I certainly hope your Countdown Party was good! Well, many of those I read on Twitter celebrated theirs at home and feeling totally contented about it. Most had their partners with them so that was understandable. The whole point about such festive seasons is having someone with you anyway.
I had the most awesome time ushering in the New Year by Yishun Dam. We had prepared tables, chairs, mats, and lotsa food to relax by the windy dam, watching the world go by. It was so lovely, I had planned to write an entry on it. But I guess that can wait.
Well this afternoon I spent almost 4hrs to book a chalet with Aloha Loyang/Changi/whatever it is. I had wanted to go ahead and book it but as it was very last min (I wanted to book for next weekend), only limited bungalow chalets were still open for booking and only Sundays were left. And they cost $420 per day to book.
After some thoughts I decided to call up on a friend who is a teacher as I had heard long time back that civil servants can get theirs at a discount, though I didn’t know how much. Called a Soka friend who joyly agreed but told me to wait till later of the day.
I knew this friend very well and was expecting that she would take a long time to reply me. I sincerely appreciate her help but time was running out for me. Plus I found out that to check in, I need the person’s NRIC. Last I heard, this friend stays in Bukit Batok. Wah liao.
So I decided to call my secondary school friend who lives just a few streets away and is truely the most helpful girl in the whole world. Called, no one answered. She is known to always miss her phone calls. So sigh. Left her a message. And miraculously she called back within 5mins!!! Turns out she just gotten off badminton and was about to wash up and attend a secondary class gathering which I politely opted out in the end.
I asked her if she could help me book a chalet and she gamely suggested giving me her personal details so I could just go and do what I need to. Hooray! As I was on the phone with her while she repeated her NRIC no to me, all I could focus was I couldn’t register with the website. Only after 4 tries and an experasted friend later that I read the words in red properly: she supposedly already is a registered user.
Friend: Oh?? But I have never booked a chalet with them leh…
Me: Err??
Friend: Why not you reset the password?
Me: Okay… but you’ll need to check your email..
Friend: It’s alright, you can login to my mailbox..
5mins later… while she was still on the phone..
Me: Erm, never receive email from them leh..
Friend: Maybe the system slow.. you need to wait. Anyway I need to go and wash up first. You call me back later?
Me: Okay.. call you back in 30mins..
I had wanted to bathe as well but all I did was to stare at the screen waiting for an email that never came. Later..
Me: You sure you used that email to register last time?
Friend: Should be…
Me: Still no email leh..
Friend: …
Me: Okay, nevermind, I wait by my computer, anytime I call you yah?
Friend: Okay!
So I waited, and after 2 hrs I just felt that something was wrong. I called up Aloha to check and they suggested I send them an email manually with my (friend’s) NRIC and DOB as there may be something wrong with the system (WTF???). So I did. And I waited.
Another 3 calls to them later, they finally sent me the email.
I heaved a sigh of relief. Thought all had come to an end.
Guess what.. with the info they had sent me, I still couldn’t log in!!!!!!!!! I was literally going “URGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”. I could also be Jasmine’s sister, pulling some hair out.
I called them again and I think the woman was sick of recognising my voice. She told me she could log in.
Later we found out that she had mistyped the password to me WTH? Suay or what?
It had been 3hr 30mins since I first checked out Aloha’s website and decided to make a booking with them.
So finally logged in, I excitedly went to pick my chalet.
There were only Garden Bungalow 3, 5 & 13 left. I picked 13! Because it was his favourite number and I felt it was so apt as I wanted to book it for his birthday next weekend.
Just before I proceed to make payment, I decided that it would be better to go update the password to something my friend would remember better.
When I came back to book, the chalet is now LOCKED!!! I suspect it was not unavailable, just that my attempt earlier caused the system to think that someone was attempting to book the chalet. Exhausted by this long chain of waiting, I contemplated to just book either of the two left but I really liked the idea of booking Chalet 13.
So I called up Aloha again. The woman (oh no) told me to wait for 20mins. The system would refresh itself.
Wait AGAIN! It was going 4hrs. OMG, I could have made a trip to Paris Ris and book the chalet manually CAN? Plus return trip thanks.
I finally went to take my shower, hopping that no one would suddenly spoil my plan by booking the chalet right after the system unlocked it. That would be ultimate suay ka sai.
I came back and the chalet was still locked, I decided to call my bf to check his opinion first. I didn’t intend to make it a surprise. Already experienced too many among friends and it was becoming dull. Besides, how do you trick someone to go to ulu Loyang?
2mins into the phone call, the chalet was unlocked! I could happily make my booking! After 4hrs!! Yay!
Unfortunately, the bf thought it was a bad idea. He reasoned that it is a Sunday and it would be too rush for everyone. We could only check in at 3pm and next day he may have to work.
With each sentence, I could feel the fire of excitement (I’ve named it Billy – don’t ask why) in my heart being extinguished cruelly. Splash! Splash!! Splash!!! Until there was only smoke left. I didn’t even have time to say goodbye to Billy.
I digress.
Billy, the fire of excitement, has more lives than a cat for he had been brutually extinguished countless of times by some long freaking pole named Giffy. I hope Billy resurrects someday.
Back to the topic.
I had never planned for him to lift a finger in this whole celebration. All he needed to do was to be there, and enjoy. If I had my own kitchen I would have made it at my place. But I don’t. So I searched around for a possible chalet equipped with kitchen.
I also spent the night before watching YouTube videos to choose some dishes to make.
Everyone can leave on time and leave the cleaning to me.
But no, a few sentences later, no booking was made. No matter how much he said he appreciates all these but there was no need to, the heart just couldn’t help but feel dejected.
I decided not to do such things anymore. At this point I suddenly remember what Valencis shared with me before.
She told me that Zen (her then bf, now hubby) has a spontaneous nature like me, we love fun and making others happy. Zen is totally someone who would do things like me on a whirl, but instead of supporting him, she (a planner’s nature) always told him to save the trouble, stopping him in doing whatever he wants to. After a few yrs, she noticed Zen was not doing things like his nature would and she realised, she prefers the real him. And so, one Christmas, she let him do his thing.
And she was amazed. Amazed with the decorations, the food, how much everyone enjoyed and she wondered why did she even stop him in the first place. Life is short afterall.
I didn’t share this story for I felt there is no need to force someone to celebrate his/her birthday. If it’s meant to be, one day he would realise this as well. But I did find myself totally relating to the story.
For who do we wait for? Why do we choose to stop? Why do we have to let things stop us for being who we truely are?
Those were really the questions that were lingering in my mind. Life is truely so short. I want to live it out. I do not enjoy being a whimp and I have decided to do these on some other occasion instead. Yes, I want everyone to enjoy and live it out!
PS: The first friend I approached really did go to sleep upon reaching home and only SMSed me at 830pm at night.
PPS: While updating my friend’s password, I realised the registered email she was using belonged to her sister’s. -_-
PPPS: RIP Billy.
Okay, I feel better already so here are some pics from NYE 2009!
While accessing my SD card, I found some pics we took last year on Leong’s lorry to Yishun Dam! Qiao or what? As you can see, nothing has changed much since then.

