Yesterday was the awaited 2006 Farewell Party for our beloved ATC seniors. I came back home, at around 8.30pm, all battered, bruised, scrapped, drenched and aching all over. But with a small smile on my face, I guess. I was awoken yesterday morning by thousands of people calling me about the party. So, I called the source of information (Priya) and called everyone to tell them where and when it was. By that time, I couldn't possibly get back to sleep. I had to finish up the gifts. Although I slept late again the night before doing the gifts, I wasn't able to finish it. So I continued in the morning before Dinah Bee's surprise party.

Then, after I had bathed, I realized something horrible... I had NO IDEA what to wear!!! I opened my closet and I was like... Where are my beach-y clothes?? I must have SOME beach-y clothes!! But alas! I haven't any. Which really got my quite panicked. I mean, I can't possibly go to the beach wearing some fancy blouse and skirt. Thank God for my Sport-sy, Tom-boy drawer. I pulled out my red OP shirt and Black Giordano Capri. I had no sport shoes, so I had to wear my OP school shoes (yes, I am aware of how pathetic that sounded). To complete the whole 'Sports Gal' look, I wore my white Billabong cap thingy with no top. I was thinking, "Whoa! It's probably gonna be SO hot and sunny over there." I was even contemplating to bring along my Sunblock! But I decided against it. I figured I needed a tan anyway. I've been a tad bit too pale these few days. But of course, everything went the opposite what I had hoped to happen.

Thank you so much to Jenny's Dad!! He picked us up from Yio Chu Kang Mrt Station. I was waiting for Priya (Though, I had to wait quite a while since I met up with Dinah MZ first to get the music CDs from her. Thanks so much, Dinah!!) and when she came, she said that she bumped into Suffian. And I was like, "What is Suffian doing here?? Doesn't he live in Woodland??" Turns out, The whole gang was there. All three (Halim, Taufiq and Suffian). They were coming along for the ride. I was struggling with a gigantic bag of gifts and another bag of chicken (which I had donated and bought with my own money for the party since I thought that there wouldn't be enough). Of course, the nice gentlemen were kind of busy with the Adidas Soccerball to notice. But I didn't mind. I was sort of too lathargic and zomked out to say anything. Priya helped me carry some of my stuff. Thanks, babe! By the time we reached YCK, it was pouring. Inside, I think my heart was screaming, "NOOOOOOOO!!!" I was praying and hoping that it wasn't raining there at Pasir Ris Park.

In Jen's car, I was thinking of taking a tiny nap but I had loads of calls. Every single one of them were concerned about the rain. I simply asked them to just go there first and then we'll sort it out. There's just something about cars. They always never fail to make me fall asleep. Even with the calls and Priya attempting to wake me up every 5 seconds, I managed to get a few minutes of shut-eye. Which is better than nothing. When we reached there, it wasn't raining and I was quite relieved. I came out the car, all tired and sleepy. Suffian helped me carry the chicken. Much to my relief. So, I was carrying the gifts (Which are sketchbooks which we turned into Scrapbooks. And we asked as many people to sign on them. We personalized every book and did borders and everything. We even added a CD with pictures of the events ATC participated in burned in them. Guess who's brilliant idea that was?? Haha!). And then it started to drizzle. I was hoping it would stay that way. Halim said to switch bags with him. I was like sooooo relieved. I wasn't gonna say anything but my arms were practically coming out of my shoulder sockets. We met up with Mastura, Shalini, Parvathi, Gaya and a whole bunch of other people. They looked really ridiculous 'cos they were all hiding behind a bunch of tree barks. It was so funny but that's ATC for you.

