Birthday Bowling

I've finally turned 24!

I've grown to dislike birthdays, as it just serves as a reminder that I'm only getting old. Besides, nothing fun usually happens on birthdays anyway! This year though I had quite a good birthday.

It started off with two of my best high school friends, Hyun and Joon having a video chat with me just before and carrying on past midnight. It was about 5am over there in New York, so they were up just to chat to me. It was really cool, as I haven't talked to them in a long time, and I haven't actually video chatted to them since they left NZ over six years ago!

What was just as cool was that they told me they had received the Christmas presents I had posted them several weeks ago - All Blacks ties (as a reminder of NZ)! I was starting to worry a little bit as no one had received anything I had posted overseas to them!

I was also given a birthday card by Eva on Sunday that I had been saving till my birthday to open, so I decided to open and read it just after midnight (apparently I was meant to read it the day before though!). It was really nice of her! She had made it herself, and inside she wrote quite a long and heartfelt message! Thank you so much Eva!

It was finally time to open the present Grace had given me on Saturday too. It turned out to be a shoulder bag! That was something I've been meaning to buy myself for a while, since the one I currently have is starting to fall apart after two years of use! Thank you so much Grace!

It really put me in a good mood for the rest of the day. Later that afternoon I went with my brothers and Grace to the city to go bowling at the new Metro Lanes (in the Metro building), using some one-day vouchers. The place just opened recently, so it was worth a try!

It was quite different to the older bowling alleys we're used to. The lanes are split, with a few here and there. I guess that's due to a lack of space.

It looked as though Aonghas was going to run away with the highest score, with Grace coming a close second. That was impressive too, considering how Grace has played very little bowling! I was languishing in third, but after getting a spare in the last bowl, I was given an extra bowl and was unlucky to come second just by ONE pin!

The game only lasted about 40 minutes which was not too bad!

We were originally going to check out that Japanese pop art exhibition but after finally getting mobile internet to work, we realised the gallery is closed on Mondays! I guess it was straight onto lunch then!

We were about to go to Burger King, but at the last minute decided to go to Wendy's instead. That continues a tradition we have of going to Wendy's on birthdays.

We all ordered one of those $5 combos, and got a free frosty shake through the Wendy's app! (If you have an iPhone or Android, download the app and use it!).

With a drink, ice-cream AND a frosty, we were all quite full after that! 

It was time to walk back to the car though, as we only had paid for parking for two hours. Along the way we discovered a nice little Christian bookstore, and some really good lady just drumming on the footpath!

I actually enjoyed my birthday this time! Thanks Aonghas for paying too! :P

What I have come to realise is that rather than dread becoming another year older, I should be thankful I've been able to live another year, and I am truly grateful for that!

I've come to realise that I have many awesome and loving friends. I am truly grateful to have them in my lives, and I hope I've done my best to be there for them and be the best friend I can be!

I also love my family and would have no other family, despite our numerous flaws and quirks!

So once again, thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!

More specifically, thanks Grace, Joe, Wei, Kaytee, Bettina, James, Phillip, Andrew, Eva, Andy, Cham, Suzy, Sue, Julie H, Julie K, Jacky, Uncle John, Ian, Stella, Mimi, Amelia, Jane, Jennifer W, Diane, Megan, Aunty Grace, Elizabeth, Antonio, Nami, Evelyn, Ashleigh, Kacey, Jonathan S, Korina, Ivy, Ray, Arina, Nadine, Anateira, Anthony, Irene, Tina, Joon, Hyun, Janice, Angel, Neha, Szelin, Dillon, Kunsala, Julie, Emily, Michael T, Mary, Lindsey, James Z, Sonja, Xin-Yan, Mitali, Alex W, Evan, Sera, Ben, Joshua, Calvin, Daniel W, George, Monica, Mandy V, Bobby, Zippo, Sheena, Miji, Ada, Aula, Tyler, Cleo, Peter, Scholastica, Ben V, Fiona, Shirley K, Toni, Tim, Alex, Chen, Steven P, Kimberley, Emily, Caylee, Harris, Martyn, Eujin, Hannah, Shameela, Banthoon, Jon, Kylie-Marie, Peter H, Belinda, Natalie, Winston, Dianne, Andrew B, Ting Ting, Sheridan, Cathie, Joy, Yerin, Zahir, Sebastian, Lunshen, Johnny, Aone, Megan J, Carmen, Anisha, Yan Yan, Graeme, Konny, Ellyce, Karen, Vanessa, Joylynn, Angie, Jenny, Rebecca, Amy and Cookie Bear for your birthday wishes!

(Let me know if I've missed you!)

(http://youtu.be/t-PFZ6_UZDo)

A Christmas Card!

I got my first Christmas card from someone who isn't my student! Thanks Joanna! To be fair, she did write a Christmas card to hundreds of people, but that's still cool. The message made me smile!

A Little Good Luck!

After youth group tonight, Grace gave me this little good luck charm. I'm not too sure what the Chinese characters say, but everyone who has read it seems to laugh! 

Apparently it's to give me good luck in finding me a girlfriend! haha 

Let's see if it works its magic! Thanks heaps Grace!!

Calamari for Calum!

Today the pharmacist at my work gave me a birthday present - Calamari!

That's her nickname for me, and because I told her I had never tried it before, she had bought a box of it for me! When I got to work, she grabbed it out of the freezer to show me!

Thanks so much Aula!

Something Amazing

This morning at church I got my second birthday present from Gabrielle and Tim:

Thanks guys! I've got more bedtime reading to do now!

Accordion Compilation

Grace, a talented artist, surprised us tonight by presenting Hamish with a drawing she had done of him playing the accordion! Now our set is complete! A year ago she did a drawing of Aonghas and me for Christmas.

