It was my birthday yesterday. Unfortunately, i'd say it was one of the worst birthdays i've ever had so far. I mean, how good can a birthday be when you are overseas without your loved ones, spent hours on the plane, and gotta put up with another person's bad temper.
The day started off just like any other day in Taiwan, except that i was in a rather good mood because it was my last day in Taiwan. Since my return flight was at 6pm, i'd be leaving directly from office to the airport. So i checked out from the hotel in the morning and brought my luggage along to the office. Little boss was leaving Taiwan one day later, so i could just go home first without him.
Things went fine, with a colleague wishing me happy birthday in the morning. Then we went for a meeting for further user requirement gathering; that was when my mood was totally spoilt. Everyone was speaking at the same time, and nobody was listening to anybody. Then when little boss was explaining something to the users and i didn't get what he meant (he isn't really a person who expresses himself that well), i misunderstood what he wanted and he got totally impatient and snapped at me. I was very very very upset then, because i had done nothing wrong. But then, he's my boss, so all i could do was just to swallow my anger.
After that, i was in a really foul mood. Fancy being "scolded" on my birthday, when i didn't do anything even remotely deserved to be treated as such. I of course couldn't show my unhappiness, and still gotta put on a smiling face.
Then i went out of the meeting room to get a glass of water. It was then i saw the Taiwanese colleagues were fussing over a big 7KG cake.
Uh huh, little boss had told them about my birthday earlier and they had prepared a birthday celebration for me. I guess they had wanted to surprise me, but it was just so coincident that i walked right in when the cake was delivered.
Anyway, later over lunch time, they sang birthday song and wished me happy birthday. I was kinda embarrassed to be at the center of attention, but was really touched by their gesture. Just too bad that their kindness didn't lift my spirit entirely. I was still feeling down and hoped for time to pass quickly so that i could get home. Having a bunch of people whom i've known for less than a month to celebrate birthday with me was nice, but i'd rather have my loved ones by my side, especially after having gone through an unhappy incident.
Then at 3.30pm, i left the office for airport. The following 8 hours were spent in airports and on the plane.
We touched down at Changi Airport at around 10.30pm. Then there were some delay in offloading the luggages and all the passengers were waiting at the belt for so long. By the time i got on a cab, it was already 11.30pm.
Luckily, when i reached Hougang where 貝 was already waiting for me at the parking lot, it was 11.50pm. Just 10 minutes before my birthday ended, i gotta see my 貝. I guess that kinda saved a bad birthday a bit by putting it to an end in a nice note.
When i got into the car, i saw a birthday gift on the dashboard. I tore away the wrapping paper and saw a box.
貝 had gotten me a nice four-leaf clover necklace for my birthday.
With this necklace, not only that it brings to me the love from 貝, i also hope that it would bring lots of luck.
I'd have more to write about being a year older, but am still tired from the past two weeks of torture. Will have to call it a day now.
Labels: life
