[A shout out to Siah Ying Wei whose birthday is TODAY! Such an irony that it's not your birthday post I am posting today, I know. But since WL's post came 15 days late, yours will too! Then it's all fair and square! Yay!]

[P/S : Chris, don't scold. I don't know how to put the picture thing at the thingy and I have no idea why below pic conked up. You do for me can? Great. You're awesome.]

Dearest Ngai Wei Ling,

Finally, you come aboard on the 21 years old league. (Not that it’s anyway more exciting).
21 years old, the age in which society deemed to be the commencement of adulthood.

However, when it concerns you, does it really signify any differences?
I recall saying this to you every year, “Just when people think that you can no longer grow any more matured / independent than you already are, you always went and prove everybody wrong”. =)
Slow down Wei Ling, you don’t want to be taken as a 35 year old ah sam now don’t you? ~winks~

Dearest Best Friend,

As this is a once in a lifetime period of your life, I shall be all serious and sappy.
Ehem..

I admire you Wei Ling, for your ability to maintain that composure of yours and still having your head intact held high above your shoulder when crisis arise.

I look up to you Wei Ling, on the way you defend those whom you deemed as important in your life and fight forcefully and boldly for what you believe is right.

I respect you Wei Ling, for the way you hold such high respect and honor towards your parents, despite it seems so unimaginable for you to bow down to others.

I am grateful Wei Ling, for having you as a friend and am thankful, for having you as my best friend.

And today you are 21.
As quote by my mother, “Wow, Wei Ling has grown from a sweet little girl to a beautiful young lady!!”

Regarding the sweet little girl, I have to beg to differ. But I will whole heartedly agree with the beautiful young lady part!
As much as you may detest it Wei Ling, your feminine charm had indeed prevail over the years!
You know what they say about aging beautifully? So, it’s a yay for you!

Dearest Ling ah Ling ah Ling,

I wish that you will have more easy smiles and laughter in the future.
I wish that you will have more people around you in whom you can rely and depend on (I wish this for myself too. =) )
I wish that you will see the world in a semi-rose tinted lenses (Just semi, not fully tinted. Rationality is still important. =P )
And most importantly, I wish you satisfaction in whatever you are pursuing in, and happiness in your everyday lives.

One more year of existence down the drain! May you live to be old and toothless! Happy 21st Birthday!

Your best friend, always,
Irna Jumahat

To the peers who are feeling bored or are casual blog hoppers hence you are now reading this.
To the aunties who are curious on their children’s lives. (I am not implying anything other than plain curiosity.)
To the uncles who are geeks freaks. (Sorry fellow uncles, I can’t think of anything flattering. Blame the global warming.)

And most importantly,
To the active authors’ readers.

Hi.
I am Irna. One of the MIA author.

~a polite smile and a small nod of a head to you~

* * *

Obligatory greetings to minimize my sudden intrusion in this site.

* * *

I am now in Kampar, Perak on a visit to the other MIA author, Ngai Wei Ling who is pursuing and soon to be completing her degree here.

(Yes. My sentence structures are rigid in an attempt to make a decent “first” impression. Just play along.)

I am now using Ms.Ngai’s lap top.
While she is busy scrubbing clothes.

So here I am, browsing through her facebook to stalk mutual friends. (I do not have a facebook account. Not cool enough)
I am eating potato chips too.

And, I stumbled upon this picture of her in one of her folder.
So I am going to post this up.

(I noticed there are plenty of personal pronouns. It’s a subconcious desire to direct the attention to me. How shameless.)

Objective of the post :
For those who were personally acquainted with Godzilla in the past, you’ll understand my desire to do so.

Okay. Posting now.
Damn you slow internet connection.
Else, she is going to take away my potato chips and replace it with some cranberries cereal if she caught me.

Till the china wares in your kitchen cabinet collect dust,
Good day everybody

Lesson 1

• When washing clothes, separate them according to colours.

I found out the silly reason why my mum kept on insisting on washing the clothes separately based on the colours.

Too bad I found it out the hard way.

