Thursday, Dec. 04, 2003

Raya Sakan

10 days of Hari Raya have past. It's been quite an alright Hari Raya this year for me. Nothing too spectacular nor depressing. But I guess it's that same old theory. As you get older, festivities such as these will give you the feeling of 'been there, done that'. At least I know that's what I felt.

2 days prior to the 1st day of Hari Raya, I busted my ass helping my parents clean up the house, put up new (or re-used special occasion curtains), painted the toilet pipes, vacuumed the house, changed the living room carpets and dusted and tidied up my room. So was freakin' tired by the morning of Hari Raya. But I'm not complaining. As this is part of my mission of becoming a more filial son and help out around the house more.

The first three days of Hari Raya went by very fast. On the first day, as usual half of the day, I helped my parents serve drinks and food to our relatives and guests, as both of my parents are the oldest in their respective families, so it was customary for all our relatives to visit my house on the first day. Later in the day, went out to do my own visiting with my siblings' families to our relatives living at nearby places like Bukit Panjang and Choa Chu Kang.

Second day was more fun. My whole big family spent the whole day visiting our senior relatives all over Singapore. All 23 of us. Sharing one family wagon (my brother's), one cab (my brother-in-law's) and one rented van. A lot of bonding and interaction with my nieces and nephews and siblings and a lot of catching up with our relatives. And not forgetting al the Hari Raya food and delicacies that certainly made us bloated.

The tally for my 'duit collection' or 'green packets' for those 2 days? $250 odd. Syukur Alhamdulillah. Although I prefer to be the one handing out the green packets, but with my jobless financial situation, I have no choice. And of course, I'll be silly to reject any green packets from my family and relatives.

Third day (last Thursday) was rather uneventful. Went to only two relatives' houses at Clementi, before going home. But at least due to the generous green packets I've received, I was able to buy Kylie's new CD, Body Language, No Doubt's The Singles 1992-2003 CD, Robbie Williams' Swing When You're Winning and Escapology. The rest, I have safely deposited in the bank for safekeep.

Selamat Hari Raya to all my Muslim friends and thanks to everyone who wished me well on this festive season be it by sms, by snail mail Hari Raya card, by icq and via this blog.

And as usual, I was caught up with my own internal drama. Holiday seasons always kept me thinking a lot and paranoid and depressed. So unfortunately I had to take it out on Jason via AIM. Sorry bro. Like I told you, just take that as my "Gollum" mood. Don't know what came over me, ranting to you about trivial things. But really, to a certain extent I still stand to what I ranted about. No, I won't be a jerk or a bastard. I will just be a robot. See whether that would work fine.

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I havn't written anything about my birthday celebrations in October. Well, as usual, my updates come very slow nowadays, but I believe good memories will last forever and good things will come in time.

Celebrated my birthday with the Poly gang the night before my Birthday. Actually it was more of a joint celebration between mine and Kok Yong's. Thank you so much to Sha for organising everything for that night and to everyone who were there.

Me and Kok Yong met up with Lauren and Mona at Dhoby Ghaut Plaza Sing cuz that was the planned venue for Pizza Hut. But once Sha came and we searched for the restaurant, there was actually none in the building. We then decided to proceed to Lucky Plaza, the next nearest Pizza Hut. I was craving for Pizza Hut, so I requested to go to the place.

The girls sent me and Kok Yong to reserve seats first, as a decoy to buy birthday cake for us. Aww, that was sweet, although I kinda expected it, but still we highly appreciated it. Jason and Joanne came later straight to Pizza Hut. Together the 7 of us shared two set meals of Hawaiian Chicken (my favourite) and Chicken Supreme Pizzas, some other dishes, desserts and drinks, the birthday cake and of course we shared hilarious jokes, gossip and laughter.

After that satisfying dinner, we all then walked all the way to S-11 beside National Library, got some drinks and chatted for awhile. By then I was feeling kinda high (not from alcohol, but from my blocked nose), while Lauren and Sha got high differently by challenging each other to beer (I can't remember which brand though).

Somehow, the night was still young and we still wanted to hang out, so we decided to walk to Esplanade bridge (all except Joanne who went home instead).

Spent the next hour or so there fooling around, chatting and taking silly and fun pictures using Lauren's digital camera. That was kinda tough to do cuz it was pretty dark and we were experimenting a lot. The gang was nice enough to hang around till 1am and by that time it was officially my Birthday already. That whole birthday celebration for both me and Kok Yong was simple and intimate, but I sure did enjoy myself a lot. Thanks to you guys for making it memorable.

As usual, I have photos from that night to share. All taken on the Esplanade Bridge, me, Kok Yong, Jason, Sha, Mona and Lauren fooled around taking photos and acting cute, lol. Too bad, Miss Photographer, forgot to take out her digicam while we were at Pizza Hut. If not we could have taken some nice (and bright) pictures there too.

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On the Esplanade Bridge. From left, Sha, me (having a Storm X-men moment with my eyes), Mona, Jason and Kok Yong. Sha looked like she was about to torch Mona's chin with her lighter.

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From left, Lauren, Sha, me (again with my Storm eyes), Jason and Kok Yong. This time Sha wanted to torch her own nose.

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A goofy moment, from left Sha, Mona, me turning into a demon with my red eyes, Jason and Kok Yong.

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The J.I.K., from left, Kok Yong, IsDemon, Jason.

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Solo picture of me, but then again, the red eyes are still there, sheesh.

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Another goofy moment. Damn, the red eyes are there again. I think it's cuz my eyes are too round and big, they captured the flash.

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Two thumbs up. That's the rating I would give for the night. I really enjoyed myself and had so much fun with the gang.

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The October Birthday Boys. Kok Yong and me.

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The J.I.K. again. Hmm, who's the faggot among the three of us? Definitely not me, and guaranteed those two. Especially from their poses.

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Me and Jason. No idea what pose were we trying to capture...

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From left, Lauren (Miss Photographer), me and Sha. Hmm, I just noticed the woman on Lauren's top. Looks like Fann Wong...

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Unflattering close-up of the J.I.K. Me and Kok Yong were saying then, that as usual, Jason would take up the whole space of the photo, haha.

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Unflattering close-up of me and Mona. This time Mona got cut off.

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A more decent shot of the J.I.K. But this time, all of us, had red eyes...

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Ok, I just have to insert this picture. A classic one of me and Sha on a bumboat to Ubin a few years ago. Sigh, when am I gonna see you girl. Your work schedule and my bumming schedule always seem to clash. Hope to see you soon.

posted at 12:59 p.m.

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