Monday, March 07, 2005

the one with the surprise birthday

This year, my birthday came early. When I think about the people who've invited me out, I feel very happy. Very blessed, actually.

Like yesterday, I was looking forward to a one-to-one date with LiShuan, and it turned out to be a big surprise for me and EeWei, whose birthday falls a few days after mine.

As some of you know, work has been pretty hectic for me lately. For someone who has never used the word "stress" and "work" together in the same sentence, using it now means something! Taking on the job of a colleague who got transferred out, and another who was away in Langkawi for a corporate event, and still having to finish my own jobs mean I am taking on the responsibilities of 3 people.

But it's been great somewhat, learning so many things at once. I've never pushed myself like this before. The feeling of being wanted, of juggling many with limited resources, and meeeting new people - it's all part of the fun!

So as you can imagine, I was half dead by the end of the week. So I was looking forward to a quiet evening with LiShuan to end the week with. She took us to Devil's Crab in Taipan and it did feel quite odd having crabs for 2 persons.

But I wasn't too concerned about that, it was the fellowship that mattered. When we walked into the restaurant, I saw a table with a reservation slip with her name on it, and it was a huge table for 8! I started panicking.. Oh dear, I thought, there are others coming as well.

So I quickly psyched my mind to be ready for the big surprise. I tend to operate on a more expressive mode in bigger groups. More people means you have to talk louder to get to the person opposite the table. And I obviously didn't want them to see me half dead like that. So when she quietly mesg the rest (who were already waiting across the street) to quickly come in, I was telling myself, you can do it, just smile more and act more excited!

I didn't want these people who have planned for my birthday to see a zombified me. In my half dead mode, I can be mistaken for being aloof and nonchalant, even if I'm actually jumping for joy inside.

Then the rest came in and walked past our table, pretending they happened to be in the same restaurant. I was really pleasantly surprised they did this without telling me. I didn't expect the iB camp committee to celebrate it for me, since it was a wee bit early. But because it was so last minute, and almost all of them came, I was feeling quite delirious already. I just had to push myself to express what I really felt inside, haha!

The food did the trick, and halfway I was quite myself already. EeWei was as surprised as I was, and was more quiet than usual. So at least I wasn't alone :D

We had cakes and pressies. Both of us got a Body Shop lippy each, and the colours chosen were just perfect! I really wanted to cry already, coz it was all so beautiful. It didn't really matter if their original plan didn't quite work out or we didn't have candles to blow the cake with. It's the thoughts, and how beautiful those thoughts were.

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