Please note that ALL PICTURES I have taken of presents I received are in the EXACT CONDITION I received in. This is done so that you can judge for yourself on how thoughtful the presents are!
Present from Elie:All pictures are taken the minute I got home.
Above:Present from Elie.
*I have known Elie for 1 and a 1/2 year.*
I was talking to Elie for tons of times on how I am going to buy the Death Note movies VCD the moment I knew that it was released. One day when i meet up with her after the pledge taking, she
suddenly said to me that she knew what to buy for me as a birthday present, even though it was during March(that was during the Secondary 3 camp which we both didn't attend due to special reasons.). I asked her what present she intended to give me. She replied that she shall give me Death Note movie VCD! I was surprised with her answer as I thought that she was fooling me. But she added that she will get my present ready very fast. As i am not sure if she's joking around, I just requested that please let the disc be in VCD for I do not have any DVD player at home. I was not really thinking about this but a week later during Mid March when we were in the middle of a lesson, she suddenly turned to me(we were sitting together at that time), put her hand into her bag and sang 'Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to You!'...'huh?' was the only word i could utter through my shock. After all, i had never expected her to give me my birthday present this early and what's more, during lessons too! But anyway, she pulls her hand out of her bag with a flourish and guess what I see? It's none other than the Death Note Movie VCD i wanted! The decorating effort Elie has put in looks like a present to someone she likes as it has lots of straws folded into hearts.HAHA~ no offenses to her though! Of course i loved the present she gave me! It is what i wished for! I would like to say a big thank you to you ELIE!!!!! I will get a good present for you too~!!!!
Present from Vivien: All pictures are taken the minute I got home.
*I have known Vivien for 2 and a 1/2 years.*
Left: the back view of the present.
Right:The front view of the present.
Top:The package of the present.
PRESENT REVEALED
Top: A pair of shiny silver earring with a purity percentage of 92.5% of silver and 7.5% of copper which the warranty card says that will not make it less shiny but more stronger and less prone to breakage.
I received her birthday present to me in 25th June 2007 after my CCA when we went to the nearby mall to shopped for correction tape in Popular (but she didn't buy it as it doesn't have the type she wants.). On the way to walking back home with her(as we lived very near together.), she commented that she had already bought my present(FINALLY!). Of course I kept pestering her to give me my birthday present which she refuses to. I did not give up by using my ultimate way of persuasion and finally she said that she will give it to me after we passed that certain point and also that I will need to guess what it is. I got the right answer, which was earring, after a few attempts. When we reached there, she reached into her school bag and complains that her school bag had causes the the bag to cease. She then ask if I do mind receiving a present that lacks in the area of appearance. Of course I do not mind! I am already very happy to have people giving presents (that are bought by themselves and not second-hand.) to me! But mostly, I rated presents on how much thought you have put in it and not the price. What's the point of giving me a $900 antique vase when a simple piece of pretty jewelery that cost not more than $5 will do? After all I have no use for such a expensive vase. Not that anybody did give me a vase of course. It's just an example. When Vivien passed me the package for the present, I actually asked her if she did put the the present into the plastic bag as package was so small that it didn't bugle at all. She told me that she did indeed out the package into the plastic bag and truth to her word, when I look inside the plastic bag, I found a small package lying in it. She then commented that she wouldn't mind me opening it right away for I had already guessed what it was. I opened and out flew a earring which landed on the floor. I was still searching in the tiny package trying to take out the earring so I didn't notice the piece of earring that was on the floor. It was Vivien who noticed it and informed me. I picked it up straight away and was feeling quite guilty that I had dirtied the earring just right few moments after I touched it. Luckily, Vivien didn't mind that. I was still admiring the beautiful and delicate earring that sparkles so prettily when I reached home. It is my first piece of jewelery I owned that was made of silver. I have to admit that real silver jewelery is certainly much nicer than normal cheap jewelery I usually buy in terms of shine and quality. There's just a special thing about it that makes it so appealing. So when I lost one of my gold earring to the toilet bowl, I went to the shop where Vivien bought my birthday present, and bought myself a pair of silver earrings. Once again, thank you Vivien for such a nice belated birthday present! Don't worry...I will remember to get you a nice present!
Present from "my best friend": All pictures are taken the minute I got home.
*I have known "my best friend" for 3 years and 6 months.*
Left: Back view of the package she gave me.
Right: Front view of the package she gave me.
Above: Her present wrapped in Hello Kitty wrapping paper.
Above both: Different views of her present.
Above both: Different views of her present.
PRESENT REVEALED!
Above both: The set of cups in the box.
Above both: Different views of the present she gave me.
Above: Top view of the pair of cups.
