New Town, Connecticut

With the news of the shooting,
Everyone is feeling grief over the loss of lives.

Interestingly enough, when I try to google,
no one mentions anything about the shooter's intentions.
And everyone I ask only say one thing:

*shrugs* He must be mental

It's funny how everybody just brushes it off as insanity.
But even an insane person has his own reasons for doing what he did.
Illogical as it may be,
it still made perfect sense to that person.

For example,
Terrorism.
It's logic no one will ever understand,
but in their minds it makes perfect sense.

All I'm saying is that instead of brushing it off as insanity or forming our own opinions of the reason behind his actions,
why not find out the reason behind it?
Personally, that is what I am more interested in - his rational behind the massacre.

Maybe because I feel it's interesting to see from another person's perspective,
to see as how no one else will see.
To understand, to feel, to stand in their shoes.

Don't get me wrong.
I'm not saying he deserves sympathy.
He doesn't.
All I want to know is the reason for his actions,
the possible desperation that drove him to kill.

Certainly,
knowing the reason doesn't change anything,
doesn't give him any excuse to do what he did.

I'm just saying we should go deeper into the matter than just brush it off at the surface.
Then perhaps,
we could prevent (too idealistic. Lessen the chances of) such tragedies from happening.

Titanium

Without A Trace

MUST WATCH TILL THE END!!
My brother never saw the edited video, so when he saw it, he was firstly embarrassed, and right at the end he LOLLed. Hard.
Watch to see why hahahahahahaha =D

Amorphous

Watch the entire video for bloopers =D
I/We'll be doing more songs (since it's school hols and my bro is so free), so do subscribe if you like my singing =)






Second-guessing myself again.
I've finally taken a step out and put myself doing covers on Youtube,
started emailing for gigs,
but somehow I don't know if everything will be for naught.
They always say hard work pays off,
but Hiroki is a good example of hard work falling flat on your face.
He worked so hard for his dream,
only to give it up after 28 years.

Sad huh.
I told him, I'd prove to him that dreams do come true.
And I wanted to reach the place we both dream of.
For me, and for him.

But I don't know if I can do it.
I'm taking small steps, but somehow my goal doesn't seem any nearer.
The only thing I can do is continue working towards it,
and not let sight of our goal.

夢

Dreams.

I'm just glad S found a new dream and moved on.
Although he refuses to tell me what it is,
he seems to be doing well,
and doing his best for the sake of his dream.

I only hope it's still music-related.
Knowing him, there are only a few possibilities.
F1, music, fishing.

Hahaha.

We are still gonna form an (acoustic ?) band together.
Although how we don't really know yet.
But I really wanna form a band with him.
Only cos I don't want him to give up on music.
I want to prove to him that his dream and will come true.

Still,
I'm glad he didn't get depressed over his past failures.
I was afraid of that.
Instead, he found a new one and moved on in life.
Got a job to earn enough to pursue his dream.

Talking about his job,
in all honesty I respect him.

From an ex-musician, being in so many bands,
and earning himself a decent fan base,
he's working as a truck-driver (for a fishing-related company) for the sake of his dream (now why am I not surprised? I DID mention fishing as one of the possibilities right?).

And I thought me, a music degree holder working in a bakery that can't really pay me, was bad enough.
He gives me the strength to continue working hard.
And not give up.

I mean, truck-driver = uneducated person.
At least in Singapore, it seems to be this context.
Maybe it's different over there.
I just hope they pay him well as a truck-driver.

Oh, his dream job is NOT to be a truck-driver of course.
That's just low.
You go from being a musician to a truck-driver hahaha.
I DID ask and ascertained that his dream isn't being a truck-driver (jestingly of course hahaha!)

On the bright side, both of us are happy with our jobs.
Haha, what's wrong with us?
Even my brother says we are crazy hahaha.

卒業式

I've officially graduated.

Yes yes, I know I've said "I've officially graduated" many times since the end of my recital (or was it the submission of my dissertation paper?) in May.
I mean, like duh I've officially graduated the moment I completed my exams and got my results back.

But now it's official official.
You know, like confirming the fact.

Convocation was yesterday.
Great seeing my lecturers again,
and giving them a victory sign as I walked off the stage (haha!) holding the folder.

So the official ceremony to mark the official graduation is over.
I can officially say I've officially graduated.
Like officially, officially graduated.

