=]

I'm a beast for having taken so long to do this.

THANK YOU all you people!

Subra, for wishing me way in advance cos he said he'll be overseas on the day. Family for the Nano, and dinner outside, and for all the love. Shylu & Shalini for the surprise and donuts. Rama, for the pumpkin soup and a great afternoon. Sudarshan, for calling at 12.15am and for talking for a while. Karthick for messaging from India. Ajit and Avinash for surprising me by calling from India at 3.30am (Singapore time) and singing Happy Birthday. Olivia for the wishes in French. Simran for calling me "Sheyer", which actually sounds cool (haha!). Shanti, future doctor, for remembering in the middle of her lecture. Amoudtha, who always gets worried she'll forget. Thiru, for calling before messaging, though I missed your call! Pushpa, for messaging in the afternoon cos that's when I was born. Saranya for the twenty smileys. Dhevy! For the extremely long rhyming message (it was so long it took up two SMSes, about 12 messages in total) and for refusing to post the present cos she was scared the postmen wouldn't handle it with care (haha). Nadia, the one with the pretty pictures. Gokul and Vignesh, for calling from India with their best wishes. Ser En, for telling me to aim for GPA 5.0 this sem (I got 4.1 last sem). Nandita, for messaging with 10 minutes to spare! Balaji, Will Smith/Ne-Yo/ Top Dawg/ Gangsta With A Curfew in-the-making for succeeding in his mission to be the last to wish me (on time)! Audrey! For calling at 6.15am on the 22nd (it was 11.15pm on the 21st for her) from Germany and for talking for 45 minutes (it was an internet call) and for getting her friend Rene to sing the birthday song too! Nivedh, for the belated and extremely apologetic wishes. Sundar, for emailing from the US (it was still the 21st over there when he sent it). Hasinah, for giving me that extremely good news along with her wishes! Yagnya, who remembered on the day though she could only wish me later. Raghav, for the wishes and for finally coming online and proving his internet hadn't crashed or something. =]

People in their teens seem to think that turning 20 is a monumental event. I disagree, I feel just the same. No sudden fear/realisation of my age, no sudden transition of mindset from teenager to a 20-year-old. Books and movies overplay that. I often think Hobbits got it right; their coming-of-age is only at 33. 20 feels just as young as 19, which felt just as young as 18, and so on.

I ordered some of my course books online, can't wait for them to be ready for collection!

I love books. Mum and I went to Borders and Kinokuniya at Orchard this morning, and decided to return soon as a family, with enough time on our hands to take our time looking around!

"I'm just speedin' down this fast lane, stuntin' and they mad cos they can't."