21st only comes once.

Warning: I wrote in as detail as possible for my own 'flashback reading' in future. Read at your own 'risk' =P

By the way, this is also the triple 3 (333th) post...!

On the special day of 8th September 2009....

At 12am sharp, I received the first phone call from Ling Weng and we chatted for 32mins. It was a really funny and entertaining conversation. She was trying hard to sing birthday song for me while I joked that I would like to record it, or she could record her singing and send to me via MMS...haha (LW, your OMG sounded very funny)~ We chatted about a lot of things and I kept laughing and laughing. She's so very cute and talented (to make people laugh!) =D It was a really good start for my 21st...erm, she actually argued that a 'good start' is not good enough a word to describe it as she wanted a more 'glamourous and better' descriptive term. And we both actually thought for a few seconds for a suitable term but couldn't think of any hahaha! I realised that I haven't been laughing like that for a while too. I really enjoyed the chat, thanks to her who made it so special =D

At 1.29am I received another call, but I accidentally put the caller on hold and so I panicked for a while to find out how to put the caller back on line. Luckily within 10 seconds I could hear her wishing me happy birthday...but I didn't see who the caller was nor did I recognise her voice earlier. It was when she said 'see I'm so nice call you before 12am' that I realised that it's a call from Malaysia and it's no other than Yun!!! GOSH....I was very surprised that she called me!!!! Coz I rarely receive calls from Malaysia... I told her about the actual time difference and that I was actually planning to go to bed already because I still have class the next day...she mentioned that she meant she called before 12am in Malaysia haha~ I was very happy and touched that she called =D Thank you my dear!!

Went to sleep straight away after that. Was planning to wake up at 7am then go to hospital at 7.30am. But but but...my phone rang suddenly before the alarm did, and I got up to pick the call without even looking at the caller number/name while saying 'Hello' and straining hard to open my eyes... I struggled to look up at my clock which showed 6.25am...whaattt?? Anyhow I heard the caller said something like happy birthday so I just smiled and said thank you while thinking hard and wondering who the caller was... I know it's a very familiar female voice...siapa ni so daring =P It was a few seconds later (okay, maybe loooonger than that) that I realised it's Angelene calling from UK!!! GOSH GOSH GOSH....!!! Okay this is the ironic part: I was truly 101% surprised but I was less than 100% alert myself @.@ Yet, my heart meltz...the more she talked, the more I 陶醉在她甜美可爱的声音中...I just closed my eyes and lied on the bed while enjoying the sweetest cutest voice I have ever heard (*wonder if that's what paeds rotation have done to her*)...and yes, I admit that I was super duper blur that time coz haven't got enough sleep....but I do remember that she said she wanted to call me at 12am (UK 3pm) but she had work to do so she decided to call me in the morning instead...very EARLY morning yea lady (though she said I didn't sound like I just woke up because my voice was clear)~ I didn't know why did I even ask '你为什么打来' haha totally didn't expect that she would call =D 一大清早满满甜言蜜语的unexpected morning call...the best morning call ever ^_^ Thanks darling!

Guessed what I did after the call ended... I went back to sleep!! Even though it's just 30mins before my set alarm time. Yet the 30 mins of sleep seemed like the longest 30-min sleep I have ever had, sweet nice peaceful sleep =D

Went to hospital for ward rounds in the morning. Kezia wished me happy birthday and said, 'Come to the common room at 12pm, I baked a cake.' I was like, 'WHAT? You baked a cake for me? OOHH!! Thanks!!! But....why did you tell me about the celebration? Am I supposed to act surprised when I go to the common room later?' 'No no you don't need to, I'm telling you now because you would have expected/knew it anyway. Now you gotta go invite people!' HAHAHA!! She baked a banana + walnut cake for me....Yummy =D

[haven't gotten the photos yet, otherwise can show you guys the cake & people who celebrated my birthday at the common room in hospital]

One of the nurses whom I gave some banana cake to few weeks ago gave me this bar of chocolate....such coincidence on my birthday!

