So last week was my hubby's birthday! :) Yep, the 2nd time I get to celebrate his birthday after 4 years in a long distance relationship and the 1st time I celebrate his birthday as his wife. Tee hee hee. :)
It all started on the 1st of September, the day before his birthday. He had to attend a dinner function organised by his vendors' company. So I took the opportunity, while he being at the function, to buy him a birthday cake and also find a present for him. Yeah, I know it was pretty last minute to find a present but him being constantly with me everywhere I go, makes it hard for me to be alone and find him a present without his knowledge! LOL.
I had that grand idea of getting a casual membership in Fitness First gym for him while I get an annual one. So without making any appointments, I went to Fitness First with the cake that I've bought for him, hoping to get a good quotation for both of us. :) The guy was quite nice at first. Explaining to me all the details, showing me the facilities in the gym blablabla. And then we started talking about the membership fee. That was the part when I started to doubt everything. He initially quoted me a very exorbitant fee to which I became very disinterested and wanted to leave. Obviously, he needs to meet a certain target for recruiting new members so he asked if I were a student. So I gave him my student card and my international health insurance card and he left for a while, apparently to check the computer system to see if he can give me a good deal, and came back just to tell me that he could waive the registration fee for me. After minutes of negotiating the price, he said that the best price he could give me is a membership fee of $25/week. And he said that for Chin Fei, Chin Fei had to meet him to discuss with him again - I couldn't buy the membership for Chin Fei! Weird. My colleague told me before that she managed to get a deal of 2 memberships for the price of one after it was advertised online and I did see the advertisement too. When I asked the guy, he said that in his 6 years of working in Fitness First, he has never heard of that advertisement before and claimed that what my colleague said was BULLSHIT! At that time, I was quite taken aback listening to him being very rude and was put off into signing the membership. So I told him that I will discuss it with Chin Fei and will come back if I'm interested. He knew he was going to lose me and he tried to convince me by asking me how I could not afford to pay for the membership for Fitness First but I could afford to buy a cake (I left the cake on the table) and that there's so much calories in the cake I'm eating yadda yadda yadda. What the hell??! Don't tell me he will not eat cakes anymore since it's unhealthy?! It's for a birthday, for God's sake! At that point of time, I was beginning to dislike him already. At the end, when I wanted to leave, he asked me to put in my friends' contact details so that he could contact them to meet his recruitment target. Honestly, my phone battery was flat since I left work and even Chin Fei couldn't contact me. So I couldn't check my phone for my friends' contact details. The paper was in front of me and I was holding the pen and was still nice to offer to put down my colleagues' names and the work phone numbers. Since we're in the same office, our extension numbers are the same! Haha. The guy wasn't convinced that my phone was out of battery and he thought that I lied to him and he pulled the paper off from my hands and said 'Nevermind'. I felt like slapping him already. So that's how Fitness First staff treat people they are not successful in convincing! Ok, I can't generalise it to the entire Fitness First but this particular person makes me lose my confidence in this gym centre and the first impression of this centre is that it is really, really bad! He didn't thank me for coming and didn't walk me out to the exit. I know he's upset that he has wasted his hour with me but he can't possibly force anyone to join anyway. It's up to my decision.
I had that grand idea of getting a casual membership in Fitness First gym for him while I get an annual one. So without making any appointments, I went to Fitness First with the cake that I've bought for him, hoping to get a good quotation for both of us. :) The guy was quite nice at first. Explaining to me all the details, showing me the facilities in the gym blablabla. And then we started talking about the membership fee. That was the part when I started to doubt everything. He initially quoted me a very exorbitant fee to which I became very disinterested and wanted to leave. Obviously, he needs to meet a certain target for recruiting new members so he asked if I were a student. So I gave him my student card and my international health insurance card and he left for a while, apparently to check the computer system to see if he can give me a good deal, and came back just to tell me that he could waive the registration fee for me. After minutes of negotiating the price, he said that the best price he could give me is a membership fee of $25/week. And he said that for Chin Fei, Chin Fei had to meet him to discuss with him again - I couldn't buy the membership for Chin Fei! Weird. My colleague told me before that she managed to get a deal of 2 memberships for the price of one after it was advertised online and I did see the advertisement too. When I asked the guy, he said that in his 6 years of working in Fitness First, he has never heard of that advertisement before and claimed that what my colleague said was BULLSHIT! At that time, I was quite taken aback listening to him being very rude and was put off into signing the membership. So I told him that I will discuss it with Chin Fei and will come back if I'm interested. He knew he was going to lose me and he tried to convince me by asking me how I could not afford to pay for the membership for Fitness First but I could afford to buy a cake (I left the cake on the table) and that there's so much calories in the cake I'm eating yadda yadda yadda. What the hell??! Don't tell me he will not eat cakes anymore since it's unhealthy?! It's for a birthday, for God's sake! At that point of time, I was beginning to dislike him already. At the end, when I wanted to leave, he asked me to put in my friends' contact details so that he could contact them to meet his recruitment target. Honestly, my phone battery was flat since I left work and even Chin Fei couldn't contact me. So I couldn't check my phone for my friends' contact details. The paper was in front of me and I was holding the pen and was still nice to offer to put down my colleagues' names and the work phone numbers. Since we're in the same office, our extension numbers are the same! Haha. The guy wasn't convinced that my phone was out of battery and he thought that I lied to him and he pulled the paper off from my hands and said 'Nevermind'. I felt like slapping him already. So that's how Fitness First staff treat people they are not successful in convincing! Ok, I can't generalise it to the entire Fitness First but this particular person makes me lose my confidence in this gym centre and the first impression of this centre is that it is really, really bad! He didn't thank me for coming and didn't walk me out to the exit. I know he's upset that he has wasted his hour with me but he can't possibly force anyone to join anyway. It's up to my decision.
