One of my regular resolutions for every year is to meet new people. It's something I've been able to accomplish with not much difficulty because I'm a rather friendly person, but still, it's always required the help of friends, as in I meet new people through going out with friends, regardless of whether these new people are friends of those friends, if you get what I mean. Basically, I need to have someone I know with me so that I've the courage to meet new people, because if I can't stand these new people, at least I still have the old friend to fall back on.

But I digress. Yesterday, I bit the bullet (giving up a beach party at km8 in the process), and I decided to attend a Jazz Singapore Yahoo! Group meetup session to attend a Jazzpiration by the Beach concert. I didn't know anyone from the group beforehand and was rather nervous, but decided, what the hey, I wouldn't lose anything other than spending a few hours with a bunch of potential nerds indulging in some great jazz by the Thomson Jive Band and some dancing.

I'm really glad I went. I had a great time and I met people who I would so not have met on a normal basis. I met a kind of geeky IT guy, a funky IT salesgirl turned copywriter, an actual sailor (a first mate!) and some people who work in the same industry as I do. And I managed to get in quite a few dances too...

And what do you know? After the jazz party, I ended up going to Onyx with them. Onyx, for those of you not in the know, is the club that's replaced Centro at One Fullerton. It seems rather promising - nice enough decor - but drinks-wise, they're expensive and a little weak. The sound system is a little too good (the bass effect almost incapacitated me when I walked across the dance floor) and though the local DJs that night were good enough, there just wasn't that vibe. Still, it's early days yet, and they've got time enough to get the formula right. (Incidentally, Onyx is also the name of a very large waste management company, so we've been making jokes about how they're diversifying - rubbish is rubbish, after all.)