smile for me. (:

my siblings usually give me something FROM home that belongs to them for my birthday present. but this year, they all went out of their way just to get me something from outside the house.

-_- i'm running out of tears. haha. i love you guys: christina, angela, abraham, and marianna. and of course we can't forget steph. but she usually gives me presents from outside of the house..but she does go out of the way to get me a present.

according to chrisl, he and steph got a sweater for me--a uci one..since my ucsd sweater is now claimed by *ahem* jordan.

haha thanks steph and chrisl. :)

he gave it to me when we went to china buffet. my mother's "surprise party" for me.

usually on our birthdays, our parents take all of us out to eat somewhere usually at a chinese restaurant. but today we went to a buffet--china buffet. and i thought it was only us. and about uncle [dennis], jonathan, and chrisl coming was supposed to be a surprise.

but uncle [dennis] called when i was school and left a message ending with: i'll see you later tonight. and then they tell me two more people were coming. but they later said it was jonathan. and i didn't find out about chrisl until i saw him.

jonathan told me his secret to his 'magic card tricks' for my birthday present. :D but he said he was GOING to bring steph back here as my birthday present but his car broke down. -_- and he called the wrong number. poor jonathan. he had such a bad day. but he still came to eat with us. (: thanks jonathan.

there were little cakes there and my mother stuck candles in them and lighted them. :) she brought the firelighter from home. and after my mother lighted the candles, the waitresses came running and laughed at us. @_@

and we spent about almost three hours there. @_@ but it was fun.

the waitress gave us eight fortune cookies.

and we cracked them open to read our fortunes:

use your natural talents to obtain more.
if you had a penny for every kind act, you'd surely be a millionaire.
a letter of great importance may reach you any day now.
use your natural talents to obtain more.
follow your honest beliefs to stay strong.
you are altruistic and will be involved in many humanitarian projects.
fortune cookie say: your warmth radiates on those around you.
if you look in the right places, you can find some good offerings.

but like they say, it's only rubbish.

abraham: here's your present.

so he hands me an abercrombie and fitch box. and he adds on: it's not something from home and it's not from abercrombie and fitch.

i open the box and there was nothing and i look up but abraham's gone. so i was kind of clueless.

then abraham comes back and panicks about the present's "disappearance." and he finds out that his present was in the OTHER abercrombie box. (note: we have a lot of abercrombie and fitch boxes since we keep them.)

and so i open the other abercrombie box and meticulously wrapped in tissue paper was a mini chalkboard that was bordered with christmas icons that read: ___ days 'til christmas.

he earned it by doing extra credit in class. (: i'm so proud of my brother. he kept saying it was nothing but i knoe he worked so hard in getting me the chalkboard. haha. he's so sweet. if he wasn't my brother and was my age, i would go for him.

marianna: hung-oi (cantonese name) i'm sad. i'm sorrie i don't have anything to give to you for your birthday present. but i love you. and here, i drew a picture for you. i can't buy you anything because i'm not old enough. i'll buy you something when i grow up like mom. i promise.

christina got me a rose. after two hours of searching for a present.

angela made me a bookmark. and a joke:

Q: why did the shark ruin the birthday surprise?
A: because he was a big mouth.

ahahaha. (:

eheh. they love me :) i'm so glad i'm a kwan.