...but I'm going to blog about it anyway. It actually happened 2 weeks ago, but the reason why I'm blogging about it now is because, well, I'm lazy. You can't say I'm not honest. You can say that this story shouldn't be so long, but I miss essay writing in school. (I know, unbelievable, huh?). I just have to write a story. It's not a masterpiece like the stuff I used to make (Adik: Aksyen!), but it's something. It's a long post, so please bear with me.
A few weeks ago, I got an invitation to join a birthday party, to celebrate (what else?) a birthday. It doesn't really matter that I've never even actually met the birthday girl before then, but hey, a party's a party. Besides, I'm glad for any opportunity to get out of the house. The party happened on the 16th of April, a Saturday, a special Saturday, one which both my parents will be home. So what would you have picked - a fun birthday party, or sitting at home, getting nagged at by my folks to clean the dishes?
So of course, I got ready, and wore the nicest shirt I have in my closet that wasn't smelling of stale sweat and mothballs. I tried to comb my hair. The keyword is 'try', since I was trying to go for the Beatles look, you know, Paul McCartney. Now instead I got a Harry Potter look. Except Harry is actually cute. And has round glasses. So anyway, the birthday girl was someone I've wanted to meet for a long time. So I tried the best I can to make myself presentable. As presentable as a guy with wild hair, bad faint moustache and a face crying out for Neutrogena can be.
The venue: Swensen's Jurong Point. On the way there, in the bus 66 I saw my dear friend Faryn at the bus stop, looking as Aunty as ever. (I'm sorry, but to me, it takes a very special woman to wear a tudung and not look like an Aunty). She didn't see me, so I phoned her and chatted with each other for a while.
-Summary of our conversation
Faryn: Bla bla bla bla bla bla de dah dah bla bla bla
TheFiz: Mmhm, mhmm, oh really?, that's nice
Basically, I told her I was going to a birthday party, she was mad she wasn't invited and demanded who the birthday girl is. I didn't tell her because 1) she doesn't know her and B) she won't believe me if I do tell her who she is.
Skipping ahead to Jurong Point, which is "The Place to Be" after opening that new wing a few years ago. I was way too early, so I made my way to the library, and I must say, I found this great book of poems which is just a joy to read. I'd like to take this time to read a passage from the book entitled (CENSORED FOR EXTREMELY BORING SUBJECT).
Anyway, once it was time, I made my way back to Swensen's. BTW, the birthday girl has her own website, and so I have to meet the actual organisers of the party, the website's moderators, Alex and Sammie. Nice people they were. They took me up to Swensen's (pretty spiffy place it was) where the other invited guests were waiting. About 30 of them. That's half the restaurant space taken. Not bad at all.
Anyway, it was some group that gathered. The youngest was 10 years old, the oldest was 28. Different shapes and sizes but we all had a common goal: to meet the birthday girl. Who was late. As usual, so said Faisal, another moderator who I chatted with on the Net from time to time. So I just sat there, drinking the free water, introducing myself to the groupas meesotofreak, my nick at that website.
Finally, exactly one hour after I arrived, the birthday girl arrived. All heads turned to her. Not just our group, but the entire restaurant. Not surprising, considering how pretty she was. She proceeded to introduce herself to everyone, and everyone in turn gave her presents. Lots of presents. Really, it's surprising a petite woman like her can carry all those presents. So, with the birthday girl finally at Swensen's, we can order some food. Not being especially hungry, I ordered a Chocolate Ice Cream Malt. Let me give you a piece of advice: if you are NOT looking for a massive sugar buzz, do NOT order the Chocolate Ice Cream Malt. I'm just sayin'.
Truth be told, it wasn't much of a party. Sure the birthday girl went around trying to talk to everyone (not me though, unfortunately). But otherwise, she sat with the moderators. So I just sat there, eating my ice cream, getting the biggest sugar buzz of my life.
Of course, the birthday girl soon had to leave because of a prior engagement. But she said we can all watch her do the said prior engagement. So of course we went to the stage where she was doing her engagement. It all went well. I even enjoyed the manicure competition.
BTW, throughout the show, there was this irritating jingle about Jurong Point that kept playing. No wait, irritating is not the word. Terrible. Awful. Loathsome. I can't think of any other word. So of course when it was time for the jingle singing contest, one of the the emcee picked me to joined the contest. I tried to decline politely, but the other emcee actually came up and dragged me to the stage. The other emcee incidentally being the birthday girl. I said "I can't sing", which was a lie, I can sing a little, but still no one listened. And the gang (those who stayed back) were cheering me on, so I thought "What the heck?". If I'm going to sing a jingle on stage, in front of hundreds of shoppers, I might as well give 'em a show. So I sang my guts out, trying not to puke from the awfulness of the song. Heck, I think I even sang it better than the original jingle singer (Vernon A, I think). OK, maybe not, but a guy has the right to delude himself right?
Wow, this post is long, isn't it?
As it turned out, the other contestant singers couldn't match my showmanship. Maybe they were nervous. And here's the thing. For some reason, the minute I was on that stage and looked at the audience, my nervousness vanished. I have no idea why. It was actually replaced by enthusiasm. Maybe my Singapore Idol experience helped. Speaking of which, the people was asked to vote by applauding. I'm amazed my head didn't expand to the size of Russia, the applause, while not on the level of Taufik, was loud. Very loud. Even a few whistles here and there. So thus, I won the competition. And all I had to do was sing a crappy jingle. Which you can hear at Perfect 10 if you're lucky. The gang had the cheek to call for an encore, so of course I had to sing again. Alas, it wasn't as good. But hey, least I won a Perfect 10 folder, a landyard, a car sticker and vouchers worth $40 bucks. Which my sis promised to give me.
I went to the gang, got my congratulations and ran for the loo. Funny how I realised I had a full bladder only after my Grammy-winning performance eh?
We waited for the show to end so that we can see the birthday girl to her car. What can we say? We liked her. Enough to send her to her car. Besides, we wanted to see exactly what car it was. On the way to the carpark, people kept staring at us. Ok, ok, not us. Her. Can't help it, she is a famous personality. We stopped outside the carpark because the birthday girl didn't want us to come in. So we had one quick photo taking session. One auntie even came and asked for a photo on her mobile for her son. And yes, I got to get my picture taken with the birthday girl, who I just realised I haven't named yet. Well, I don't have to say it, the name's in the link to the photo below.
http://www.jamie-yeo.com/forums/album_comment.php?pic_id=2142
I've wanted to take a photo with her for the longest time. Well now I've done it. That is cool. Too bad I look as blur and weird as usual.
Then we finally let Jamie go (after one last Birthday song), and waited around to say Bye Bye as she drove by. Which she did. In a Mini Cooper, believe it or not. I even got her car number. Too bad I've forgotten it.
Then we all said our goodbyes and split up. Nice day for me I'd say.
Then of course, as I got home and tried to sleep, the folks dragged me up and the whole family went to East Coast for some reason. I don't mind though. I did get to climb a tree for the first time.
Hmmm, I guess that's it then. Story's over. Darn, it's not as good as I hoped it would be. I must be getting rusty. Ah well, I'll work on it. In a nutshell, on the 16th of April, I got to go out and celebrate my 2nd favourite DJ's birthday. Not as exciting as the BBQ last year which I missed, but it's something.
-Last note: I love this template! It's so simple and yet so brilliant in ways I don't know how to say.
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