Counting My Prezzies

Meant to do this last week, but at least I get to it before the end of the year! This year's birthday has been a blast! I got the most presents ever! Here's a quick run-through. I'm including some Xmas presents just to make the list longer :P

Have a Happy New Year, guys...!

A nice mug from my office Xmas gift exchange party. Well, at least it was better than last year's pure decorative item.

A pure decorative item. But at least it's hand-made!!

A present for me, from... me! It's a little reward for myself - a facial care set from Origins.

My favourite Xmas present! It includes an Aussiebum brief, a "Snap Me" button tag from NewUrbanMale, and two bandannas.

A simple birthday gift from a colleague. She got this last minute so I appreciated the gesture all the more so! But the packaging is deceiving: it's padded at the sides with cardboard!

Birthday gift from a group of friends: A Parker pen with 2 year warranty! I've never heard of pens that come with warranties...

Another Xmas gift exchange. If I went for one more gift exchange party I'd explode with mugs!

Other birthday gifts that I did not photograph include:

• Free lunch with colleagues
• Red Box celebration dinner
• A health drink package that I wanted
• Dinner with Dad, and a traditional ang pow thrown in
• Dinner with Mum, and a Philips electric shaver! (my very first)

The downside is, I gained 1kg from all the celebratory food! I spent the entire year maintaining my weight and all it took was 1 week of unbridled eating to make me "festively plump". Sigh...

Recipe for Tummy Ache

Sunday - Japanese Buffet Lunch @ Kampachi, EQ
Monday - Mango Cream cake
Tuesday - Chinese restaurant dinner
Wednesday - Chinese restaurant lunch
Thursday - Chinese restaurant dinner
Friday - German foot-long sausages (yum!)
Saturday - Buffet dinner @ Red Box
Sunday - BBQ Steamboat buffet dinner

Monday = Diarrhea, tummy ache, nausea.

And that's how I spent my Christmas Eve!! Thank goodness for Buscopan and Immodium .

MERRY CHRISTMAS PEEPS!

Freedom to Discuss Religion

Boys and girls, listen up! Time to expand your mind.

Listening to the Beyond Belief podcast has left me feeling stifled being in Malaysia. It's great listening to multifaith discussions on various topics and just seeing the panelists have a go at each other. This is a practically non-existent scene here, so you should go check out their podcasts. The new season just started and the first episode concerns "Religion in the workplace". Excellent discussion.

Beyond Belief is produced by BBC Radio.

Catching Up On the Presents

This is proving to be the most eventful birthday yet! Sure, turning 22 is nothing to celebrate, but I'm glad I've left a sufficient impression on my colleagues for them to be planning a secret bash for me. One even came to me with the dilemma of having nothing to eat and asking me to suggest a place for a gathering. Hah! I've got a surprise for them up my sleeve as well but I'll post it up later as I know some of them read the blog too.

Yesterday another group of colleagues celebrated my birthday. They are my "students", or as I would prefer to call them, participants of my Friday Cardio Dance class. It was really nice of them to get me a nice Mango Cheese cake and Nike shirt. Totally makes up for the fact that I'm not getting paid to teach.

I have photos to post, but I haven't Photoshopped out my acne scars. So I'll do a photo entry once I finish celebrations with my co-workers, friends, and family.

So this is what birthdays are all about... :)

Cute

I was teaching a lunge track last night, and at the same moment I demonstrated putting your hands on yours hips for stabilization, ALL of them did the same thing. It was all so synchronized!

Satisfaction.

Not so satisfactory, however, is pain in my right knee when I lock my knees and twist them slightly. Gotta go get checked up by the company doctor, and hopefully get a referral to ortho.