So here are some photos (not in any order):

Just had to save the best for the last, ya know what I mean? ;)
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

The $50 song

It's been a busy week.

But a fun one.

Indeed, it's important to be in a job you love and are happy in.

Even if it pays like shit.

I mean, a degree holder earning $5/hour?

You seriously kidding me!?

But I enjoy it,

working at a bakery.

It's small, quaint, and my bosses are more like friends than higher-ups.

It's a really chill place, and everyone seems so close-knitted.

Like a family.

Of course I'm also working on my music,

teaching piano on Sats (and hopefully on a weeknight).

Forming an acoustic duo with Jay (and looking to gig sometime soon).

Oh yea.

Recorded a new song yesterday.

It's an instrumental.

It's for a children outdoor adventure video thing ya know...

Instructions were:

- Make it sound like a kids' song.

- About 2 min long.

- Can be looped easily.

- If possible, submit by yesterday. If not, latest by today.

It was meant to be a favor, but my friend managed to get her company to pay me.

$50.

Seriously!?

In all honesty, I'd rather do it for free.

As a favor.

Accepting that $50 is like, prostituting my song, my craft, and my dignity as a musician.

But I did accept it.

Why?

I guess the main reason is my brother.

Yesterday's recording session I had no choice but to call my brother in on guitar and bass.

And I was thinking that it would be a good experience for him since he's so young and inexperienced.

It would give him some recording experience (and understand just how sensitive mics really are),

and also he'd also feel how it is like to earn money by his own means (even though it really was just to help me out).

Really, the $50 is more for my brother than for me.

I may be poor and almost broke,

but I'm not so hard up as to prostitute my own work.

As I said (on my facebook),

you pay me peanuts, I give you crap-shit.
Too bad the end result was still worth than $50.
I guess the OCD in me worked up and my musician pride didn't allow me to cut too much slack in my work.

But at least my brother had fun.
So did I.
4 hours of hearing that song on loop is enough to drive any person insane.
So yes, I probably am on the verge of being sent to the mental asylum.

So is my brother.
He's apparently still very hooked onto his guitar parts (he recorded 3 guitar parts - 1 rhythm, 2 riffs) and he cannot (and I mean CANNOT) stop humming or playing that since yesterday *pulls my hair out*

The link of the track can be found at the top of the sidebar (or the top of this post), so please do check [Stardust] (nicknamed "the $50 song" since I'm only paid $50 for it) out.
Don't worry, it's not looped so you won't go insane.

Disappointment

http://secret.ameba.jp/shaura-official/amemberentry-11339696929.html

Great. That guy deleted ALLLLLLLL his blog entries.

Dreams.
Failure.
Disappointment.

I'm sad really.
He had the potential.
He really did.
So did his band.

The disbandment was a sad case.
And failing so many times,
I guess he's afraid now.
Age catches up on us.
At 30 yet still struggling to keep your dream going.

Everyone's slowly going their own way.
Failing and falling so deep that we no longer want to lose the peace and comfort in their lives,
not daring to take a step out of our comfort zone.
Slowly forgetting our promise to stand together on stage one day.

I'm sad really.
And I'm scared too.
Of failing,
and falling so deep I dare not dream again.

I know of this feeling only too well.
So many times I thought of quitting too,
'cept, I don't know what to do other than music.

I only hope he dares to dream again.
Cos I know he can make it.
In the meantime, I want to keep going,
and carry our dreams to fruition.

If

If I grieve long enough,
if I cry hard enough,
will you come back to life?

I wonder...

3 years.
You've already been asleep for 3 years.
Won't you wake up?
Please...

I'm so afraid to listen to the Jubilee album.
Because that album reminds me of the tragedy 3 years back.
The album you never finished.

You promised.
You said you'd be alright.
You said you'd be discharged.
So why?

Why?

Please, just wake up now...

Eye-opener

Allie and I headed down to Vivo to catch the J-rock Fes.
The last act featured an up-and-coming Visual Kei band from Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, sForzato.
sForzato is slightly out of the norm, as their frontman is a Singaporean - Cedric, Allie's high school classmate.

sForzato's performance was an eye-opener for us.
Their performance was good, and they really engaged the audience.
Unlike most of the other local Jrock bands who looked like they had to stage presence and they had to look at lyrics on their iphone while singing.

Not only were they tight,
all the members were really showy, especially the bassist (whose name I forget).
He kept prancing from his spot to the front, to the right, to the left.
He was prancing about everywhere and they all had their poses even while playing.

