Happy Birthday Kings – The Other 365 Days

I really love this pic because Kings and I were just looking everywhere as our friends took pics, but Rockstar was going after the candles

Kings had a birthday surprise at Neway CEO last Thursday (which our local part-time driver immediately knew how to get to -apparently it’s really well known but it “doesn’t come with hostesses”) when Nuffnang HK had a karaoke night. And wow what a surprise, we were totally “Whose birthday is it??” and Kings actually went and squinted at the cake to make sure it was for him, it’s a little early. Some more I was just asking NNHK about the karaoke because I thought about blogging re Rockstar’s first visit to what I was told is the biggest karaoke chain locals like to go to – and they still managed to not tell me they were doing surprise for my husband wahhh.

The karaoke is outstanding, I’m so impressed (bearing in mind it has been many years since I’ve been to any. Still, I can tell awesome singers from not awesome singers). They even had lotsa Cantonese kiddie songs and rhymes so I’m guessing they get little kids and families  – Rockstar is totally into this Cantonese song a few phrases of which I captured on my iPhone. We have no idea what it means but we love it.

CEO entrance (oh yeah - Rockstar fell asleep before they started; if my darn What's App hadn't hung I would've got Kings' message saying he was late and left Rockstar to sleep at home for awhile longer before coming down to meet everyone)

Sleeping Rockstar meets CEO's Mummy

You can imagine our reaction when the next day at Rockstar’s school field trip to the theatre to watch Snow Dragon (blogging soon) the auditorium erupted in Happy Birthdays (it was the school principal’s bday) and we kinda froze (for just a second!) because of the total ambush the previous night 😛 paisay…

Hurried photo just before we ran outside (yes barefoot in Stella McCartney, 70% off from Lane Crawford warehouse!)

The Rockstar and I therefore nixed further loud festive cake-and-song (have you ever seen the local ra-ra karaoke bday song/ video they play at full volume in a loop with the lights off, in English AND Canto? It is a VERY tough festive birthday cake + singing act to follow! And they DON’T stop either, til someone kills the video. And anyway Rockstar and I already did festive with them, albeit unexpectedly, and Kings can’t have cake because of his diet – but the singing was superb!)

So we went ahead with our original quiet plan of taking Kings out to dinner buffet at Prompt in Le Meridien (which is possibly the best buffet we know, but erm, we find quite pricey even for HK standards – it is packed with local families and children tonight though)…

Rockstar had caviar (yes really - it comes with the buffet, he also had oxtail pasta)... Rockstar likes crab roe from sushi (this was the first time we then found caviar for him), shellfish, olives and a variety of cheeses and I know how this seems rather strange for a little kid... And yes he loves durian and mangosteen too 🙂

Must be the caviar... Rockstar running about outside the restaurant after dinner... He wasn't alone, there was a bunch of noisy older girls too, all running around enjoying the first chill of the end of summer

Well, one day of festive celebrating (preferably not social pressure/ greeting card marketing-induced) is great. I was thinking how birthdays are kind of a Remember To Say Thank You Day, a personalized appreciation in the act of remembering…… but what about the other 365 days in the year? (2012 is a leap year). I thought buying stuff was the easy part though. Kind of.

So I took Kings’ birthday as The Day to remind him (and myself) about all the other days. What? You think this is crappy birthday gift issit? Maybe. Kings’ Birthday Post to me was flabbergasting. As public as I decided mine would be first a private pledge to him to the sincere best of my ability to Be Supportive, which you may think is vague but I take as a sincere effort to not be whiney, clingy, naggy, calculative, crazy (well maybe just a tad). And to put extra effort into keeping Rockstar around whenever he has a spare moment. (Because Kings is not likely to be home, physically OR mentally, when Rockstar’s awake and he’s really worried about missing him.)

Each time I want to give in to some impulse of the flesh over the next year, I’m gonna remember today. Let’s see how long I last, shall we? Being Supportive. Two words, not even a day, but a pledge for the next 365. Like say, not getting mad when he fails to reply emails or return calls/SMS. A little scared (omg has he been mugged?) maybe, but not mad.

