I was totally engrossed in rushing out a report for my Joburg trip that when I heard singing voices behind me, I didn't realise until a few seconds later, that the girls were singing the birthday song and marching towards me (and Candice) with a birthday cake and flowers.
It says on the cake, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLS". Mine was 2 days ago and Candice's is tomorrow.
This is a puffy faced me holding my big-ass card and glittery bouquet of flowers.
Candice's bouquet has a butterfly on it!
A photo with the prim and proper boys:
And one with the cheeky girls:
It was a sweet sweet surprise for the still-jetlagged-and-couldn't-focus-much-at-work me.
A report on the loot:
1. I collected my first parcel from the post office today and it was something from flyaway! A cool cap (she says I look good in caps), a card and a 护身符 from the 四马路观音庙. I think the 护身符 is a very heartwarming gift cos it reminds me of my mum - keep Jac safe at all times.
2. Deathnote part 3 DVD from 3 funky work mates! It was on my wishlist and was only released in Sydney a week ago.
More to come more to come!!!
another surprise today
birthday surprises
I received 2 surprise birthday celebrations in the last few days.
The Rex contingent I went to Johannesburg with - Chris the big brother, Leon the big bear and John the sweet talker - decided to reward ourselves for the hard work we put in for the week by having a nice dinner on our last night in the very nice Shumba Valley Lodge we stayed in.
Then when the time came for us to order desserts, a waiter appeared out of nowhere with a birthday cake and suddenly all the guys sprang into song at the top of their voices. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..." I was pleasantly surprised. To think I was even contemplating skipping dinner cos I was exhausted from working til late for consecutive days. I was glad I made the effort to stay awake for our last dinner in South Africa. I even broke my self-imposed no-alcohol-during-entire-work-trip rule to have a few drinks with the boys to celebrate the occasion although it was several days in advance of the actual day. I really appreciate their thoughts and effort.
When I got back to Sydney on the 5th, I was picked up at the airport and zipped off to some nice restaurant for dinner by the beach and another surprise birthday cake complete with a bouquet of flowers at the stroke of midnight. I was quite blown away although I may have been too tired from the long haul flight to express my delight at the surprise.
All the emails, comments, IM messages and smses I received from all over the world show that there are so many who remember, who care. I have not checked my letterbox but I know there are collection slips for me to collect my birthday pressies from the post office. How many and what are they and who they are from, I do not know, yet. But I do know tudi's parcel will be late in arriving. I can't wait to unwrap and discover all these little surprises.
Guys, here's a great big thank you for all the wishes. Even a simple message means the world to me, especially when I'm away from all those I love and who love me. I miss all of you so so so much.
jetlagged, birthday & depressing news
I got back to Sydney from Johannesburg last night. Today is my birthday. Still recovering from jetlag, I received very depressing news from lambchop this afternoon.
Initially I thought it was some kind of joke or prank. But then nobody will joke over the life of their good friends. It was a sailing accident. After getting over the initial shock of the news, I sent off a couple of smses to tudi and BH. I didn't call BH cos I know if I did, both of us would have cried. The entire day, I couldn't stop thinking back to the times we spent together. BH, Kimi Vin and I used to be a set.
We would sit in a coffeeshop til late and talk about silly things about cooking half boiled eggs and jogging vs taking the bus to the zoo. He also played an active role in Project Femininise Me, offering valuable advice on how I can behave more ladylike. When BH was interning in my previous company, we got bored and together with Vin, did silly doodles on MSN. Below was a comic strip by Vin on MSN.
I miss his idiotic greetings on MSN already. And I will never be able to go binge on prata at the Prata House in Thomson with him ever again. I really regret not meeting up with him on my last visit back to Singapore, thinking that it was ok, we can always meet the next time. But there will never be a next time now.
food diary: 23 - 29 june
Incomplete food diary for this week cos of the rush in preparation for the trip to Joburg and most of Sunday was spent in the air towards South Africa. There will also be no meal and dump records for next week til I'm back from Joburg.
monday
B @ 9.30am: mocha
L @ 1pm: penne with tuna and mushrooms in cream sauce, mocha
Dinner @ 7.30pm: homecooked fried noodles with eggs, enoky mushrooms and chilli in a yangzhou fried rice paste
dump: nil
tuesday
B @ 8am: 1.5 KrispyKreme donuts, mocha
L @ 12noon: 6 inch subway melt, 2 cookies
D @ 7.30pm: KFC Zinger burger, 3 wicked wings, 1 small mashed potato, a few fries
dump: nil
wednesday
B @ 10am: cappuccino
L @ 12noon: McAmerica burger
D @ 7pm: 2 packs of frozen meals (1 pasta thing and 1 beef thing), a pack of potato chips
dump: nil
thursday
B : cappucino
L @ 4pm: 3 sushi rolls
D @ 8pm: vietnamese beef rice noodles soup
dump: once
friday
B : mocha
L @ 1.30pm: spaghetti carbonara
D @ 8pm: chicken schnitzel with salad and chips
dump: nil
saturday
FORGOT
sunday
FORGOT
last dinner
me: hey let's go dinner?
colleague: nah, I'm tired... am almost dead
me: what if it's your last chance to have dinner with me?
colleague: why so?
me: I'm leaving for South Africa in a day's time. it's so dangerous there... what if I die there?
colleague: no you won't. you girls go ahead. I'm really tired...
me: if I really die there and you never see me again, you will regret not having dinner with me tonight for the rest of your life...
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