Blessed Seventeenth

Hello friends :-)

Birthdays are a mere celebration of the day one enters the world as an individual, living organism. It could mean nothing to a person and honestly to me it's not really that big of a deal because I did nothing to deserve a day like this - if anything, it's probably my mum's effort in pushing me out. It means a whole lot to me though, that my friends actually bother to celebrate it with me because they aren't just celebrating my existence (that wouldn't carry any meaning at all) but rather (hopefully -) celebrating how my existence has impacted their lives. And for that, I thank all of you, from the bottom of my heart. 

I do hope that every single one of you has been positively affected by my presence in your lives because you guys sure do, to me and have made 21 February 2014 so incredibly memorable. Marking my seventeenth year with the best company ever, I am truly blessed. And because I'd hope to retain these memories forever, here's how my day went by: 

Started the day with a little birthday song and birthday cake (the one pictured above!) from my family at home :') Can I just say that my family sings the birthday song in the weirdest way ever because everyone's not very comfortable with singing and my dad would sing in a really high pitched voice which would annoy my mum. And well, my brother would just snigger at the side. But that aside, thank you to my favourite parents and brother in the world. 

Headed to school a little later than usual and when I was entering the canteen, I saw the back view of the Belly Boings trying to sneak into the canteen (i.e. I was walking behind them) because they thought I was already sitting inside somewhere. Then some of them turned around and saw me looking at them and it was really awkward HAHA apparently Wang You assured everyone that I didn't see them yet. 

But you guys are the best - thank you so much for the cake, princess crown, balloon and presents :') We're all in different classes and it's so difficult to meet up nowadays but I really hope we don't ever lose contact because you guys are a bunch I'll never want to lose - ever.  

"Friendship forever pls pls pls pls pls" 

Thank you guys I love you all to the moon and back :-* Thank you guys for being my pillar of strength for the past two years and hopefully for more to come. And please update on all your new found boy boys - don't keep it to yourselves ok! 

Omg honestly thank you so much for the lovely lovely lovely cards, for getting me the book I very shamelessly hinted for, the cute lion plush (HAHA it's funny how I told you guys to avoid ducks - the Waddle mascot - and I end up getting the Bayley Waddle mascot) and the super amazing scented Yankee candles (caramel!!!!!!!!!!) 

Full photo of us in our JC school uniforms :') 

Minglu suddenly came halfway to take me away from the Boings and Channel 5 surprised me with another birthday song, a slice of Oreo cheesecake (!!!), presents and a huge obnoxiously yellow plush "duck" (which really isn't a duck) - thank you so much guys I truly appreciate it! Thank you for being the best House Capts I've ever worked with (well, yes you guys are the only House Capts I've worked with) and I do wish we could all be House Capts again in JC because that will be insanely amazing but of course, life does not work that way at all. But the times I spent with you guys were undoubtedly one of the best moments in my secondary school life and I know we'll still keep in touch. I have no idea where our photo together in the morning went though. 

Hehe thank you for the little gifts and cards :') Am extremely touched!

Big "duck" - it's probably a parrot or a chick - trust me, my expertise is in identifying plush ducks. I love it all the same though!

After morning assembly, my dear class (15A01C) broke out into a birthday song at the parade square and I was already incredibly happy and honestly didn't expect anything else. However, during Literature, our CT suddenly said she needed to cut short the lesson and two of my classmates, Nicholas & Jun Lei left the classroom to go to the "toilet" and came back with a lovely big cake and started singing the birthday song for me. Thank you so much guys - even though we have barely known each other, you guys still bothered to do something like that for me. I was truly caught off guard and most definitely, pleasantly surprised. They made me wear a party hat to the Econs lecture as well! 

Headed to the canteen after school to properly eat the cake - really looking forward to spend the next two years with this very fun bunch! 

Yay hehe - shoutout to my classmate/ OG mate Nicholas for initiating this in the first place - I'm extremely touched by this surprise. 

Unfortunately, I couldn't really spend much time with my class after school because Channel 5 wanted me to head to the Manna Café to receive further instructions. Turns out, they were kidnapping me to somewhere special (to be honest, I kind of already guessed where they wanted to take me because it's pretty near school and it's one of my favourite cafés ever). 

