21st Birthday

Well, the title says it all, I'm officially old.

I've had nice surprises over the past two days, and I guess, it's as good as a birthday can get when you're away from home.

Yesterday (which was Cat's last day in New York as well :s), I tried on 2 shirts in a shop along Soho and just as I was about to pay, Cat suddenly said, 'STOP. Erwin and I are paying, it's your birthday present.' Nice.

We had dinner at Shabu Shabu, which serves incredibly healthy (and hearty servings) Japanese steamboat... and it so happens that there were birthday decorations in the restaurant. We were eating with Erwin's friends as well, which was pretty nice. I would post pictures, but my SD card isn't with me at the moment.

The plan was to sit at Starbucks and talk until it was time for Cat to leave for the airport, but we ended up sitting at Macdonalds while waiting for Erwin, who went to send his friends to the Subway. It's pretty amusing on retrospect. Cat and I started writing Erwins (ultra belated) birthday card... and just as I was writing 'Happy Birthday Erwin', it hit midnight and 3 things happened at the same time- (1) Manda called me (thank you so much babe, sorry I was a bit distracted because too many things were happening) (2) Erwin appeared with a slice of cheesecake (3) Cat started shoving Erwin's card into my bag. Pretty overwhelming to talk on the phone, while trying to make a birthday wish and hide the card... haha.

I was really tired, but my mum woke me up with an sms this morning... told me to come online with my webcam... which led to me spending an entire hour trying to find my webcam in the mess of my suitcases... I thought everyone at home just wanted to see me, but they bought me a cake! So there I was, in bed with my laptop, looking incredibly awful because I just woke up, and 'blowing' my birthday candles. And well, complete with making a wish and watching everyone eat the cake on my behalf.=) Thanks mummy, dad- you all are so sweet.

And I was quite busy trying to thank people who wished me happy birthday on MSN while talking to my family... thanks everyone who remembered.

Then I had a late lunch with Estelle at Chinatown, before having dinner with Erwin after he got off work.

Erwin and his overdue birthday card! Quite ironic that I was giving him his birthday card on my birthday.

My card from Taitong, Cat and Erwin.

We finally made it to Starbucks today... been saying we should all sit in Starbucks and have coffee at least once since it's an American icon. Too bad only 2 of us made it... and not that you could even tell it's Starbucks from the pictures, heh. And no coffee either, only Apple crumble, and nice long conversation.
And Nathalie bought me a flower! I'm living in her apartment now, and she's incredibly nice... she's been reassuring me that she didn't forget my birthday from last night until today. And this morning, when I woke up, she started telling me about how she was going to buy a muffin but didn't get up early... and promised that I would still get a 'surprise' muffin at night...and she came back with a huge flower instead!

To everyone who remembered, and everyone who tried to make it special for me, thanks :)

And I guess, this birthday is tinged with nolstagia as well... both Cat and Taitong have flown off, spending the first two hours of the day reminiscing with Cat and Erwin at Macs, seeing Estelle and thinking about how it doesn't seem too long ago when we talked so much about us being in New York together (I wish we met up more :s ), three people flying off on this day (Poy, Sujin, Cat)...oh well.