"Chicky Little" Stole the Show

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God Bless the Party
When I saw dark clouds looming above as I made my way to my cell group's christmas party, my mind went "oh no, pray that it won't rain". Soon, I received a sms from my cell mate saying, "pray, pray" and I guess everyone in the cell was praying for the weather to clear up. I had been working non-stop for the last 2 weeks and really looked forward to chilling out and having some fun today and I was not exactly thrilled to have the weather ruin it all. Alas, with God's blessings, the weather cleared and by the time I arrived at the party with my friends, the rain has gotten smaller and eventually stopped.

Pirates Ahoy!
Today's christmas party theme was on pirates and it was fun seeing people come dressed as pirates; male and female versions and some also dressed as damsels in distress :) Surprisingly, some even went to rent pirates' costume for the event, super onz, and here I was with my $5 pirates toy kit. With what little I could gather, I came dressed in:

• Green double-layer look shirt: $70
  
• White khaki berms: $20
• Black "raffia-like" belt: $10
• Brown shoes: $50
• Pirates' eye patch, gun with rubber darts, dagger and a handheld hook: $5
• Non "clean-shaven" face: free
• Black bandana over head: on loan from friend
  
• Temporary Tattoo: Free
• A black chicken on my shoulder: PRICELESS
  

There really are some things in life money can't buy, but for everything else, there's "little chicky".

"Little Chicky" Stole the Show
Think I must have been crazy to dare to be radical and dressed myself up as a pirate with a pet black chicken (rather than the conventional parrot) on my shoulder. Well, didn't really plan for it anyway and just grabbed hold of the black chicken sitting on top of my TV as I made my way out of home to the party. Never did I thought that it would bring so much attention, so much so I got so "jealous" my "little chicky" is attracting more "photo shoots" that I did :)

The stupid little chicky which drew
so much attention, away from me :)

Wonderful Party
Though nothing spectacular, just a simple party but it was a wonderful evening. First, I actually dared, for the first time, to dress so crazily (putting little chicky on my shoulder). Secondly, I got my first tattoo at the party, nothing permanent, just a harmless temporary tattoo:

My first "tattoo", nice huh?

Next, it was also the first time that I went up to the roof terrace of the church and it was such a wonderful view...

Wonderful view from roof terrace
after an afternoon shower

It was also the first time I tried a christmas logcake and yum yum, rich chocolate... Not only that, I was so blessed that both me and my cell-mate won the "most notorious pirate" title at the Pirates' Idol contest and till now I am still scratching my head how we won. My group also wonthe group charades and we won 2 bottles of red wine which we later shared with the 2 cell groups. Can remember that the last time I was so blessed was during a christmas party when I was in primary school and I won the first prize (a toy soldier set), something till this day I still remember fondly.

I was also so happy that I managed to fit into a rather "trendy" shirt (at least for my "nerdy" standard) that my sister bought for me as birthday present this year. That means that I have slimmed down, hurray!

In addition, I met 2 friends from my JC at the party. How blessed?! Incidentally, a group of us are thinking of planning a gathering for this particular CCA group in JC that we belonged to and these 2 weeks, I kept meeting old friends from this CCA group. Looks like we are on our way for the reunion :)

The rest of the evening, we played games, sang christmas carols and did gift exchange. I am feeling all so christmasy all again :)

Remembering Those in Need
I reached home near midnight and received a call from the school attendant from my JC. He is a nice person and throughout his years of service to the college, he put in his best for the students and the college, so much so many students continue to keep in touch with him even after they graduated. My friends and I, for example, are still in touch with him after 10 years.

I have recently heard about how he has got into some sort of financial trouble, because he had wanted to support the needy but not knowingly, it seemed that he dialled the wrong hotline and soon chalked up some $2000 of donations; something that he could well not afford given his current salary (not even my salary). I had earlier felt strongly about the matter and the "social work" part of me so wanted to do something about it but somehow, this got lost amidst all my work and business that I clean forgotten about it.

I took the chance to ask him, when he called today, about the matter and he told me that his handphone has got cancelled and he has so far only managed to pay back some $500 already. He seems to be struggling and at this point in time that I made the resolution to want to do something about this. I decided that I will write an appeal letter for him and asked him to gather all the bills and letters, which I should hope to be able to review when I visit him, so that I know how to approach the matter. A little late but better late than never right? How can I bear to see someone needy struggling in silence just because he/she cared for others who are needy and wanted to help, only to land himself into financial troubles.