Friends for Dinner

Birthday Cake

This year, I decided to throw a little gathering for my birthday. Yes, I was turning 24, and at first, I thought I was pretty old to have one. But the thought of having my closest friends with me and with plenty of good food to eat sounded like a pretty good idea.

So,I decided to have it at Vivo, The Curve. It was 6.45 pm and I was already there. For some strange reasons, I was there early (the dinner was to only start at 7.30 pm), and I remembered asking myself why. Shouldn't the birthday boy make a grand late entrance? Well, I concluded that that just was not me.

My public relations skills went on high gear, as I pushed seven tables and 18 chairs together, lining up colorful menus and ash trays, and placed the grey colored order forms on each table. Yeah, at Vivos, you were to fill in your own order, and I thought that was nift. As I waited for the rest to arrive, I gleefully filled in my form already, ordering a 7 thin inch Amigos pizza, chicken salad and a large Coke.

And then, one by one, they came :

1. Shareena is the face of that chirpy, yet sexy voice on Red104.9. She used to go to the same high school in KL, until she moved to Jakarta in Sophomore year. Her present (as well as Azimy's) was to call me up at 8.15 am in the morning on live radio and asked me to sing the bday song to myself. Although that sounds a bit sad, it really made my day!

2. Fairil is the athlete in my group. Not only can he shoot hoops, he can sing too, and is 1/3 of Acoustiq 39. We used to live together (with Zales and Efi) at Palm Gardens, and create basketball related games because there wasn't anything else to do!

3. Vinnie was my study partner back in Uniten. During study week, we would be by the library at 8 am, and flock there until it midnight. Our persistence to score for exams actually worked. Every. Damn. Semester.

4. Khairzul has been my shrink for the past two years. He knows more about my deal with relationships, to the point that I should be worried. Our tradition have been the meet-ups at the Aseana cafe late afternoons, where we vomit critical issues such as what-are-relationships?

5. Melor, the girl with the nose stud, have converted herself from a raver to a ghetto bootey. This is due to her love for her rapper boyfriend. She is incredibly stylish, and gets me giggling like a school girl with her in-your-face remarks. And yeah, she hates ISKL with a passion!

6. Lisa is this subtle musician who can write like water. She is incredibly smart, and the ultimate reason why I made it to the Force of Nature concert. I was incredibly awed with her knowledge of lupus, a disease my favorite model is struggling with.

7. Aiman is this very tall, young kid who has the voice of lead singer, 112. Despite so, he is incredibly shy with his talent, but have dreams that successful business men are made of. He aims to be the owner of the best basketball courts in Malaysia, which will materialise by end of this year.

8. Ben was my connection to Manpower. The first few words muttered by him to me was "Are you an American?". He and I would talk about hot girls, do some ranking, while we sat by the mosque and waited for the Friday prayers to start.

9. Suraya and Laici are the future business women to conquer Bali-related clothing items. They have shared their dream, and I know that their lulur body scrub can make them the next Body Shop.

10. Wanay is this really hot babe who I used go have lunch with during special semester in Uniten. Everyone thought we dated, and we just enjoyed letting the rumors be. She got married early, and yet she haven't lost her sence of partying. I can't wait to see her kids!

11. Khaylis is my stress-twin back in highschool. I have always admired her sence of style and her writing skills. No matter how much I duplicate, I can't imitate! Anyway, I was incredibly joyful when she remembered my favorite cake was the one with marshmellows. And I was incredibly high when she brought it as my birthday gift!

12. Zales is this incredibly stylish girl who she and I go way back! She always cracks me up, and she can dance so seductively in Zouk. She is the latest It girl among the hip hop community.

13. Han is this intellectual movie directors should look for. This guy have a vision to create simple, yet effective movies which will make Yasmin an amateur. Plus, he can can boogey too with hip hop.

14. Teddy and Mat are the most humble couple I know. Teddy and I were extremely close in Uniten, out of pure connection that both our dads worked at JPM. She is such a hard worker, and detailed, and is extremely huggable!

As I sat around and watched my friends chat among themselves, I could not but help feel so lucky to have them in my life.