But the vibe was good.
They weren't playing to show off their skills,
they didn't overplay and shred for one whole hour.
They were showy, yes,
but it was to give their best performance to the audience.
They were doing it to engage the audience and hype up the crowd rather than for their personal glory.

Now, how many guitarists and drummers do you see here who have that mentality?
Even in LASALLE, at least 90% in the music faculty have that fucking "I'm the best" ego and show off at every opportunity.
Their brilliant technicalities don't impress me,
and their attitude disgusts me.

Alright.
Time to step up the game.
I should stop hiding in my turtle shell and embrace the audience before me.

よーし。
頑張ろう

Update

Been busy for a wedding that was held on 16 June.
Was the music IC and it was a mad rush cos there was a lack of time, and a lot of last minute changes.
And I only figured out why my face kept breaking out after the wedding -.-

Slow much!

The wedding was an interesting one, definitely different from the norm.
For instance, instead of picking up the bride with a bridal car,
the groom did it with a bicycle (since he's a bike fanatic), complete with an entourage of about 40-50 people behind him.
Not to mention I was part of the groomsmen (don't ask me why! I had such a major identity crisis that day, not knowing where I fit at times), and led the way with another groomsman all the way to the groom's house.

Anyway, here are some pictures =)

The official photography crew who were taking photos of the cycling entourage

The music team for the wedding, minus the cellist, organist and vocalists.

The instrumental trio for the cert-signing.

I rearranged "You Raise Me Up" and decided to feature every instrument (keyboard, guitar and bass) on the melody line. So there was quite a bit of switching around here and there, but the effect was awesome.
The 3 of us especially loved the part where the bass and electric guitar doubled up on melody and started harmonizing each other at parts.
My stroke of genius, and Matt worked really hard trying to memorize all the frets lol.

Also, the entourage was covered by local Chinese newspaper Lian He Zao Bao!
You don't see my face inside cos I was in front of the couple lol.
We sure had a lot of stares from everywhere, and a lot of congratulatory horns from vehicles.
A Caucasian family even went out of their way to show their support by following the entourage for half the journey, taking photos (or I suspect video) of us before finally making a U-turn and going their way.

I nearly zonked out after the cycling though.
Was such a mad rush for time.Went home to bathe and rushed off to the MRT station (yes, the couple made their way to the church by public transport), only to realize time was pushed back once I reached there.
Didn't have time for lunch, so I made my parents buy me a Subway sandwich before making their way there (to drop off instruments)

Had 3 hours of sleep prior to that day,
so by the time the dinner ended,
all of us were so exhausted.
Matt, Adrian and I had a lift home from the dinner by a church member, and the 3 of us were fast asleep in the back seat lol.
I had to use the next 2 days to sleep off my exhaustion LOL.

Recital

Night before 2nd last rehearsal:

Change cover, ask the band to learn new song.
Guitarist requested to change to bass.

Day of 2nd last rehearsal:

Male vox can't make it for rehearsal, IMMEDIATELY changed yet another cover.
Bassist dropped from band.
Found new bassist.
Had some one eat up MY ENTIRE REHEARSAL TIME, then said "I'm so sorry. I feel really bad about it." but gave the room to someone else to use the next minute.
And then come whining to me that her band is in an absolute mess.

HO HO HO.
MESS?
UNPREPARED?
YOUR BAND?

DAFUQ ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
You only had ONE original that you scrapped and had someone else give you one of their own.

Don't come complaining about recital STRESS when your situation is not like the one stated above.
Your apology holds no meaning to me. No sincerity.
Intention understood, but not appreciated.

And then your dearest boyfriend puts the blame on her for wasting time and eating into my rehearsal time?
Really?
Recording one song does NOT take 2 hours ya know...
And if you really didn't want to eat into my time,
fucking don't scrape that bloody song!
Is it that difficult to change to another genre, or change the style of singing?
Instead of plagarising and taking credit for another's hard work?

You can seek attention all you like,
and make your situation sound worse than mine,
but please stop.
You don't even come close, so don't bother to try.
Just don't push the blame to others.
We've got enough shit of our own, we don't need yours.
And stop guilting people, and making them cry.
They're my friends too ya know.
At the very least, I don't manipulate them like you did us.
And given my current mood, I'm prepared to annihilate anyone who hurts the people I treasure.