My brand new white blouse had magically gotten blue stains on it after coming out from the washing machine.

Lesson 2

• There is not only one type of bleach sold in the supermarket.

Bleach is bleach lah! Why must confuse people with so many types? Bleach for coloured, bleach for toilet, bleach for whites, bleach for stains, bleach for bla bla bla.

Lesson 3

• The purpose of an electric boiler, is to boil water.

The next time I use the electric boiler, I shall remember to fill water in it first.

Lesson 4

• Always take a look at the temperature knob on the iron before ironing.

Ruined three article of clothings on separate occasions.

No pictures here.

Heart ache.

Lesson 5

• Always, always remember to switch off the iron after using it.

I burned my brand new 2 days old Ikea carpet.

Placed the iron on the carpet after ironing without giving a second thought on the heat still generated.

My whole room smells of smoke.

And my room has a smoke sensor.

Lesson 5

• Always, always, always look to where you throw your iron away after realising that it is burning your carpet.

I threw the iron away only to realised later on that in landed near the base of my bag.

Final Lesson

I die die also don’t want to be a housewife.

“Irna?”

“Yah”

“Irna binti Jumahat ke??”

“Yah yah!!”

The first sentence I glanced, ‘ON GOVERNMENT SERVICE’ while hurriedly signing the registered letter form caused me a momentarily heart collapse and an “oh shit!” to escape from my mouth.

I thought it was, … you know. Something else service.

Regained enough senses to prevent self from feeling a little more stupid when I read the next sentence.

‘PHOTOCARD DRIVING LICENSE’

Two feelings came at the same time. Utter delight and utter dissapointment.

I had been waiting for the driving license to arrive for nearly a month and was worried that it got lost somewhere, somehow or some postman stole it or some staff ripped it off as she was on her PMS and she hated my name or yeah I am paranoid.

Anyway, my delight is warranted.

However, I read the ‘photocard’ as ‘photocopied’.

Don’t ask me why. It’s the sun’s fault.

That misread word prevented me from tearing the envelope on that spot as why in the world do I need to look forward to see a photocopied license.  I did tear at it anyway, less than a minute later.

~beams~

~smile till my cheeks hurts~

~grins and shows off teeth~

It’s plastic (Or whatever it was made of). Not photocopied. Not laminated. It’s a lifetime kind of thing. No renewal needed. It’s mine.  And I am happy.

So happy that I bragged and showed it off to the guys.

So happy that I am posting it up now and am hoping the readers will pass off my attempt to disguise my showing off as a genuine intention to update on my mundane life.

Bye bye!!

* * *

Update:

Collected my Singapore version of Touch and Go today!

All the cards that I will soon receive will have the same picture plastered on it.

Imagine opening up my wallet and see 4-5 same Irna staring back at me!

Isn’t it creepishly awesome or what??

Oh man, how I really should.

I understand that people have whims once in a while that need to be attended to.  However never had I came across one as ridiculous as the one my elder sister, Diyana had.

The whim to donate blood.

So there was I, looking at her spending days after days exhausting all her power to “persuade” each and everyone of her friend whom she managed to push in a corner, to accompany her to the blood donation drive that her university is having.

She failed miserably of course.  Her friends got brains what.

Unfortunately, I don’t. Instead of having the logic to keep my mouth shut and hope to stay unnoticed, I was busy laughing my posterior off at her.

Which does not last very long.

” I registered and booked an appointment for the both of us tomorrow.”

Can the earth swallow me now?

* * *

Okay.

To portray myself as a human with an existing functioning heart, it’s not so bad after all.

Minus the part where I nearly bawled my eyeballs out and freaked the attendee when he pricked my finger.

Minus minus the fact that the nurse spent longer time than necessary probbing and throbbing my arm finding for the vein. Haiyo, it’s there lah. How can get lost??

Minus minus minus the fact that the guy on my right kept talking about the number of times he donated blood before.  That big mouth humanitarian stopped talking to me when I told him I was here by force. Not voluntary. Tsik Tsik. Such a judgmental person.

