birthdays

i recently celebrated alot of birthdays.. i like birthdays even if they r not mine. =D

on the 11th of april, darren, serkee, jess, gerald, liying, junhong n i met up to celebrate the belated birthdays of xueqin (mar 24) and cheeleng (apr 1).

although the original plan was for us to meet at clarke quay at 8pm, the bulk of us were too caught up in buyback - 2nd hand txtbk sale - n cld only reach clarke quay at 10pm. sorry to junhong n gerald who rushed down frm camp only to end up waiting... needless to say, neither billy bombers nor manhatten fish market wanted our business by tt time. =(

in the end, we settled for pasta at some shop in central since it was the only one willing to cater to us.. so sad hor?!



[frm left: liying, me, serkee, darren, gerald, jess, xueqin, cheeleng, junhong]



aft dinner, the cake was brought out!
19 + 22 = 41 years old!!! hahaha...



happy me with cake!! =)
[frm left: liying, me, serkee]



knowing i like cherries, many of them gave me theirs (5 out of 6 in fact).



the pretty birthday girls!! (xueqin in pink, cheeleng in white!)
OOPS: TYPO ERROR, CHEELENG IS ONLY 19 FYI!!

aft celebrating, some of them rushed to catch the last mrt hm while junhong, gerald, darren n i headed to hooters for a couple of beers. reached hm groggy n yes, today was the day careless me tore my cornea n had to be rushed into A&E. *ouch*

on the 13th of apr, i joined my lower sec clique in celebrating jj's bdae AGAIN!! haha.. what to do, we hv too many common frens le. =P

in the afternoon, dear xinyu accompanied me to collect my newly-made specs frm parkway parade. we shopped around for quite abit before she showed me her new office. lets just say statutory boards provide really gd staff welfare. *envious*

in the evening, the darling went off to meet her bf while i went to orchard to meet the girlies. upon reaching orchard, i realised the venue had been shifted to TAMPINES!!!! was quite pissed coz no one informed me in the beginning but the long mrt ride back to the east sorta doused my flames. sighs.



finally a gathering aft so so so long.. n it was almost a full gathering only we were missing the organiser, serene. ironic hur?! kelly even brought her new squeeze which we all agreed is quite a nice guy - better than her previous one at least. =X



me in my new goofy specs!
[frm left: jiajin, huiyan, khangjing, wanyee, me]



was supposed to take another shot w/o the specs but the seafood platter came n silly me went to count the prawns instead of posing. bahx.



aft dinner was cam-whoring time! >.<

[frm left: kelly, jiajin, huiyan, khangjing, wanyee, suting, me]

fish n co hv the tradition of making the birthday girl stand on a chair while they make a din blowing whistles, lighting sparklers n singing songs. but knowing our dear jj wld be too embarrased by such a loud affair, not to mention the table full of ah bing ge ge just nxt to us, we decided to do our own singing at sun plaza park instead. geez.



wanyee, suting n i went to pick up the cake while the rest brought the vip to the playground.



as we couldn't find the pandan cake we initially wanted, we got some swiss roll thingy n had to beg the polar ppl to give us candles for a non-bday cake. aft much trouble, we managed to get 20 little candles only to realise none of us knew how to operate a lighter!!! *faints*



the v crowded cake!



in the end, squatting pathetically by a big canal, I LEARNT HOW TO LIGHT A CANDLE!!! yayness~



i tried to sabo jj by making her blow out the candles one by one. the no. of times she blew wld be the no. of bites she cld use to fin the cake. naturally, the more times the better. but she cheated n blew everything out at once!!! :(



BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!!! *loveeees*


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birthdays aside, i shall continue being random coz mama is having lessons, bri is having tuition, alisa is sick n trix is baking doughnuts coz her bf is booking out frm camp for the first time tis wkend. awwwwww....