Sabby & Ian

JX & Simin

Someone identify Billy’s murderer
Most of the pictures are from Rachel. Rachel please forgive me. Anyway if anyone of you is wondering how Rachel looks like when she is angry:
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You can see I’m pretty safe
Rach & her Dad were the first to arrive at around 630pm at the dam.

Sea of Calm

They brought some snacks & drinks for all of us! Sweetest people ever.

Other smart people at Yishun Dam too.

And then we arrived with all the barang barangs

My pot of ABC soup!

Fully armed with tables, chairs, mats and what not

Rachel’s love, David

Starting to nom

Fooooood

Some guy at the flea market nearby, modelling a tube top for us. Jasmine bought it.

Leong & his ladylove, Miao Ling

Fong didn’t feel too comfortable after riding Ian’s foldable bike (looks like a triangle btw)

Playing Chubby Bunny while the rest recorded all the unglam moments

Can you see the amount of sparklers we got?? Enough to last us 30mins of full blown child’s play -_-

All the girls morphing into a crazy mode with the sparklers

JX & Simin – =)

JX & Simin – -o-

JX & Simin – :|

JX & Simin – :(

LL, best describing David, who got called back to do guard duty 2hrs before midnight

M for Melanie

Then I wanted to copy – WTH?

I’m sorry Rachie

Finally got it right!

Happy New Year!!

They wanted to try doing Olympic logo

We contributed to some ozone damage that night

A friend got so excited playing the sparkler that she impolded into a bright ball of fire

Impossible group picture with fireworks. Ian’s smartest with the helmet

Told you it was impossible

We simply couldn’t get our sparklers to light at same time & gather together

Leong & Rachel’s fathers prefer to wave their satay sticks instead

Happy 2010 Everyone!!! HUAT AH!!!