pelf-ism is contagious

The following postcard is the result of a private swap with Yvy. For those of you who pronounce her name as Y-V, you’re WRONG! Or was I the only one?! *smiles*

She said she didn’t want to send me a Penang postcard because I was recently there. Right, I was there during Chinese New Year. And yes, darling, this Langkawi one looks good too, though I’d prefer sunrise than sunset - I’m a morning person, you see..

I am experimenting with my new toy now It has been quite some time since I have laid my hands on a colourphone which can take pictures and play mp3s and with polyphonic ringtones. If you do not like my new toy, shut up and go play yours instead. Be good.

I didn’t mention that I received a book from my friends for my birthday, did I?

Anyway, a couple of them passed the hat around and bought me “Life and Death in Shanghai” by Nien Cheng. In fact, it was one of the books that I never failed to lift whenever I went to Pustaka Seri Intan, say, about once every other week. The book was not exactly expensive, it was about 40 bucks but being the kiamsiap person that I am, I rarely spend that amount of money on a book that I know I will only read once. I always say a little prayer and hoped that the price of the book would drop a little so that I would buy it. And, by the way, Pustaka Seri Intan is the only notable book store in KT, which pales in comparison with MPH or Times or even Popular.

So since I am still at it, maybe I should also mention about the weird “birthday celebration” that I had this year.

I sent J to the jetty to Redang on the day before my birthday - he carries out his samplings in the island. He usually goes in for a few days so I did not bother to ask whether he was coming out the next day to celebrate my birthday. I didn’t want to give him the impression that I demanded his presence on my birthday though I secretly hoped that he would come out the next day.

But he didn’t. He came out on the same day, after his routine samplings. Without informing me. So at the stroke of midnight, he called me but since the phone reception was bad in my room, he asked me to go stand at the gate for better service. So I did la. When I pulled open the curtain, he was standing right in front of me with a chocolate cake and a bouquet of roses! Boy, was I surprised..

On another note, my postgraduate friends also bought me a cake and waited for me to appear at the post-graduate room which also serves as our usual meeting point. I did not know they were waiting for me so I did not turn up la.

So the cake that they bought me sat in somebody’s fridge until the next working day. So my birthday cake became my belated birthday cake. I was so shy for causing all the unnecessary trouble that I just quickly made a wish and cut the cake.

But that was not all. For reasons that I have yet to ascertain, they did not give me the book present on that day. It was about one or two days later that I saw it sitting on my desk, nicely wrapped.

Anyway, to cut a long story short (I know it’s been too long), I celebrated my birthday over a span of 4 days. Jealous or not?! *winks*