@4:38 PM
another 21st birthday party last night. first of the many to come this year.
ahhh gonna be real broke this year, with all the presents, cards and whatnots. =(
yesterday's was my cousin's, born in the same year as me. she held hers in a chalet, a 'tradition' that all 21-yr-old had to follow at my paternal family. apparantly, we were all born consecutively in a row, about 9 of us. the first few all held their 21st bday celebration in chalets, but it doesnt mean i should follow, no?
initially, the aunties were joking about having to give bday ang baos every year. then, they 'targetted' me.
"so veron, next one is you. where are you going to celebrate?" an aunt asked.
"erm....(comtemplating my answer)...i dont think i am going to have any celebration. too troublesome and there's alot of planning to do." i tried to explain politely and defend myself at the same time.
"oh....." the aunties' faces went abit black.
(uh oh, bad sign.)
"but all your older cousins celebrated theirs, every year is like that, cannot don't celebrate la....maybe just invite the relatives over to your house lor....blah blah....."
SERIOUSLY, it's MY 21st birthday for heaven's sake! why cant I decide how/what I want to do with it! I simply do not like the whole fuss out of it - the attention, the grand affair, the people coming only because they had to cos it's Veronica's 21st birthday, the embarassingly LOUD birthday song, the idea of serving people and rushing around from group to group like a madwoman, and lastly, cleaning up the freaking dirty place and not knowing what to do with the pile of leftover food! i cant imagine!
why must I organise a celebration just to 'follow tradition'? i find the whole affair very silly, very very silly. I simply wanted a fuss-free, peaceful and cosy get-together with my own family, my xiao pang and my darling girlfriends (ok and some not-so-girlfriends). Different group on different days, quality time.
That said, i would not risk souring my relationship with my aunties and cousins just becos of a birthday celebration. I would still do things my way, for sure, but probably think of a way out so everyone is happy. It's still too early to plan for June though, but I should start thinking about it.
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Another thing i wanted to blog about is my completion of the book 'Sold' by Tess Stevens. It was really a good read. Saw it in Jurong East Popular yesterday, bought it immediately for $19.90 (paperback version), read it throughout my cousin's bday party, read it after i showered at home, still reading it at 2 a.m before I couldn't tahan and went to zzz. Next day, which is today, read it the moment i freshened up, read it over lunch with my family, read it when i got home, and just finished reading it.
Yes, finished it in two days. The first time i saw it in Changi Airport T3, it had just been published and cost $30 over plus. That was in August 2008. Couldn't bear to fork out that money that time, but i was really really really in love with the book already.
Since then, whenever i see a bookshop, i started looking for the book but couldn't find it anywhere. Seriously, i dont know why! Kino, Times, Popular, Harris...whatever, the book seemed to be out of stock. damn saddening... I knew the book is in the biography section, but some part of me went on to search for the book in other irrelevant section, like fiction, cooking, management, you name it, hopefully someone had misplaced the book.
Then, yesterday, i decided to give it a try again while walking past Popular. Lo and behold (!), i found one hardback copy sitting there. i swear i spot it almost immediately when glancing through the shelves. Then, i spotted this paperback version (only one too!) sitting on another shelf. wah! like struck Toto sia! obviously i bought the cheaper paperback version as the hardback one cost $30+. yay! Ecstatic!
A little about my reading history. I'm not the book-crazy kind. And as far as I can remember, this was only the second book I'd ever bought for myself. Others were all loaned. However, once i start to read, i dont stop. But Sold is different. Like most books, it makes me want to read on, but it has this emotional part that is very real. I figured it must be because it was a Biography, and not fiction, thats why. Towards the end, I hoped that the story wouldnt end so soon, while in fiction books, i really wanted to know the ending soon. The story was super sad! I teared abit during reading. haha.
okays, read the book if you have the chance! i'm going for a jog with xiao pang now. bye bye.
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until tomorrow}
