20050717
of the ab gathering, the surprise party and the fun.this is the very first time i actually spent two plus hours in NTUC. just shopping alone. my goodness. had so much fun there with Jiayi and Bryan! picking of the cheapest food (low budget leh), snatching cheap prawns the auntie way, thinking of more and more food to add to our menu and laughing and joking along the way. two whole hours.
Qiuteng came around to help us carry the stuff back to Bryan's place. and we started preparing the food! two guys and two girls in the kitchen. and it wasn't a disaster at all! i'm darn proud of us all! haha.
so we went about massaging the chicken, sinking my fingers into that marinate, chopping up fruits, peeling prawns, washing stingray, toasting bread and leaving them to burn and the lot.
Bryan's very domesticated! he actually makes honeyed cornflakes!
our avalanche of red and green apples for the salad.
and Jiayi happily chopping the tomato and capsicum for the kebabs.
that's Bryan and his mom! his mom was super funny! she kept joking around with us and she almost tricked me into tasting the uncooked marinated chicken!
all ready to be brought down.
our menu for the day:
- black peper chicken fillet
- chicken kebabs
- hotdogs
- taiwan sausages
- stingray
- cheese prawns
- garlic prawns
- fruit salad
- onion rings
- garlic bread
- honey cornflakes
- fishballs
a great spread right? all prepared by us! (:
Darren starting the fire. and he did it even when it was drizzling!
us slacking while the guys try to get the fire started.
meanwhile the drizzles continues. it was so worrying! but we carried on with our BBQ, believing that He will hear our prayers!
and our garlic bread was in the toaster. with the campers protecting the appliance with their poncho.
Ian and Kelvin! Kelvin insisted on hugging Ian. my goodness.
Fel Ngiam and Ian!
our kebabs turned out great! was supposed to take a nice picture of it but Bryan ate half of it up while i reached for the camera.
just look at the fire!
the peak of the day came!
surprise number 1: the cake plan. took me and Jiayi so much effort and time to plan and execute it! and the process was a series of silly things we did. like lying to Bryan that we needed the washroom and running away from the washroom into Best Denki and across and out and literally running to the cake shop. and lying that we needed the washroom again and sprinting across the road to collect it. hiding in the carpark thinking that he was looking for us. barging into someone else's BBQ area to light the candles. starting to sing the song without realising he wasn't around. and finally hiding behind the wall with the cake. and waiting for him to come back! we were waiting for our que from Fel.
and he's back! and totally surprised! (:
making a wish. of all AB instructors to score As in our A's. (:
candles out. and cutting of cake.
and the present! reaching into the bag of unknown stuff.
and grinning away when he sees the M&Ms M-azing chocolates he likes and some other Star Wars stuff.
the cake that caused me and Jiayi to lose a couple of pounds. haha. yeah i wish.
towering over his cake.
surprise number 2: the dunking plan. the guys got ready at the lobby while he was coming down from his place. and the moment the lift door opened,
he got grabbed away by the guys in hiding.
down the stairs,
a couple of swings,
and in the pool he was!
running after the guys next.
so that was the two surprises! hope Bryan enjoyed himself as much as we did planning it! -grinns-
back to the BBQ.
the fire still going on strongly while the campers attempt to imitate and irritate Darren.
and the gods of gambling were at their cards.
and our master chef Kangli was at work. while Jiayi offers the now-dry Bryan a sausage.
meanwhile, a psychopath goes wild!
ahhhhhh!
the guys! Shinhung, Darren, Bryan and Rahul.
and the NTUC shopping people! with our chips, Bryan's present, a sausage and our "wo-de-mei-ren"!
and lastly, our group photo! notice the blacks, the whites and the reds? (:
enjoyed myself ALOT today. to think we were still fretting over the terrible response for the BBQ, the food and the rain. today has taught me that there's really no use in worrying about anything. He already has a plan for us and no amount of worrying will change it. and His plan is good for us, even if it seem othewise on the surface. like the drizzle? i thought our BBQ was done for. instead, it took Bryan's mind of suspecting us and making the entire birthday surprise a success! everything just fits in place nicely. we just got to embrace it. (:
this is Bryan's second celebration already when his birthday is on this coming Thursday! first was with the FAC peeps at Cartel on Wednesday. lucky guy! i remember the little surprise we arranged for him at Cartel the other day. the little treat, the cake and the birthday song from the Cartel stuff. and how i asked him "eh why you don't look touched at all?". and his reply was "touched also don't have to show mah" and he went on to telling me how people express their emotions differently. wasn't so convinced initially as i thought my plan to surprise him with the FAC peeps had failed. until today when i realised he had framed up the lighter i bought for the cake which i gave to him in the end. and when there was a glint of tear in his eyes when the cake was brought out. and we're glad our efforts paid off!
i'm starting to see the beauty in all these little things in life.
group1 soared @ 00:28
xoxo