21st Birthdays
Today (2/11/07) is my friends’ ket and brandon’s 21st birthdays. I smsed both of them yesterday but ket only got the sms today!! I then found out that he was in msia till this afternoon and I sent the sms to his hk hp-no wonder the delay!! He didn’t inform me *fine la* coz he was here only for a short period of time.
Ket told me that he was back here to promote his uni, and yesterday night he didn’t celebrate coz he had some stuff to do. I may seem like blabbering but as you read on, you will see what point I am trying to make. You see,my other friend, sm’s birthday is next week and he is throwing a 21st birthday party. When I told steph what I intended to get for him, she said ‘21 is a big thing and you are getting ____?’ (can’t mention here la) Another friend edward told me that it is a pretty big thing in NZ and they got a sake for a guy friend on his 21st bday.
So my point is, how big is a 21st birthday to you? I know when you hit 21, it is like the legal age from the viewpoint of law. A person can be his own custodian for those inherited properties that his dad left for him. Then 21 also means that one can vote for the country election for the first time, and also to enter casinoes and clubs (for guys, coz girls of younger ages are always welcomed) legally.
The expected celebration will be to have friends hanging out with you over meal on that special day, if not a birthday party. A clubbing/ chilling at bar session may follow suit.
At laundry bar on shin’s 21st bday!
However, what if, your friends are not around on your birthday? What if you have more important things to do (like ket) on that day? What if it is exams period and everyone practically lose track of days and are too busy memorising academic stuff to remember your birthday??
Do you realise that one card, one phone call or one sms will paint a smile and make a difference? (regardless of the fact that the birthday person is having any celebration) It is the thoughts that count; cliche it may be, but ponder over it for a few seconds. Who are those people whom you genuinely care about and occasionally think about?
It is hard when you two are physically apart and thus not being able to be physically IN another person’s life. I hate this. I hate goodbyes. I hate missing people across the continents. But for some reasons, we all know deep down that there are people whom we can still feel the same where we left off despite a long absence in each other’s life.
Actually my parents did mention that we youngsters today ‘eaten full and nothing better to do’ (translation from chinese), meaning that we are so blessed that we do not need to worry about putting food on table or paying school fees. Thus we have the extra money and not to mention, spirit to go on and have celebrations. Indeed, we need to be thankful for all these blessings, and never think that it is ’so sad le’ when there ain’t any major celebration to celebrate your birthdays. Birthdays are also days for us to thank our mothers for bringing us to this world, don’t you think?
The other day we were in the curve and we spotted necklace with a key pendant. Michi said jokingly that she would get me that for my birthday. I was so blur and asked ‘why?’ to which she said, ‘aiyo, freedom ma!’ (Coz my dad is ‘well-known among my friends for worrying about me when I go for night outings.) In fact that day I couldn’t join them in hartamas after fridays (for laura’s party) because I FORGOT TO BRING THE KEY =P
