I had a nice and most wonderful 19th birthday today. Thank you to all me friends and Family who made it so. Early in the morning, my brother emailed me a Flash game he had written as a present. It involved controlling a mouse, making it eat cheese and avoid the cat. So I started the day totally amused. Then, my mummy sent me £, which I like.

I went to King's Manor and from there, set out on a walk around the city cum seminar presentation with my seminar group. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the view was fantastic. After the seminar was over, I went with two of the guys in my group to grab food before the afternoon lecture. I don't really know them very well but when I mentioned that it was my birthday, the two of them burst out into a birthday song, right outside the City Art Gallery. I ran to a bus stop to hide. Then, one of them walked into Starbucks and bought me a slice of chocolate cake! So nice right? (sounds soppy, but it really wasn't) Then, two of us got sandwiches and one guy got a coffee and we wandered around the city, waiting for the lecture to start. We walked into a bookshop where one guy bought a book on Vikings, the other got one on Anglo-Saxons and I got one on Vlad the Impaler. And we hung around some more, talking cock and learning swear words. I taught them Pi Gu (backside) and Qu si (go and die) and the Singaporean meaning of Cuckoo Bird.

Then we walked back to King's Manor. It was still to early for lecture so we sat around in the common room. Out of the blue, Ah Boy called from Australia! Such a nice ah boy. We had a conversation full of swear words which was fun. At the end, the two guys overheard me saying "Qu Si" and they just started yelling "Pi Gu! Pi Gu!". Good fun!

As I sat down in the lecture room and got out my foolscap paper, LL called. Unfortunately, the lecturer was starting so I had to cancel. LL said she would call tomorrow. (To LL: I lecture from 8.30pm - 10.30pm your time. half an hour before that, I will be cycling. If you call between (5-7.30 pm or anytime after the lecture, I should be able to answer, unless I'm showering or in the toilet) I'm looking forward to talking to LL the Lame.

When I got back to my college, I found in the letterbox a birthday card from Grace the Doggy! A CAT card! And Grace can draw cats! Impressed and very happy.

And hanging from my room door was a plastic bag with a card and cupcake with a candle on it from my beautiful blondie flatmate! Oh, talk about warm, fuzzy feelings...

At 7.30pm, I went to the Sports Centre for caving training. I decided to do a fast birthday challenge and bugger off because it had been such a long day. I got through the 100+m rope in 18mins. Not as easy as it sounds because it is vertical and involves some rope burn but it was a good workout.

I walked back to my room in some of the most fantastically thick fog I had yet experienced here. I had to be careful not to get lost although it was only a short distance. I found my Iranian flatmate in the kitchen and we cooked dinner together. (well, mine was some horrible looking scrambled eggs which tasted alright and his was proper rice and fish). We had dinner and talked rubbish and I learnt to say "my name is" in Persian. Sounds something like "Esm-e-Mann Audrey". Then, I got out the cupcake from the blondie and we pretended that there was a flame on the candle (no smokers and thus no lighters. stoves are electric). I made a good birthday wish, blew out the candle in my imagination and ate the cake.

And on the blogs of Jun and Wen are poems dedicated to me!!! I feel so important :) Thank you Boon for your "whacking intent" and Jun(e) for your eccentric rhymes! I like them both even though they are very different.

On XY's blog, in BIG RED WORDS, she wishes me "Happy Birthday". Thank You!

So nice to know that the important people in my life have my birthday marked out on their calendars and that there is unexpected nice-ness to be found in people everywhere.

Wonderful day. I have lived to be 19. Thank you friends and family and Family and God who provided them. A nice warm and fuzzy feeling as I become sleepy. Good night.