A birthday marks the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun.
A BIG THANK YOU to everyone and especially to the following groups of people who had contributed to the great success of the celebration on Saturday. :)
MUM:
Without her initiating this celebration, I don't think I would celebrate my 21st with so many people at one go. Would most probably just head out for a simple dinner with my family. All this while, she had been under quite a lot of pressure in order to make this event a successful one. From finding a suitable venue to the selection of gifts. Am really apologetic for not helping much. She seemed even more nervous than I did.
DAD:
Although he did not seem much involved during the preparation, he was indeed, as nervous as I did for the event. Haha, Dad. He would thought of the attire to wear on the actual day. And guess what? Did anyone of you notice the "21" decoration on the reception table? Yes, my dad made it. It is a "2" that resembles a swan, and a "1" that is shaped like a key. Awwwww~
BROTHER:
Accompanied with his buddy, YUAN SHENG, they captured meaningful scenes of the celebration on the camera and ENG HUA's camcorder. My younger brother also made the first video that was played before the event commenced, of which lasted for 11 minutes.
They gave me a big surprise some hours before the celebration. Although not able to attend, Eng Hua's wife self-made a Barbie Doll agar-agar for the event. Coupled with the one-and-only birthday cake, they attracted the guests' attention with their beautiful combination. :)
ELMO:
Emcee of the event. He was also the one in-charged of the stage decorations and coming up with the event agenda. Overwhelmed with creative ideas, he ruled the stage with his jokes and came out with the impromptu prank on the birthday girl. LOL.
NICHOLAS:
Official photographer of the event. Without him, we would not have so many awesome pictures, capturing so many happy faces who turned up for the celebration. Nicholas was also the editor for the second video (the one with friends' wishes). Gotta agree that it was a job well done.
GUEST PERFORMERS:
Really appreciate the time and effort put in by JING YUAN, ZHI YIN, MING YUAN, and 敏儿. Their performances that night were really inspiring.
Jing Yuan and Zhi Yin met up to practice the dance despite their hectic work and studies. Jing Yuan even put up a meaningful song, Christine Fan's 「一個像夏天 一個像秋天」, accompanied with touching pictures-slides. One of the guests told me she almost cried looking at the pictures that features our secondary school moments. :')
Mingyuan also spent time cracking his brain to settle on songs for the event. He finally decided to play Jay Chou's 「Dandelion's Promise」 and David Cook's 「Always Be My Baby」, which are two beautiful guitar pieces. Coincidentally, these are two of my favourite songs when they were first released in the music industry. In addition, his speech even motivated me to update my blog as and when I'm free.
敏儿, the queen of singing. With a strong vocal and background in singing, she chose the song to perform only when she reached the event venue. Thumbs-up for her. Some guests, even my mum, requested an encore from her!
LYSS COMRADES:
It has been long since we last met up. Am really glad they turned up for my 21st. The time we had spent together in secondary school was an important chapter in my life. Despite challenges and obstacles one after another, we held on and grew even closer. They were also the ones who stood by me when I first encountered the astonishing news of a friend's death one week before 'O' levels. That was indeed a turning point in my life.
TPJC COMRADES:
My clique and juniors, they came that night despite rushing from their last appointment. Really appreciate it. Reminiscing our college days when we had playful, stressful, and joyful times together. And REGINIA, we recalled those crazy times when our CCA practices ended late at 9pm, and how we overcame those tough rehearsals for many school/public performances and national competition through our funny thoughts that we could imagine ourselves to be. During the casual photo-taking session after the celebration, I asked her jokingly, "Why are you wearing heels? Thought I can be taller than you on this special day.... But you are still taller!! Tsk!" Her reply? "SINCE WHEN I'M NOT??"
Totally LOL-ed by her random yet truthful comment.
LI YUN, HIROMI SENSEI & RYOUKO SENSEI （ひろみ先生 と 涼子先生）:
I came to know LI YUN when we first attended the Japanese class together with WAN CHIN. Coincidentally, she is also Wan Chin's secondary school friend whom they were not close back then. We have become close friend since the first Japanese class last year. We had dinner together before class, revised together for Japanese examinations, took JLPT together, and even joked together with Wan Chin during our train journey back home after class. They usually eliminate my tiredness after class with their funny comments and jokes, yet make me feel lethargic after the laughter. ^^ And I'm really grateful that both my Japanese teachers were able to turn up for the event. HIROMI SENSEI used to be our teacher for the Beginner and Intermediate classes last year, and RYOUKO SENSEI is our current teacher for the Advanced First Year classes. I really benefit from their lessons and they make me feel even closer to my dream and mentor-in-life. These two teachers turn out to be best friends. :)
I had, indeed, a wonderful and memorable 21st birthday celebration that I will always remember in my heart. Because I have such great comrades who made it happened! ;)