Minus minus minus minus the fact that the big burly guy on my left fainted on the ground when he stood up! Interesting drama followed I should say! Only the pop corn is missing.

Oh ya, pity him too.

Anyway, it’s all good.

So good that I have reasons to encourage people to donate.

First, adorable bandage. I preferred the purple one though. However, was thankful enough that I didn’t get the ugly shitty brown coloured one. I guess the crunched up face I made when the nurse walked towards me with the brown roll helps.

Second, an official blood donation card that I can parade around! I accidentally torn it on the day it was mailed to me though. Just a little.

And lastly, bragging rights!

I can help save three lives!

The world is gonna be a better place!

Not forgetting, most of you probably had donated blood before, and did that more times than me, hey, that makes me ignorant and self-centered!

Awesome!

The repetitive donor’s sticker is even nicer!

So, oh yeah am I going for the second turn!

Will paste it on my forehead and walk around like an idiot. Look at me people! I have a golden heart!

* * *

My top two most used phrase

• Don’t know.
• Why?

I will reluctantly admit that I had always came across as an absent-minded or forgetful person.
“Blur like sotong” as my family called it.

This trait of mine may come as a source of entertainment for some or as an annoyance for others.
“Can’t be help”, I always shrugged.

However, there is one misconception that some people have of me that I can never tolerate which is the idea of me acting dumb on purpose to garner attention.

Dearest narrow-minded freaks, if attention needed to be gained that way, I can honestly say that it is not worth the effort.  At all.

Me being absent-minded only brought me disadvantages.

People who does not share the same characteristics as me may never  understand the little difficulties I faced in my daily life just because my alertness level falls slightly lower than the average.

And today, it hits the peak.

I was in Singapore and was supposed to be at this particular secondary school in the morning for a teaching assignment.  I was informed beforehand that the school is just a mere 5 minutes walk or less from the train station and can be immediately seen upon boarding down the train.

For those who know me well enough, well, you will understand how “impressive” my road orientation is. True enough, after getting down the escalator and crossing a junction, I was lost.

The day is still early and getting lost is a norm for me so it’s not much of a big deal yet. Fortunately, lady luck was shining on me and I somehow manage to stumble upon the school by accident (no joke) after approximately 20 minutes. Amazing I shall say.

However, all my luck had ran out just for that.

* * *

During the afternoon break, I walked out of the school to have my lunch. Unfortunately, I had forgotten the way back.  I have no idea what was I thinking at that time as I had walked the total opposite direction from where I should go and  it only hits me that I am lost when I found  myself standing in the middle of a residential area. The journey gets even more embarassing hence I will summarise it by saying that the mere 5 minutes walk took me exactly 52 minutes instead. (I had timed myself)

52 minutes of walking with the sun shining directly on the top of my head greatly contribute to my building frustration and increasing agitation and of course, my terribly aching feet.

*  *  *

Later in the late afternoon, I took a trip down to the nearby National Library that I  frequently visits to help my elder sister return her books. One problem though, I had never walked there alone. I figured that I can trust and follow my instinct and after 15 minutes of lugging a big heavy bag of books , I found myself staring at this orange colour building with the sign “Frontier Community Club” on it.

“Shit!! What the heck is Frontier Club?? And isn’t the library building blue in colour??”

Getting lost three times consecutively is no longer a laughing matter.

I am exhausted, deeply agitated and extremely frustrated.

Defeated, I dragged my aching feet back to  my sister’s place while still lugging the bag of books which at that time seems to weigh a tonne. On the way back, I texted my sis and related my ordeal to her while complaining and cursing about everything under the sun.

Nothing could describe the stupidity I felt when she texted back,

“HahaHahaHahaHaha. Frontier Club is the library lah!!”

Amazingly, despite going there for more than 10 times in the past one month, I still have no clue on the name or even the colour of the building.

* * *

Just when you think my blurness could not get any worse,

it did.

Oh so did.

This evening itself,  I made a trip back to JB and immediately  paid for the bus ticket home that my mum had booked earlier.  When I had boarded the bus, I texted my younger sis and shamelessly bragged to her on how independent I had become.

