Birthday party (without photos) - 29th September 2007

Figured I can still write an entry without the photos. Photos are but only captured memories, there are still those inside my head and yours, though we can't print them out in hardcopy or let others see. Oh well, I was dressed horribly that day anyway, so no loss =P If anybody took any photos using their own camera or phone do you all mind sending them to me, thank you!

So 30th September Sunday was the actual day, celebration was on 29th September. Woke up at 10am+ after a very busy night before and without any breakfast, because there was hardly anything on the table to eat, rushed off to NTUC to do some last-minute grocery shopping. Most of the items I was expecting my aunt to bring over later in the afternoon or they were already in the fridge, taking up a lot of space. Got whatever I needed to get and squashed all I could in the fridge, in the meantime getting a very very impromptu arm muscle training.

Then was busy sorting out the good clams from the bad ones at home when my mother called my phone and asked me to get down to the jewellery shop now. So when I got there, covered in perspiration and hands smelling of seafood, I was asked which necklace I like - the nice flower one or the classy diamond one. Truthfully, I didn't quite like both, but I didn't like the watch the flower necklace came with so I chose the classy diamond one which was a full $100 more and father paid for it. Well they wanted to get me something, so... and the bag that comes with it was very appropriate for the wedding I attended in KL last weekend. Heh.

Initially wanted to do some homework but there was no time. Started washing bowls and utensils. By 3pm I was starting to feel nervous already and bringing chairs over (from grandmother's and cousin's place) and setting up powerpoints for the steamboats. Mother was in the kitchen preparing the food and my father and I were busy clearing up the place. Disagreement brought over from over the week to that day on whether to use disposable items or not. 4pm, rearranged table position and Father brought the huge table over.

By then I was carrying around so many chairs that my arms were aching terribly and my hands would not still enough to push my spectacles up my nose bridge without first hypnotising me.

Could see the tired, exasperated and fed-up expression on my mother's face while she was cutting the food. Felt so apologetic for making them so busy and she was not answering me. Father told me halfway through that I should not have done this, that there are a lot of restrictions. I got so upset I gave up retorting and just silently prepared everything. By then I was so physically and mentally tired from the past week's business and this morning's stuff to do that I just agreed that it was the worst thing to do, and that catering was probably the best thing, which probably is. I desperately needed encouragement and a little faith in me but all I had from my family were disbelief and discouragement.

I just wanted to do something a little different from normal, is it so bad? I just wanted people to remember the day they came to my house, that it was different in some way and next time I can look back and remember what I did, what went right and what went wrong and know that I went ahead to do something (maybe) disastrously different. It wasn't very disastrously different from a catering in the end because some of my friends still ended up in cliques in my room and outside and all that. Maybe I should have catered. Or maybe I should have started planning a little earlier, before the very-busy-recess-week. Most of all, I should have gotten more goddamn huge tables.

Lesson 1: If anybody wants to try steamboat for an event, get many huge tables. Getting people to sit around a table and talk more actually works - ping.sg people and some of my other friends who came earlier and sat together at that table actually ended up talking and sticking together. Hmm, I hope it's because of the table. Haha.
While for my other friends I was very apologetic to have them eat separately from each other at the other smaller one where my family was sitting. I would have loved for them to sit together. I think they ended up bored and stayed in the room.

Finally, finally went to take the cake at 5pm.

YY came at about 6pm, when I was about to finally head into the bathroom to bathe. Was utterly drenched in perspiration. There was no time to epilate my pits, so I wore a short-sleeved shirt instead of sleeveless. People started coming at about 7pm and we took quite some time to get the food out and distribute between the two tables. Ho! I starved my guests! =P

By some strange coincidence, some of my friends knew or have seen each other in school before so they started talking, which was nice.

Was standing in front of Sekling when I raised my arm and was indicating something and she started laughing. She saw my unepilated armpits.

So Liyuan, Adin, Jenny, Sean, uzyn, NTT, xizor, adrian and sekling started eating first because they were the first to arrive.

Lesson 2: Get enough tables to accomodate your guests so they won't have to wait and starve for others to finish. Which is basically the same as lesson 1.

Then Yizhen, Ruifang, Pearlin, MZ, Baoling, Hongyi, Zhiwei and Yee Heng started coming in batches. All say wait for each other to come first then eat, especially YZ, RF and HY, all wanted to wait for LY. Tsk tsk!