I've gone past feeling stressed, so please don't group me in that category of your definition of "stress" thankyouverymuch.
I'm so numb right now I don't even feel any urgency in anything.
My reaction to this whole recital saga is the BITCH PLEASE face.
Gone loopy, started singing Smurfs theme, Looney Tunes theme, Jingle Bells, laughed at Tim's dorky 2-second dance (for the 4th day in a row), planned how to destroy people's recitals by throwing grenades at them, or making them combust (like in the Spinal Tap movie), or if all else fails, rig a spring in the drum throne and press eject and watch them fly =D

And after rehearsal (and what was supposed to have been mine too)...

HO HO HO MERRY CHRISTMAS!

GRENADES NOW THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
Or a machine gun will do.

One whiny kid, one pathological liar, one blackmailer, one who can't prioritize.

AH FUCK IT.
WHERE'S THE GUN?
I'M ON A ROLL TO ANNIHILATE PEOPLE.

If not for Allie and Jourdan who decided that my situation was dire (cos I've gone to the point where I don't think anything is dire anymore, not even this) and gave up her rehearsal for me tonight, and Jourdan shared his slot with me on Sat too (what will you do without friends),
I may seriously just drop my recital and suck Tim's cock to pass.

Yes, seriously contemplated my plan B.
If blowjob not enough, lose virginity lor.
It sounds really desperate but I've gone so numb I don't even think so.

------------------------------

Maybe I'll get through this after all.
Last minute, but sounding so much better than it has always been.
Work hard for now.

Sitting in front of my laptop singing songs is not all fun,
not as fun as it seems.
I'm not fucking around, enjoying myself.
I'm fucking nailing every single note, every single pitch, the rhythm, the phrasing,
working on my delivery of the entire piece.
I spent 2 hours singing one song on repeat and forced myself to continue even before I was bored to death of it.
I heard myself butcher the song, and slowly piece it back bit by bit.
It's not perfect, but I'll salvage whatever I can.

That's what I mean when I say recital is doomed.
It's not up to standard, but that doesn't mean giving up.

Life and death

I'm so morbid these days, lol.
Been thinking about life. And death.
You know, my favorite phrase these days is

In order to think about life, there must be death.


Best quote ever.
Thank you very much, KAMIJO.

This quote plus my grandaunt have taught me a lot about life.

On the brighter side,
I've been a little too busy to be moping around heh.
Stress does wonders.
I used to be so bad at handling it,
until I had Tim as my supervisor.

That guy showed me just what I could handle,
things I never thought I'd be able to accomplish,
I managed to.

I guess I gotta hand it to him.
He certainly didn't fan my flames of trying to get sympathy from him,
but worked me to the core.
Knowing I'll never (I can't bring myself to anyway) refuse him.

I'm unnaturally positive these days (I think stress has done some major damage to my brain),
about life,
about recitals,
about love,
about growth (maturity).

I found faith to wait and believe in love,
don't know where I got it from.
But I'll wait.
I need to grow up too anyway.
Cos I know I'll rely on him way too much if anything happens anytime soon.
Until he's sincere and serious,
and until I'm mature enough to stand on my own 2 feet,
until then I'll wait.

Crap, saying all these things,
I feel so old.

Sunday

My Sundays are officially booked.

My grandaunt, who had a stroke when I was 9, is dying soon.
Her health deteriorated 6 months back, and the rate of deterioration increased after CNY.

Besides Janice, I've not said a word to anyone.
Cos it's not sympathy I'm looking for.
It's not empathy I want either.
It's just a whole load of emotions welling up inside that I need to release.
So until I tell it to you personally,
Just pretend you know nothing.

I went to visit her today, and so many words she said broke my heart.
I kept crying, somehow tears just wouldn't stop.

I guess I really can't handle the thought of death well.
My grandaunt seems so calm, while I have to get away so she doesn't see my horrible crying face.

But it seems that this time I matured a little.
I no longer think that people don't mean anything to me.
I guess the after effects of my grandmother's death left a scar in me.
Even now, I still can't forgive myself for not giving a hoot about her even though I knew it'd be the last time I'd see her alive.

It's been a year, slightly more than that.

Still, it hurts.
It hurts so bad.
So many people have told me to forgive myself and move on,
yet I don't know if I can do it.
If I'm even allowed to.

What's done cannot be undone.
She's gone.
Gone for a year.
No matter how many times I cry and say sorry won't bring her back.
It won't ever give me a chance to make amends.