It was really hilarious because I saw my CT at Manna Café and she stopped to talk to me/ ask me how my day was. She knew it was my birthday because my class celebrated it for me during her Literature class and I was carrying a birthday balloon + other tangible forms of love (I am so blessed honestly) and so she started asking for my "secret to being so popular" and it got a bit weird. Of course, I couldn't answer her question but she was really insistent, asking me why people liked me so much. It was all in the name of fun and Channel 5 came to my rescue, giving all sorts of funny answers. She later told me that she was very glad that I didn't choose to run for Council and could remain as her CT rep (i.e. class chair). Well, well :-) 

So, these are my two kidnappers - Huiying & Mel (i.e. Barney)! Unfortunately, Minglu and Van still had lessons at that time and couldn't come along with us to our hunt - Old School Delights! Kind of ironic that they kidnapped me here because I was the one who introduced the place to them. 

It wasn't just three of us though ;-) 

"2 servings" - we ended up getting four heh heh and Hui Ying tried to get a free birthday cake by subtly writing "Happy Birthday Li Yin" at the bottom of our order white board. Unfortunately, it didn't work!

D r i n k s :-) 

  

Probably the best wings in the entire universe - I could eat four servings on my own I think.

Super happy and blessed after a whole load of chicken (which I didn't even need to pay for whoa you guys are the best of the best! :-*) 

Love love love this photo of us and of course, the people in the photo! 

Channel 5 was supposed to bring me back to school to "hand" me "over" to Sarah but when we were on the way back, Sarah called and apparently Phionna fainted because she donated blood to the blood bank in school and it was pretty scary. We rushed back to the Innovation Centre and kept Phionna company afterwards. That girl is so noble she keeps on giving to others and caring about the welfare of others but ends up overlooking her own well being. Sarah and I didn't manage to go out but it's perfectly okay - thank you so much for the thought though, and everything else! We still have our study dates no worries ;-) 

Afterwards, I found out that my OG was still hanging out in school so I headed to the amphitheatre to join them - love their company anytime. Somehow, when I'm with them, I end up laughing really hard (and for the record, I laugh hard at everything but this one is a bit more extreme) which is always nice. Somehow, throughout my birthday, I didn't really laugh a lot because I had to stand awkwardly and thank people which isn't what one does naturally so it was nice to truly let go with my OG near the end of the day. 

Yay :-) 

Oh, and my OG was sending birthday wishes via Whatsapp throughout the day - thank you guys so much for that! One of the messages came with this photoshopped photograph of me, done by Nigel! Thanks so much for the effort it made my day :') The original art piece isn't one of the duck. 

Ended up staying in school with Gabriella, Jia Qian and Chan Wai till around 7.30pm because they didn't allow me to go home - they literally dragged me away from the Marymount gate, I don't even know what they were thinking but anyway you guys are fabulous company, I didn't really mind even though I showed some dissatisfaction. Yes, that concludes 21 February 2014 - it was an amazing day, to say the least. Apart from the surprises I received, thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes and birthday presents be it on social media, face to face or via text - I appreciate every single one of you, really. 

Thank you Chris :') :') You da very best, most irritating chum I know of - much love hehe and our get fat sessions are still on okay! 

Also, my brother was really hilarious - he put a box of Japan piggy chocolates into my bag of birthday gifts without saying a word at night and I only saw it on the morning of 22 February and I couldn't identify where the mystery box came from until my mum asked him. Thank you bro for being so quietly caring though! 

Truly felt like a princess that day. However, it didn't even end then :') I headed to school the following Monday (24 February) and was surprised by another group of people - the Dwen An kids! 

It was a lovely cake - note that it was and look at the photograph closely! The cake was smashed halfway but it's still beautiful hehe thank you guys :') It might have been the least aesthetically appealing cake I received this year but honestly, it was the nicest tasting one! 

Thank you Yijing, Leirong, Tiff & Ben for the surprise - I truly appreciate it although you guys are not particularly good at surprises HAHA y'all can't even locate me in one very small canteen (well, at least Ben couldn't) but thank you all the same! We must continue keeping in touch as much as we can because of our shared experience - we were in one of the most memorable experiences I ever had in my life together and I enjoy you guys' company very much. 

T H A N K  Y O U 

to every single one of you who made my birthday so amazing, 

to every single one of you who has been a part of my past 17 years, 

whether or not you came and gone, just came, or stayed by me all this while, 

I  L O V E  Y O U

I am so incredibly blessed, loved and fortunate. 

Here's to another great year ahead!