Birthday Celebrations

Birthdays are a big thing back in SUA. For some weird reason, birthday celebrations have to be big and exaggerated to tell the person that we love them. So its always up to the close friends of the birthday girl or boy to plan something big. If the celebration is not a success, the birthday girl or boy will feel small and unloved.

Big pressure right?

For Jenny's birthday, who is one of my close friend, we decided to celebrate her birthday at the stroke of midnight using a bunch of candles to arrange her name. We bought about 180 candles from the supermarket and I think it cost about USD 10 dollars. Then we planned an elaborate "treasure hunt" for her that will ultimately lead her to a place where all of our friends were gathered.



It was really sweet. I think she really liked it. =) Although after that we didnt do anything at all anymore because we were too busy packing for the summer.

Notice the "love?" The girls arranged it with the 180 candles!

Using candle was really a great idea. Although I don't really know where all those candles went after that, all 180 of them. But it was really cool to see ur name glow in the dark with a bunch of candles. It would definitely be super romantic too if someone *hint* used candles to do some romantic thing too. Remember the house of candles in Grey's Anatomy? Sigh.. romantic.

Happy Birthday Jenny!

To the special friend who´s reading this..

You knew me when we were placed in the same class when we were in form 3. I don´t really remember much about that year but I knew our friendship starting growing from then on. You´re such a quiet boy, and though close friends will say that you talk a lot, I still think you´re a man of a few words. Or maybe I´m just too talkative. =P

Nevertheless, you have been an awesome friend over the years. Lots of my other friends have changed, especially since they went overseas, abandoning their Malaysian-ness for a more Americanized point of view. But you still remain my old friend, one that I can count on through thick or thin.

I can´t remember the last time we had the Subang rojak or walk around SP together but I truly cherish all the time that we spend together. The stupid education system of Australia and US has made it utterly impossible for us to be in one place at the same time. Can you believe it has been almost 2 years of not seeing each other?

Or has it been more?

And do you know what is even more interesting? Or in this case saddening? Every year.. during this time of the year, I´m always in some weird part of the world.. Last year I was in Colombia and this year I was in Peru.

Why would that be weird? You ask..

Well.. I can´t call and wish you Happy Birthday!!!!!!

I know its a little late but its the thought that counts right? I was in the jungle at the time of your birthday! =P

So.. I guess I´ll just count on you visiting my blog and reading this short message to tell you that...

I miss you lots and..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENG!!!!

p:s/ I prefer spelling your name with a ¨b¨ instead of a ¨p¨! Hehe..

Friends make everything special..

I was kinda preparing to stay in my room on my 21st birthday. Not that I was complaining or anything but I think society has sort of put an expectation on one's 21st birthday celebration. Don't ya think so?

That just because you have reached 21, that it is your 21st birthday, you must have a big celebration, a 3 days 3 nights thing, with you getting all wasted because you're finally legal to drink..

And if you stay in your room the whole day, that means you have NO LIFE!!!!

Not that I'm implying anyone who doesn't have that kinda birthdays are losers but this is what children are fed of since they were young.

Though my birthday didn't include me clubbing the whole night and being all wasted, it was amazing in its own special way.

My special way! =)

My friends came over at 1240am (yeah.. I have no idea why they were late) to my room with a box of Krispy Kreme dougnuts for me. I absolutely love these dougnuts and because I don't have a car to get around here, I rarely get to eat them. I was of course dressed in my PJ's because though I kinda expected them to do something, I told myself nothing would happen come 1230am so I was totally not prepared at all when they burst in to my room then.





I even had my.. ahem..! lady clothes on the floor for everyone to see.. =.=

Anyway, since they were all younger than me and the age limit to drink alcohol is 21 years old (not that anyone follows them), they bought me a bottle of apple cider (you'll love it Cody! It was sour though) and a few really weirded presents.

One was a sex book, "69 Ways to Please Your Lover: Sex Secrets for Ultimate Pleasure" handbook, which I have no idea where I'm gonna use it coz I'm worst than a nun here, a Dirty Minds Game, which is something like Taboo but this one makes you think dirty but is actually not, and a intoxicating dice game called "Shaken Up"..

Like I have parties in my room every weekend.

Not to forget a book of mocktails, which I strongly feel my friends wanted it for themselves.

But I love them nonetheless though..