trix has always been the one gd with all the baking, cooking n wife-y activities. no wonder i'm far frm ideal partner material bcoz i seem only capable of making food out of instant mixes. but how come i dun get brownie pts for trying?! sighs.



anyway, for ppl who haven seen me in awhile, when i first returned frm china, my hair was looooong.. longer than the pic coz in actual fact, my behind hair stretched all the way down my back. ahhh, the wonders of hair extension! =D

but since it was kinda getting messy (being fake n all), i decided to remove the falsies n recolour my hair back to a more natural tone frm my ah lian blonde streaks..



on the first day, i even had dolly-like curls done! unfortunately, it was one of those temporary perms.. *sulks*



on a happier note, i finally convinced my "i-dun-wanna-spoil-you" mother to allow me to use my own money to buy myself a new handphone. lol. i think my new baby is prettier than in the pic bcoz it has gold instead of grey trimmings which makes it so lady-like n not to mention BEAUTIFUL!

hmmmmm, i'm starting to smell freshly baked doughnuts. byeeee...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JJ!!!

on 13/04/08 we celebrated the birthday of a girl v dear to me - 4 yrs as classmates n partners for 2 of those yrs. today, 18th april 2008, ann jia jin turns OLD!!! hahaha..

bcoz of my torn cornea two nights before, xinyu, haz, maz n szerui decided to hold the surprise party at my place on the pretext of visiting me. the bimbo naturally fell for our little lie, line, hook n sinker! =P



xinyu n haz waiting to jump out at her with the lighted blackforest cake.. gosh, 2 candles le!!



our little miss ditzy!! =)

aft the cake, we made the bdae girl hunt down her own presents which xinyu kindly gave me barely 15 mins to hide before jj's arrival. zzz. i still tink my clues pretty much got standard though. lol.



clue 1!!!!!



the girl starts hunting among my txtbooks..



"wow! vouchers!!"



clue 2: TALK TO ME!!



haha.. more vouchers so she can now buy part of her Nintendo DS. =P



clue 3!!!



chocolates found behind my curtain!! *yum*



clue 4: strawberry lakerol... i likeeeee. ^^



see the ungrateful ppl?!?! can't even throw their own rubbish!



oooohhhh suggestive... heee.



HAPPY FACES!!! =D =D =D



last but not least,

HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY, PRETTY!!!!

may you stay chio forever n ever! oh ya, n may wilfred n u chang chang jiu jiu, happily ever after!! *muacks muacks*

good bye boy.

whew.. i didn't know cutting out some alphabets cld be so much wrk!! it took 5 ppl 2 whole hrs to cut out INDUSTRIAL TRAINING PROGRAMME CHINA '08 drawing those bubble letters was such a chore! thankfully i hv brilliant journal team members to make wrk so much funner (is there such a wrd??)

it was rather amusing to see ceyang n jeremy concienciously colour-coordinating paper for the board with my dear burger cutely freaking out over each penknife cut she makes on the paper. n of course the most diligent member, huili, who rmbrs every single meeting n reminds me even. haha. THANK YOU!!!

oh n betty (my supervisor frm china) just dropped me an email saying she wld be coming to sg for a biz trip n perhaps we cld meet up. haha.. isn't it cool tt i hv my own frens in the industry now??? soon i'll be like mommy n gugu with contacts so far n wide. =)

hmmm, i'm trying to keep myself busy n not emo-ing but its kinda not working bcoz there isn't much to blog abt. gone r the days where i cld spend hrs logged online n not feel bored. gosh, I'M AGING!!! kinda dun feel like shopping either bcoz i just realised i hv alot of new/unworn clothes. mommy will be so proud of me. heeee.



