Getting into The Spirit of Celebrating a Happy Birthday

"Jauh berjalan, luas pengalaman."

(The farther you travel, the wider your experience)

Today is my best friend's birthday. Each year, I send her e-card or SMS, no gift ever. It gets kinda old though when everyone is doing the same thing. So I want it to be extra special because she is my best friend. I made her a custom e-card with MS Paint.

The title is 'Today's Hot News' with Mc Donald icon as the column writer ^^ It's funny because she works there. I made the card to look like a short magazine article. It even has the astrology section. It was a lot of fun and pretty quick to make! I like the result and I'm glad she like it too.

*Sigh* She's the only one (among people I know) who appreciates this kind of stuff.

I must admit though, before I met my friends in polytechnic I had never get into the spirit of celebrating anyone's birthday. I thought birthdays are just a cause for family to gather and have delicious treats. My family loves birthday parties.

My aunts and female cousins are good at cooking so they're in charge of preparing the dishes for the party. I'd like to help but every time I try to do that, there is just not much to do for someone who is not used to baking and cooking.

I'm not as outgoing like them and I don't talk much so I often feels like a sore thumb, someone who doesn't belong there, even though I love listening to their funny and spontaneous chattering. I can't help with cleaning either because it wasn't my style to do that in front of others. I can't concentrate. So I rarely join them to help with anything.

I know the anticipation is higher when you're involved in it. So I think that's one of the reason why I'm not excited about the party. I mean, what's so exciting about looking at everyone doing something, then you go down and eat? Except for the cake, it sounds like a normal day to me.

Oh, of course. When there is birthday party, there is also birthday song. Sometimes I sing with them, most of the time I don't because I was too shy. However, the birthday song is one of the thing that makes a birthday celebration special. You'll feel like an outsider if don't join in. I wish I had realized that sooner.

Another thing that makes a birthday special is the birthday wishes. Even if you don't get any gifts, just knowing someone remembers your birthday is enough to make you strangely happy. :)

But, before polytechnic, I rarely wish the birthday boy or girl 'Happy Birthday' because I feels weird saying it and it does sound completely weird from my mouth (it still is). It sounds forced, or choked (yeah.. it's that bad).

The worse memory that really put me off from saying it ever again was that one time when I wish mom a happy Mother's Day. She just didn't look that thrilled or happy. So I refrain from saying it ever again since then (until I got into the polytechnic of course).

Of course now that I'm older and better at reading her body language, I realized now that she actually likes it :) She is just not very good at accepting wishes and gifts (ah, like mom, like daughter).

So I'm very thankful to my friends in polytechnic for teaching me to be more affectionate.

Unfortunately, I'm still bad at wishing someone happy birthday face-to-face so I always use SMS or e-card instead :D