Cool, Another Birthday Party

Because of the late night working on the homework, I missed the alarm. It’s actually more like I heard the alarm and choose to ignore it by turning it off. By the time I woke up “naturally” it was way past the recitation time. I thought that given my previous record of attending, I could miss one, just for the heck of it.

Since I reached the conclusion that I’m not going to campus, might as well make myself useful at home. So I decided on doing some household chores, such as banking and organizing the books and stuff. I got a call around 12:30 from Tammy asking about the shopping trip this afternoon. We had it previously scheduled at 13:30, but I asked her if we could postpone it until 14:00 so that I could time it with the time I pickup Kevin at around 18:00.

I took a quick shower and left around 13:45. By the time I got to campus, it was five until two. The weather was gray and rather depressing. I never did like this kind of weather. It seems to be light out, but in reality, it was overcast and very cloudy. The overall feeling was just, well, “gray”; but at least it wasn’t raining. With the occasional gust of chilly wind and the sight of bare trees just gave a atmosphere of “dread”. I saw cemeteries that looked more cheerful. I just wished there would be tons of snow on the ground to cover all the gloomy feeling and hush everything.

Tammy and Becky arrived, then Arthur. We proceeded to Meridian Mall to shop. Our main purpose was actually to purchase gifts for the three birthday stars (two gals and a guy) this evening. We had a discussion on what to buy them on Tuesday and sort of reached a general consensus. All we had to do was get it.

It was fun shopping with the Owen gang. It seemed like Arthur had a certain thing for hats, from his constant encouragement of Tammy and Becky to try on various head gear. I hope I didn’t put a damper on the party, because I guess it was the morning of chores that made me a bit tired. My legs started to feel rubbery after two or three incursions to the various boutiques in the malls. I wonder how I am ever going to shop with my girlfriend. Oh well, I guess this is all training for the inevitable.

In the end, we got a t-shirt that read “the Man, the Legend” with arrows pointed at the respective targets at Steve & Barry’s for Casey, a Clinique mascara thing for Vera (the girls assured me it was a good buy), and a Marshall Field’s makeup case plus chocolate (for two, wink!) for Edith.

After the gift buying, we all went to Meijer for some groceries. Becky got some Christmas cards for her pals back home in Taiwan. I wasn’t suppose to buy too many things. But every time they left the cart which I was in charge of, by the time they got back, I would have added it with another series of groceries. This time I got a dozen of store brand canned whole kernel corn, and a dozen of peas. It never hurts to stock up with the cold weather and all, not to mention my paranoia of alien invasions.

We actually made good on our schedule and arrived at Owen around quarter before six. I dropped them off and called Kevin. I picked him up at Holmes and proceeded to Nora’s house.

It’s been a long while since I went to Nora’s and church. It was nice seeing all the folk doing well. The food was excellent as always. (Thank you Hung ma-ma and all those who provided the beautiful and equally tasty courses). It was nice to see and chat with Anthony (Nora’s younger brother) about video games and stuff. I've also noticed that there was also a huge discrepancy in the girl-to-guy ratio. I wonder.

We left Nora’s at around 19:00 with three pots full of food and dessert. One was tea-boiled eggs, the other was a kind of soup thing (pe-dan sow-jur jeo) and last but not least, a dessert soup thing (kwui-yun tang). Haha, this is just like watching Firefly, with all the Mandarin reference and stuff.

I dropped Arthur, Kevin, Leo at the side door where it would be closer to the “dessert” room and parked my car. The session just started by the time we got in. After that, we divided into small groups for the study sessions. After that (I’m using a lot of “after that”, ain’t I), we then went for dessert and socializing. Since I haven’t been there quite a while, people or may I say friends, asked about my absence and that sort of thing. I had a particularly nice chat with aunt Tsai-Ping. I told her about me having a soft of “god-son” and finding my “long-lost” sis. It was fun.

After church, we proceed to Peggy’s house for the birthday party. Chen was supposed to follow me, but the occupants in his car actually lived there, so he was more than fine direction wise. It was us who had a “boo-boo” with the directions. We arrived at the place okay, but we parked in front of Vera’s place instead of Peggy’s place. Stupid driver (that would be me)! At least the three of us, as in Kevin, Leo and myself and a nice conversation about current events before we got to the "right" place.

The party was packed. There was like 30 people in there. Names were too numerous to mention, but suffice to say, I know most if not all of them there. Again, there was this discrepancy in M-F ration. I wonder again. Before everyone arrived, we watched a bit of the CGI-fest that is Matrix: Reloaded. When all have arrived, the birthday party commenced.

Vera and Edith have the same birthday, while Casey and Eric had the same. (We already celebrated Eric’s birthday the previous Saturday following Tammy’s focus group). We had cake, good, fluffy, creamy, and strawberry cake, congratulatory cards were given and read, and then it was time for gifts. Aside from the lock on the makeup case, all was good.

Between all the wishes, eating cake, and gift giving, there was this thing about getting “creamed”. Owen had this huge plate of leftover icing/cream from the cake and was poised to strike at any unsuspecting victims, namely the birthday girls and boy. Hilarity ensued until it was time for games.

Gigi and Chen-yun were the de-facto host and thought of curious and sometimes, *#$&% ways of torturing the contestants. Edith, was to be kissed by her beloved Jason for ten seconds. Owen was pie’d by Casey (Oh the irony), and Vera had to eat the same chip with Gigi.

The party lasted after 01:00, all the while of which we were constantly worrying about being too loud and having the police break down the door. I drove Leo and Tammy back to their respective dorms, and then drove back home and basically crashed.