That's right, folks. Part I of III. I celebrated my birthday last Friday until Monday yesterday instead of the actual Saturday it was supposed to be.

I thought you guys wouldn't be up to reading all that in one post though. Rather, I'm not up to typing all that in one post. But yes, I'll keep it as short as possible.

To begin, my 20th birthday was amazing.

A surprisingly large number of people remembered and greeted me. Maybe becoming 20 years old is a huge milestone (not as large as 40 or 50 but you never know). Either way, everyone remembered. Even a guy I'd only spent about two afternoons with a few months back (and have never spoken to again) and my old Kazakh penpal.

And to think I almost forgot my birthday was coming up.

Anyway, my college friends decided to hang around with me and celebrate a day before the actual birthday. We went to a little Japanese restaurant with little serving sizes.


We were hungry so we ordered a lot.

The food was delicious: the california makis were flavorful, and our dishes were all good. The tempura was a little flaky (too much flour, I think), and the dumplings' sauce was a little too sweet. It wasn't bad though. Maybe this was also because of the company.


We were feeling remarkably full when Joni suddenly told me to close my eyes. They then surprised me with a cute chocolate mousse with five candles! It was fun. And embarrassing.

Especially the part where they made me wear the party hat.


They gave me a thick bookmark-looking card they made with all their touching birthday messages, and a cute doll with rosy cheeks and a pretty smile.

I would have cried if I was the crying type. But I'm not.


Thanks loads, friends. I didn't see that coming.

That awesome lunch got me a bit more excited for whatever would happen on my actual birthday.

Well, a three-hour lunch with my parents, my uncle, and my father's business associates came next. We went to a Chinese restaurant with really fresh seafood. So fresh that I actually took the time to peel a plateful of shrimp and eat the guts inside. I'm generally too lazy to eat unpeeled shrimp, and I used to be allergic to it so that's saying something.

We talked about the usual things --- business, old college days, some people we all knew, and the like --- and ate until our stomachs started to weigh as much as a few heavy bricks. Then being gluttons for punishment, we headed to a nearby bakery.

Where I got another birthday cake. I was so surprised that I did not get any pictures of it. Suffice to say it was an apple pie (OK, not really a cake) with vanilla ice cream and a lone candle on top.

We also ordered a few other pastries and shared the calories so we would feel better about all this eating.



Again, I really enjoyed it. I was also touched at how my parents really wanted to spend time with me even though they were busy (which is why I ended up at that business lunch). I'm really glad they made the effort.

I guess that's it for now. Part II will follow by tomorrow.

Hope you enjoyed the weekend as much as I did, dear Reader.

That's right, folks. Part I of III. I celebrated my birthday last Friday until Monday yesterday instead of the actual Saturday it was supposed to be.

I thought you guys wouldn't be up to reading all that in one post though. Rather, I'm not up to typing all that in one post. But yes, I'll keep it as short as possible.

To begin, my 20th birthday was amazing.

A surprisingly large number of people remembered and greeted me. Maybe becoming 20 years old is a huge milestone (not as large as 40 or 50 but you never know). Either way, everyone remembered. Even a guy I'd only spent about two afternoons with a few months back (and have never spoken to again) and my old Kazakh penpal.

And to think I almost forgot my birthday was coming up.

Anyway, my college friends decided to hang around with me and celebrate a day before the actual birthday. We went to a little Japanese restaurant with little serving sizes.


We were hungry so we ordered a lot.

The food was delicious: the california makis were flavorful, and our dishes were all good. The tempura was a little flaky (too much flour, I think), and the dumplings' sauce was a little too sweet. It wasn't bad though. Maybe this was also because of the company.


We were feeling remarkably full when Joni suddenly told me to close my eyes. They then surprised me with a cute chocolate mousse with five candles! It was fun. And embarrassing.

Especially the part where they made me wear the party hat.


They gave me a thick bookmark-looking card they made with all their touching birthday messages, and a cute doll with rosy cheeks and a pretty smile.

I would have cried if I was the crying type. But I'm not.


Thanks loads, friends. I didn't see that coming.

That awesome lunch got me a bit more excited for whatever would happen on my actual birthday.

Well, a three-hour lunch with my parents, my uncle, and my father's business associates came next. We went to a Chinese restaurant with really fresh seafood. So fresh that I actually took the time to peel a plateful of shrimp and eat the guts inside. I'm generally too lazy to eat unpeeled shrimp, and I used to be allergic to it so that's saying something.

We talked about the usual things --- business, old college days, some people we all knew, and the like --- and ate until our stomachs started to weigh as much as a few heavy bricks. Then being gluttons for punishment, we headed to a nearby bakery.

Where I got another birthday cake. I was so surprised that I did not get any pictures of it. Suffice to say it was an apple pie (OK, not really a cake) with vanilla ice cream and a lone candle on top.

We also ordered a few other pastries and shared the calories so we would feel better about all this eating.



Again, I really enjoyed it. I was also touched at how my parents really wanted to spend time with me even though they were busy (which is why I ended up at that business lunch). I'm really glad they made the effort.

I guess that's it for now. Part II will follow by tomorrow.

Hope you enjoyed the weekend as much as I did, dear Reader.