walking in the rain

I’ll be turning 26 in a few days.

You know, judging from the frequency of my updates, I might be 27 by the time you see a new entry.

This year, I had a birthday surprise. Yes, that’s right, a birthday surprise – one that I’ll remember forever, simply because it was the worst surprise I’ve ever had.

It took place at a Nonya Cafe at Heng Mui Keng Terrace. I mean, where the hell is that right? It’s a little restaurant at NUS – a location picked by my aunt. I had previously given plenty of suggestions with good food and great ambience at affordable prices, but well, they were all turned down.

Actually, it was a dinner not to celebrate my birthday, but a farewell dinner for my younger sister who was back in Singapore for a couple of weeks.

So the dinner was held on Sunday, 9th January, 2 days before her departure. It was also the day where I had to wake up at 5.30am for radio duty, which wasn’t quite funny as I already had a long work week.

So, anyway, since all my other relatives were going, I decided to show face. After all, for $17, the food might be worth a try. I had earlier suggested going but not eating at the buffet (I’ve given up on buffets for 2011 – I’ve had years of unhealthy eating and I promised myself this year was going to be different), but hey, I was told off in the end.

So there. I wasn’t in the best of moods because 1) I was tired – I woke up at 5.30am (not for anything else but for work on a Sunday, mind you); 2) I didn’t want to eat a buffet but I was forced to; 3) I had to pay for my own meal; 4) and guess what? The food at this Chilli Padi Nonya Cafe was absolute rubbish. Yes, people at Chilli Padi Nonya Cafe, if you’re reading this, hey, let’s be honest. Your food sucks. Like shit. I’ve never been to a buffet dinner not eating anything for the first 30 minutes, and dragging myself to eat only because I have to pay for the meal. The range is appalling, and so is the quality. I could have spent my $17 on a better buffet dinner elsewhere. Seriously.

So there I was, looking moody throughout the dinner, and of course, feeling very tired from a very, very long week.

Somewhere towards the end of the dinner, I got a call from J. Was excited to receive his call as I haven’t heard from him in almost a year and he was back in Singapore for a few weeks. The conversation got interesting when he mentioned that he had some opportunity for me to work together with him for an upcoming local film (I won’t spill too much details here), and that actually perked me up on an evening as boring as hell.

I got up from my seat at the table and proceeded nearer to the buffet dinner, as I didn’t want others to eavesdrop. After all, it was only basic courtesy, since the call was going to take a while.

Minutes later, I was summoned to put down the phone. I was puzzled for a moment, thinking that it might be because everyone wanted to take a group photo. One of my aunts then came up to me with a red packet with the words “Happy Birthday”, and that was when I thought something must be going on.

I ended the call, reluctantly of course, and the next thing I knew, I saw a cake with candles lit on the table. I was then asked to do this, do that, make a wish, pose for photos, etc. The birthday song was sung, and honestly, I was completely embarrassed, and very much annoyed, unfortunately. The cake was then cut, and after all that was over, I was too tired and angry to even eat a slice of the cake. I only took a small piece after much persuasion from my relatives. And of course, all this while, I had to put up a smile. A nice, wide smile along with a happy face, for everyone to see.

Okay, here’s the thing. Firstly, if you know me well enough, I don’t do birthday surprises. Secondly, I’m NOT into birthday surprises at low-class places. If they had told me there would be a cake for me, and that there would be a mini-celebration of some sort at a nice hotel (or at least a decent place), I would be very happy. But no, it had to be a birthday surprise at a ridiculously ulu place at NUS, which serves up the worst food I’ve ever had in my life.

I was truly upset on the way home, and when I told my family members, I was called ungrateful, and was told that there would be no more surprises for the rest of my birthdays. My response? Great! Thanks.

Anyway, I spent the night thinking about what got me so upset, but I couldn’t really quite put my finger on it. I then decided to share this with a good friend, whom I met up with the following day after work.

His answer was that I’m upset because my family doesn’t know me well enough, and that they should have known better than to throw a celebration at a place like that. He also mentioned that they had treated my birthday surprise as an afterthought, like, “Hey since we’re all gathering for a dinner, why don’t we just throw in a birthday surprise for him?”. Oh, for crying out loud. It was 12 days early. TWELVE days, mind you.

I totally agreed with him. It was also a culmination of unhappiness throughout the day – tired because I had to wake up early, not being allowed to skip the buffet, having to pay for the meal, shitty food, hanging up on an important call, etc.

If my family had known me well enough, they would have known better than to throw me a birthday surprise at a stupid place, right? I mean, after all, when any of my family members celebrate their birthday, e.g. my mum, we always put in effort to think for a nice dinner location.

I did make an effort to state my point of view, but it was still brushed away. I guess I’ll always be that ungrateful person. But hey, to each his own. If you don’t understand where I’m coming from, it really isn’t my fault anymore. It’s not as if I haven’t tried.

It’s not my habit to blog these days, but these are emotions I’d want to remember.

And you know what? Sometimes I wish people can be more understanding, and less selfish.

The world would be a better place that way.

And for the record, yes, I still paid for that dinner.