The BIG Twenty-Three (+ some CNY)

I've been so blardy caught up being busy with FYP and being upset with BLUB that I haven't had a chance to properly blog my great CNY and birthday periods.

Post C*ccolatte party that night, BLUB and I had a MAJOR fallout. And I mean MAJOR!!! Can't be bothered with details but let's just say he was a TOTAL ASS and I got too emotional and wasn't too nice either. Sigh... I hate it when things spiral out of control...

Thank goodness E and S came over for a jam session at my place. We did violin-violin-piano combis and lotsa other stuff. Think this is my most musical CNY ever. Cos on CNY eve, I was at E's place jamming and even did some singing. Ergo the hang ups over Phantom sad tunes. PLUS, my dahling bro and I did a mini-concert at home for our parents post-reunion dinner. Music does regulate one's sanity and I have to say this... GAWD I LOVE MY MUSIC!!!

I love playing Debussy's Clair de Lune when I'm down or pensive *yesh! It has my name in it! wow* My favourite bang-it-out-loud-cos-I'm-damn-pissed music is Beethoven's Pathetique and Chopin's Revolutionary Etude. And my all time fave violin duet piece remains Bach Double violin Concerto. And when I'm feeling extremely virtuosic, Tchaikovsky's 2nd movement... (I can't handle first... yet)

This CNY was a season of cartoons. Caught The Incredibles and Howl's Moving Castle on dvd. For 4 hours I escaped into a fantasy world of Howl's where magic and love abounds. I love those magical fantasy stuff.... and the awesome music... just makes me sigh and melt in my seat.

I just HAD to get a life out of BLUB and Shal invited me over to dine at her pad. Couldn't have been better, I say, and I was SO grateful for the get-together which really healed my heartaches. V, a doc-to-be from my primary school class, tagged along and we all chilled at Shal's place while J cooked. *t'was sposed to be a cookout but us being non-cooks, the former-chef had to take over* And J was such a AWESOME COOK!!!

C'mon... He used to be a chef at a bistro and he could whip up the WHOLE MENU.... everything from pasta, main courses to desserts. RESPECT.

Being the NEAR-hopeless cook I am *I can do a mean pasta... only*, the only dish I learnt was how to cook brown rice with salt, butter, garlic and water. Oopsy... heehee

Anyway, we had a party of 6 that night- Shal and J, the 2 Vs and W, who had that kick-ass wedding at The Legends some time ago. Such an interesting person! I love it when people from different backgrounds come together. The exchanges flying across everywhere were just so amusing.
And the spread was this...

Lemongrass chicken, Green curry with vegetable and shitake mushrooms stir-fried with mushrooms.

Plus scrumptious brown rice washed down with coke and green tea, with awesome company to boot. More of Shal's enthrallling tales perfected the equation for a perfect evening.

And I was HAPPY AGAIN!!!

School resumed and life spiralled into business once more. We had our last outdoor kopitiam shoot finally and that spelt the end of most of our troubles. Note that it's MOST not ALL. I still have plenty of editing to do. Predict lotsa late nights staying over in school but at least it's on the comp, without massive equipment or props nor actors.

By and by, the last studio shoot and pick ups were done as well and now there's only the editing suite left. WHEEE!!!!

Watched "Curs*ve" at Espl*nade on Friday for part of my Contemp Drama module . It's WEIRD.... but I kinda like the whole highbrow-ness artsy feel of it and the zen-ist concepts in lighting and costumes. But like all dance performance, it got repetitive after a while and I dozed off. Of course the late night before didn't help.

My celeb pal JP walked in a shop later and the lady went "Oh gosh! You look like BWS!!! (JP's chinese name) Has anybody ever told you that?" To which JP gave a TOTALLY non-plussed reply, "Really ah? Many people think so too."

It's HILARIOUS!!! Because JP IS BWS!

Went for drinks at Cali Bistro later. I really like this bunch. As much as I like the Playwriting bunch in fact. It's funny how we bond so darn well. Perhaps the small numbers helps. Presenting the UBER nice folks of my theatre class...

L-R:
Lydia- the Energizer bunny
Xuying- the feminine girly girl
Yixin- the intellectual
JP- the uber undergrad
lil claire- moi
Ashley- the spunky babe
Colin- the band singer
Gavin- the dude always editing BJ in front of me in multimedia lab.
PAUL- our prof

That night Shal and J brought me to Villa Bali for the 1st time. And it's GORGEOUS!! Lovely setting, ambience and music. It's so so so romantic! Sigh...