CHOCOLATE wheeee~

After coming back from hospital, I received a call from Chien! After wishing me happy birthday, she asked me '你为什么没有打来问我为什么没有打电话给你' to which I found amusing =P So I explained that I just came back. Thanked her for the scarf and book which I received a few days earlier, will read the book when I have the time =)

Just before my usual dinner time Justina called me to 'invite me out for dinner'. She asked me what type of food I would like and I told her anything is fine as long as it's not Chinese or Italian. Shea Chuen and her came and picked me up at 7.15pm. It was a rainy day, it's been raining non-stop since morning. Justina said we're going to Glen Waverley but first we're going to pick Li Ping first. Okay, I thought, the others must have been waiting at the 'restaurant'....When we reached Li Ping's house, Justina was ready to call her but Shea Chuen said he would go in and call her out instead. This is when I started to sense something fishy....it was dark and raining outside but from the car windscreen I could roughly see some 'shadows' of people running in and out of the house but I didn't take that seriously. A while later Shea Chuen came into the car and said that Li Ping still needed some time to get ready because she had spilled water in her bedroom and was cleaning it up, so Rou Min (her housemate) asked all of us to go in the house and wait instead. I was quite reluctant as it was raining outside (there's still a distance to walk to her house) and I was wearing heels plus I thought it wouldn't take that long to wait for her to clean up. Anyway, I forgot what Shea Chuen said but he was determined that we should all go in. As I walked out of the car and along the road to Li Ping's house, I saw a few cars parked outside...which were my friends' cars...so immediately I knew everyone had already gathered at Li Ping's house. HAHAHA!

I was surprised that they prepared a steamboat =) WHOOOAAAA, so much fooooood!!! Everyone looked so busy in preparing the food....felt so warm and homely =D

Fresh basa & salmon

PRAWNS!

Fish cakes, fish & meat balls, seafood dumplings

And the lovely decorations!!! Love them!!

Butterflies made of two hearts each =) and there were 21 butterflies!

Balloons

My name =)

We also had desserts - birthday cake (of course) and custard with crushed biscuits and fruits, and also watermelon and honeydew =)

Refreshing

Blackforrest cake

Lastly is the prize giving ceremony! Pressies I got:

A dark blue silky blouse with black belt...love the colour!!

A black jacket...looks very yeng

A nice bag with a cute style...will use this soon!!

A scrapbook designed by Yu Wan with lots of photos and messages from others...love this (yea sentimental me I know) - more pictures of the pages in Facebook

This cute totoro came a few days later (according to Chau Wang, it's still in the plane from HK during the time of my birthday)

All in all, I really appreciate what you guys have done to make the party a success. As I have mentioned in my thank you messages, the main element is warmth and love rather than the surprise (still I was surprised by the location of the party and the steamboat). I really enjoyed the party. Thanks to Mr organiser, Mr fish cutter, Ms fruit cutters, Ms dessert preparers, Mr and Ms decoration-ers, Mr and Ms steamboat ingredient preparers, Mr and Ms soup makers, Mr and Ms eaters, Ms house owners, Mr driver, Mr and Ms dish washers and cleaners, Mr and Ms cameramen, Ms massage etc.. (find your role(s) =P)

You guys are awesome

Also thanks to those who wished me via Facebook and wrote blog posts (click to view - Siew Ting, Conney & QY, Angelene, Ling Weng).

Cards from my friends

Cards from my family

The back of the envelopes say: Love, Us & Sam (the dog); made by hand (so creative)

Am amazed by this little poem my sister wrote because it rhymes so well:

Flowers bloom everywhere,

Oh, they are all so fair;
Love is in the air,
Drifting here and there.

There's someone special to care,
With whom whose happiness I want to share;
How I wish she's here,
But she's with the koala bear!