We went shopping together in celebration of my birthday on the day of my birthday. She passed me the plastic bag right after I meet up with her at my house and warned me that it's made of glass. I flinched when I heard that it was made of glass for I feared that the present might be that hateful decorative items which I loathe very much. When I questioned her about it, she reassured me that it is certainly not a decorative item. I felt very thankful the moment I heard her answer. We went to shopped around in a shopping mall area and ate dinner in a cafe which she uses her discount card. The dinner was delicious. It was getting late and she had not once received a peep from her very much annoying mother who always check on her. When I commented about this, she told me that she had told her parents to not to disturb us on account of my birthday. This was a reassuring thought. It was around 9.30pm when we decided to leave and wait for the bus at the bus stop as she had a curfew of 10pm. While we were waiting for the bus, she told me that I could open the present if I wished to. Of course I jumped at the chance for I was quite curious what was inside the package that was so fragile. Inside the plastic bag contains handmade birthday cards and of course the mysterious package. But when I opened the package, I was shocked. When I asked "my best friend" the origin of the present before I opened it, she claims that she purchased it when she was shopping for it and she thinks that the design is really cute and retro. She claims that she actually intend to buy something that have to do with my favourite Doraemon but could not find any so she decided to settle for this and also this was not a rather expensive present. But as I looked at the present in front of me, I doubt it's origin as the box is certainly not newly bought but was kept for sometime. She claims that she accidentally damaged the box when wrapping the present but obviously it was not the truth. I gotten even a bigger shock when I opened the box as the cups does not cost much and these kind of cups are normally freebies to go along with some daily items you normally bought. Even though I could tell that she was lying, I decided not to make a scene for there was a lot of people waiting for bus at the bus stop. After we reached her house, I complained about how she never keep in touch with me although we were supposedly best friends. She said that she will try to sms, call or email me at least once per week so that we will know of each other's latest happenings. After that, we went back to our own homes. The next day, I decided to call her and asked her about the true origin of the present as I could not get this matter out of my mind. Finally, she confirmed my suspicion. She did not buy the present at all. The so called present was actually a prize her sister had won at some fair. Her mother had this habit of keeping these prizes so that they do not have to spend any money on buying presents. She added that her mother was the one who forced her to wrapped this present and give it to me. She had actually bought a photo frame that costs $3++ but her mother refuses to let her give the photo frame to me and insists that she will have to give this 'present' to me. I don't doubt the fact that her mother is really demanding and unbearable but if she really have the heart and is sincere enough to give me a birthday present, she would have pretended to give that 'present' to me but will buy a present for me when we are at the malls. I felt really angry for she not only lied to me about the origins of the present, and even DARE to treat me as a dumping place for her mother's so called 'presents'. I am her best friend as she claims for goodness sake! I am not expecting for her to buy a really expensive present for me, but I am only asking for a thoughtful one! To be frank, this kind of incident had not happened once but twice! For those who know me well, you will surely know about the snoopy plush toy I received from her mother in front of "my best friend". The problem with the Snoopy plush toy was that her mother wrapped it and claims that it was a present they bought back from their Hong Kong trip. But when I opened the present, a Snoopy plush toy sealed in a plastic bag stamped with the words 'Singapore Airline' came into my view. Obviously the so called brought back from Hong Kong present was a lie and the present was actually a freebie when you travel on the 'Singapore Airline' plane. I comforted myself by thinking that maybe "my best friend"was afraid to defied her mother and thus make no move to stop her from giving the ' brought back from Hong Kong present' to me. But this had happened again and I am certain of what my so called friendship with her is all about. Plus I have tell you that it had been 3 weeks since we had any contact between each other and so far she had not made a move to contact me. This obviously had made her broken her keep in touch at least once a week promise to me. You know what? I am so sick of this kind of fake friendship. I had been most patient with her demanding parents and kept my mouth shut when they show of her results by not remarking that our results could not be compared as we are of different schools. I had pondered for more than 2 months on if I should include her presents in my blog post but I just want to show what is real and what is not. Pictures does indeed speaks more than a thousand words after all. I believed that I am really kind enough for I did not include her real name here. That will than be the real disgrace. Tell me: What is friendship? In a spurt of moment, I have decided to write a poem about friendship here....don't mind me if it's a bad poem with bad rhyming. I just want to express what I think of this friendship is about. This poem is 100% written by me. That's why it's not a professional work you have seen in some other places. I shall give this poem a temporary name until I could think of a better one. Even though it's obvious that I dislike my this year's birthday present from her, I like the present which she gave last year which was a small pretty cloth wrapped case with elaborate chinese design for putting in jewelery or make-up as there's a small mirror inside. As I really like the present, it was why I decided to spend $10.05 for her last year's present on her favourite Winnie the Pooh items. But alas, you could say that I never expected to received such kind of "present" this year. By the way, this reminds me of another lie she said during the "confession time phone conversation". I told her that I always try to estimate the price of the present I received and will give back a present I bought with the similar estimated price. Do you know what she said when I said that? She replied quickly "Yes, I always do that." Well...does the cups from the pictures look like $10.05? Seems like she is really thick skinned. Even my mother agrees. Besides that, this birthday present incident had caused my mother who already had not a good impression of her based on the Snoopy incident and the fact that she always changed the the time or canceled the outing last minute, to have a even worst impression of her. Seriously, I also do in fact had changed my opinion about her. I don't know what I should do now.....
Doubts and Uncertainties.
Lies spoken,
without blink of an eye.
Tales tattled,
without guilty conscience.
