The Ripped Soul

My 17th birthday has been the sweetest one for me. And its because of you, you and YOU.. yes, you too. All you people who remembered and wished me. And with that, I thank you.

Now for the things that happened in the week.. I shan't go into detail.

Monday - Had a dinner with Amanda Germaine, her mom, and cousin, Max. Picked me up at 545pm. Went to pick Max up. Got the TIRAMISU ice cream cake from Haagen Daz at J8 [loved it to pieces].. and we sped down to The Waterfront Hotel. On the way, we saw The Lee's family car. Wasn't too sure until I saw Dawn's mum. Haha. Amanda called Zac out of excitement. LOL. Reached The Waterfront, went up to the hotel.. really posh stuff. Could see Zouk from where I was. Found out that Max was born on the same day as me! Just difference in years. But nevertheless, he gave replies I would! Hahahaha. And his reactions were almost the same as mine. Rolling of eyes, giving one word answers and all. Had pasta, and Aunt Carolina got Amanda and myself drinks. She got the magarita, I got myself a daiquiri. I love daiquiris. Cut the cake, laughed really hard when I cut the cake wrongly. Laughed like a goat again when I wanted to drink water. Aunt Carolina laughed, I laughed, almost spat water all over the table. Drank water again, she was like "don't spit at me ah.." I laughed so hard water came out of my nose. Table burst out laughing. I sounded like a duck. Then I got so worried that the same would happen when I drank my daiquiri. Then Amanda said "don't worry. 3rd time's the charm." Drank it, and nothing happened. Thank God. Took pictures, left. Sent home. Enjoyed. Crazy day.

Wednesday - Supposed to have dinner with Dawn and Joel. But it got cancelled cos Dawn wasn't feeling very well. (:

Thursday - Rima wrote me a testimonial! Happiest day of my life. Went out with mom, watched MI: 3. ITS THE BOMB. I love the show. Do yourself a favour and watch it if you haven't. Tickets cost 9.50 each on weekends. Illegal CDs cost $5 with no good quality. Wait for another two months and get the original VCD for $30. Went shopping, got my mom stuff, got myself stuff, saw Leandra on the way out of Plaza Sing. We went home.

Friday - HAPPY 17th BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! Got SO many smses from everyone. Thanks people! Went out with mum, went for dinner, went back to Orchard to get her mp3 player. Got her a surprise gift for mother's day as well. But when she saw the bag, I lied about it. That's the thing about surprises.. you always have to lie. Or keep the information quiet from the person. Haha. Then she got me something too! A webcam. Awesomeness, huh? Nothing really fantastic, its kinda blur. But she promised me a better one when I get a laptop. Went home smiling. It seriously was the sweetest 17th ever.

Saturday - TODAY - Went out with Joel and Dawn for lunch. Joel asked me to get Dawn something last minute. Panic. What to get? It rained. Couldn't walk anywhere else. It was 1245. I had to meet them at 1. I was stuck in Wisma. Decided to head to Taka. Got lost in Taka. Called Andrea. she's a lifesaver. BUT SHE'S THE ONE WHO GOT ME LOST IN THE FIRST PLACE. Bossini.. Zara.. Watsons.. MacDonalds.. Armani Exchange.. Mango.. god knows what else. In the end, decided to settle on something simple. Saw this damn nice metallic photoframe saying Happy Birthday. Was thinking maybe she could develop the nicest photo of the three of us and frame it up.. or not. Asked this sales assistant to wrap it up. Dumb girl actually left all the pricetags on the gift..

Idiot.

Rushed to the mrt station. Bloody crowd was a killer. Saw Dawn and Joel standing amongst the crazy crowd. Went to Cedele, this restaurant up Borders. Wanted to go to Olio.. but it so happened the place closed down. Hmm. Bloody place was noisy as hell. Clattering of plates, forks and spoons, people laughing out loud like lunatics, kids crying, adults talking SO loudly..

Ordered pasta. Got a wrong order. Bastards. And I had no free drink on the house, or a plate full of meatballs. BASTARDS! Hahaha. Joel got a free drink on the house cos his order took a little while longer than usual?! WTF! Whatever la. The food tasted like pastamania. Serious. Dawn and I were joking constantly about this couple at the 3rd table who should just be thrown out. BLOODY MAKING SO MUCH NOISE LA SHIT. When they burst out laughing while Dawn was talking, I swear I felt like throwing the paperball at their table. And its not some mild throw, I meant the baseball kinda throw that'll leave you feeling damn WTF.

Anyway, we finished our meal.. had the birthday cake. Damn cute la. But Dawn just had to order strawberry fruits on vanilla cream cake. Wassup dah.. haha. But it was nice. Thanks Dawn!

Then present exchange. Joel gave Dawn hers first. Then gave me my poster of JESSICA ALBA! [YESZAAAAA!] All I need is the Ikea frame now. And she's up like a president's photo in an office. Then I gave Dawn hers and gave Joel his present. Then Dawn casually gave Joel his present and put this parcel on the table.

Joel: this is the finale. you're going to love it.

I looked at him. "you're scaring me."

Joel: Serious! You're going to love it.

At first when I saw the parcel and felt it, it felt like a photo frame. Then I was thinking, 'nah. couldn't be. why would Dawn give me a photoframe thats SO huge?' Looked at it again. The wooden frame. Thought of all the crazy things Dawn would give. A photo frame. What? A picture of me? A picture of the 3 of us? A framed up picture of Jessica Alba or Angelina Jolie or something? A picture of LC and a little something that everyone signed behind? What? ...

SO MANY THINGS.

But I had never thought of the one thing that was on my wishlist, that was on my blog, that I've been pestering Phil to get.

