Happy Birthday To me

Yesterday I woke up to being 43! I must really remember to put down my correct age whenever I fill in any forms now. It used to be so easy but now I can hardly keep track. No wonder every time I ask Grandma how old she is, she has to start counting from Tiger year. I think I’ll have an easier time, since I share the same age as Singapore.

I remembered when I was younger, I always wanted to be twelve, why? Probably cos I’ve always wanted to be a teenager, and I also probably did not know about the dreaded PSLE. Then when I past twelve, i wanted to be 16, sweet sixteen to be precise, and hopefully have a boyfriend, like all the TV soaps from US that I watched in thoes days. (Again, I probably did not know about the dreaded O’levels.) I remembered I kept singing the song “I am sixteen going on seventeen, I know that I’m naive…” and wished there was a male voice somewhere to reply to that, like in the movie The Sound of Music.

After I turned 16, which was probably in the midst of my O’levels, I looked forward to being 18. All the Ling Qing Xia and Chin Han romantic movie always have the female lead as 18 years old. Well, 18 came but not Chin Han, instead, it was A’levels. Funny how all the milestones in my life are filled with exams.

Of course the next age I had looked forward to was 21. I had the party I wanted, along with a doll cake holding on the a 21st key. I even turned my mother’s house in a makeshift disco. That was fun.

I remembered someone told me that once you cross 21, the age flies by and you can’t even plan your next milestone. True enough, life was so busy, and I had often looked forward to year end, not for my b’day, but for bonuses.

The only period I was keenly aware of was that I must get pregnant again before I turned 28, in order to get $20K tax rebate from the government. So it was hurry hurry, hard work, seeing that I had just given birth to my first child only less than 4 months before. Back then, we have no baby bonuses, and government did not give any money at all, so that was quite a huge sum for us young couple.

So, I guess the next age I look forward to is the big 50, which Oprah, and many other celebrities claimed it’s a wonderful age to be. Actually, I have a huge fear, seeing the women around me turning 50. They become monsters, and blamed manopause as the culprit. How the can Oprah have so much fun?

Yesterday, I woke up to many birthday greetings, including one from my fav DJ. My friend did not believe he did that, so I’m all the more yaya over it. Mike surprised me with “Kindle”, the e-book reader from Amazon that I wanted. He got his US colleagues to buy it, since Amazon does not send outside US. How sweet. I’m also thankful to having good friends from KL, Soo Fong, Chin Ee and Lee Kien, who came down from KL and celebrated my b’day with me at Tony Romas 2 weeks ago, even though the exchange rate for RM to S$ is all time high!! That was a really really expansive meal, ribs with Tiger beer.

But although yesterday was my b’day, I spent the whole day preparing for Aaron’s b’day party at The Cage. I thought the two coaches I engaged for the party was the best value, as it freed me from entertaining 12 small boys.

Here’s to another year, my friends!