It's a conspiracy!

Have you ever had not one, not two but THREE birthday surprises?! Have you, have you?! Muahahahaha!!! I HAVE!!! My daaaaarrrrrllliinnnggg friends plotted to give me the most fantastic, fabulous, amazing celebration ever! Hear me brag all about it them!!!

Number one (28 May 2006)

*The sneaky fellows!*

Surprise number one was to celebrate my birthday 1 hour before midnight! How not to be a surprise! I was innocently at my desk, cursing people for stealing all my cheap air tickets to Perth when in burst 5 girls holding a delicious birthday cake!

Oooooooo!!! The cake was sooooo nice!!! One of my favourite cakes in the world! I simply adore fruit cakes and this one was a cheese fruit cake! You see hor... The flakes at the side were not the boring almond flakes leh... They were coconut flakes!!! Woohoo!!!

*Check out the candle buried deep deep deep deep inside the cake. I had to take it out with my teeth wor! Sorry girls for having to eat cake with moisturiser from my face! Muahahahahaha*

We finished it in like two days! And I received a smashing ninewest bag from the gals as well! I'm in bag heaven~ *brushes tear away*

Number two (29 May 2006)

My nose was blocked and I still went to school despite numerous people saying that I should give myself a break because I was mildly sick and it was my birthday. No way! Paid so much to study here better damn well do as I should! I am 硬working! LOL~~

Then I came home to a delicious dinner! I was just thinking of how good it would be if I get to eat steamed fish now. Many people have the idea that Brisbane has a lot of cheap fresh seafood. WRONG! If you stay near the city, nothing is cheap! If you want fresh, you have to go to Chinatown to buy! And clean it yourself! Pui!

*WE FINISHED ALL THE FOOD!*

I really got my steamed fish wish! You can check it out here! Smashing dinner!!! Thanks everyone~

Number three (3 June 2006)

So after these two surprises, I was thinking it would be great to go out and just have a nice lovely dinner with these awesome friends. Painstakingly, I made an invitation card and sent it out to them! Ok, ok... So it was not painstakingly; just took 30 minutes, but I made an effort ok!

Then I was going to do all sorts of wonderful things for their entertainment. Like chatting up the Greek waiters on their behalf, or gyrating with the bellydancer when the time comes. But those girls did not give me a chance! They gave me a big, wonderful surprise instead.

We were supposed to take ferry to the restaurant at 6pm. I even drew a map!

When the time came, I went downstairs only to find D still in the house. I asked her where K was. She said K was at the neighbour's. So I waited for D to finish her kiwi. I noticed that she was acting strangely. Usually, she does not like to take photos. But for some reason, she asked me to take pic then. Hmm... I smell a rat. Opps... Sorry... That's the caesar's salad sauce from the dustbin. Hahaha... House joke, house joke...

Then when we left the house, D took my arm and led me in the opposite direction of the ferry stop.

D: You're being kidnapped now. Do not ask any questions. Do not ask where I'm taking you to. You shall know in dued time.
Me: HAR??? This is so weird! What about the dinner?
D: DO NOT ASK ANY QUESTIONS!!!
Me: This is so strange.

I was brought to sit at the bus stop. I half expected J to drive her car around, even though she had said she had to attend a wedding. Conspiracy is in the air. I wandered aloud to D.

Me: If we are taking bus here, then we must be going to school. If we are going to school, then it must be back to the old house. (where we stayed last semester)
D: ...
Me: This is so strange. I hope wherever you are taking me to has food.
D: Don't worry. You are in good hands.
Me: You mean cold hands? (D is known for her cold-like-ice hands. I suspect she can wake the dead with them)
D: ...
Me: This is so strange. I think I am the happiest kidnap victim around.

When the bus came and J wasn't in sight, I started my guesswork again.

Me: Cannot be you ask me go school walk around mah. And K is not joining us. What can K do that you can't?
D: Don't think too much!
Me: It must be cooking!
D: You are wondering too far.
Me: This is so strange.
D: *laughs* Can't you think of any other words?
Me: This is... highly unusual.

I even had to dig for coins to pay transport for my own kidnapping ok. When we alighed at the bus stop in school, I half expected the others to be there so we will take the ferry from school to go to the restaurant. Although what purpose that would serve, I didn't know. But no one turned up.

