I've been living for 19 years now, if you don't already know. I know you all hope I'm 90 instead so I can go and die soon but I'll be sticking around for a long time so you can go and kiss the floor.

Joking...

Anyways, I've received a lot of gifts over the years and I just want to extend, once again, my sincerest thanks to everyone who have given me gifts, be it a very gigantic soft toy or a very small card. All of them give me a lot of strength, a lot of delight, and occasionally a lot of fats.

Since it's exactly 4 months since my 19th birthday, I've thought of sharing with you some of the most quirky and unconventional birthday presents I've ever received in my short and pathetic life.

1. Soft Toys

You'd think that girls would know that boys don't really 'dig' soft toys. But once my friends got me some soft toys, I've been putting them on my bed. For about... 3 years now? These soft toys have been around for quite some time, but I'd want to keep it, not because I like Eeyore or Care Bear because, well frankly, I've never really watched Disney nor whatever-channel-carebear-is-on as a kiddywink. I just love to keep my gifts, you know?

2. Hamster Cage

So my band, Energio, gave me a hamster cage. It's all very nice indeed - it's got a hamster wheel that can spin unconventionally. I honestly do not know how to describe the way it moves, but yeah. It's also got a slide, a sand pit and is just a huge mansion for my two hamsters, Vanilla and Buttercrunch. The problem came when I actually had to clean this thing. The complexity of this cage makes it so difficult to clean it extensively. No worries though, my friends, for I am still using the cage.

3. Pie

It was quite something brilliant. Pie's birthday is up, so let's give him a pie and make him grin from ear-to-ear, right?

WRONG.

My CG from JC decided that on my 18th, they would make me a customised pie. Using ingredients sourced from both the canteen and the Good News Cafe, and sneaking around during their period breaks to assemble this awesome creation, they presented it to me during lunchtime.

What were the ingredients? Well, it looked like a pie. So I thought it was just an innocent custard pie. And the first bite was fine - it was custard. The second bite, however, revealed the horrifying truth that perhaps the ingredients weren't meant to be there in the first place. I tasted a bit of Zha Jiang Mian (the Korean noodles thingy), which was still okay. I remember I started gagging on the third bite, because it tasted a bit like cabbage. Yep. Cabbage and zha jiang mian. With custard.

They then told me the list didn't stop there - there was some rice in it, and probably 1 meat chunk somewhere.

Props to probably the most unexpected and creative gift I've ever gotten. Whoever thought of this is a genius.

4. Headphones

This was my 16th from Energio again. They were Sennheiser headphones and they were brilliant. Probably the reason why I then started to spend more on audio equipment. Because I realised that they deserved the price. The sheer audio pleasure was amazing, considering how expensive the headphones were. Honestly had no idea how they managed to gather so much funds to buy that gift. But it wasn't just about the price; it was the sincerity of it. I remembered complaining that I didn't have headphones at home and always wanted one so that I can enjoy music better. And then boom, the next thing you knew it, the headphones were gifted to me.

I remembered it being packaged in an XBOX 360 box, so I initially thought it was really an XBOX 360, only to unwrap it (and then unwrap several layers of tissue, newspapers and random boxes) to then find the headphones resting inside. It was an amazing party, and I can still vividly recollect how I invited 4E1 over.

Shoutout to those that gave me other gifts too, such as Adidas-Liverpool shoebags and waterbottles, and several other chocolates on that day.

5. Birthday Book

Birthday cards are some of the sincerest of gifts, because it is a message from someone thoughtful to the recipient. I've always kept birthday cards in a special box as they are so sentimental and allows me to remember all the close friends I have (and used to have).

And then someone decided to write me a birthday book. Like, literally 20+ pages of stuff. It was sheer brilliance. It captured many memories of my J1 life, so to this close friend of mine, thank you.

Honestly have no idea how people can write so much and remember all the small things they write on my birthday cards/books/gigantic coloured papers. I struggle to think of small moments all the time, and so I end up writing default messages like "May you have an awesome 18th" etc.

6. Food

My family isn't one for writing cards and messages, not because we're not close, but because we value food more.

So we just go out to eat everytime someone's birthday is up. It can be at Sakura (which I still think is decent...), or just some tze char store near Hougang. It really pays (no pun intended) to see my parents/brother happy whenever I treat them to a meal on special occasions. And I hope my happiness when they celebrate mine with just a simple meal can be seen too.

We don't really say sweet words nor hug each other often, but we're close because we've strictly been a family of 4 for so long. We're such a small group but our birthdays are often shared with simple meals and simple surprises. I love my family.

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Off to cut my hair now, and then get BBQ-ing somewhere at Choa Chu Kang. Pretty darn far.

Song of the day:
Fall Out Boy - The Phoenix
(Recently been really attached to FOB's Save Rock and Roll album.)