HAPPY(okayla.)HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! =D

okay, so this was what i'd planned
would take place on my birthday:
- wake, shower up, meet classmates!
- spend the morning-> afternoon
hanging out with them, even lunch.
- head back home, tutoring at 4pm
- end at 6pm, have a nice dinner
- return home before 9
- have sweethappy memories..


BUT
IT WAS NOT TO BE.
haha. =P


first of all, my dinnerdate
postponed the meeting.
saddd.


then the night before THE day,
i texted my classrep if we were meeting
and she totally ignored my message!!!!

received a buzz from sylvia instead
to meet at around 3.20pm
on THE day before my tutoring.
though it was a disappointment
that instead of hanging out,
i'd just, like, "NAHH, here you go,"
receive a gift and go back home,
i thought that it was okay, i guess.

so i agreed lastminute to a lunch
with another coursemate of mine
to meet at westmall's pastamania!
yumyum. =D

we then walked around
(too full for swensen's dessert)
to buy stuff from shops i like.
wah, felt superrich
though i really wasn't.
heh. the banes of using NETS.

got fabric paints and stick dyes
from popular.
hehe, the art project i'm
currently working on...
whee~

got a CD (on impulse!!)
from hallmark.
i just seriously bought
what was playing overhead.
haha.

got a birthdaygift for my daddy.
his' the next in the family
to be celebrated!
[since i doubt he'll read this:]
i got him two tabletennisbats
and a box of tabletennisballs.
would be nice to have
a game with him someday.

almost bought hairsoap.
don't know why, just felt like it. >.<
thankfully i didn't.
guess, the ego was overriding the id.

oh, ego, where were you during
all the above purchases?
haha. =P

last purchase, a gift for me:
a black tanktop! *beams*
haha, dearLaLa was commenting
that i need to get the basics!
hehe.


then i rushed back home to
help my sister with something


and then sylvia texted to say
she'd arrived below my block.

so i hurried down to meet her
expecting to see her holding
a paperbag of present for me
but NOOOOOO....
in her hand was just a bunch
of... plastic bags??
y'know, those big
transluscent green ones
that hdb occupants
receive in a bid to
encourage recycling?

so i was: hmmm?

then she folded the bags
and blindfolded me.
well, actually 'cos the bags
were many and were big
she ended up
masking close to my entire face.
haha.

and let me on trail
to i-don't-know-where.
only sensory inputs
were sounds of cars passing by
SO WE WERE WALKING BY
THE ROADSIDE WITH ME
LOOKING SILLY LIKE THAT?!!
and her 'ngiapp' and 'warmth'.
haha, flashback to when we were
learning Mobility with a VI client.

then she got lost.
BUT found her way again,
and we met elisabeth!
well, at least, i heard elisabeth.

they kinda got me into a car
(it sounded like a taxi)
but not before bumping
my nose into the side of the door.

and i heard voices of
xiaoyuan and tricia as well.
"hmm, this will be interesting,"
i thought to myself.

they refused to tell me
where we were going,
so i gave up asking
and just chatted as
normally as i could.
note: i was still blindfolded. (?!!)

then it got quiet
the vehicle stopped.
the door opened.
i somehow got out?

someone grabbed from behind
and tied my hands together
and tied my legs together.

totally freaking me out now.
not sure
whether
to laugh
or to cry.

and then there was a
total change in atmosphere.
i was hauled up
onto what seemed like
another vehicle.
knocked my head against something
but the confusion proved
a damper to the ouch.

in the van
i knew there was someone behind me
a bunch of others beside me.
there were sounds of sobbing
coming from my left
and noises of banging on
the sides of the vehicle
coming from all around.

a male voice rang out
to shut up the wailers.
i wasn't one of them.

i sat at my corner
shivering
with my hands behind my back.
i tried not to roll about
i tried to balance
against the movements of the van
under the control of
a seemingly terrible driver.

a monologue of the
fate of all victims took place.
suggesting that we'd
be shipped to m'sia.

i kept quiet.
to struggle would be unintelligent.
i kept still.
only to be poked at
to check if i was alive
and viable for sale.

a few times the wailers would start.
and be silenced again.

there were sounds of spitting
and snips of a pair of scissors
coming dangerously close
to my ear.
from the left, a sharpening of knife.

it was a long
and uncomfortable ride.

i teared,
but no one could see under the mask.

i dreaded when the van would stop.
not knowing what would happen next.

yet the time came.
the vehicle started reversing.
bleeps accompanied the backward motion.

the door railed open.
light flooded the van,
piercing through the blindfold even.

i was dragged along my bum
towards the edge of the van,
and pushed off onto the ground.

my knees made raw contact with
the rough concrete slabs making up
the floor of the carpark.
the impact of falling onto my knees
jerked out tears
and i burst into sobs.

there was a moment of else silence
and even i waited
for the next thing to happen.

then the blindfold was removed
and in front of me
lay a birthdaycake and a present.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

haha.

i think i was crying
so elisabeth lent me her shoulder.
i said thankyou
haha, think i was still in a daze.

then everyone else started
to reveal their faces.
there was (in order of appearance)
elisabeth, tricia, sylvia, denise,
jonathan, xiaoyuan, justyn.

haha. you buncha sneakyfellas!

i remember asking in the van
who there was
and they insistedthat
pooja was driving and
syams couldn't speak
because there's a surprise. >.<

thanks, ah... =P

anyway, so we started chatting
as we sat out on the ground
beside the van.

turns out that there was
only one vehicle
but 'cos the backdoors open via hinge
and the sidedoors open via sliding,
it seemed that i was transferred from
one vehicle to another.

the first checkpoint where they
walked me to was actually the
coffeeshop area 4-5 roads
away from my place! >.<
sylvia must've looked real silly
walking beside a blindfolded me.
haha, thankfully i was spared. =D

then the next destination was actually
some carpark at hillview, bukit timah.
whoa. far, aye?

finally, i found myself at another carpark
beside the bukit batok nature reserve.
so many places in less than halfanhour.
what an adventure!

i really appreciate the planning and
all the arrangements to my bday celebrations.
it turns out that they sneakily
engaged my sister's help!!

haha, it was a real surprise
and in some sense,
it was a fun experience.

i imagined that the stuff
i went through was kinda like,
persecution?
maybe the experience would
be good preparation
for the future? hmm..

haha, but anyway,
i really like the presents!!
got a really long chunky necklace
and a black long-sleeved sweater.
girlystuff.
SWEET!!!

haha.
thankyou
dearFarah, sylvia, xiaoyuan,
denise, tricia, jonathan, syams,
elisabeth (who actually wanted to
leave me tied&blindfolded somewhere
with just the cake&gift in front of me)
and justyn (who was the voice
behind all the mental torture).

haha, now have some scrapes on the knee
to proudly say that this is the memorablest
birthday ever!

happybirthday~ =]