Attended Constance's birthday party yesterday...and something just kept making me think it was her 21st (when it was actually her 20th only!). Must have been the fact that I would not usually go for a party during exam period unless a) the person is extremely close to me b) I'm really really stressed, and c) its the person's 21st Birthday. Beyond all doubts, it had to be c).
Was also reminded of my own party in May last year. Was talking to Rachel about how some people whom you count as 'good friends' don't turn up during your birthday party. Even after you personally sent them invitations. The feeling - if you've never had that experience - sucks. I'm not saying all who did that are bad. I'm just saying that, from my point of view, I'd go the extra mile just to make a person happy on his/her special day.
Of course, if that day clashed with something else important - like, maybe Grandma's 80th Birthday, or Dad's 50th, then by all means. But if it means cramming in a few more pages of the Collins-Cobuild dictionary and Encyclopaedia Brittanica to go spew it out on the exam pages next week, then I'm really sad for these peoples' way of looking at life. Yes, considering that there were people at the party who were having papers this morning, I think those who can't come up with valid excuses are lacking something. In life.

At my own party (and it still recalls itself vividly), the birthday boy was rushing all over entertaining his guests, which consisted of some Primary school, Sec sch mates, his JC classmates, as well as some army mates he had made along the way. Perhaps, its true to say that friendship is tested on the battlefield of metaphoria...when you're out in the cold night, and its pouring monkeys...and your buddy from another trench trudges over to help you dig out your own because he's finished his (rather than going to rest).
Only three people were standing at the BBQ pits that night. I had ordered food to be catered, and it was supposed to be cooked by the company which provided it. But, no, those three people were not from the company. The first, X, stood rather silently, cooking the food. My understudy-of-sorts in SMI as well as Y's long-time old primary school friend...we'd only gotten to know each other three months back. And rather than eating and lying back, enjoying the birthday party spoils of a friend he had only recently been acquainted with...he toiled over the coals to make sure food was served. Beside him, toiling along as well was Z,  a relatively soft spoken chap with a heart of gold whom I'd gotten to know through the person I'm about to mention next.
W, my platoon mate in OCS Golf Wing...a friend and buddy who'd gone through thick and thin with me in those short but furious and trying times in Golf, earned his place to be called...my brother.
Together, a motley crue...yet not so different...if you saw the commonalities amongst them all. To them, and to all others who have been generous in thought or action, I have remembered. I thank you all, and this passage I dedicate to you:

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

William Shakespeare's Henry V; Act IV, Scene 3