And reality hits me really hard.
I will never be able to redeem myself for what I did to my grandmother. 

So this time, I don't wanna repeat the same mistake.
Not again.
Maybe I'm just trying to make up for not visiting her for the past 10+ years, 'cept for CNY.
But these few weeks will never make up for those years that were lost.

Maybe it's still too late.
Maybe I'm just desperately trying to redeem myself.
Convince myself that I'm not that inhuman.
Maybe I'm doing it for selfish reasons.

But seeing her face today,
it made me feel like all my selfishness didn't matter to her.
She was happy to see me.
And it hurts.
When all I'm doing is cover all my ugliness with attempts of filial piety.
I'm such a wretch aren't I?

All these years I never cared.
And when I do, it's too late.
I can never make up for all the lost time.
I can only spend what's remaining of her time with her,
and try and make it a memorable time for her.

I saw her looking at me so intently so very often,
like she was trying to burn the image of me into her.
Like she was trying to take this image of me with her into her grave.

I can't help but remember all those years on CNY,
I'd always push her out on the wheelchair to the veranda.
It'd always been my job the past few years,
and to think that the year that I was late and never managed to do it,
would be the last year I'd ever see her.
Someone must be playing a horrible joke on me.

Must Fate always be this cruel?

I remember how every year, she used to buy a handmade pot of flowers for me.
And give it to me on CNY.
Every year without fail.
They've all been thrown away,
and somehow I wish that I'd kept one of it.
Just one will do.

She loves flowers, that's what she said today.
Maybe that's why she always bought me those flowers.
And now it's my turn.
To hand-make them, and give it to her.

Looking at my past photos, I ask myself, "How did I become like this?"

I had to walk away and cry. That sentence hurts, doesn't it?

It made me wonder too.
Why in the world did I not treasure her back then?
Instead, I found her a nuisance,
having a stroke and being so immobile...
That was how selfish I was back then.
Horrible, aren't I?

Regretting my actions now is a little too late.
We can't rewind time,
we can't make amends.
Self-reflection comes a step too late.
Always, for me.

There's no longer any point in questioning 'why?'
Cos the answer is found within us,
in the depth of our conscience.

Maybe everything boils down to the selfish part of human nature,
only regretting when it's too late,
too irreversible to make amends.
And the only we can do is look towards to the future, to the end,
telling ourselves that we did our best,
we did all that we could,
trying to erase the past in which we didn't bother to care,
trying to somehow lessen the guilt in our conscience.

Maybe.
Maybe that's what I'm trying to do now.
Make amends for a past I desperately try to change,
so that somehow the guilt in my heart lessens.
So that I find a way to convince myself that I did something good.
When probably, I'm just trying to find a way to cover my selfishness,
to hide my ugliness.

Maybe.
Still, I want to spend time with her every Sunday.
To make up for lost time,
and also, in a very illogical way, make amends to a person already long gone.

Love is but an ephemeral dream

If there's love, there's pain.

Why do we only understand love only after we experience pain?
Why do we still choose to love even when we will hurt and get hurt?

Love is but an ephemeral dream.
Years of trust and happiness takes but a mere second to destroy everything you once yearned for.

What right do we have to want to love and be loved?

Skeletons in the closet.
There's a reason why they lay there buried and forgotten.

Knots of the past are too painful to undo.
It's alright if I don't remember the reason for these knots.
Some things are better off not known.

There's a reason why amnesia exists.
Why people subconsiously choose to forget.
Therefore I won't seek any longer.

Chinese New Year

So, another year has passed again.
According to the Chinese calendar this time.

This year, even though the routine was the same,
there are more babies to give red packets to.

Seriously, you darn cousins.
Why the hell must you guys get married and have babies?
Your kids make me feel old.

Disclaimer: The kid who calls me "aunt" will die.
Saying that though, my younger cousins have all started calling me "auntie",
and they start chuckling when I give them the death stare.
Omigosh, they actually think my death stare is funny.
Even my friends shut up when I give my death stare -.-
Kids nowadays...
Something must be wrong with their heads.

Back to the topic of red packets.
I think it's really sad to see how CNY has become a yearly routine that revolves around money.
And the darn goodies that tempt you and make you fat.

I don't really care about the money now,
nor the goodies.

CNY is the only time in the year I visit my grandaunt in the nursing home.
She used to be fine every year,
with the usual "I'm growing more haggard" look,
but I guess that's natural when you age, and are stuck in a wheelchair for life.

