March 16 - The Day He Opened His Greatest Gift

By De Ming

I threw myself against the sofa and lay there for a moment; I extended my hands to get hold of my toppled alarm clock. It was eleven fifty-two. Eight minutes until the end of my birthday. It was now eleven fifty-two on the sixteen of March. My birthday. It has been a normal day and if not for the constant wishes and the cake bought by my mother, it would not be anymore special then a normal day.

Yesterday was different though, yesterday we took a one hour drive from Petaling Jaya to Klang just to celebrate my birthday. It was probably the first time since such a long time when I had my cousins, aunty and uncle to celebrate my birthday with me. It was a nice meal and I truly feel grateful that they would be willing to take a five hour drive from Singapore north to KL just to celebrate my birthday.

As I sat there together with my family, a question suddenly popped up in my mind. Why should my family be celebrating my birthday? What is there to celebrate? The more I thought about it, the more troubled I became, this is my sixteenth birthday and this is the first time that this question ever came up to my mind. For truly, I have done nothing but waste their money, received their Christmas presents and made them upset.

If I were to be the one celebrating their birthdays, then they would truly deserve what they were receiving. I came back with no answer that day and I was rather withdrawn the whole night. It seems that my cousins were always the ones making the cards for us. It seems that it was my aunty and uncle who would always be the ones to take the 5-6 hours drive to be with us. It was never us. We never celebrated their birthdays. We never make cards for them. I realized that even my parents did not need to celebrate my birthday. What have I ever done to deserve this? Nothing what so ever.

The next day, I woke up with a cheerful mood. I walked as usual to school at seven and I was greeted by Nadira, who gave me my first birthday present that day. Thank you Nadira for the key chain and that really nice card! I promise you that it’ll hang on my pencil box forever and ever! Thank you also for being there to chat with me during duty and for always being so cheerful and happy. Thank you Nadira!

The second gift I received was from my dear friend Nicholas, who pulled me to one side and gave me a shirt which was worn by the guy in Step Up 2 (Tyler, I think (I used to call myself Tyler when I was Form 1)). Thanks Nick for putting in that effort to search for this shirt. Thank you also for being so nice to me all this time and for accepting me for whom I am. I know I seldom say it, but I truly appreciate you for being who you are and for always being there for me. So thank you so much!

The third one was on my desk after I did some paper pulling charity for Shing Queen. It was wrapped in green, which was chosen purposely to match my prefect shirt. There was a note with a green(!) pick there too and I would like to respond to some of the things that were written there. The first was that my life did improve and I did find it more meaningful, but one of the reasons is because I have such great friends and you Miss Quek Xia Shuen are one of those that I truly treasure. Though you may say that I do not seem to need you anymore, but on the contrary you are of the few people who could actually turn a gloomy day to a happy day by just being there for me.

I opened the gift only after a certain someone kept begging me to open it so that she will be sure that it fit my size. Okay, let’s pause for a while. By now you would be thinking that it is a shirt, but my friend you are wrong! It’s a slipper! One with a cute ninja guy on! The only problem Xia Shuen is now I’m afraid to wear it, it’s just too precious! Thank you so much!

The forth was by the person who shares the same birthday as me. Yes, you are right, Hui Ting! Although she tried to cover the picture on the box with papers, yet I guessed rightly that it was a cross about the footsteps on the sand (thank goodness I did not get that one for you too Hui Ting!) Okay, before we continue, let us have a history lesson. I remember four years ago, I met this monitor of mine, who was really someone I wanted to get closer too. Therefore I tried, but things turned out not too well and we ended up having our backs against each other. But the next year, we got back together as friends and lived happily, but not ever after for we argued once again and thus we came back and were cold towards each other again and again. Until today, (today is one of those happier days). So my wish for us is that our friendship will have a stronger foundation and will last forever and ever, happily ever after. Thank you Hui Ting.

The fifth present was from my smiley friend, Ying Jia. =). She gave me a really nice and special card. It was hand made! I wish I was as talented as her… Anyways, I really appreciated all the time spent together last year as we studied for PMR and I also really appreciate the card that you specially made for me. She told me the next day that it took her the whole day to make this card, which meant that a girl spent the whole day thinking about me! Like I always believe Ying Jia, it is the thoughts that count! So touching… Thank you!

The sixth is Kam Wei whom I have forgiven for letting his dog bite my leg (it is still blue black). The best thing is that he actually went to buy the present in front of me and even asked me whether out of two, which I would prefer. The worst part was that I never even thought that it could be for me! Thank you so much Kam Wei! Do not let the dog near me anymore. It was a comedy comic book by the way.

It was during Malay period, when something within me decided to check my bag for no reason and when I did, I found my seventh present for the day. Given by… Oi? There was no name. Well it was also a comic book and I made a guess that it was given by a person named Han Sheng Ting whose birthday falls one day after mine. My guess was right. Thank you man! Thank you also for all the time your Mom has sent me up and down from tuition!

That night as I was flipping through my notebook, the small note fell out and I realised what all the whispering about "Has he found it?" about. It was a simple, yet it made me feel really appreciated. So thank you Pei Qi and Po Yee (Po Ki)! I forgive you! Thank you Po Yee for always helping me out in accounts and for making the class really much more fun! Thank you Pei Qi for always being there to encourage me and thank you for all the times I have copied your answers!