She instantly gave me a call and I felt my world came crashing down on me when she shouted,

“Sister!!  Check your bus ticket!!  The ticket that mummy booked for you is 5.30pm!!  Now haven’t even 5 ler!!  Where  in the world are you going?!?!”

Yes people.

I collected the wrong ticket.

Board the wrong bus.

And am heading to a wrong destination.

Update:
Received a call from my elder sister.
Who is stranded outside her home.
Because I had forgotten to put her keys in the shoe rack outside as agreed on earlier.
And had manually locked the doors behind me when I left.

She has no spare keys.

Goodbye people.
I am off to do some self reflection.

Technically, he is the baby among the coffeestops crew.

Ironically, he acts the total opposite.

* * *

Year 2002.

We were in different classes then, but had the same Science teacher.

My, was she really on her peak of her PMS one day.

“Budak 1 Browser, Christopher, dapat markah lagi tinggi dari you all tau!”, she screamed at the very top of her lungs at my class.

Not a pleasant way to first to got to know his name I would say.

* * *

A face to that name was only acquired when we were in Form 2.

We were classmates from then on.

We only started talking to each other in Form 4 and only became closer in Form 5.

It’s a pretty late friendship.

And a pretty loud one too.

Much to the annoyance or some say entertainment of our fellow classmates.

* * *

Dear Christopher,

I know you are not the mushy mushy type.  Neither am I though.  However it’s your birthday today!  So let’s make it an exception okay?  After reading this, let’s run to the toilet and barf.

I personally feel that there are many different sides of Christopher.

The playful one

• Cutting erasers and throwing them at me when examination is going on.
• Not satisfied he will be crunching papers and shooting them at me as if they are cannon balls.

The at-times-emotion-detached one

• When I go, “Panic attack!! I am depressed!!”

His reply, ‘”Yes, you will fail”.

• When I go, “%$%$^$%#%^&%”

His reply, “I don’t care.”

The serious one

• I only notice this side of him when we left secondary school. Now, he is one of those whom I can talk about anything to. Which came as a total surprise as back then, most of the conversations we had were “go die lah you”, “go away lah you” and of course more “SHUT UP LAH YOU”. So, for us to hold a decent conversation today is something to be applauded for okay.
• He is way matured beyond his age. I guess it could be due to the fact that most of the people I mix with act way below their age hence his maturity stands out. However it is undeniable he has a matured mentality. At times I even got taken aback at how advanced his thinking was comparing to most of us. This is a good thing alright! Don’t misunderstand.

The “prince charming”" of the school

• Hence the string of admirers everywhere he goes. This happened to be one of Wei Ling and my source of entertainment. Listening to girls confessing their love for him and pouring their heart out are definitely interesting. I am not mocking them okay. They are pretty cute.

The reliable one

• He is the sole reason why this site is running smoothly till today. Everybody will have to agree with that. I admit that I did not contribute as much as all of us initially agreed on. Something I am not proud of but it did not seem to change. Honestly, I felt shy to post as most of the readers are of those who know Chris alone. So if I were to post, it will be like, “Who the heck is this girl?” I will change though! Something that I told Chris countless times yet it kept disappearing to thin air. I shall have a thick face from now on.

Hey you Chris bum bum,

At times, I was afraid that you will feel that I am taking advantage of the fact that you are always there to maintain this site. Heck, I am sure that many of us feel the same way too. Just so you know, you were not taken for granted though! We totally appreciate everything that you had done.

We had our fair share of squabbles and fights. Well, more like excessive. Right now it seems to be an amusing memory for me. All my high blood pressure back then comes to a good ending after all.

Over the years, individually each and every one of us had changed. We are now scattered all over the place having new experiences and new friends.

Let’s hope that the friendship between all of us will last. So, when I start to have crow feet and wrinkles, you better not be laughing your posterior off in front of me okay. Rest assured I will grab your walking stick and bash you up nicely.

P/S

To all fellow 5 Winzipians or those who personally know both of us, we were not fighting.

It’s just the way we communicate.