The next afternoon, we drove down to Venice Beach, Santa Monica Boulevard. This was the first time for me to drive in LA. It was super fun!!! I managed to persuade someone to lend me his car and he actually agreed! I was estatic to finally be able drive around! I recently got my California license so I kinda trust myself but the right side/left side thing is seriously confusing. I have to constantly remind myself that Americans drive on their right side. Especially when you make a left turn, you're supposed to go to your right lane immediately, or else you'll be in the same lane as the incoming car!

THough at one point of time where I was a little nervous, my left hand actually reached out to turn the gear. Natural instinct i guess. (American drivers is on the left side of the car)

There were many times that we almost got lost but thanks to Google maps and Mapquest, we manage to find our way. Gone were the confusing gigantic maps.

We wanted to go to Hooters in the night for dinner. Hooters is a family restaurant where all the waitresses wear skimpy shorts and have big boobies to show off. I so wanted to go there but they had a wrestling game going on that night and it was fully booked! =( Sad sad.. the place was full of guys though. Haha.. scary big looking Americans!!!

Instead we went to Karls' Brewery Restaurant. Not bad..

Wings without bones. I see no point actually.


Fried Calamari!!!


Fish and Chips with a tinge of beer..

Some burger..

New York pizza I think..

Most of them wanted to make me drunk because I'm finally legal to drink but.. nah.. I'm not much of a drinker.. and furthermore.. I was the one driving.. which actually turned out to be a great excuse to decline further drinking. However, someone asked the waitress if they had anything special for birthdays and when she knew I was 21, she said she would give us a glass of beer and a glass on the house.

The beer was surprisingly nice. Smooth and sweet. Though before she gave it to me, she actually asked me to show her my ID and I showed her my Malaysian IC. And if you notice, our Malaysian IC does not show our birthday. The only thing that they show is the IC number and that is how you know the person's birthday. Like mine is 870301-##-####. Malaysians would know it in a second but this waitress was staring at it for the longest time and I was wondering why she had a hard time reading it.

Then I realized it. So i just pointed towards the numbers, and told her, "so you just read from here, 87, March, 1st". She nodded her head and left.

Only after that did I realized that it was totally funny that she actually believed me. I could have crap out anything to explain the numbers on my ID. One of my friends actually took out her own Puerto Rican ID and tried to crap something out of her numbers.

I totally forgot I could have used my new Californian driving license.

Ah well.. ahaha..

The food was okay but the beer was really surprisingly nice.

After I came back into my room, I had another surprise waiting for me..

Somebody decorated my bathroom!!!

And didn't want me to shower..

I love them!

Most heart warming birthday ever!!! Thank you so much guys!

Can friendship last a lifetime?

I used to have one best friend when I was back in high school. (Why am I using the past tense 'used'?) We were super close, totally inseparable. We were in the same class for 4 out of 5 years of high school and though we sat together in class, when we got home, we would spend another 2 to 3 hours talking on the phone! I don't know what we talked about but I remember my dad always teasing me wondering how can two people talk so much!!! I remember her staying over in my house and we would lie side by side and talk about our dreams and worries until 6am in the morning. Same thing would happen when I stayed over at her place. I would go over to her house and have dinner with her family and vice versa.

We were best of friends.

But somewhere along the way.. things started to change. I don't know if its just me or its the both of us but I guess we just don't click anymore. There are some friends that you don't see for ages and when you do get in touch, its like nothing has change. You talk occasionally and remember each other's important dates. But we havent talked in ages and.. I don't know..

She recently had a new blog and I was looking through her post and her pictures. She back in Malaysia right now and when I saw pictures of her with our high school friends, I felt really sad looking through it. I was part of it but now..

She also had pictures of her visiting around the world and I'm so happy that she is traveling around the world achieving the dreams that we used to talked about in our never ending phone conversations. But I feel really sad that so many things are happening in her life and not only am I not part of it, I am reading it through a blog to know about it!

I used to think that our friendship would last forever.. That when people talked about growing out of their high school friendship, it would never happen to me. That we would be together forever, attending each other's marriage ceremony, being bridesmaid for each other, having families together and so on.. But..

I know things may not be as bad as it seem or that we are not exactly sworn enemies but I know, things would never be as it used to anymore.

And I feel sad thinking about it...

My High School Best Friend's Birthday!

