Monday, October 08, 2007

happy birthday to me

This year has brought an unexpectedly phenomenal birthday. Unexpected because I honestly planned a lazy simple day of a family dinner with nothing else happening. But as it turned out...

Saturday, 6 October 2007

Woke up and got ready for a Brewerkz lunch with most of the fight club. Jess, Syd, Mel, Vik (the other October baby), Weida and Josh who came later. Ordered some food, some booze (the boys), and photowhored! I didn't know they bought us cake so was happily chomping away on food. When the cake came out I wondered how I'd actually eat it after gorging on pizza, nachos and sausages!


Spicy seafood pizza and a collection of mini sausages!


Jumbo nachos, delish and really worth the price.


Weida the cake bearer with his fish & chips. We dipped the chips in the beer-battered sauce, oh-so-yummy.


Jess in her girl-next-door disguise


Syd in her Hawaiian girl disguise


The compulsory do-re-mi pose


Happy birthday to us!


WD took it upon himself to cut the cake as neither Vik nor I can cut a straight piece

After the festivities, I went home to eat a homely dinner and prepare for a drinking fest at Mel's place. Glug glug!

Sunday, 7 October 2007

This was it. The big day when I turn TWENTY-TWO. I am officially an old mama. YZ told me the night before to wake up bright and early so I followed instructions.

Mr YZ then trickily called me to tell me to bathe and get ready to go out.

"Go out where?" says I.
"Just do it," says Mr YZ.

At 1030 am I received an SMS from Kwan who told me to come downstairs. He was to send me to Paragon for an 80 minute spa experience! What - the - hey? I was stunned to say the least! Apparently it's all pre-arranged by YZ. At the spa itself, Josh popped by! His job was to pay for the treatment. So I happily trotted off to be massaged and scrubbed with strawberry.

After I'm done, check this out, Mr Isaac Kwan has been asked to wait for me so that he can send me to my family lunch at Waraku at Starhub Center! Wow. Him and YZ must be extremely good friends for him to do such a huge favor.

So then it was on to Waraku...


My order, the tan tan udon.

My parents were asking about the surprise put up for me and who was it done by? How was the spa? Mr YZ just got himself a gold star from daddy.

2 pm-ish, headed home. Did some productive job applications while I waited for YZ to come online as we originally arranged. And he popped his second surprise of giving me a cash account at Bluesquare Poker! We played a few heads-up and at the end of the day, the score was about even. I may not have a Full Tilt cap but I can still hold my game!

YZ asked me about dinner and I said I was probably just gonna eat a simple meal at home. He told me he will stay online with me until my dinner at 7.30 pm. So I told him it's fine, my dinner is flexible since it'll probably be some microwaved leftover food. But he said no, it HAS to be 7.30 pm. Puzzled?

But then Kwan messaged me to say that he will pick me up at 8 for my dinner.

Whuttttttttt!

YZ has planned this surprise as well! So at 8 pm I trotted off to a Thai restaurant near Coronation Plaza, to eat dinner with Kwan. YZ said Kwan was replacing him, who couldn't be there in person to dine with me.

Around the time when we finished eating, YZ rang to ask how things were. After a bit of chatting, he asked me to pass the phone to Kwan as he wanted to thank him. But as Mr Isaac was just saying "Okay, okay, okay", how can YZ be just thanking him? Hmmm. The mystery continued.

Well, never mind, after 2 smokes in a row Kwan drove me home... Or not! Wait a minute! He said YZ told him to bring me to KAP for a strawberry milkshake. I kept having cravings for that milkshake during the time I was hangin' out with YZ in Singapore, so that was sweet! But then Kwan didn't follow the right way home. Huh? He said he wanted to get some DVDs from Jelita. So I just went along for the ride, except that there was a Video Ezy at KAP and it was past the opening time of the store so I didn't know what he was thinking.

After going through the roundabout trip, we finally reached my place safely. Got out of the car but Kwan said to wait 30 seconds before going up. So we stood there for a while before he realised something was not quite right with the plan, so he walked off to... find someone? I saw him gesturing and mouthing some words, but acted innocent. La dee da.

He ushered me up and we waited for... something in front of my unit. Kwan said, "30 seconds". Ooookay. Then the lift doors opened and out came Aaron & Clara bearing flowers, a gift pack and a Lee Hwa carrier. At the same time YZ called me and I knew that he orchestrated everything to happen just so. As I talked to YZ, Aaron and Isaac discovered a little friend inside the bouquet and tried to hide the caterpillar away from me (it dropped to the floor). That was quite funny!

Then I opened the jewellery box to see a white gold necklace with a diamond pendant... And I just felt so overwhelmed. This birthday has been absolutely perfect, and YZ was behind it all the way. He even stayed up til 430 am the previous day to make sure everything is running smoothly. Making loads of international calls. Paying for everything. I felt touched. Happy yet sad, because everything that he's doing just makes his absence more glaring.


Flowers (sans little friend)


My very first diamond

And I'm so thankful... Thankful for everything you've done. You really wanted to make everything perfect on my birthday. And you really showed that you were with me all the way even though you're half a world away. Even now I can't help tearing. We're fighting against distance and time. 4 years... starting now.

I think we'll be all right.

At the same time, I'm so grateful for all the wonderful friends that I've come to know. Thanks for celebrating with me, thanks for the well wishes, thank you for the cupcakes, the bracelet! I truly feel overwhelmed with love. It's just ironic how I wanted this year to be a lay-low birthday and it turned out so wonderfully NOT boring. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you guys.

G, thank you for calling from HK, I really thought you forgot! I wish you all the happiness that life will bring and I'm sure your girlfriend and you will have fantastic careers ahead.

Baby, where can I start? Once I start, I won't know how to end. The past few months with you have been simply wonderful, thank you so much for all the happiness you've brought me. I'd have been happy if we'd simply talked online on my birthday, but who on earth will say no to industrial steel? ;) I look forward to more heads-up and talk-cock sessions in the future. Better play later at 10 pm!