She had a stroke back when I was a kid with my age still single digit then,
and has been paralyzed in the left side of her body since then.
Even her speech is slurred cos she can't move half of her mouth.

This year her words just became exceptionally slurred,
to the point where we couldn't understand what she was saying.
And her memory became exceptionally bad too.
Like, major turn for the bad much.

And it's probably not the time to worry,
but I can't help worrying.
All these past years, I would just wheel her out to the vendetta during our annual CNY visit,
and back to her bed.
But this year, she insisted on going somewhere else.
And she could barely wheel herself either.
To the chapel, she pointed,
but then she wanted to venture to the male side of the nursing home,
which I had to do so while my dad persuaded her to go back to her room.

Maybe I'm just paranoid,
but it seems that she is taking a turn for the worse.

The red packets too...
My aunt prepared some red packets for her to give to us,
and she put it in her bag, or so she said.
But it couldn't be found in there when we checked,
so some relatives suspected that maybe the staff or someone took it.

Upon hearing us discuss where the money could have disappeared to,
she kept insisting that she willingly gave away the red packets to others.
Which is sad.

It makes me really sad.
I really don't think that CNY should be about the money.
Who cares if the red packets were stolen?
I honestly don't.
Seeing my grandaunt in such a plight is terrible.
And seeing her defend the staff...
It's the first time I ever left the nursing home with such a heavy heart.
It's actually worrying.

I don't even know how to put it in words...
This feeling...

Not that I should be worrying about this right now.
Not that I can do anything about it either.

Saying that, I shouldn't even be typing out this blog at this unearthly hour,
when I should be working on my dissertation right now.
I need to get this done and sent out by Friday,
and I have 2 more points to complete.
Gah...

24

This year has been a memorable one, I must say.

Used to be envious of people with LOADS of birthday gifts,
but I guess I've passed the age of being envious and wanting presents.
Cos honestly,
to me,
it's the thought that counts.

And this year, surprisingly I had so many people celebrating it with me.
4 celebrations, 3 birthday cakes.

Thank you all.

To Janice, for the simple yet heartfelt dinner at Esplanade, and going with me to Ben & Jerry's later on,
where the usual gang was taken aback by my unannounced appearance LOL.

Thank you MBS for the unexpected fireworks.
Even though I know it's not for me, I shall firmly believe that it was so (hahaha!!)

Thank you Allie, Amos, Mel, Vij, Jourdan, for:
1) Making me dance with some random dude in B&J.
2) For the surprise tiramisu cake that apparently melted off the tray (*hint* NEVER trust guys with cakes hahaha!!)
3) For hijacking my phone and texting Tim, pretending to be me. At least you guys managed to weasel out a birthday greeting from him haha =P
4) For KIDNAPPING me to Clarke Quay and putting me on the Bungy ride.

It was a wonderful (or rather, the most horrifying) start to my birthday ever, lol.
Matt was OVERJOYED upon hearing that I was forced up the Bungy ride.
He had been waiting for this day for the longest time ever,
to see me on that thing, hahaha =)

You should have heard him laugh when I told him =(

Thank you Carol, Pet, Steven, Junhoong, Jet, Matt, Jon, Edward and Janice (again) for celebrating my birthday after church.
And to Pet's mum for the birthday cake.
Homemade cake still tastes the best =)

Thank you to Sean for the birthday well-wishes.
I'm forever 10!! How could you forget!?
Tsk... *shakes head*

To Mr Timothy O'Dwyer,
I am soooooooooo sorry about the text messages and phone call. I wasn't the one who planned it.
But thank you for your well-wishes, and apology for not being to attend.
Rest assured that I will hold another celebration and force you to attend this time *evil laughter* LOL.
I hope you had a safe flight to Hanoi.
Enjoy yourself there and I'll see you soon.

p.s: I'm still upset that you couldn't make it last night by the way. Why did you have to fly off on my birthday? *whines*

As I said,
it's the thought that counts.
And for them to take time out to bake a cake,
plan a surprise for me,
and to celebrate with me even though it's CNY eve, and they probably should be somewhere at home helping out,
I'm really grateful.

It's not about receiving monetary token as birthday greetings,
or presents.
But knowing that I mean enough to these people for them to celebrate with me,
I'm really grateful.

Thank you all once again.
And love you guys.

❤❤❤
Yuri