Hey, peeps! I am back from the sunny island of Batam. Actually, sunny would have been an understatement! It was SCORCHING!! And I guess it didn't help that most of the clothes I brought along happened to be black in colour. Not my most brilliant action, I agree but it sucks when you have nothing but black in your wardrobe. Of course, I have no one to blame for that but myself. I can't seem to see myself in anything that's colourful. I should learn to change my image. And look a little less emo. People might get the wrong idea, y'know! Anyways, I have tons of pictures of my trip but I thought I would talk about my 17th Birthday first 'cos I have a massive number of people to thank. I know that's a tad bit belated BUT I was away last weekend so, I thought I should do this entry as soon as I got back.



Okay, my birthday happened to be in a reallt sweet number this year: 05.06.07



Pretty cool huh? But honestly I was expecting anything much to happen this year 'cos last year, my lovely friends have already thrown me the bestest surprise party. And from what halim told me, no one could make it. He told me that he was just gonna bring me out fishing and he'll think of something else to do. Okay, right now you must be thinking, "FISHING?!! Sharifah and fishing doesn't go together!" Yes, I admit, the idea of siting around waiting for fish to bite my line isn't exactly what I call the most exciting activity in the world. BUT I was up for anything. 'Cos I do like trying something new. Espcially on my birthday. And so, that morning, I met up with Halim after going out with my mum and aunt and grandma (from indonesia who came to visit me). I had a busy morning with my mum and had to ruch to meet Halim. Where I found him wearing a shirt that's the same colour as MINE!! I swear, on my TV, that we did NOT plan to wear matching shirts!! I was wearing my brown Abrecrombie shirt and capris 'cos he told me to wear something comfy. And he wore his brown shirt with jeans. On our way to the bus stop, I caught sight of my aunt who was waiting for my sis and I immediately ran the other way! Hahaha! It was hilarious. In the end, she caught a glimpse of us and she kept teacsing me about our matching shirts! Aw, maann! =P



Anyways, he brought me to this fishing place opposite the Yishun Stadium. The place was pretty sweet. And I realized that it wasn't THAT sort of fishing. It was the FUN type of fishing where you have to run around with a net and catch all these colourful guppies swimming all over the place. It was much harder than I thought it would be. BUT I finally got the hang of it and once I have my eye on one fish, I will go all pro-fisherman on it. I just started scooping fishes and I actually CAUGHT them! =) Halim was even pro-er! He was running all over, cornering the fishes before trapping them into his net. In the end, we caught 17 fishes. Hahaha! Get it? 'Cos I'm 17 years old! =P Here are my fishies!





I named every single fish after all the peeps who threw me the party! It's dedicated to you all. =)

Anyways, after we caught all those fishes, Halim whipped out a face towel from his bag. Turns out he was going to BLINDFOLD me!! And so, since I had no say in this. I let him blindfold me. But that wasn't enough. He made me plug in my Logan. I had to listen to my music really loud so that I couldn't hear anything that was going on. And so, he lead me as walked blindly. He made me cross the MAIN road blindfolded!! I couldn't tell what in the world was going on. I swear we were just walking for the longest time. I was just walking and walking until finally... He ripped off the blindfold. I had to squint 'cos it was really bright. I couldn't really made things out. Especially since I wasn't wearing my specs. I was blind even WITHOUT the blindfold, lah! Then, I saw all these peole suddenly coming out from behind the trees near. We were in this reservior/park. They started singing "Happy Birthday to you"! I almost DIED!! I honestly didn't expect this. I was all, "You GUYS are FREAKS!! OHMYGOD!!" I didn't mean it, but they really shocked me! Hahaha! Then, I started crying 'cos they were so damn SWEET!! Then, I saw the humongus fudge cake on the park table. I was blown away. I couldn't believe that so many came to my surprise birthday party. There was Shamini, Diyanah, Priya, Taufiq, Suffian, Dinah Bee, Fauzi, Prasaanth, Ashwin and Halim, obviously. He organized the whole thing and surprised the hell out of me.





This is the AWESOME fudge cake that Halim and Taufiq baked for me. Isn't it the most beautifully delicious-looking thing EVER?!! It's seriously fudgey-fied. The both of them can be professional cake bakers or something. It was seriously heavenly! And... just LOOK at it, lah! How you can you NOT salivate looking at THAT?!