Now we can hang them all up on the wall! Thanks heaps Grace!

Sharing the Love

Tonight was the last Oddfellows Youth Group for the night, and so we had a larger turnout than usual. That could also be attributed to the fact that we were exchanging Secret Santa gifts tonight as well! I had to organise it and so I was a little afraid that someone would receive two presents, or one person would get nothing. I got people to pick names and record them on a list without me knowing, so I didn't have any idea who had who!

We also decided to do something a little different for youth group worship too. I came up with an idea to form a band a couple weeks ago, as I knew it would be Jireh's last youth group and Jireh and I have always discussed and dreamt of having a band at church. I thought it would be a great idea to surprise him! We only had one practice a couple days ago though, so we weren't the most prepared. I had also spent most of the morning looking for a Secret Santa present, so I hadn't properly prepared a message to go along with the songs I was leading.

I was on bass guitar, but since I didn't have one at home and the last time I had practised on one was the first time at Grace's house, borrowing her brother's guitar! I just had to make it up on the spot!

I think we went OK, although the rest of the youth group (if you knew Oddfellows you'd think it was typical!) didn't show much enthusiasm. We sang You Won't Relent by Misty Edwards and Our God is Greater by Christ Tomlin to start off with, and they didn't sing too loudly. I could hear some people singing along to our last song Power of Your Love though, probably since they should be quite familiar with that song by now!

After worship, we all sat in a circle on stage to receive our Secret Santa presents! Quite a few people got soft toys.

Tim got a Doraemon soft toy (his favourite!), while some got necklaces, t-shirts/dresses and vouchers. I got Playboy cologne! Thanks Jenny! Apparently she had originally bought this t-shirt from Jay-Jays for me, but then saw me wearing it at camp!

The person I had to buy for was Lisa. I ended up getting her some jewellery. What was funny was that originally I had Jenny, and she had me, but Lisa asked if she could be included in Secret Santa, and so I gave her Jenny while I took Lisa!

We then went around the circle, sharing what we were grateful for this year. I said that I was grateful for friends and Oddfellows as they've given me a life this year, especially with full-time work.

We then finished the night with a farewell to Jireh. Some of us shared stories about him and what we've enjoyed and appreciated, and Jireh left us with a few words of advice about how we all should make time for God.

We presented our farewell present to him - a collage of past and current Oddfellows group photos, a Rugby World Cup soft toy with signatures on it, and a farewell card made by his sister Joylynn.

It was a great way to end the night and what made it even better was seeing one of the old Oddfellows members Brendan come to visit. We haven't seen him in quite a while! It's good to see that he's well.

Photos courtesy of Tim Sze

The Wedding Gift

A week after their wedding, Gabrielle and Tim made it to our youth group night tonight, in which we were having movie night - How to Train a Dragon.

I was put in charge of getting a wedding present for them on behalf of Oddfellows. I had asked for contributions a week before the wedding and was surprised at just how generous everyone was! We raised over $100!

The only problem was what to give them...We had a discussion at the end of youth group the night before the wedding and ended up deciding to buy them a digital photo frame.

Aonghas bought one today before youth group and loaded it with some wedding photos On had taken and some music Tim had recorded on a CD that he gave to everyone who attended their wedding banquet.

After the movie and the discussion, Aonghas and Cleo presented the present to the newlyweds and it turns out Tim has been wanting to get a digital photo frame for quite a while now! Thank goodness no one else gave one to him!

Hopefully they don't delete our photos!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDDYot53iL4)

The Problem with Handmade Presents

Last year for our 21st birthdays, my good friend Diane and I agreed that we'd make handmade birthday presents for each other. While she surprised me with a really awesome 21st plushie sorta thing, I hadn't made anything for her by the time her 21st birthday came around, which was actually a week before mine!

I told her I'd get it done and give it to her the next time we met up, but I've been having trouble coming up with something handmade that I could make because I'm pretty useless with my hands!

I finally came up with an idea and originally thought it would be easy enough to make, but I'm starting to realise that it might be a bit hard! I promised I'd give it to her by Chen's birthday tomorrow, so I don't have much time to get it done! I've been shopping with my mum for materials but it's quite difficult too!

Hopefully it all goes well!

What Santa (in Various Forms) Got Me

So this year my wishlist consisted of a belt and a man bag (aka shoulder bag). For Christmas my mum got me a belt, so that'll keep my pants up for a little longer. Thanks mum!

For Secret Santa, I got a red tie from Jessica, thanks Jessica!

Probably one of the most special presents I've been given came from Grace, who's an excellent artist. On Christmas Eve she gave me this awesome drawing of me playing the accordion! It really does look like me doesn't it?

Thanks Grace!

When she told me of her plans to draw me, I naively offered to draw her in return (forgetting the fact that I can't draw!) and she took me up on it, so this is what I did...does it look anything like her?

Now for the giving..

For Secret Santa, I gave Peter this Peanut with the caption 'Nuts About Physiotherapy' with the peanut being dressed in physiotherapist clothing, while holding an oil can and a spine+pelvis.

For my dad, I got a travel agent peanut (it was a two for one deal, and I couldn't just buy one!). I also got my mum some cookbooks so she could cook for me, but I don't think she liked those too much. She has too many books already, which is something I later realised.

For my brothers I got them a Coca Cola toilet paper dispenser, which I later realised actually says Cola Cola! My mum liked this one more than the cookbooks!

Finally, for the family I bought these six little white balls with different emoticon faces! I was originally going to buy one, but when I saw there was a whole set and was offered a discount, I couldn't resist!