I'm Not Getting Older, I'm Getting Better - Right?

Ah yes, once again the Birthday Fairy visited me and bestowed another year of age. Considering that the alternative to growing older is death, I'll not complain. Besides, I don't mind growing older as long as I never grow old.

Caroline, Charlene, and Shannon treated me to a lovely dinner at my favorite dim sum place, City Star. I wish there could have been more of us, but PJ had just gotten back from Korea, so Nat, Xiao Niu, and Betty were meeting up with him. Since most of the dim sum comes in servings of three, I was worried there'd be some fighting over who ate what, but it all worked out quite well, as Caroline hates mushrooms and isn't overly fond of shrimp, and I don't like the turnip cake much. We all ended up well stuffed in the end.

After dinner we stood around trying to decide if it would be worth it to brave the crowds at Chiang Kai Shek Memorial to look at the lanterns, but in the end decided no friggin' way. Caroline and I walked to Page One and spent about an hour shopping around there. I came away with four books for about $30US, which is a hell of a good price in Taiwan, thanks to Caroline having their discount card and two books being on sale. I was already packing a heavy load, with two books that Caroline had given me, two magazines with Wu Bai articles that Charlene had given me, and also my Lost Season 1 which Caroline had returned. If I'd been empty-handed, I probably would have spent more money I can't afford at Page One! Thank goodness for credit cards......which all seem to be working fine now, after much wrangling with the bank. Shannon gave me the most adorable little purple kitty that she made herself out of beads. I'd never have the patience to make something like that.

Didn't get the chance to see if the new approach to teaching Vincent would work, as his dad called to cancel the class on Friday night. I'm still a bit unclear as to why, since Xiao Zhu was calling from a very noisy place, and I'm not good at understanding Chinese spoken over a cell phone. I chatted a bit with Dino on Saturday morning, and he said that although Vincent is a bit shy at first, once he gets to know a person, you can't shut him up. We'll see if he actually makes it to class next week.

One of the best birthday presents I got was the almost total silence from the upstairs neighbors last night. It was almost eerie. I'm not sure if the monsoon-like rain that was pouring down was so loud it was drowning them out or what, but it was soooo peaceful between 10:00 and midnight. Wish it would stay like that, but likely won't.

Errrr, I'm supposed to be preparing for a role-play exercise at school today. Best get going on that now.