Happy Birthday Nathan Boenjamin!

SO! Last Sunday was Ko Nathan's birthday. He is 27 now.

Nathan Boenjamin is one of FA Sekia's mentors. Before FA Sekia was formed, we were joined together in FA Anda. When we splitted, the first two mentors that I was told of was Ce Joan and Ko Ceka, which made sense cos we were already close back then.

Then came the news that we were having one more mentor. And it's him.

My first reaction was, but we weren't even that close! There wasn't any objection or anything, but it was just weird for me.

So we splitted from Anda. And for the first few months he never showed up during FA. I was like, is this guy serious?

But then later on I found out he was busy and stressed with musical. Apology accepted.

Time passed by, and he started coming to FA. And as Sekia grew, so did he.

I didn't realize it until there was one point where I needed to talk to someone about something, and Ghon and Ce Joan wasn't around. And oddly, the next person who came to mind was him.

I was taken by surprise by my own thought. Sure we know each other but I never really talked to him about any of my personal dilemmas. For him to pop up in my mind at that time comes to show that I somehow trusted him, and that I somehow feel that he would listen, though I may not realize it yet.

As I got to know him better in FA, I can feel that he cares about us, his kids. Though he lives so far away (Pioneer), he very seldom misses FA (which was usually held at Novena), and always hangs out with us after YRC. And sometimes we end quite late. Which means he would travel back alone for like what, an hour?

He listens when we share, and he doesn't judge. And that's what most people need: someone who would listen. He has a heart longing after God. In our early days, he always spoke of how he longs to have a closer relationship with God.

Though honestly, the 'mentor' side of him isn't that obvious for onlookers to see yet (cos he was always joking and stuff), but I know he is growing to be a great one! You (or I) can somehow see it. He has a heart for the kids. He lives a simple life with no drama. I've never heard him talk bad about anyone. Something most females needs to learn to do, right?

Most of all, the kids love him :) Who would've thought?

And the result of that can be seen on Sunday, on his birthday.

We've been talking about giving him a makeover for the longest time. He always wears this too-big clothes with a too-big jeans or pants. And his hair. Bieber hair. Just longer.

So we arranged this plan for his birthday. Buy him new clothes, and give him a spanking new haircut!

We told him to spend the whole day of his birthday with us, and he agreed.

When I joined them after lunch, they were in ZARA, picking clothes for him. He was going in and out the fitting room, with a bunch of people waiting around. We were really a huge crowd in the quiet Zara. Like 15 people?

They told me that throughout the day, they will be making Ko Nathan do a series of dare. First one happened before I came to ZARA, and that was making him ask a random girl's number. And just so happens that the girl he chose was with her boyfriend. I have no Idea what he was thinking.

Before (or after?) the dare.

Back to ZARA. After all of us agreed on a pair of shirt and trousers, we went to pay and walked to Wheelock to give him a new haircut.

But before that, he has to do MORE dares. We made him scream "TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!", and after gathering some courage, he actually DID it!! Like really scream in the top of his lungs, in the middle of Orchard Road!! It was such a sight! Brave guy.

Then, there was this Google crew interviewing people (and I was interviewed! Woohoo!) and turns out one of them was Indonesian! So we made Ko Nathan ask for her number, which was fun to watch! And the Indonesian crew, whose name was Olivia, cooly plays along. She gets it that we are daring him, and for that we thanked her so much! In the end Ko Nathan managed to ger her email. Banzai!

After all that, we went to the salon and we asked the hairdresser to give him this hairstyle. We didn't let him know yet, so it was a surprise for him. So throughout the whole thing, he has no idea what he's going to get :D

So Ko Nathan went through the process of hair cutting.

Looks like he's enjoying it(?)

The last minutes of his old hair.

Snipping in progress..
The hairdresser specially requested for herself not to be in the frame!

Hair drying in progress.

Managed to catch this expression of him. (Lol)

Styling..

While he was getting his haircut, some of us (me not included) went to buy a bag for him at Pedro.

After he was done with his haircut, we made him change into the ZARA outfit, plus the bag, and behold, here is Nathan 2.0!!!!!!

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The old has gone, the new is here!

Nathan 2.0: To infinity and beyond!

Hair: Before and after.

Style: Before and after (on that day, at least)

We had a small photoshoot session, where we made him mimic his old photos.

And here comes the cake!! Happe Birthday, Nate-Ben!

The cake cutting proceeded (the one cutting was Ce Joan, not him -.-), and the first cake was supposed to be for Ko Andri, but since they wanted a female so I got it. Haha!!

Then, we prayed for him. And after the final amen, we opened all out eyes and to our surprise, a security guard was standing there, chasing us away. Then Ci Joan was like, "don't you know this was illegal?" I was like -.- no.

Turns out any religious activity (including obvious group praying) is illegal in business centers. Or somewhere of that kind. Now you know, and I've just made you more knowledgeable of the laws of our beloved Singapore.

So we shifted away to take our group photo.

Mimicking his "to infinity" pose.

Had to take a pic with the man of the day, right?
He stood on the pavement, btw. That's why he's taller.

Yeah! Nathan 2.0!! Notice his foot! Jinjit!

Lia asked him from the scale of 1-10, how happy was he? He said it was a 10.5. I was like, awwww..... :P But I'm glad he liked it.

Now please please Ko Nathan, style your hair when you go out!! And no more baggy clothes and baggy jeans!!

And have a wonderful 27th year old!! :D