Oooh.. Today is my best friend, Liz's Birthday!!! I can't believe everyone is slowly turning 21 years old now. Soon it'll be my turn! Argh.. I don't want! I want to go back to sweet sixteen! Sigh.. once you pass the 20 year mark.. time just passes by and soon you'll be sixty years old!!! Boohoo..

Liz and I have known each other since we were in Form 1, which was when we were around 12 to 13 years old. That's 7 years of friendship! We were in the same class in Form 1 but we didn't really talk to each other though. She was this pretty popular girl that everyone like and I was this weird girl that came from the other side of the country. We joined the same club in school though, we were both librarians so I guess that's where we started to know each other's name. And slowly.. after a few years, for some unknown reason, we started getting closer.

She has always been Little Miss Perfect. (Sorry gal! You are! ^.^) Being good at every thing. She was the prefect leader, always smiling, prefect in her results and since I mention she was pretty too, it was normal that she had all the guys kissing the ground she walked on.

The guy that I had a crush on even turned out to like her in the end! Heartbreaking I tell you! =(

But for some reason, she was a wonderful friend. We always had tons of stuff to talk about. Though mostly it would be about boys, boys and boys! Haha.. How much I miss those times!

After high school, we separated. I went on to study Form 6 and she to college. There was a big gap between us now. Form 6 being all studious and serious while college life being all about fashion and partying. We lost touched for a while but for some reason, whenever we do get together, things seemed to never changed and we could talk for ages again. And because of the occasional get together, I still knew what was going on in her life and who her new friends were.

Since I came to US, I never spoke to her at all. Though we do 'facebook' each other once in a blue moon, I don't really know what's going on in her life and she too mine. But today (yesterday for her) is her birthday and it suddenly struck me on how important she is to me!!! I have been there for almost all her birthdays in the past years and for her most important 21st birthday, I couldn't be there to celebrate it with her. I felt so sad.. =(

Thanks to International calling cards though I managed to call her and wish her Happy Birthday! Only after hearing her voice do I realize how much I miss her! Argh... friendships are such fragile things but true friendships no matter what will never change over time. I really hope that even though we may be worlds apart and we don't really know what's happening in each other's life, our friendship will still remain pure and true.

Happy Birthday my darling Liz! Muarx!

Gal-friends!

It has been ages since I last went out with a group of gals. Ever since I started dating which was around 2 years ago, I social life has shrink to the size of a small peanut to say the least! It's not that I dislike going out with gals or that I dun have any galfriends, but somehow galfriends outing are non-existent nowadays.

Maybe it's because my 2 best friends from high school are having their own individual lives now. One is in Australia studying architecture and the other one is still in Malaysia but she's literally a super gal, busy with her college stuff, peace activities and stuff lidat! So I guess 3 of us have slowly grown apart! I find it terribly sad though sometimes... we were so close when we were in high school, the gal from Aus would stay over in my house and we would stay up till 4-5am juz yakking away! There was nothing we could not share with each other. But now... I rarely chat with her even with all these technologies!!! It's sad! And truth be told, though I find it a waste to let a friendship like this go to waste, I dun really want things to change either. We have grown to be 2 different individuals.

The super gal, Liz however has always been perfect in every way. She brilliant in her studies, active in multiple activities ranging from raising awareness of HIV to youth, attending a international youth camp in Korea, to organizing events for her United Nations Club in her college. Needless to say, her life is super pack and well sometimes I do feel a bit intimidated by her. =( But I miss her though, sometimes. I do wanna know everything that is going on in her life but I'm afraid we have pass that stage where we can share our innermost thoughts as easily as we used too... We are so close yet so far! Argh...

Yesterday was different though. I had this friend, Kat, she juz came back for holidays from India. Interesting right? She's studying dentistry in Maniple. So me, Kat, Liz and another galfriend from high school, went to 1U (a shopping complex) together. It was quite fun actually to finally sit down with a bunch of gals chit chatting about girly stuff and laughing non-stop over silly jokes! Gal friends are definitely important in one's life! I miss those shopping sprees together, asking each other's opinion whether this top is nicer or the other top from the other shop is nicer. And going back and forth because we juz can't make up out minds! Giggling over silly stuff like boys! it sure beats going shopping with the boy that is forever complaining that his legs are tired and shows his displeasure when you wanna return to the shop you juz left because you wanna see the skirt again! I miss those days.

Yesterday was one of those days. Though it did not include any shopping but juz sitting together chatting was definitely the highlight of my day! =)