Here was what went down & it starts on Tuesday:

I was planning to celebrate my birthday with some cell B girls at Marble Slab, hoping that this would bond us and bring us closer together; I'm sucha scheming little kid. Okay, not so little anymore, back to the story;

I was out with Sheng Yong and Tom on Thursday when Austin texted me to help me tell the cell that there will be a friday core meeting at 730pm. Immediately, I could feel a sense of loss bubbling up inside, I was feeling claustrophobic without the physical walls and my entire mood was just a downer. Sheng Yong kept telling me to tell Austin about my plan to celebrate it with the girls but I told him that ministry comes first; my birthday comes every year. Reluctantly, I texted the cell core about the meetings. For the entire day, I was feeling a little tinge of being upset and thought to myself: Maybe God is showing me an area in my life that I need to deal with, man up, Zoie!

My mood lifted though, when I spotted a Cort Baby Blue guitar and when I actually found the perfect guitar for myself with the help of the marvelous Sheng Yong and Tom Tom Tom. I went to bed that night feeling pretty alright & was like that for the next two days.

Friday came and I asked Austin where would he like to meet the cell & he told me Cineleisure. I was wondering of all places, why that? He usually held his meetings in the east, I thought perhaps he was trying to make it more convenient for Dong Ying, thus, I didn't think much about it. It did, however, make me a little suspicious and curious about what the meeting was about; maybe he wants to meet us to catch a movie together, or dinner, or maybe it's really a core meeting.

I headed to ION a little bit earlier just to chill, there was nothing much to do at home anyway.

That was when I was already leaving for Cine. I decided to walk slowly and the thought that it couldn't really be a core meeting kept popping into my head. Maybe they were going to surprise me but that couldn't be, not after what Su Tieng told me in the afternoon..

Because of that conversation, I pushed every thought that it was going to be fun out of my head.

Ignore the message at 11pm.

I went down to the basement and looked for Dong Ying but I still couldn't see anyone there. I was looking for a shortish looking girl- standing/sitting alone- in a corner of the shop when suddenly, deep inside the salad bar, this huge group of people stood up. I wasn't wearing my contacts and because I was looking for this emo girl, I ignored them. 5 seconds later, I realised they weren't standing up to walk out of the shop after a meal, they seem to be waiting for someone. Suddenly, they all started clapping and cheering, that was when I spotted Su Tieng, Austin, Rauf and the like. I'm sorry, Dong Ying, I really couldn't see you at first, haha.

I was rooted to the spot outside the shop, this was the conversation that went on in my head:

So I went in, my hands over my mouth, me trying not to cry. It was epic, it was shocking, it was one of the best surprises I've had. I was totally caught off-guard, unprepared and worst of all, I thought that some of them would have forgotten my birthday. The whole core was there, and I was thinking:

After dinner, they made me walk around with a sign around myself. Shaking hands with people and taking pictures with them. It was all good fun except that I got rejected a few times because they thought we were trying to sell something. The Singaporeans were the sporting few and the tourists thought we were making fun of them. Or something of the like. I enjoyed myself thoroughly and am elated that Miho was there too!

Thanks guys! I love you all and feel extremely, wonderfully blessed and thankful to God for placing each of you in my life!

Now, today, my actual birthday seems small and minor compared to Friday. I'm meeting the Sunshines later, tomorrow I'm meeting The Kids and on Wednesday, hehe, that is something else altogether;D