I can’t help but laugh when I read the birthday post I wrote for his 19th birthday.
Ahh, in just a span of a year,  how much things have change.
But it’s for the better,  isn’t it Ge?

It always seemed surreal to me whenever I wished you a happy birthday.
“Wait, he is older than me??”
That happened every single year.

Maybe it’s because I always looked and treated you as a kid.
Can’t do that anymore though.
You are a man now.

Semi-man.

Who is in a relationship.

The first and the ONLY person in the coffeestops crew to have one.
Kudos to you.

* * *

Honestly, I personally can’t see Nicholas as a 20 year old guy.
Though it is a different story with Jian Wei.
He is always way matured than his age anyway.

But Nic…
Come on!

He is…..GE!!

Maybe it’s due to our significant decrease of interaction in the recent times.
So the impression that I have of you is way outdated.

I shall hunt down and press that fast forward button soon.

* * *

You are 20 today.
And we wish you a happy birthday!
Hopefully we will still keep in contact in the future and will have a chance to wish you a happy 30th birthday.

Wait,
Make that 50th birthday.

Half a century old.

Awesome!

P/S:
Dear ol’ Wei Ling who is currently alone and miserable in Kampar said she is sorry she could not make it back to Subang to celebrate your birthday.
And, she said to tell you to stay loyal to Reb.
We like her.

The one and only Christopher said, “Come back to church you noob!”.

Oh,
And your best friend Ying Wei, who is still single, has nothing to say.

Update!
He hopes you get a ps3.

Ang Jian Wei,
20 years old.

Nah..

How about,
Ang Jian Wei,
2 decades old.

Ang Jian Wei,
one fifth of a century old?

Better.

HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY JIAN WEI!!

Man, that’s a pretty big deal.
The first among the coffeestops crew to hit the big 2-0 mark.

Are you considered old?
Or are you just a step into the climax of your life?
Well, since a few of us will be following suit, I will give up the chance of calling you an old fart and reluctantly choose the latter.

Personally, I think being 20 is one of the most confusing age.
You can no longer call yourself a boy, nor can you declare yourself as an adult.
Semi-adulthood I guess.

Your wisdom and knowledge pars up to a wise and grumpy 90 year old great grandfather.
Your silliness and childlike attitude are similar to my 9 year old neighbour.

Back then when he was sober

So, what can we wish you on this joyous and mix-up day?

How about some “Happy Birthday and many happy returns of the day”!
Or “not just a year older, but a year better”!
Perhaps you want some lengthy ones,
“May your days be filled with sunshine and beautiful colours! And may your nights be filled with comforting dreams and wishes to come”!

I think we’ll stick to a more realistic one.

Have fun and play safe all the way in US!

Whenever I was approached, my typical answer will be, “Haha. Bye bye!”

Mind you, I do not have any phobia with either needles or blood.
(Which reminds me the irony on whenever I heard any girls saying they are afraid of blood or will faint at just the sight of it. I do pity them, as, if thats the case, they will be spending a quarter of every month unconscious.)
I just somewhat, somehow, one way or another, freaked out at the idea of having my blood flowing in other people’s veins.
So, I am a little mean.

Just a little.

Anyway, its the last week of our semester and the attendance had been rather pathetic with many already on their self declared holidays.

Me : “You entering all the classes today?”
Amanda : “Think so. But gonna cabut halfway through Bio. Donating blood!!”

The prospect of sitting in the rather empty and freezing bio lab for 2 whole hours is well enough to bring out the humanity in me!
And that leads me hurriedly filling up the blood donation form.
With Nigel Gui who blurry ticked the column indicating that he is pregnant and currently breast feeding!!

Blood pressure taken.
Finger pricked.
Blood sample drawn.
AB blood type. (Perfect excuse for my self-absorbness. Its in the DNA!)

The episode ended with the lady saying,
“I am sorry. You can’t donate today. Your Hb level count is low. Better luck next time.”

Feeling puzzled, I blurted out, “Luck? What luck? Aren’t I lucky enough now?”

Man.. I really should learn how to keep my mouth shut.