This stems from a long habit we had when we both worked, of not really talking to each other for up to 5 days at a time, usually when Kings travels Mon-Fri, sometimes even when he didn’t but was stressed (which can happen often, depending on time of year.) Now with Rockstar around we tend to call more, but regardless we have a special code. It’s: “Everything ok?”

The “deal,” as the Rockstar would say, is when you (now mostly Kings) can’t respond to any but the most urgent of messages, even if blood is pouring from a head wound you have just received, you respond with “Ok” so the other party knows you are still alive. (Yes I have seriously thought, God forbid, he was in accidents before, when he missed our code because of things like battery problems.) 

So Happy Birthday, darling. And for the next 365 days. 

Ps: FINE. For you shopaholics out there yes I did get him “stuff”. I gave Kings his present more than a month ago actually – that’s the Aigle ski jacket he wore at Thredbo. (It’s usually clothes because Kings hates clothes-shopping so I do things like reserve items and have them sent to a store near wherever he is and text him to go and try them on. And yes, half the time he forgets to show. It is his birthday. Why not.)

Kings good model hor? Sexy pose some more...

Anyway love this Aigle jacket (s) – you can mix and match the outer shell and the lining and wear both separately (the down lining is a completely separate and quite nice-looking puffer jacket – it’s not basic black, it’s actually a not very green shade of loden. I like to splurge on colors you don’t get at discount stores otherwise it’s just one less reason to splurge.)

I think the one we picked would have come up to just under HKD 4,000, except that ended up not being everything I bought so I don’t know the exact price. I gave the salesguy my credit card and there I’m waiting, and waiting to sign the receipt, and then the salesguy seems to busy himself with something else. After he finishes packing up the jacket, he still doesn’t give me the receipt to sign, even when I ask.

As I stand there, idly I notice Kings has decided to go back into the store (because he either never buys anything or goes crazy buying at one go once he’s started) and is now being served by another salesguy who is showing him various other cold weather accessories. As he makes his choices, he begins bringing over the rest of the stuff, at which point the original salesguy starts charging all the other stuff to my card too. Kings kind of goes, “No no my wife is getting me the jacket,” but not before they’ve already run it up over HKD 6,000.

Then my salesguy goes quite loudly, “Oh. Madam. You mean you will NOT be paying for everything today?”

“Umm…. <awkward – how cheap does this make me look?! But I don’t like how they did it> I was trying to buy my husband the jackets, this is why I’ve been standing here trying to pay for it.” (In fact the other reason Kings went back to shop some more, to the quick reflex of the other salesguy, was because he’s really impatient and cannot stand still not doing anything. May As Well Look For Wellies, Socks, Waterproofing Spray, Gloves…….. Why Waste The Few Minutes?)

My salesguy is waving my card about and looks at me wide-eyed, “So you are saying I should give you back your card now. Really? You. Want. Your. Card. Back. NOW.” He’s kinda using my card to punctuate his sentences. With both hands.

At which point I couldn’t tell if it was a misunderstanding or we were being subtly pushed to keep buying. In which case, firmly, “Yes.” But. I’m. So. Embarrassed. He finally gives me the HKD 6,000 -Something-I-Don’t-Know-What receipt to sign. 

However when I get over myself, I realize it’s my first real shopping experience on the Kowloon side, in a high-end mall where you hear more Beijing- Putonghua. If that counts for anything. I don’t think the Sales ever thought about us using separate cards or anything. Or maybe they’re just rude. 

Pps: Oh yeah that ended up not being the only thing I bought either – because as a default Kings always wants Ralph Lauren Polo shirts, preferably similar ones to Rockstar, and has been known to bustle about the apartment on Saturdays going, “Oh can I have my gift now? I can’t find any (unmangled) shirts.” Rockstar presented him with two in the morning in case he ran out again….. 

365 days right? Why wait til his birthday to treat your significant other the best you can. Or buy shirts.