Truth and false,
unknown to us.
Trust shattered,
unable to differentiate.
Mind's a mess,
truth's hidden in dark.
Am I to trust,
what is in front of us?
Friendship was not to be,
something like this.
Truth should not be twisted,
until it's so complicated.
Should we end off,
what we have not begin?
Where truth and trust,
rightfully there in the first place.
Forgiving the misgiving,
was taught to me.
Could I fling the past,
by a cast of my hand,
without a thought,
and sought the friendship I seek?
©+-+miko kagome+-+ 2007
First written on 13-07-07. Friday.
Present from my mother:
As we have the same birthday day, it's certainly more special for we have to give each other a present. I haven't bought a present for her on that day but the present I later bought, which was a CD which my mother regretted not buying. As it was released quite several months ago, it was even harder to buy it as not many stores have it in stock. But I found the CD quite by chance when I was in a CD store near my school browsing. I debated with myself on if I wanted to buy the CD as I had only $20 left for that month allowance and the CD cost $18.90. But then I decided that it was worth buying it. By that time I found the CD, it was during may so I treated the present as a birthday and mother's day gift. But my mother gave me my birthday gift on the very day of my birthday when I got back home from school. She knew that I was going to go out with my friend so she gave me $20 as a birthday present.
Present from my brother:
He gave me $20 as my birthday present and I used it to buy The Best Damn Thing album by Avril Lavigne.
Well...enough of birthday presents I had received so far. During the June holidays, I gave myself a French manicure. I done it myself so please don't laugh at my handiwork as this is my first time doing a French manicure. Let me 2 pictures of the French manicure I have done myself. The pictures were taken about 4 days after I done the French manicure so that's why my nails were chipped. When I went out with Vivien and when she saw my French manicure which I raved that it was a very good job done for a first timer, she commented that the white part looks like correction pen. -_-|||
Left: Left hand of my French manicure.
Right: Right hand of my French manicure.
As all of you can see, I had finally gotten around to changing my blog skin from Death Note movie L blog skin to the current blog skin now which is a blog skin from the anime Tsubasa Chronicle. Tsubasa Chronicle is from the same creator of Card Captor Sakura which is CLAMP. Most of the characters have the same names like for example, the main characters Sakura, and Syaoran. You can learn more about Tsubasa Chronicle at the Wikipedia website. The song which I have included in this blog is the original Japanese version of You Are My Love by the voice actress of Sakura in Tsubasa Chronicle . Her name is Yui Makino. Below shows the video taken from Episode 20 of Tsubasa Chronicle showing Sakura singing the song in the anime.
Direct English Translation Lyrics of what Sakura is singing.
The faint scent of tears on my rain-soaked cheeks...
The warm look on the face of travelers...
The music from our childhood faintly echos in the background...
The memories that I hopelessly try to remember wander aimlessly
That with these wings, launch by my dreams,
Over distance oceans and skies we'll soar, together, to a place where memories never fade.
You light up the way for me in the darkness of night.
Oh, that warm look on your face...
I want to see you...
Romanji Lyrics for You Are My Love(Japanese Version)for easy sing along.
Ame ni nureta hoho wa namida no ni oi ga shita
yasashii manazashii no tabibito
Shizuka ni hibiiteru natsukashii ongaku
omoidasenai kioku samayou
Yume wa tobitatsu no chiisa na tsubasa de
omoi no kienai basho made futari de tooi umi wo sora wo koete
Kurai yoru no naka de watashi wo terashiteru
yasashii manazashi no anata ni
aitai...
Here's a review of the song taken from here.
("You Are My Love", sung by Sakura (Yui Makino) in episode 20 of Tsubasa Chronicle. The Song "You Are My Love", again, is a song played a few times throughout Tsubasa, but Sakura's version is sung for the first time in episode 20, "Gogo no Piano" (Afternoon Piano). She sings it for a mysterious cafe customer (Oruha from Clover) who accompanies her on the piano. Throughout the song, Sakura has flashbacks of herself and Syaoran as children (though she doesn't remember them afterwards), and the song is basically about her wanting to remember Syaoran, and knowing that she should remember, even if she can't. I love this song so much, I really can't explain. I read somewhere that someone though that Yui Makino's voice in this song sounded very childish, and I agree--it does, and it should. Yui Makino does an awesome job of making Sakura sound like a sad, lost little girl when she's singing this, and it makes the song all the more authentic and heartbreaking to listen to. Usually when an actor sings in a TV show or movie, they switch out of "acting" mode and just focus on sounding good as a singer, even if the way they sing the song is completely out of character. But Yui Makino just did such a great job making you believe that it's Sakura singing the song, and I think that's something that really impressed me. ^_^ Anyway, this is such a fantastic, emotional song, and even though the English version of "You Are My Love" is pretty as well, I think Sakura/Yui's version, with it's simple piano accompaniment, is the best.)
English Version of the song sang by another voice actress for Sakura. I think that the Japanese version is nicer as I do not like this english version as much. The lyrics of the English version of You Are My Love is changed to fit the song.
I hope that you enjoy reading this ultra long post!
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