An autographed photo from Energy or Rima.

When I opened the parcel, I didn't give a shit if I yelled louder than Tarzan, I didn't give a damn if the other people at the table were staring at me, I didn't even care if the staff were looking at me in that weird manner : a kid holding a frame and screaming? Wassup? Hahahaha.

I WAS SO F***ING SPEECHLESS! Loss for words. I just kept shrieking and screaming and grinning and laughing like a lunatic.

I couldn't believe it. I thought I was dreaming. I seriously thought I was dreaming. That all this would just go POOF once I woke up. I pinched myself. Grabbed my head, my hat. It was real. This was all real. There before my freaking eyes was Energy's photo.

To: Jesse

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Their names all over. Azmi, Gavin, Mus, Johan and Rima. It wasn't a fake. It was all real. It was no more a daydream, it was no more a wish, a hope, a prayer, a dream. It was REAL. Damned real.

When Dawn flipped the frame over, it read : Rima Melati Adams. xoxoxo

Her autograph! ((((((((((((((((((:

Then Dawn told me bits and pieces of how she got the surprise together. She actually planned it a month ago! Isn't she sweet? Then, all she asked from Rima was just a photo of Energy [and their autograph right?] .. but Rima did the rest and included the Ikea frame and the designing as well.

Totally complete utter fantabulous coolness. Awesomeness. Sweeeet...

I loved it. Loved the surprise. Loved the photo. Loved the autograph. Loved the frame. Jesus Christ, I loved everything. And more, the people who played a part in making the surprise a success.

I WAS SERIOUSLY CAUGHT OFF GUARD.

I had no idea that was coming. Even Phil had an idea of that surprise but never told me - when he asked Energy for an autograph for me, Gavin said that they already had taken care of it. God. And Joel? He knew as well, but he never voiced a word. Not even a whisper. Not even a breath of it. And Dawn was the best la. She just played cool and casual. I was totally caught by surprise. Totally caught off guard. So that's how it feels like to be Punk'd and Gotcha'd.

Later in the bus, Dawn was filling me up on the rest. How she panicked when she found out that Rima wrote me a testimonial saying Happy Birthday. She was afraid Rima would spill the beans. HAHAHA. That idol of mine knew about the surprise as well and she never told me either!

ALL YOU PEOPLE PUNK'D ME!

Hahahaha. But I loved the surprise la. Swear the look on my face must've been priceless. Dawn should have taken a vid of me with it.. not just pictures. Hahahahaha. I'm still grinning now. I swear on the bus tomorrow, I'll still be grinning. Then I'll have to stop grinning during mass. Then I can continue grinning until my jaws and cheeks hurt. Hahahaha.

Crazy, sweet 17th. The best one ever. And with Ernie wishing me Happy Birthday on her blog.. just makes my world a little brighter. And right now with the autograph, my lights are about to buzz out cos too much electricity is applied. HAHAHAHA.

And like Joel said.. its true. I'll love it. I'll bloody remember this for the rest of my life. I loved it. Loved it to bits and pieces of my fragile heart. My 17th, the presents, the smiles, the laughs, the sms greetings, the friendster testimonials..

Crazy birthday celebrations. With crazy presents. But I loved it all.

LOVED IT SO BAD THAT I WAS GRINNING ALL THROUGHOUT THE JOURNEY. From the restaurant, to the toilet, to Borders, to Wisma, to the bus stop [until all the mak ciks and ah sohs stared cos I was smiling to myself when Dawn got herself a drink at 7-11] ... to inside the bus, to when we alighted, to when we saw LC walking, to when I went for prayer meet, to when I got lost away in thought at my reaction at the restaurant, to when I was walking to the bus stop, to when I was walking home, to when I looked at it and hugged it like a teddy bear which I didn't want to let go, to before storing it in a cool dry place which would be safe from dust and dirt.

I loved my 17th. Like how I thanked God, I thank you. I thank you for making it the most memorable one ever. I thank God for giving me friends like you to actually do such small things and surprise me. I thank God for Nick and Na to introduce me to Energy. I thank God for giving me friends who remember my birthday, who bother smsing me hours after 12mn.

I thank God for friends and people like you that just make my world a brighter place. (:

So here's some crazy shoutouts:

To the people who helped in the surprise: Dawn, Joel, Energy, Phil, Rima.. and whoever else.. I heard Zac and Na.. [Nick?] knew about it as well.. but all kept quiet and I was left in the dark.. THANKS FOR THE PLEASANT SURPRISE! Of course, most of the thanks would go to the mastermind - Dawn. Joel, for picking the present up. And Rima and Energy, for making it possible. Thanks. You guys ended my birthday with the BANG! Hahaha.

To all SMS-wishers and all who wished me on MSN, blogs, tagboard, testimonials, email, or better still - in person: Ernie, Randall, Nadz, Han Wei, Andrea, AJ, Jiajing, Brenda, Godma Sandra, Uncle Ed, NICK, Colleen, Godma Jen, Dawn, Amanda, Nazurah, Nabilah, Darlene, Rachelle, Elvin, Rima, Malar, Shermaine, Kaevis.. thanks. Thanks so much for remembering. I love you guys. Its okay if you don't get me a present. I'm touched enough to know that at least, you remembered. Its sweet enough of you. (:

To those who went the extra mile and brought me out and treated me like a Princess who was damn rugged: Dawn, Joel!!, Amanda, Aunt Carolina, AJ, my mom.. thank you for the huge treats. It may have been nothing to you, as little the price was.. but it was a huge something for me; for you to spend time with me outside. For giving me priceless memories to take home. I LOVE YALL LAAAAAA.

Thanks again, for making my 17th a memorable one. I love you guys. *hugs*