Sunday, March 29, 2009

Project Not-So-Lonely- Anniversary [Phase 2] : Mission Accomplished

Team: Nippon Tei
Mission: Surprise Devil Phase 2
A sequel to Phase 1...

Truth be told, I feel a bit nauseated at all extreme displays of affection and lurve. Flowers at Valentine's, OTT wedding proposals, couples who observe a monthly anniversary, shudder, it's more horrifying to me than The Exorcism of Emily Rose...

To me, all these external displays and gift giving are the triumph of marketing of western commercialism. A scene in Fiddler on the Roof, when Tevye asks his wife, Golde, of 25 years, "Do You Love Me?". Theirs was an arranged marriage, and the question "do you love me?" was quite unheard off. She mulls the question, and says something to the effect, for 25 years, i've milked your cows, washed your clothes, borne your kids, tended to you when you're sick, if that's not love, WHAT IS?!!!!! I soooo agree with her.

But the youth of today take expressions of love to different dimensions. One such case, ladies and gentlemen....was our dear Life for Beginners man himself. To cut a long story short, he was to be away for work on his 1st anniversary with Devil, so, to make it up to Devil, he plans this ELAAAAAAAAAAABORATE series of surprises for Devil. Various groups of friends are to meet with Devil for various meals, over a few days, armed with presents from LFB. Devil is told where to rendezvous, but apart from that, does not know who to expect, or what. Phase 1 was already brilliantly encapsulated by Qwazymonkey, in his hilarious post.

Part TWO, consisted of Unkaleong, Yin Yin and Me. The place, Nippon Tei, KLCC, lunchtime. We were to be there by 12 sharp, as Devil's lunchtime is 12-1pm.

You see, it's always a super effort for me to make it into town, as the car is tied up ferrying the kids from school. However, for Life For Beginners, I deigned to join the rakyat to get to my destination.

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Yup, took the LRT, carrying a box of this:

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What lies within the box?

I failed to capture a picture of his look of suprise, mainly because, he already saw us thru the glass at Nippon Tei. He was surprised, cos he wasn't expecting US. Hmph, obviously not in that closeness circle....


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He's buying lunch, so please pick the most expensive item on the menu to make our trip worthwhile.

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I'll have THIS thank you, with lots of raw fish.

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The first present of two. Guess guess, what it is. It's in a Bally bag. Belt? shoes? Slippers?

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What in tarnation is Unkaleong doing?

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Yay, its a SCRABBLE set. History: Devil is a LEXULOUS addict. He sits at the screen and talks to himself, declaring himself "Yeah, I am the Lexulous King", when he trashes his opponents, so LFB thought it would be a nice gesture for him to receive a hard copy of the game, passed to him by his supposedly favourite Lexulous opponent... ME.

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Oooh, there's more. You better appreciate this, it had to come with me on the LRT.

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Yay, the Devil's supposedly favourite Flourless Chocolate Cakes with Molten Centre.

Thank Gawd we got that out of the way, we can now eat.

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Since I didnt really get to try the other dishes, apart from my own, I shan't bother reviewing the food, as was not the main intention of this post anyway. The food pics, badly taken as they are, is to qualify this post to be on this blog.

Suffice to say, the food here in Nippon Tei is not bad, and the sets are good value for money. The bill for the four of us came up to RM184, which is quite reasonable. I enjoyed my beef terriyaki, though I had ordered beef teppenyaki... and I think Devil, no stranger to the place, knew what he wanted.


Oh dear, I think I have accidentally reduced the file sizes of these pics to very poor quality. Anyway, here we are, the Terror Trio, smugly basking in our triumphant execution of phase 2. Yin Yin reads out the text from her phone, telling Devil what to do next.
Phase 3, Meet at Delicious Dua Annexe at 7.30.



Sigh....LURVE. Contrast THIS episode to one of my recent wedding anniversaries.

Time: 3pm
Date :8th March 200X
Place: Office

I'm writing a cheque, to pay some bills. I write the date. GASP!!! It's our anniversary. I ring the wife:

ME: Ooooooi, howwww DDDAREEE you forget to wish me....
Wife: huh, forget to wish you what?
ME: Think, think
Wife : Gasp, oh, ya hor, ...heh heh, happy anniversary
ME: Heh heh, don't forget to buy eggs ya. Got baking orders.
Wife: ya la ya la. Bye.
ME: Grunts....


25 comments:

UnkaLeong said...

The good unka is trying to look cute, or so he thinks. Hahaha. Hope you had a blast Devil.