++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"It's not over tonight
Just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you"

just aft i felt so happy having conquered huangshan, you redefined the extent of my "happy". but now, i guess you didn't really pay attn to the lyrics.

my mama told me i didn't fall in love with a man. i fell for a boy. a confused boy who doesn't know what he wants n i shld not hate him for it n neither shld i go hurt someone else. bcoz the most cruel thing one can do is to make another fall for him/her n not be there to catch his fall. she told me the time isn't right n tt my superman will come save me someday. i like to listen the stories she say bcoz only she can put it in such simple terms n only she wun roll her eyes when i cry again for the umpteenth time.

when it comes to relationships
i hv been through just abt everything i cld go through
when i told myself tt was it
cause of my curiosity
there i go hurt again

i'm not going through the motions
waiting n hoping you call me
i know i'm usually hanging on
i used to hate to see you gone
but tis time it's different
bcoz what gd is love when it keeps on hurting me?

the last emo

xinyu, jiajin, haz, maz n szerui hv just left aft making such a mess in my rm.. but now tt the house is quiet, i feel sorta lonely. esp when i saw the friendster changes he made just the v sec aft he amended it. haha.. so much for logging in to laugh at haz's new crush or maz's new bf. his name appeared in the "latest network activity list" okay.. i didn't deliberately seek hurt by visiting his pg or something.

i suppose i hv been holding onto things i cannot keep. all the while thinking he felt the same way abt me (i really honestly believed so).. many a times i wanted to let go but i somehow ended up convincing myself tt if i gave just a little more he wld come to appreciate it.

i thought i looked better now. i thought i dressed better now. i thought i behaved better now. but either i thought wrongly or i erred so badly in the past, the memories wun allow him to reaccept me.

i didn't treasure what i had so i lost it all at once. i guess the problem just lies with me.

i tore my cornea so i'm really not supposed to be facing my laptop.. but i suppose a short while wun hurt much i guess.. hv been really confused recently. i much rather be back in china where i can smile like a silly goofball when someone calls then to be here, just 1 bus stop away, but yet feel so alien.

tmr i gotta go down to raffles hospital alone coz mommy hv to go to wrk.. i hate hospitals.

i can't wait for xinyu n gang to come.. mayb they can knock some sense of self-respect n independence into me. haiz.. i miss you n i miss being able to call at whim.

long overdue...

hv officially been home-sweet-home for 5 days.. i miss shanghai. the weather, the food n most certainly, the cheap shopping!!! but having lived n worked abroad for 7 wks, i can now really appreciate sg's cleanliness, internet speed n less crowded public transport system. =P

since i nv got around to blogging abt my pre-china activities whilst in fascinating cheena, here r all the backdated photos. the china entry will hv to wait until i get all the photos (which will prob take quite a while..)



post exams celebration at jack's place before i had to rush off to check-in the spse chalet.



remind me nv to offer to book chalets again.. while the rest were out shopping, i had to sit in a boring rm, waiting for late yr 1s and folding stupid things out of sticky tape.




the first night of chalet was quite a turn-off but the second night was slightly better with the arrival of more familiar faces...



as usual, our resident clown nv fails to entertain.. >.<

paparazzi shot 1: childish darren hv to snatch liying's blankie..



paparazzi shot 2: darren getting his hair ready for someone's arrival.. =P



breakfast of soft-boiled eggs n toasted bread..



LUCKY BREAK!!! liying got twin yolks in one of her eggs! MUZ BUY TOTO!!!



gift 1: liying's mama made me pineapple tarts. yummy!!



gift 2: junhong won this frm the kiap kiap machine for me!!! *winnie salutes you*



last chalet for the full spse gang perhaps... =(



before we cld really rejoice the end of yr 2, han lih lih had to call for itp briefings which lasted over 4 hrs! well, i suppose we all needed as much info on china as possible.. dearie cheeleng n i had quite a scrumptious dinner at raffles place aft the briefing.



new yr preparations in full gear!!!



on the eve of new yr comes the annual tradition of steamboat. tis time, we were missing daddy who was probably having instant noodles faraway in dubai. *evil laughter* =P



woke up bright n early to prepare for a day of hongbao collection. hehehe..
[in our new clothes frm left: trixie, alisa, me]



first stop was the old folks hm to visit my great grandmother.. this is in the bathroom. (notice the wheelchairs??)



