was also, surprisingly, packed with pretty useful stuff!
And it’s 2.46am now! I’m such a hardworking blogger! But before I go to bed, I think that since a lot of guys expressed interest in perhaps dating a blogger like me, I have this to say:
Guys, So You Want To Date A Blogger? Read This First:
1) Never (ever!) look down on Blogging as a profession.
2) You have to help take photographs of us, the bloggers. They are needed for our blogs, and facebook pages, and instagram and other such nonsense. And one take is not enough. Different angles, please! And ensure we don’t look fat in the pictures. Yes, we can jolly well lose the extra fat, but you can also just find the right angle – which is faster? 
3) Food photographs are mandatory so hand over your dishes as soon as they are served. Even if you are on the brink of starvation, satisfactory photos of the food must be taken before you eat! To overcome this ‘inconvenience’, just order the exact same food your blogger girlfriend orders, then you can eat in peace.
4) You will sometimes get dragged along to bloggers’ events. Just obey, and no one gets hurt, okay?
5) You will have to deal with having a girlfriend/wife who is more famous than you are. Live with it. Heh heh!
*Please don’t take the 5 points above too seriously. There is SOME truth in them but it’s late and I’m sleep-deprived. So, good night!*
