Happy 21st Birthday to me!

Blogger crashed on me, or rather, my internet connection failed me when I attempted to post my thank you notes. Sadly, the entire entry was deleted. Here's an attempt at reproducing that unfateful post.

I woke up at 6.00am due to a bad bout of vertigo. It's a condition which makes one feel as if the whole world is spinning, like you're on a ship in a storm, tossed back and forth, left and right and you can get off it. Sleeping doesn't get rid of it, since lying in the wrong position sets off another attack of whirling and twirling all over again. From prior knowledge and past experiences, it's caused by an imbalance of the liquids in my ears, and a congested nose that causes this condition. Add in all the stress+ late nights=SMU life and you get the potent concotion of what I call "vertigo".

Thankfully, I managed to get some sleep for a while before waking up to trudge on with my Business, Government and Society essay which was due. The world just doesn't stop, not even for a nanosecond to let you enjoy turning 21. Nonetheless, it's completed and has been submitted, which means I achieved something today. It's quite an impressive piece and I'm crossing my fingers for an A+. :P

My condition seemed to worsen by the second and I was contemplating skipping Business Law. The twirling and spinning kept causing me to break into a cold sweat. Then again, I couldn't afford to miss a single lesson lest I fall behind on what's happening. So, putting on a new l/s tee from Topman (special occasions are a good excuse to wear new clothes, so I have no new clothes left, so I have an excuse to buy new ones again - get it?) and trudged down to school.

So my 21st was rather crappy - of all things, I had to fall sick and get attacked by "vertigo" monster on this particular day, in this particular year, out of the 21,000 odd days that it could otherwise had happened.

But friends make the difference and I'm thankful for all the birthday wishes. Via Sms: Benjamin, Singyong, Renhe, Gilbert, Gracelina, Tai Qin, Huiru, Jon Ji, Edmund, Andrew, Justin, CG. On Facebook too (haha): Cheryl, Junxiong, Andy, Adrian, Zhong Wei, Chee Keong, Vinna, Aslam, JKwok, Zhaoyang. Msn: Amasani (and her recorded birthday greeting), Terence (both my fellow Creative Thinking managers)

Keshi and Nicholas sprang me a mini surprise outside biz law class which was SO SWEET of them (okay I sound like a freakin girl) but I was touched. Obviously, I didn't quite have the time and energy to organise a party so it was nice to actually have a candle and a cake. Haha. It was chocolate cake. And also to by biz law group (we got an A for our group assignment :D haha) Jeremy, Larry and Zhengyue (Nic too) and the people who stayed back to sing me a birthday song. Thank you! Muackz. It's unfortunate I didn't have a camera to capture these moments :(. I took a picture of the cake when I got home, for keepsakes, even though it looked a little squashed and melted.

Keshi and nic took time off their busy schedules (who the hell in SMU isn't busy?) to have dinner with me at Manhattan's fish market at PS and we had great conversations. Anyone for kiam-pa.blogspot.com, LKCSP (Lee Kong Chian SOB, Singapore Poly alumni) t-shirts :P and nicotine chewing gums in the form of cigarette sticks? And we also need to bring Nicholas out shopping and teach him the ropes. Nicholas was wondering how I could point out that Fox was no longer at the entrance of the escalator (replaced by a much bigger Levi's outlet) and that Cotton Out has sprung an appearance. ;) So thank you guys for that small surprise and the cards. I'm such a sucker for cards.

And also to Janice and Kenneth who specially called to wish me Happy Birthday.

To Piang, Shuhui and SQ for the nice River Island bag and to Piang who specially came down from NTU to pass it to me.

To Gilbert and Renhe for the NUM t-shirt and singlet (and they psychoed me into buying two pairs of skimpy swimming trunks from bods.bodynits).

To mom and Dad for the "13-month bonus"

To grandma for the chicken rice treat and angbao.

To Zhixin, Jiaying, Rachel for the Topman vouchers which I can now use to get clothes to match my new bag. Haha.

To my very good friend Chun Wee who took the effort to call me "old" (it's our usual "I'm old, but you're still older" issue) and check up on my health. He wanted to take me out but had a test - it's the thought that counts ;)

To everyone else who made this day special for me, A BIG THANK YOU!

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21st birthdays are meant to be celebrated with a bang but I guess keeping it nice and simple is good. I was savouring my chocolate cake and decided to take some pictures of me doing so but i gave up after a while since I looked so unglam in them. Gloria kept laughing at me, like I was some sort of sad person who didn't have anyone to celebrate it for me; Mom kept insisting that I was wishing for something better. That wasn't very nice but... ah well…*sisters suck*

Honestly, I'm thankful. Thankful for the friends and all, and in fact, hadn't expected to have a cake and all. I was still contemplating who to try to hang out with after class or go home since I was feeling crappy and all so it turned out much better than expected. It's definitely a better feeling from previous years.

So I'm thankful, and especially this year, it is a heartfelt thanks, from the bottom of my heart.

Turning 21 is all about growing up, and I suppose I have.

Now, it's time to get those tickets for Lust, Caution (the UNCUT version).

:D

A Break

I took the day off on Thursday to just bum around and take a short break after the gut-wrenching business law test on Wednesday. It was the perfect window of opportunity to have lunch with grandma which is sort of weird. She had called to ask me out the night before and I sort of hesistated as I knew it would be a little uncomfortable for me (and her) since there isn't really much we can talk about. Nonetheless, I took up the offer, recognising that days with grandma are numbered and I should grab whatever opportunity that's left before I regret it.

We met at Singapore Post Centre and she brought me to the basement kopitiam. It was about 11.35am (I was 5 minutes late so I was guilty of making her wait :( *slaps himself*) and the place was still rather empty of the lunchtime crowd. She took me to the chicken rice stall, which she highly recommended and ordered a drumstick.

It was a simple lunch, a chicken drumstick each and a bowl of yong tau fu with extra tofu, which grandma knows is what I like most. It wasn't a fancy restaurant but if you think of it, old folks use drumsticks as the biggest showing of their love. And there I was, getting the utensils, pouring the chilli into a tiny dish, that I felt this warm fuzzy feeling.

The whole world BUT one may forget my birthday, nonetheless, knowing that someone does makes me feel loved. Isn't that what we were wired up for?

Mambo

Mid-term break isn't really a break - based on past trends in secondary school and jc, breaks, especially those that last a week, are usually choked full of liabilities from assignments to impending tests or exams. The current one, it seems, is no different. Every SMU student should know what mid term break means. However, amidst the projects, studying and homework, there exists time to go for birthday parties and MAMBO!

Apart from the usual crowd, Zouk was filled to the brim with an added portion of SMU students, reason being that it's our mid-term break. And that portion included clubbing hermits, like moi, who come out occassionally when they feel the need to spend some money or "get a life". I have to admit, Mambo is fun - the mambo kings do it with such pizazz and it's Mambo night so half the fun is lost if you ain't know the moves. So, perhaps, PERHAPS, I may spend some of my precious mugging time tuning in to You Tube in search of some Mambo lessons. :P

My AS essay, due Sunday, sits idle, a blank sheet of paper and here I am, watching Kids Central and blogging about Mambo. I think I left out getting a little high and embarassing myself in front of Zhixin and Marcus. Terrible terrible terrible.