My 18th birthday

I turned 18 this past Sunday! ^_^

I found this on my table:



This unexpected surprise left me dumbfounded and I asked my sister, Jenny, if this was from her. She adamantly denied having anything to do with it. We were both confused as to where it came from because I didn't remember this being on my table just a short while ago. The items seemed to have appeared by magic!

It turns out that it was from my baby brother. He even allowed me to hug him! *SHOCKED* (Allow me to explain...he's usually an angry, angsty teenage boy.)

Yesterday was a little more special because it was the first time I celebrated my birthday! It felt strange and even a little...selfish to have people gather for, well, you. I always see characters in movies, dramas, and books celebrating their birthdays. The birthday boy/girl dons a party hat and is surrounded by their families and friends. There are colorful balloons, streamers, and of course, the birthday cake. Many people may take this for granted and expect this on their birthdays, but that kind of thing is alien to me.

I still never had a birthday cake before, but my friends and I did go to Seoul Garden Yakiniku for lunch. I even managed to drag my brother out of the house~ yay. ^_^



For yakiniku, we ordered brisket and cow tongue. I had wondered for the longest time what brisket was. I am happy that I finally got to identify it and conclude that I do not like it. I actually really enjoyed the cow tongue, which, according to my friend, is not really the tongue. They just call it that. But, like, why? LOL.



We formed a Doraemon-look-alike using the semi-raw onions that were left! XD

After stuffing our faces and taking a few group pictures, we headed off to Century Center to take purikura (print club stickers)!



There are many purikura places in Harajuku but this is the first to open in Hawaii! Yay! (Even though I'm leaving soon...) ^^; Purikura is fun, but expensive. One sticker sheet is $8. Since it is the grand opening, they cost $6 until the end of this month. I plan to take a couple more pictures with my friends before leaving. ^^

I think we spent about an hour there before we left and headed for GS Studios in Waikiki. Since I've been obsessing over the song 君がいるだけで by 米米CLUB recently, I was happy to find it right away by chance! (Fate?!)

We ended up singing for four hours! Everyone was pooped!

When I came home, I immediately ate and read my sister's fourteen-paged research paper about the Uigher conflict in China. Such conflicts make me very sad and I can't say I'm proud to be Chinese. (But I'm proud to be an American!)

After reading the essay, I ogled over the purikura I took earlier and opened my presents.

I received an owl hoodie that says, "Owl love you" in the back. How clever.

This year, my friends chipped in and bought me this together:




THEY ARE THE CRAZIEST PEOPLE EVER.
It's the coolest present I've ever received.



And they just knew I wanted it because I've ogled over these beautiful jewelry display stands whenever we go shopping. I knew I could never afford it though, because a nice one like this costs approximately $60 - $80!!!

Did I say they were crazy?!

I also received tea from Wai Chu dear, which smelled oh-so-good, and a pair of owl earrings. (Wow, everyone knows I like owls, huh?)

FYI, I also like elephants and lions...and most recently, lionhead rabbits. =3



They're so unbelievably cute!