Busy man on the phoneSo anyway, I went back home to start preparing for a treasure hunt for Chin Fei to find his gift. Hehe. The treasure hunt starts with a clue that I first give him, to which he had to start finding the next clue based on what the earlier clue said. I placed clues in places like underneath the bicycle seat, underneath the chair and even typed one out in the computer and saved it in a folder in the computer. Unfortunately, it's either I'm very bad in describing it or that Chin Fei is terrible at treasure hunt because for most of the clues, I had to give him further hints! Aih. -.-" In the end, his present was revealed outside in our balcony with balloons tied to it. :) At the stroke of midnight, we celebrated his birthday. :) Just the two lonely old people. Haha.
Making a wish
Blowing the candles
Cutting the cakeOn his birthday, I came home early to find helium balloons and a card tied to the string of the balloons at the entrance of my apartment! :) It was a pretty surprise for me! :) Apparently, Chin Fei went out during his lunch hour to buy a Thank You card for me for organising his birthday surprise. As soon as he was walking back to the office, he saw a group of people from the Asthma Foundation asking for donation for asthma research. Having a wife who depends on public donation to do research to find a cure on mesothelioma, he empathize them and donated his spare change to the group, to which he was given helium balloons! Haha. So that's how he brought back those balloons and tied them to a card to surprise me when I get home. Sweet! :) And thoughtful of him to donate for a good charitable cause. :)
Reading the card
Reading the card
That night we ate dinner in Chi Restaurant in Victoria Park to celebrate his birthday. :) On Friday, we took the opportunity to visit the Western Australian Museum because there was an exhibition, 'A Day in Pompeii', that was ending soon.
We were quite amazed at the effort they put in to create a simulation of lava flowing out from the museum onto the stairs.
Our admission tickets also included a brief 3D movie on the fateful day when Mount Vesuvius erupted and left everyone in the town of Pompeii with no chance to flee and hence buried in the ashes. It was a saddening show but one that made me feel grateful that we need not experience that in this modern times since the advancement of technology to track the progress of active volcanoes.
Chin Fei wearing his 3D glasses
Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed into the museum but it is really amazing and breathtaking to see all the ancient items including paintings and a loaf of bread left in the oven that were uncovered from the lost city of Pompeii and also the cast of the victims including animals that were perished on that day. There were also photos displayed, taken by tourists who have visited Pompeii and after looking at them, I also wish to visit Pompeii if I have the chance.
The following day we went to Fremantle to have dinner at La Porchetta in Fremantle and it was utterly disappointing! We are definitely not going to go there again. We watched 'Tomorrow When The War Began' and the ending was 'half-hanging' so I didn't enjoy it at all.
We were quite amazed at the effort they put in to create a simulation of lava flowing out from the museum onto the stairs.
Our admission tickets also included a brief 3D movie on the fateful day when Mount Vesuvius erupted and left everyone in the town of Pompeii with no chance to flee and hence buried in the ashes. It was a saddening show but one that made me feel grateful that we need not experience that in this modern times since the advancement of technology to track the progress of active volcanoes.
Chin Fei wearing his 3D glassesUnfortunately, no cameras were allowed into the museum but it is really amazing and breathtaking to see all the ancient items including paintings and a loaf of bread left in the oven that were uncovered from the lost city of Pompeii and also the cast of the victims including animals that were perished on that day. There were also photos displayed, taken by tourists who have visited Pompeii and after looking at them, I also wish to visit Pompeii if I have the chance.
The following day we went to Fremantle to have dinner at La Porchetta in Fremantle and it was utterly disappointing! We are definitely not going to go there again. We watched 'Tomorrow When The War Began' and the ending was 'half-hanging' so I didn't enjoy it at all.
On Sunday, we had dinner at Royal India restaurant with Sean, Fiona, Chris and Jo-Ann to celebrate Chin Fei's belated birthday. Oh how fast time flies and it's back to Monday again! Happy belated birthday my dear hubby! :)
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