That's me attempting to cut the cake. Unfortunately I am a nightmare at fractions. And my portions are all wrong. And Dinah Bee's wasn't HELPING by making me laugh while I was concentrating on cutting the perfect slice for my friends! Hahaha! =P





And I finally cut the cake while the guys were...





drooling over the cake! Hahaha! Look at their mesmerized faces! Don't worry guys, you'll get your cake soon.





Me and the best cake baker in the world! =)

And so, I cut a slice for all the wonderful people there. The cake was just heaven and I'm sure everyone enjoyed it. Especially Diyanah who's face was orgasmic when she took a bite off the thang. And so, we were all laughing and joking while eating cake. They were all asking me how my day was before this. And I showed them all my little fishes. They were so fascinated by them! Then, I let them choose which fish they wanted named after them. Hahaha! They couldn't believe that Halim was serious about the whole fishing thing.

After the cake, they presented their presents to me. It was so, so, so LOVELY!!





That's me opening Shamini and Priya's present. Okay, I just realized that this post may be a tad bit narcissistic 'cos all I'm talking about is me. And so I have to apologize for that. They gave me this really cute, squishy soccer ball, Marks & Spencer's perfume and cookies. The perfume smelt wonderful. Then, Taufiq and the guys gave me their present. Suffian was asking Taufiq if he made sure that all the price tags were ripped off. Taufiq confidently said, "Like Duh!" And then, as I opened at Royal Sporting House plastic bag I saw the receipt at the bottom of the bag. I started laughing like crazy. "The receipt is still here though," I said. Taufiq's confident face immediately changed into that sheepish look and he went, "Oh." And then quickly taking the receipt before I could see what was one it. They gave me a nike shoe bag (which I desperately needed. Thank you, guys!) and assorted sports stuff. Including this super cute red nike waterbottle. Which I think Shamini is glad that they got for me. Now I dont have to keep stealing her waterbottle to grab a drink! Hahaha! =P Next was a group picture TIME!!





Attempt number one = SUCCESS!! =)





Attempt number two = Okay, sorry guys! This one's probably my fault since everyone's blaming me and I'm trying to defend myself. =P





Attempt number three = SUCCESS again! I love this picture! And that's my squishy soccer ball on Halim's head.


Naturally since the guys were there, even a simple photo taking session was not without any weird events happening! During one of the pictures, we were posing normally when suddenly I could hear, "One... two..." and Ashwin gasping, "Ouch!" and Taufiq and Suffian bursting into laughing fits! Apparently, Fauzi (that itchy-fingered guy) whacked Ashwin at his you-know-where so that he will look spas in that picture. What we didn't know was that it was on video mode and we caught the entire thing. The guys were laughing like crazy. And when I watched the video, I ended up laughing too! It was pretty hilarious. But that Fauzi, ah! *tsk, tsk* =P Hahaha!





Here are the guys waiting for the cake, I think. I forgot to put this picture in earlier. And woooh, Sham!! So sexay! =P Hahaha!

After stuffing our faces with potato chips, we decided to get some exercise. So we headed to the playground nearby and started playing around. We played this really intense and fun game of monkey with my new squishy ball. The rules kept changing and it became super complex. But it was super fun!





Halim, Taufiq and Diyanah (the cam whore)! =P They were playing on this leg swingy thing. I realize that that's probably a very bad description but that was what it was!





Diyanah, Priya and me... THE QUEENS OF THE WORLD!!! Muahahahaa! I was actually pretty terrified. The bars were pretty high off the ground. I could've sworn I was gonna fall at some point of time but when someone's taking a picture, you gotta learn to hide that look of absolute fear! Diyanah and Priya had no problems with the height. those gung-ho gals! =)





The four ladies. If you're wondering why Shamini was looking so sad, it's 'cos she couldn't get on the bars with us. We even tried to lift her up but to no avail. Poor Sham! Luckily, she super tall so, no difference, lah. And the picture turned out lovely =)

I have to thank everyone who came to celebrate my 17th Birthday with me. I really, REALLY appreciate it. I have never really had many birthday celebrations and you guys just made my year by actually remembering and doing such a thing. Thank you to everyone who texted me sweet birthday messages! They mean alot to me. I had a wonderful, wonderful time because of you guys! Thank you for making this birthday such a special one!

I love you all! =D