Twenty

On September 1st, I turned 20. That is all. Thanks for reading!

No but actually, birthdays don't really mean much. Popular culture may lead you to believe that it's an important day, or that you should be given special treatment or something, but it's just another day. I mean, the vast majority of people in the world carry no significance other than the fact that they exist, and make up an almost irrelevant percentage of the population. And even if you do carry some significance like being the person who cures cancer (like for reals), you're still just another person. Nevertheless, I did have a better day than I normally would have because I got to see many of my friends, and came to understand that there are people that (to some extent) care about my quiet existence.

This is a Chocolate Macaroon Cake that my good friend Tim Whistance-Smith made for me at his place of work - The Dutchess. It's one of the elite bakeries here in Edmonton. It looks great and probably tastes just as amazing! This is a dish best served cold (actually), and as such needed to be refrigerated. You can always expect something great to come from a pastry chef. 

More pics and goodies after the jump!

This was given to me as an impromptu gift from my friend Joann! I'd say it's one of my favorite gifts that I have received from a friend. Beautiful hand-drawn picture of my all time favorite character! First time someone has done that for me; it's going to be hard to top that!

This is a gold chain/necklace that was given to me from my grandma on my mom's side. The detail on the plate is phenomenal! Even the chain is made of gold! I really don't want to wear this around in public as it is worth over a grand, so I just keep it in a safe place... 

Here is the other side of the plate. I don't have an actual translation as I cannot read Chinese (yet), but according to my friend^^ it means bright future or something akin to that. I hope this thing is right! Though it's ultimately up to me to make it so!

For those who can read it, a close-up version.

More food porn.

Disgusting Yugioh cards in the background ruining the view!

Needed to shoot quick, as my lamp gets extremely hot extremely fast (in exchange for being nice and bright). You can already start to tell it's melting due to the condensation on the chocolate!

Cards from my two grandmothers. The red envelope is compliments of my dad's side, and the yellow envelope my mom's side. Can you guess what is within? You'll probably be partially right like I was.

I couldn't decide which angle I liked better, so I put both!

So the $50 Canadian was from the red envelope. In the yellow envelope were a dozen old one dollar Canadian bills that have all been retained in their original near-mint condition forms. My mom's side grandma actually amassed a coin, stamp, and bill collection over her lifetime. Now she is giving it to us grandchildren. As a collector myself, I have an immense amount of respect for her. 

Adjusted the lighting. Looks much better.

Here are the stacks o bills. As you can see, there aren't any bends, creases or folds at all! 

Do you know what this thing is? SEVEN TOOLS OF THE BANDIT!! AHAHA (it's actually 10)...
...TEN TOOLS OF THE B--

Here is what the 10 tools are in 8 different flavors! As you can see this thing is marketed internationally.

I can recognize a couple of the characters here, how about you?

If not, we can cheat. Dat toothpick.

So what we have is a Swiss Army Card; it was given to me from my brother and sister. These things are surprisingly useful at the most random times you need to file your nails! (and apparently aren't allowed as carry-on in airports now).

Clean and simple. Reminds me of apple products!

This card is more organized than my room!

Nail file, flat-head screwdriver, tweezers, awesome toothpick, ballpoint pen GO!

Blade Armor Ninja GO!

It even has a ruler just in case I need to draw a straight line or measure card dimensions or something.

There was a tiny hole that I noticed last in the top left corner. It was a stealth pin! Just in case I need to stab a grape.

It fits perfectly into my wallet as it was designed to do. It's pretty lightweight too! 

I need to stab a grape.

 
I also got 2 Hitachi 2TB External Drives from my father. Those don't make for very pretty pictures though. And lastly, my parents have agreed to help me fund the next trip I take! (I'm 3 years overdue for one T____T) Hopefully that will be to Hong Kong and Japan!


...and that's it! Those were the fruits of my 20 years of quiet existence. Only time will tell where I'll be when I'm 30.