ah, another year, another birthday. it started off with my grandmother calling me and singing happy birthday. that was kinda cool. i know she's done it before. she called at least twice when i was living in japan. the first year i was living there she called to sing happy birthday. i was living with my japanese grandmother who picked up the phone and doesn't know any english. so she told me the call was for me. um, no one called me then so i thought it was strange. then i heard an american operator tell me i had a phone call (i think that's what happened), and then i heard my family signing to me. the second time they called me in japan was when i turned 13. it's a tradition in my family to receive a certain phone call when you become a teenager. this is what they tell you: "now you're a rotten teenager". after that, i think they hang up. i'm not sure if much more is said than that unless they tell you why they say that.

this year at work, no one made notice of it which was very good. i think it's kinda weird when birthdays are celebrated at work. inevitably some people are remembered and some forgotten. i'd rather be forgotten. what i did do differently this year is let my birthday be published in the social networking sites i'm signed up for. i did that just to see if anyone would notice. notice they did! now i know who my virtual friends are, hahaha. it was pretty cool actually that people online noticed. someone even made me a virtual present for one of my web sites, too cool.

let's toast with soda

for any sort of actual celebration, i went to a vegan restaurant i had never been to before. you know i had to eat at a vegan restaurant, it was just a must. we ate at the veggie grill. it's like a fast food restaurant but it was good. small menu though. i was waiting to take public transportation after work and then my friend would pick me up relatively close to the restaurant. the timing was not so good though (i missed the shuttle i was supposed to catch) so my friend drove all the way to pick me up.

my mom is back to her old ways because she forgot my birthday again. well at least some things have returned to normal. however, i got quite a surprise at the end of the evening. the first best friend i ever had, the first person i can ever recall being friends with, the friend that i tried contacting last month, well she finally wrote to me and wished a happy birthday, hoping she still remembered the right date. oh yeah, you did, thanks very much!