D: *on her mobile* Ok. We have arrived.
Me: Thisi sos trange. (my speech was affected by then)

D led me to the seats at the bus stop and we just sat there. She asked me questions about my assignment, which I could hardly answer. What do you say to your kidnapper? Hmmm... After 3 minutes, D stood up and led me down the slope opposite the bus stop. As we walked down, I still reminded D to be careful of the steep path. What kind of person would be so nice to her kidnapper? She "dialled" her phone again.

D: We are arriving at number one.

How cryptic can you get?! How long did it take them to memorise all the code names and words and numbers?! We were heading in the direction of the old place. When we reached the steps towards the apartment, D "called" again.

D: We are at the destination.

Instead of pressing the bell, she did a roundabout turn and led me to the back of the blocks.

K, L, P, W: *jumped out from behind pillars* SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, my jacket is too big for me... zzzz... but I am still happy! The bag is the new gift from them!!

WAH!!!! DAMN HAPPY LOR!!!! SINCE WHEN YOU GET PEOPLE GIVING YOU SO MANY SURPRISES FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY! AND CONSIDERING THAT THE PAST WEEK WAS A WEEK OF TESTS, ASSIGNMENTS, AND EVEN A THESIS, THEY TOOK TIME OUT TO PLAN ALL THIS LOR!!! YOU GOT OR NOT?! I CAN HAOLIAN MY FRIENDS LA!!!!!!!!!!!

THE TOTALLY AMAZING 5 CONSPIRERS!!! I suspect no. 5 likes to sniff at something... HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

The food was better than anything any restaurant can come up with ok!

The beef was oh-so-tender because D hammered it. The chicken wings were nicely sized because P cut them until got blisters. They also tasted smashing because K did the marinating. The three of them had to go behind my back to do all this because I was home when they headed over to P's to do all the preparation. W and L carried the chairs, sauces, and plates from their house! WOOHOO! YOU HAVE OR NOT!!!

Then on Friday P kept telling me she was very tired. I thought how can go school make you so tired?! It turned out that D, and P all went to buy the food for the night! And W, P, K carried over to the venue on the night itself! YOU HAVE OR NOT?!!!!??!

Winter is soooooooo good for BBQ lor!!! Though it's better to stand beside the pit than to carry it all the way to the table because it gets cold by then... Hahahahaha....

YOU HAVE OR NOT!!!!

Then all the stories came pouring out about how they feared I would find out before that.

P: That's why I said I very tired when I met you on Friday la! Carried until want to die ah! Then just now waited for D's cue so long we almost died standing behind the pillars lor!
D: What can I do? She was already starting to make guesses at the bus stop. And remember all the calls I made? All of them were fake except for the one at the bus stop. Even the one made at home saying K is coming over is also fake. I was talking to nobody! Somemore, I was soooooooo afraid you would come downstairs when I was taking your sambal sauce for the calamari. I would have a lot of explaining to do!
K: Ya lor! I even asked my friends to help me get the sambal sauce. That's why I had so many missed calls this afternoon while I was sleeping. Today supposed to come by earlier but I overslept. Then D came into my room to wake me up. I said ok but went back to sleep. But I noticed D was still there. Then I asked her, "Oh! Am I supposed to wake up?!" D said, "Never mind, it's ok!"
D: Wah! What else can I say? She (me) was at home mah!
W: That time L was asking me how come you sent us invitation? Wasn't it supposed to be a BBQ? I was like, "NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! YOU CANNOT TELL HER!!!! IT'S A SURPRISE!!!!!!!" Hak sei ngor ah!!!!

YOU HAVE OR NOT!!!!!!

I am truly very lucky to have such a fantastic, sweeter than sugar, better than Guylian shell chocolates, Mango on sales, heater on cold days, air-con on hot days, warm milk before bed, cold Coke after sweating, group of friends!!! Thank you girls!!! It must be because I always say I wanted BBQ that you all planned this for me. No Greek waiters can beat this man! I have one thing to blame you for though. My cheeks are aching from grinning sooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!! MUAHAHAHAHA!!!!