The next day after a long period spent in the Chemistry lab, Ee Suen came over and she passed me a plastic bag with this guitar-bird clip. I really appreciate your effort to finding something related to guitar since that you know my first wife is my guitar!

My ninth gift was from Syn-Na our Smelly Rhino who is in hot battle with Green Duck for being 4 Budi's Mascot! She gave me a bar of Roast Almond chocolate! I like chocolates! Thank you Syn-Na for always being there to chat with in class and for willing to be my husband! (Limah/ Fatimah)

The tenth and the last one was the gift I treasured the most. It was a gift that was always there and yet I never once opened it. This gift, is the great gift of the great people around me, the people who stood with me, who chatted with me, who took photos with me, who laughed with me and lay gloomily with me, the people who were there and always ready to listen to me. I know that I do not deserve all that I have received, I know I’ve made many of you upset, I know I’ve hurt many of you, I know that at times I can be really stubborn and I also know that although I am all these and more, all of you were still there to be by my side. So thank you so much for being my friends and thank you to my family for being such great people. Thank you God for the ninth and my favourite gift.

Yamaha Guitar Course Grade 8

By De Ming

The rain poured heavily against the glass of the car. At that moment, the car stopped and my mother asked my sister and me to get off it. We hurriedly jumped off the car and walked towards the building. I held unto my guitar case tightly and strode towards the receptionist. “Where is the guitar exam held?” She pointed to the stairs and muttered an “Up”.

Once my Mom arrived, we walked towards the stairs and began our ascend to doom. At the top of the stairs, there was this hall where parents and students sat and walked around. I caught sight of a counter and begin walking towards it. A lady was there and she asked me if I wanted to register. Since I was early, I decided to do so later. I sat on a chair for a couple of minutes before deciding to face my fears and bang it.

Once I had written down my Free Choice songs, I was led to the front of Room 15 where a girl sat playing seriously. I took my guitar out of its case and begin tuning it. At that time, the door opened and the girl was called in. It was my turn then to practice and practice I did. The girl walked out and a Malay guy walked to my corner. As he was about to start practicing, he was called in by the examiner. Thus I had to wait some more.

At long last, the door opened and I was called in by a Malay man who was around his thirties. I stepped into that small room and adjusted the stool. I passed my papers to the examiners and they told me to play Allegretto and Waltz. The good news was that I was dead calm.

Before we get to that I think it would be fair to explain a little about the exam syllabus. There are three set pieces, songs which must be played by all and three free choice, songs that you choose. Out of each category, the examiners will pick one. We had to practice all though. After that there were chords, sight reading and scales.

My Allegretto was close to perfect and I was really proud of it, but unfortunately Waltz had some hangs in between and was a little jerky. After that was sight reading. To be really frank, it was hard. Teacher never gave me such a hard one even during practice, but I believe I did quite well in it. After I place the paper down, the examiner started to play some chords and he told me to follow. So I did.

My chords were something to be happy about and at last came my most feared moment, scales! I only memorized it this afternoon and I knew I was going to die. And I died. My scales were all wrong. There were too many mistakes and until this moment I can still remember the older, Chinese examiner telling me to execute the B flat. It was a disaster. Oh well, it was my fault in the end.

After all that, I walked away a happier man. Now, my holidays truly begin.

Gathering of the March Babies

By De Ming

It was seven thirty in the evening, the sky was already dark and I strode into the sliding glass doors of Subang Parade with Zhen Wei hot at my heels. We swerved towards the left and stepped through another set of doors. At last we found ourselves in T.G.I Friday’s. The waiter by the door was politely gesturing towards a table where a group of teens were seated. “Your friends have been waiting.”

We walked towards the table as Shing Queen started waving at us. I smiled as I caught sight of the people at the table, among them were: Wei Herng, Raymond, Connie, Shing Queen, Hui Ting, Xiau Fong and Ee Suen. So why were we here? I did not know the answer till exactly two hours ago when I received a phone call from Ee Suen. I was then informed by Shing Queen that they wanted to celebrate the birthdays of the March Babies in T.G.I Friday’s and I was supposed to be there at seven. Talk about last minute.

I sat down beside Connie and we chat for at least half an hour before the food came. But before it arrive, Ee Suen, Shing Queen, Xiau Fong, Hui Ting and Connie still had the time to visit Pn. Ung and they definitely did not miss taking a photograph with the superstar. What would the people think?

Our food came at last and it was really nice. I enjoyed it a lot, so let us give a long applause to Shing Queen for her new found ordering talent.

After eating, five waiters came over and ordered the four of us, Zhen Wei, Connie, Hui Ting and I to stand on our chairs. We did. He then instructed us to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars. And we did. After all that and after being accused of spitting at one of the waiter, we were allowed to sit down. It was then when the flood gates were open and Hui Ting and Connie begin to tear. After a couple of hugs from Shing Queen, Ee Suen and Xiau Fong, we were told to share our feelings.

Unfortunately, I forgot what was said, so let us skip that part. We ate cake then. There were at least five types and we ended up wasting some of it. Once photography session was over, we chatted for a while and paid the bill of RM206!

Although it may be expensive, but I was quite touched that there were people out there who bothered to plan this type of thing (although it be very last minute). In truth, it was the first time in my life that I celebrated my birthday with my friends and it meant a lot to me. So thank you for putting in the effort, time and money for doing this for some one like me. Thank you so much Xiau Fong, Shing Queen, Wei Herng, Raymond, Zhen Wei, Connie, Hui Ting and Ee Suen!