MZ and BL were seated alone at my family table and I was very apologetic that I mostly left them alone the rest of the time. I found myself ignoring people I'm basically closer with on the belief that they'll entertain themselves, a fault on my part. YZ they all were very good at entertaining themselves though, using my camera, with the card which is now spoilt. They took some lovely pictures of themselves which I am secretly glad were destroyed.

Hongyi was seated on a chair outside, entertaining himself (don't think dirty!) with the fan blowing in his face. I kept on abandoning him for other people, not sitting for more than a minute beside him. Each time I returned to the seat, I'd already forgotten what we were talking about.

Zhiwei and Yee Heng were the only two AJ percussionists to turn up in the end. Jeremy fell ill and Nicholas was too caught up with his project meetings to be able to turn up. Jeremy texted me a really nice and apologetic message while Nicholas called me personally the night before, telling me the entire story of how he has lousy project mates, no doubt sincerely wanting me to know that he wasn't lying when he said he really could not make it at the last minute. I believed him of course, but thought it was all very funny =D

I don't have a lot of things to talk about with Zhiwei and Yee Heng, but it was nice to just sit with them for a bit. I have known Zhiwei for about 8 years already, and we have played together in the same section for 6 years, so there is a certain type of bond and understanding built somehow, I guess. Yee Heng is still as crazy as ever!

While I was busy making sure that everybody was eating (or getting massaged, ahem), Adrian very nicely wanted me to down a small glass of Cointreau, which I had no idea what it was except for the fact that it has a 40% alcohol concentration, on an empty stomach.

I turned to my father and told him they were bullying his daughter, and he said,

Drink lah! Won't drunk one!

Very nicely done. So what could I do? I drank lor! Sipped bit by bit until they said it was easier to get drunk this way so I gulped what was left down. Adrian then drank another glass in response to mine - in one gulp. Dammit, I feel so inferior. The alcohol made me a little giddy after that but I was otherwise fine after eating.

Ate with the XMS percussionists, Hong Yi, my father, mom (who was mostly absent) and auntie Tina, who I could see was very amused by how we were trying to squeeze men-related-information from RF and YZ. Those two are males-magnets, I tell you!

Uzyn, NTT, Adrian, xizor and Sekling went off early after dinner to attend Halo 3's some party.

After the very fast cake-cutting, song-singing (very embarrassing yet ego-boosting) and photo-taking (of which I would like to remind all that they are now all gone), some of my friends actually stayed back quite long. I was really surprised. Thought they would all rush off once the cake was cut, which I was secretly hoping they'd do because I was exhausted. But it was pleasant to see them still here, sitting around and chatting, although somehow my chair keeps disappearing when I stand up to ensure that people around weren't too bored or something.

Adrian called at about 11pm to urge me to go down to The Butter Factory for drinks, saying that I have to party because it is my 21st. Then he bloody exaggerated and said that xizor was puking in the toilet. I knew he was exaggerating because xizor later on messaged me and confirmed that he was absolutely sane. Rejected him because my friends were still here and I was exhausted. I don't like clubbing anyway - can't dance for nuts.

Around 11.30pm I finally saw HY, Liyuan, Adin, Jenny and Sean to the interchange and later on Pearl and the rest. Ruifang stayed in my room, waiting for her-supper-guy to bring her out to supper, where she watched me opened my gifts.

The gifts were lovely and really useful. I have already thanked you all personally and if I have not, here's a thank you for it!

The squeaking pig stuffed toy is now sitting on my bed, an utterly cute little thing, squeaking when I talk to it (because I squeeze it). It's a gift from the AJ percussionists. I've already started using most of the other presents because they are really very useful. HA! That sounds so funny. The chocolates are so nice that I keep staring at them, not quite daring to eat them. Heh.

Anyway the clearing up was done throughout the whole dinner by the maids and I didn't have to wash anything in the end. Luck!

Cost-wise? My aunt actually sponsored for most of the ingredients, my father forced me to allow him to pay for the other ingredients and I paid for the cake.

Yeah, that's basically it, my birthday (without the photos). Upset that some people could not turn up in the end but very happy that a lot of people still did and my family helped a lot. It wasn't perfect, but I hope it was smooth enough. My arms ached for couple of days after that and I was still hypnotizing myself.

So it was done, a steamboat 21st birthday. And if nobody else has done it before me, remember I was the first!