Yin said...

FBB, you're hilarious as ever lah!

"What in tarnation is Unkaleong doing?" -- that my dear FBB is what the Gen Y does when it comes to posing for photos. Or better known as cam-whoring. Yeah, the "w" word is now acceptable to all and sundry :P

Terror Trio, huh? Not quite sure whether we struck terror in him but yes, mission accomplished!

And can someone please tell me whether you guys were pretending not to know about Phase 3, or did you guys actually forget :P it was in the brief yunno ;) Good thing LFB was micro-managing it enough to send me sms reminders. Heheh.


Smugly basking in our triumphant execution indeed :D

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

Ahhhh....young love....those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance forever and a dayyyyyy.....

Evil lar you...manipulating the wife to make her feel guilty. (I must try that trick some time)

Life for Beginners said...

*gulps... sniffs... throat stuck...*

So touching. The pics. The smile. The surprise. The food. The bill for which I am footing. LOL.

You guys are the best lah! The Devil and I are soooo lucky to have frens like you. And if it makes you feel any better, Team 3/Team DELIcious had an even tougher time... playing on the piano in front of a LIVE audience... Terror, indeed.

Here's to micro-management, manipulating our better halves and merry-making for the rest of our lives... *more mush, hee*

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

omg.. i think LFB just spoiled the market..(kiss all hope that one can get away from anniversary and expensive gifts from attending a biz trip)...

guffawing at ur conversation..i almost thought u were writing her a cheque for the dear wife (to buy what she wants, and the eggs also)..

thule a.k.a leo said...

Luckily it was you who called the wife first... if she called, then u would be the one who felt guilty... lol!!! I can't imagine the kind of pain my wife will inflict on me should I forget anniversaries - the day we started dating, the day I proposed, the day we registered & the day we got married :)
not forget to mention Valentine's, Christmas, birthday... etc...

"To me, all these external displays and gift giving are the triumph of marketing of western commercialism. A scene in Fiddler on the Roof, when Tevye asks his wife, Golde, of 25 years, "Do You Love Me?". Theirs was an arranged marriage, and the question "do you love me?" was quite unheard off. She mulls the question, and says something to the effect, for 25 years, i've milked your cows, washed your clothes, borne your kids, tended to you when you're sick, if that's not love, WHAT IS?!!!!! I soooo agree with her."

Those days where arranged marriages were still rampant among Chinese, we had no choice but to obey our family's decisions... but nowadays, run away from home is way too common. Milked cow, washed cloth, born children, tended to your sickness don't mean anything... maybe out of responsibility as a wife. But of course, love can be nurtured... after a few years those kind of feelings will slowly developed into a great bond between 2 souls.

Lucky me... mine is not arranged one...

Rebecca Saw said...

so sweet..u guys a real cool bunch of frens!
Nippontei's stuff has been consistently gd..not heard bad reviews yet..
hey..i spied a namecard! heheh so cute!!

HairyBerry said...

haha! at first, i thought it was the devil's bday. then snow white asked me to read the details on fb which i forgot. finally, awol told me it was their anniversary!

i'm so blur la. no wonder i cant even pass the first anniversary hurdle everytime..haha! thank goodness for great bakes. ;D

Life for Beginners said...

@Nic: You're not blur lah... goodness knows there was information overkill in my multiple briefs to the teams... Be glad you were in Singapore and spared from being coerced into my mad scheming! LOL

fatboybakes said...

LFB, hmph, i dunno wat to say to you! Devil is one lucky devil.

hairy berry, you'd think it was the golden jubilee celebrations or something right! sooo elaborate.

TNG, yalar, i really should start printing them cards hor...in spite of myself, i so love the logo. and yes, LFB is of course lucky to have us.

thule, actually dating and courting is a new phenomenon, apparently that started only in the 19th or 20th century. arranged marriages show that people can grow to love one another, whilst dating and courtship can also show that what you see is NOT what you get later on hor. its a gamble i guess.

nipples, no no, i wasnt writing a cheque to her la. WE MUST FIGHT to lower the bar. this is unacceptable. there will be a mutiny of the non-dominant spouse at this rate.

fatboybakes said...

AWOL, yes, you should manipulate your wife, thamby.

yin, i did know about phase 3 la, just forgot the details. heh heh. we should lunch more often hor...i enjoyed that.

unkaleong, awww, u are oridi cute wat....
[turns asides and pukes]

Yin said...

