Derrick Fong - my official artist profile -alivenotdead.com

JANUARY BIRTHDAYS 2 : PARTY HARDER - (Simon Yin x Bolt x Backstage x Racks)

And the hits just keep on coming...

Having finally recovered from Macau, our team decided to execute OPERATION "YIN IS NOT IN THE LOOP"

As Macau was more focused on Patrick, we decided that last friday would be geared more to Simon Yin, as it was closer to his actual birthday.

The plan was as follows:

STEP 1: Simon had suggested that we all go see BOLT in 3D at Pacific Place on Friday. Through a series of emails that went back and forth within our group, Chung suddenly had the great idea of "faking out" Simon by saying that we would not have time to watch the movie and should just go chill at his house instead. This is what he wrote in the group email.

BUT, in a secondary email, he wrote to everyone else that they should meet at the theater and wait, while he would meet Simon and bring him to the theater, under the false pretense of going to Chung's place to play some videogames.

STEP 2: We would all go eat at Jack Ryans before heading over to...

STEP 3: ...Backstage to watch Jun perform with Helter Skelter! There, we would have Jun announce that it was Simon's birthday, putting him on the spot and then unveiling a surprise cake, which would be dropped off beforehand.

All the pieces were in place, all we had to do was execute...!

With that, the operation was a GO! PHASE ONE : Bolt 3D

Right off the bat there was a problem. With all the back and forths in the emails about the schedule of the movie and meeting up at Chung's house, Simon decided that he would arrive at Chung's house at 8:00pm instead of the agreed 7:00pm. This was a problem because the movie was at 7:30pm. Chung started to panic but instead I called Simon and told him to meet me at Pacific Place at 7:00pm because I wanted to buy Chung a "house warming" present at the electronics store. He said that was a good idea and wanted to buy Chung an iron.

Success! Disaster averted. So now it was ME who was going to meet up with him and bring him to the theatre instead of Chung.

But the success did not last long.

As I was making my way down to Pacific Place, I called everyone to get a Situation Report (SitRep), and most of the people had arrived except for 2 unaccounted. Then I call Simon to see his location and he tells me that he is already at the mall!

RED ALERT!

I quickly text everyone in the area to AVOID the open space near the MTR as SImon had arrived and the location was now a HOT ZONE.

I finally make it and luckily he had not spotted anyone yet.

Conveniently, the main escalators were under construction which forced us to walk up past the AMC Theater area. Just in case, I told him that we should check the times for BOLT for a Sunday showing.

So the moment of truth was nearing, I texted everyone that we were coming up to the theater.

TEXT: Coming up now

Up the escalator we went and finally when we reached the top... NO ONE WAS THERE.

Panic. I had to think quickly so I suggested we go over to the counter to check the showtimes.

TEXT: We're HERE!

The lady gave us the information but I had to think of something else to stall. Let's look at those movie posters over there!

TEXT: WE'RE HERE NOW!

Out of time and options, we were forced to leave the area. DISASTER!

I had to think of a quick counter-measure.

Hastily, I took Simon to check out the music/DVD/videogames store to try and buy more time. I still had to co-ordinate with the rest of the team and then convince Simon to GO BACK to the theater AGAIN.

As he browsed, I quietly slipped to the back of the store and called Fiona. She picked up and said that they were all at the theater location now and that we could return.

Ok, almost there.

I told Simon that we didn't have time to browse for a gift and said we had to head to Chung's place. The fortunate turn of having the main escalators under construction helped me once more as we had to go past the Theater area AGAIN to get out, except this time with everyone in place.

We rounded the corner and then...

SUCCESS! Although a rough start, Phase One was complete!

Even with all the Spy Games going on in the background, Simon was actually caught by surprise and didn't know what was going on.

Bhavini, Pea & Sam present Simon with his gift.

The wrapping was.. "interesting" to say the least!

Anxious, Simon sits down to unwrap his basket of goodies!

Then it was time for some BOLT action!

Being shown in 3D, we were given special glasses at the door. We all looked like we were in some 80's new wave music video! The movie was quite cool in 3D though!

PHASE TWO : Dan Ryan's Next up was dinner at nearby Dan Ryan's... The dinner was pretty good, with plenty of meat and fries. It was definitely big and hearty SIMON food =)

We also ran into fellow AliveNotDeaders Terence, Faye and Bob on our way out. We would definitely run into them again before the night was done.

PHASE THREE : Backstage

The last part of the operation began with the arrival at BACKSTAGE...

The gig started at 10:30pm but we got there around 11:00pm, so they were already into their performance.

Not surprisingly, the place was already packed, but Chung had booked a table in advance so we got our own little spot.

Ran into Michael Chan also, and he joined us in the festivities.

The main man we came to see here was Jun Kung, who was performing with Helter Skelter.

We also ran into many familiar faces:

Yin Brothers throwing up the sign!

I also had secretly asked Jun to call Simon up to the stage when the cake was going to be brought out and somehow put him on the spot and embarrass him. But instead...

... Simon turned the tables and COMPLETELY ROCKED THE HOUSE! He freestyled as Jun and crew jammed out a beat. It was completely on the fly and was awesome!

The crowd loved it and went wild!

Finally, it was time for the cake...

Chung was kind enough to include Vicky on the cake also, as she is a fellow January baby.

A quick wish before the candle blow out...

... then the tag team cake cut!

Unfortunately, it was an Ice Cream cake that had been in the freezer for several hours and had not fully defrosted! So we had to use the old "Hot Water On the Knife" trick!