lunch was typical vegetarian fare which isn't v worthwhile bcoz it costs nearly as much as those full-fledge meat dinners... but the grandmother insists so we dun really hv much of a choice i guess.



dinner had meat; much to my carnivorous delight!




the v skillful waiter was juggling this fancy teapot with such a long spout! n there was hot tea inside can?!



although we did visit some other houses frm my dad's side, these ppl spent the majority of my day 1 with me. =D



the girlies!!!
[frm left: trixie, angelica, aunt clara, alisa, mommy, me, olivia]




[back row (the kids): olivia, trixie, brian, me, alisa, angelica]
[front row (the "old" ppl): aunt clara, uncle jason, mommy, 婆婆, 公公]



on the second day, i wore the silk top i bought with the topshop voucher gerald gave me during xmas. THANK YOU!!!! ^^



spent the day at 婆婆's house where we had our own DIY yusheng n i got to meet geraldine n nicholas aft like 3 yrs of non-contact???? come to think of it, we used to be so close. i wonder what happened?!



introducing my 98 year-old great grandmother.



HUAT AH!!!



at night, we headed to lai wah seafood restaurant in the boon keng area. see their claim to be the originators of yusheng?? *skeptical*



this meeting with my father-side relatives is meant to celebrate my grandmother's birthday.. dun ask me how old bcoz there wasn't a cake with candles. =X



the grown-ups.
[back row: warren, michael, richard, 3rd uncle]
[front row: suxin, 2nd aunt, karen, ah ma, mommy, 3rd aunt]

obviously for those i nv mention names is bcoz i forgot their names lah. like duh?! anyway, all the men were standing behind their wives n mommy did not hv daddy. wahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!



the kids!
[back row: derrick, darian, trixie, alisa]
[front row: xiang le, vicki, ah ma, me, brian, xiang rong]



since chinese new yr is all abt traditions, my typical 3rd day schedule is to visit yang meh meh's house with the girls since she's kinda the only one among us who theoretically speaking has her own house n a really adorable shih tzu puppy named ah dae (aft ice-cream sundaes). speaking of ice-cream, i get to eat ben n jerry's out of the tub!!



in the evening, i rushed down to raffles hotel to celebrate mommy's early birthday..



cam-whoring on the majestic grounds of this colonial looking hotel in the middle of the city.



they even hv a real bangali doormen!



i love my family to itsy bitsy pieces!!!



the dessert selection at the bar n billard room.. i can imagine xinyi's face of pure delight. =P



i stole marshmallows frm the choc fountain n bbq it over candlelight. =)



look at mommy's really contented face??



daddy ordered this flowers frm dubai which was meant to be a surprise delivery. but his credit card didn't wrk n he had to call mommy to pay for her own flowers when they arrived.. silly boy.

aft the fine dinner, i rushed down to boon keng to meet up with the spse ppl sleeping over at liying's house.



on 10th feb, junhong n i checked out the new kallang leisure park..



we went ice-skating!!!!!



this place is smaller n more expensive than jurong but the skates r waaaay more comfortable n needless to say, it is more accessible for east babies like myself.



at night, uncle jason treated us to this fortune pot thingy.. it has abalones, sharks fin, sea cucumber n all the other seafood treasures. i tot it tasted like normal stewed stuff though n i was pretty horrified when mommy told me it costs $888.. eeek!



they also surprised mommy with a bdae cake. its chocolate opera, my fav!!! =)



dear xinyu spent vday with me instead of her bf in case i emo myself to death. lol. we watched P.S I Love You which was a huge disappointment n she gave me choc pralines. i love u sweetie...



at night i headed to changi airport terminal 3 for my farewell dinner with the family.. we sat on beanbags at the newly opened sakae teppanyaki. stylo-mylo!!

my 47 letters to mommy.. one for each day i'm away. =)