Then came my birthday, which was quite a blast (AND DAMN HAPPENING) if I may say so myself... *blush*

Had a ball of a time partying at L*quid R*om to DJ K*flow. Reunited the Coco dance gang for the event, so my guest list came up to 15 people and we had such a TOTAL KNOCKOUT TIME dancing!!! As usual, E and TU got challenged by Bboys and there were dance battles aplenty. Plus, some of the winning Funka team members were there... THEY RAWK! Small girls with such explosive power and groove! I'm impressed...

mr tan came late late late!! But thank goodnes he caught part of the battling action. It's like those amazing live performances people pay for to watch. T'were some REALLY MEAN MOVES there man!!!! Especially this hot girl with uber short skirt who suddenly split on the ground and after a few heaves slid effortlessly up again.... * like MY OH MY!*

BLUB didn't engage in any monkey business that night so I was okay with him... :)

Anyway, to commemorate me turning a BIG 2-3, here are some pics of the wild night out:





3 Fleurs
Jas, Jis and I







5 Fleurs
Jis, Moi, Nic, Shal and Jas
The Quintessential Hiphop Crew Pic
clockwise: TU, mr tan, Moi, Jis, Shal, Jas

The next day I joined M at our JC class outing. It's steamboat every year and it's always around CNY season. Anyway, twas glad to catch up with old buddies. Steamboat at Bugis was blah, but we tried sheesha at Arab street afterwards. And I think I've just discovered another great chillout spot in that hippy enclave! The 2nd storey of that sheesha place is all woody and yellow lighting and nice contemp pictures. And they serve some great hot chocolate!

Now that I've seen these quaint lil chillout spots, over-hyped spots like Lo*f, All*y B*r and the horribly overcrowded B*l*clava really pale in comparison. I like my chillout spots to be

1) non-smokey
2) air-conditioned and indoors
3) with not too loud but still great music. (acid/fusion/lounge jazz does it nicely)
4) people there DO NOT engage in picking up activities
5) have a large selection of non-alcoholic drinks and some finger food
6) not too popular with the masses (rule of thumb: the more boho/hippy/chichi the better)
7) have plush cushiony seats with pillows for me to throw/hug/whatever
8) nice decor, lighting, ambience

Back to sheesha. The contraption looked horrid, so I didn't dare try. And I really didn't want to smoke anyway. And I saw one classmates choke really badly which totally put me off that little adventure.

2 hours later and several phonecalls later, I was on the car on way home with Shal, Jas and J.
Shal and J said they're going to Hougang to pass a friend named Mary something. I needed to get my digicam back from Shal so had to see her anyway. They gave me a ride home.

Jas, on the other hand, bumped into Shal at Borders. She asked me out to chill initially since her parents were at late night movies and she doesn't have the keys to get home. So she joined the ride all the way to Hougang too.

So anyway, I really wanted to meet Mary, Shal's friend. Especially since they said she lived only a block away from me. But oh well, Mary wasn't having a party so it's not nice to see her until she gives permissions for me to come down to see her.

I got home. Shal called for me to come down cos she's got something interesting to show me. So I got down and I thought Mary had an interesting pet or something. But John covered my eyes and I knew it..... I'VE BEEN DUPED!!!!


SO commenced my very amazing, ultra surprising birthday party!! At the VOID DECK of my block.

Ed was there all along and he was sleeping in his car. Ergo the red eyes and nose. Jas came to Hougang from CCK all the way for me!!!

And they planned it all for me!!

I'm honoured. Truely! Deeply!

It was so well-planned they even had a chopper nice hidden in J's car for me to cut the durian rolls with.
So we had 3 durian rolls for cake. And some tealight candles as candles.... I LOVE IT ALL!!!!

Then we called the other birthday boy F concurrently to bug him. Turns out he's WORKING! *oh the blasphemy!* So I did some small pep-up talk first and initial Bday wishes. Then when I said goodbye, Ed's call came thru, then Shal then John then Jas.... until everyone made our rounds. Hee... Was SUCH great fun... cos he SO didn't GODDAMN expect it! MUAHAHAHA...

I couldn't stop laughing at the whole joke and this is prolly one of the best birthdays I've had. Simply because I didn't expect anything, but received so much!

Here's a BIG HUG and thank you to:

Faz: for the CD you knew I wanted... And MAN! I'm impressed with your wrapping and decorative skills! Not bad! Not bad at all...

mr D and friends: for being such sports and being there for my Bday party. To his credit, mr D even offered to open a bottle so we could have a table. But TU could get lotsa us in free anyway and we'll be dancing so we scrapped the table idea.

Jis: for the lovely pair of black earrings

Jas, Shal, Ed, John: For giving me the best surprise in my life.... uhm... maybe not life la.... but in the past 2 yrs. For planning the awesome party (it's small but really endearing)! For being there to dance at the Bday outing and being such awesome sports...

Jas: thanks for the uplifting card and being there at Liquid despite your fatigue and bad ankle

Shal: thanks for the cute pink sweater. I love it to bits. Shall try the new hiphop look next time....

John: for providing logistics... it's a lot of work .... and petrol.

TU: for being such a sport too and getting us in to Liquid free

PL and Joyce from church: for the meanigful and uplifting gifts.

mr D: for the dinner and 2 great books you got me

Fiona: for this FANTABULOUS KIT!!! I'm SO gonna use it sometimes....

*FYI it says "How to turn your Ex-boyfriend into a Toad kit*
Plenty useful for me.
It also says "The ultimate spell kit for love, wealth, beauty and revenge."

WOW WEE!!!

I'm a muggle no more cos now I KNOW MAGIC! And I own a spell book :) YAY!!!!! FINALLY!!

Everyone else who's wished me well thru calls/emails/ msges/ msns: thanks for the kind thoughts...

I'm a blessed girl because of you all.... :)