FBB - yesh, yesh, let's do lunchie more often! :D and we can invite LFB for more mush. heehee.

Bangsar-bAbE said...

You took LRT carrying that box of goodies? Salute!! If I were to carry it, there would probably be dents here & there. =P

The namecard so kewt!! I want...

Selba said...

Whoaaaa... how nice!

Food is yummy... goodies are yummy...

I want to play scrabble!

Happy Anniversary to you and your wife :)

minchow said...

Awww!! What a wonderful web of schemes and maneuvering! The birthday boy must feel truly loved!

Ciki said...

yea.. was thinking as i started reading the post...

What in Tuhtuh-tarnations is this fbb doing with his fotos.. is this like some sort of big test to gauge the depth of your fans' love for you, to not notice and just ignore the horrible foto quality.. (not on your life!)

ok ok... give me a moment to recover from the shock.

the post! so sweet! call u guys AMI. Asian Mission Impossible .. coz can pull just about any stunt off hor.. oh! i just realised.. mon ami has AMI in it. Gr8 friends indeed.

qwazymonkey said...

FBB this is so HIGHlarious! Lovvit. But you so bad lah, making yer wife feel all bad and then made her kuli for u. At least steal lah some of the devil's flower and kasi her!

Ciki said...

and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

here's to lowering the bar, last minute phone calls and pressies that appear at 11.59pm.. If we didn't luv ya we wouldn't be winging it.. we'd just plain forget altogether:P

Mh said...

1) I like the name card. Very cute. Will get from you when I'm back for Christmas holiday and distribute......

2) " She mulls the question, and says something to the effect, for 25 years, i've milked your cows, washed your clothes, borne your kids, tended to you when you're sick, if that's not love, WHAT IS?!!!!! I soooo agree with her"

I was just thinking how much my mom and dad must have loved me. Not only the did all of the above, they have to bear with me for the rest of their life!!! Kakakakakak....seriously, if your kid asked whether you love them or not, tell them the same thing u've wrote above.

15 years from now, they will know!! I'm speaking from experience!

:P

~a entry that brighten my a lil gloomy day~

GFAD said...

If I scroll down fast enough, it's as though you've video-recorded the entire thing!! Seeing you have this shot by shot sequence!! And you use such fancy ribbons too... :D

Yes, a lucky devil indeed! Expect nothing less from such a creative wedding planner, eh? :) Where do we go to see Pt III ah?

I'm lucky if I get a "Anniversary/bday ah? I dunno what you want la. Go get something nice for yourself." Even though I have simple and common tastes like any other lou-pors with interests in the usual bling-blings and LVs.. :D

Life for Beginners said...

@FBB's comment to AWOL: ROFL. Is Bald Eagle reading this? Haiks.

@GFAD: Part 3 was sorta posted up on Facebook by Steve Steve but I think his album is friends-only. Maybe I will do a quick write-up on my blog to cover all the teams lah.

It won't be half as funny as FBB or Monkey though --- they raise the bar VERY HIGH on the Funny. They rule the Funny. Blek.

Kenneth said...

aiyahhhhhhhhhhhhh ........ so LOVEEEEEE la this LFB. and Devil looks so ... well he looks like he's floating on cloud 9, 10 AND 11. ;)

Congratz on your anniversary ... what a bunch of friends going all out for you two ... all of you guys rock! haha...

fatboybakes said...

kenneth, hmmph, yeah, i dunno what to say.

LFB, blush, funny meh? but yeah, i liked my comment to AWOL (thamby) too.

GFAD, wah, LV and bling blings...one bling oridi more than enough to cover LFB's entire celebration over a week la...

mh, again, credit goes to qwazymonkey for that cute logo, which despite myself, i absolutely love. you know, i think shortly after my first kid was born, my mother wrote on an angpow packet, for my birthday, "now that you are a parent, you will know how much we love you"....sniff sniff...

fatboybakes said...

ciki, so crever hor you, can incorporate AMI into mon AMI...

qwazymonkey, i get hay fever from flowers la...cannot...

550ml, not even his BIRTHDAY!!! its the first year anniversary....SHEEESH!!!!!

selba...its not my anniversary dear...unless you were wishing the happy couple.

babe, havent printed name card yet wor. yeah, what a feat hor, carrying cake box thru lrt. lucky didnt get crushed or stampeded.

yin, just call....

Henry Yeo said...

If you ever need give Devil a run for his money,
just introduce him to me, Mr Sunny.
I will stick words on his board with honey,
while his run off like the board is runny.