We stood there in the light drizzle and waited until Dinah Bee and her beau, Adin to come. So that we can surprise her. When she finally came, it really wasn't much of a surprise. What was more surprising was the drizzle which suddenly became heavy rain. It was HORRIBLE!!! I went with Dinah Bee, Gaya, Keetha (who came in a dress!!), Shalini and Mas to get the food. It just got heavier and heavier. By the time we reached the shelter with the food, we were all completely drenched. As in DRENCHED!! I didn't know what to do. Then, as I went off to sit at the BBQ area (I was dreanched anyway, I couldn't possibly ANY wetter), I didn't see this dude on a bike coming my way. And so, he crashed into me. I was sort of pissed at that time, with a few people so when he scrapped past me, I violently grabbed his shirt and tried to pull him down. It happened pretty fast and when he breaked, all you could see was my feet underneath his bicycle wheel and my grabbing his shirt. It sort of looked like I was trying to kill the dude. He asked me, "Are you okay?? Are you okay??" While the rest of ATC sort laughed. I suppose it was kindda funny. I let go of his shirta nd said that I was fine. I walked off to the BBQ pit with Keetha who was concerned since apparently, I scrapped my ankle. Though I never really noticed it with a few people laughing at me. I sat there with Keetha, letting the rain just pelt on me. It was abit depressing. And then I just looked around and saw how dismal the 'party' was. I began to breakdown abit. I couldn't HELP it!! I mean, LOOK!! I have been working my ass of for the party. I have been losing tons of sleep, tons of time and been TOTALLY STRESSED-OUT for the past week and I thought that the party would hceer me up. That the party would be all worth it. Then THIS happened! Keetha was trying to comfort me. Then, I put on a smile and walked towards the rest of ATC and acted like everything was fine.

The sec threes were playing monkey. I looked at them and realized that maybe if I try, the party won't be that horrible. We can make it WORK!! I joined in the game. After that, we got tired of playing monkey and decided to play Dog-and-Bone. My Team was Jen, Taufiq, Halim, Suffian, Shalini, Gaya and me. As you can see, all the 'fast people' are my team. It was really fun. All muddy and competitive. Everytime Adin and Halim were called together, they'll be SUPER competitive. Like the Battle of The Testosterones. Who's the MAN?! Y'know what I mean? I'll be the one who watches for people and catch them before they reach across their line. Jen fell down at one point and Ashwin just ran off with the 'bone' without a single, "Are you okay??". I was like, HELLO!! But it was okay. He apologised later. After the game, the rain lightened up and we decided to start the fire. I was muddy and my shoes were totally ruined. But I felt much better.

We got a radio but it wasn't really loud enough to get pumped. While the guys were getting the fire started, the rest played 'Twister'. Woooo, guess who won?! Meeee!! But Priya and I had a tough fight. She was so flexible! Then, I got the guys to skip. Haha! I realized that they weren't really very good at it. Though for guys, they were pretty good. Suffian could do a front-cross. Taufiq and Halim were all, "I don't care! I'm not satisfied until I get it right!" They tried again and again to do a front-cross. I gave them advise. But only Halim managed to get ONE cross done successfully. Taufiq was all, "Let me try one more time". While the two beginners tried to do a front-cross, I tried to teach Suffian (who was more advanced) to do the backward-cross. HE was going, "That's impossible, lah!!" We had fun. We did double skip and triple skips too. Haha! I can't believe this paragraph!

After that, we did the limbo. I had no idea I could limbo!! I just unearthed a new hidden talent I never knew I posessed! The guys were pros. They bent their ankles as they went underneath the rope. It was like jelly. Jen and I were thinking, "Is it supposed to do that??!". Then a whole bunch of people (and some china people who barged into our party) limboed with us. There was some Sean Paul song playing in the background and I sort of limboed to the beat. Which I thought was what limboing was about. But apparently, I was the only one who did it like that. Hey, nothing wrong with that, right?! Haha! While I was limboing, Dinah Bee (that little naughty thang!!) took a handful of cake (HER birthday cake, by the way!) and smeared it all over my face and even stuffed it in my ear!! I had NO idea what drove her to do that. There I was, limboing, innocently and then, BAM!! Cake in my eyes, face and ears!! Just like that! The toilet was sooooo far away. I just went to the sea and washed my face there. Then I found out that the water had OIL in it!!! OIL!!!! Danny, Khairi and Rohit who were there told me so. I screamed but continued to wash. I was thinking, 'What the heck! I already washed it anyway.' I spat out the sea water which landed in my mouth and ran back to the pit. There, Salmah and Syatirah (those darlings!) gave me some tissue and helped me get the gunk out of my ear and hair. I'm so grateful! Thanks, guys!

I got abit bruised after limbo. You see, when it gets too low, I'll bee almost through to the other side but I'd fall on my knees and I won't be able to get up from my very weird position. After the whole limbo thing, Jen, Taufiq, Priya and Suffian played frisbee and I joined in. I helped Jen take pictures with her new phone. I took some pictures of us. And I was about to do so to the guys when Suffian said, "Hey, Sharifah! I'm going to throw this frisbee right at your stomach, know!!" He laughed after that so, I didn't really think that he was going to do it. After all, I was handling Jen's phone and taking pictures. But of course, he did. It hit, at an amazing force, right at my hip bone. The pain was sharp and I immediately buckled. It was sort of throbbing and ringing. I crouched for quite a while. According to people, Suffian's face was totally panicked. He was all worried and asking me if I was alright. Actually I wasn't 'cos I couldn't stand up for a while. Then Jen tried to make things better by twisting my hip like she does when her feet cramps. But oooooh, the pain just got amplified. I sat down for a while. And rested. Then, the boys left with Salmah and Syatirah. I realized that a LOT of people were headed home early. I was like HEYYY!! People!! What about the late night partying we were planning to do??!!

The gift ceremony started not late after. It was really liberating. The seniors looked like they really appreciated the gifts. I was SOOO happy. They had NO idea what i went through. Although, alot of the seniors didn't come so I still had some books with me. The rest were really happy with their gifts. THAT was heart-warming. They hugged me and I was SOOOO glad that they liked it. =)

I didn't eat much. Actually, I only ate one chicken. Ya... But oh, well. There wasn't much dancing either. THAT really got me bummed 'cos one of the main reasons I wanted to go for the party was 'cos of the dancing. In the end, it was mainly only Jen and me who dance later that night. Adin promised to clean up after us if we let him video us dancing to 'Lose Control'. We went, "OKAY!!" And danced.

Nithiya, Jen and I then shared a cab back home. We did abit of gossiping along the way which is always fun. So, I came home. Battered, Tired, Bruised (oh, about the frisbee which hit my hip, I just found a bruise there this morning. It's all purple and gross), Muddy, Scrapped (by the bicycle dude) and WET!! The party didn't turn out as great as I hoped it would. The rain wasted a good hour and there was no sun to lighten our mood. After all we[ve been through, was it worth it?? I wonder. To a certain extent, yes! 'Cos my heart soared when the seniors liked their gifts. Though my soul sort of withered and died when the rain literally rained on our parade. Still, all that mattred was that the seniors had fun. Which I sincerely hoped they did.

By the way, I forgot to put this in my last entry. My earpiece (for Logan) got stolen. I KNOOOOW!!! How RIDICULOUS is that??!! I mean, why whould ANYONE steal some CHEAP-O earpiece and NOT steal Logan?!! Don't get me wrong, I am totally relieved that my Logan is alright. If ANYTHING were to happen to Logan, I'll just DIE!! Seriously. But it just didn't make sense. That's all. So, I was kind of depressed the day before yesterday. I wouldn't be able to listen to Logan anymore without my earpiece. But thank goodness Someone had an extra earpiece!! I am SO grateful and thankful that that Someone lent it to me. My birthday's coming, right? Maybe I'll ask my dad to buy me a new earpiece. But for now, I'm so glad I still can listen to Logan.

All-in-all, though it left me feeling empty, the party wasn't a TOTAL disaster.