It's my birthday, LOVE ME!!!

On this day of August 20th 2006, I would like to announce that I have officially turned 20. I've just been kicked out of engineering, and only one of my friends could show up to my party yesterday. Of course, these problems aside, I had a great time.

On friday I heard some friends of mine where doing something anyways, so I met up with them. We went bowling, and I had the high score of 86. :LOL: Then we saw Snake on a Plane, which was OK, a weird mix of comedy, suspense and action. Then I had to make my way home by bus, but unfortunitly it was a bit late, the busses stopped running and I had to walk the last 4km or so. I arrived home at about 2:30am. Overall, it was nice to see my high school friends again.

Yesterday, I had a big itinerary set up about where I was going to go and what I was going to do. I was going to go to the Royal Ontario Museum at 10am, then the Ho-Hai-Yan Taiwan festival at the Harbourfront for lunch, then the Andy Warhol exibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario and finishing off at the Markham Jazz Festival to have dinner. However, due to my late night on Friday, I didn't get up in time to make it to the ROM, but I still made everything else. I also met up with one friend and his brother at the AGO, and we departed in Markham. I had an excellent time.

At the Taiwan festival they had a variety of interesting galleries and shows. They had some top chefs showing how to carve fruit and vegitables into amazing flowers and sculptures. They also had one of Taiwan's top origami masters there doing a demo for the kids, but he also had a gallery depicting some of the most incredible origimai sculptures I've ever seen. There were other galleries showing amazing leatherwork sculptures and scene, absurdly intricate wood carving, astonishingly detailed basketweaving, and a presenation of the top corperate brands in Taiwan (ASUS, Acer, Trend Micro, etc...). I had a tasty rice dish and bubble tea for lunch as I enjoyed the energetic dances of a troupe of very attractive young women. They had a bunch of other displays for airlines and things, and I took home a good deal of swag. It was an excellent few hours.

Next, I ventured off to the AGO on foot, without a map and not knowing the area. Amazingly, I travelled the 4km or so in about 30 minutes without taking a single wrong turn, and I only had to ask for directions twice! In any case, I made it to the Andy Warhol exibit, which was very... interesting. Apart from the strange mechanistic nature of much of his work, the pornographic video "Couch" that was running was somewhat distracting. They had one of these devices where you could punch in a number and this famous guy (don't know who) talked about the work. I met my friend and his bro there, and later we discussed the meaning behind the various images.

Personally, I felt that Andy was in search of the nature of the human existance, not really sure of his own role in it, and found interesting analogues in the machine. Perhaps he thought of the human as a kind of machine, but one fatally flawed by its extrordinary complexity and its need for fame. Many of his works expressed this deadly interplay. My favourite of which was one where this women had jumped from the Empire State Building, crashing into the roof of a diplomatic limo. It was amazing in that her beauty and poise were so perfectly preserved, with the roof wrapping around her like a sheet metal casket. There were many other images, maybe 40 in total, including the famous Elvis one and a video of Rod Stewart sitting in a chair for 3 minutes straight.

Afterwards, we viewed other galleries and my friend's brother set of the silent alarms like 5 times! Thank goodness it was closing anyways, because they were liable to kick us out. Heck, the guy even touched one of the works! Well, it was part of a gallery of publicly submitted art, so it wasn't anything important, but it's just not what you do at a gallery. Anyways, we left there soon after and before he could seriously damage anything.

We arrived at the Jazz Festival about 8pm, we immediately tried to find somewhere to eat, but all the restaurants were full. Eventually we found one, but the waiter said the food would take a while since it was so busy, and the other two had to go soon, so we parted there, leaving me alone. Regardless, I ordered this dijionisse crusted lamb, which was simply marvellous. However, when the brought me my bread they didn't bring any cutlery, and when they brought my bill they added it up wrong! Needless to say, the guy in charge (whatever you call him) was deeply apolegitic the entire time, especially since it was my birthday. I remember his name and the restaurant, and I'll make sure to get my value back the next time I go! :LOL:

After dinner I walked up and down the street, which was closed for the festival, and took in the sights and sounds. They had this one guy who was only 16 or so on the main stage, this famous female signer (don't know who she is) at one of their many hotspots and others. However, my favorite group, whom I bought an album from, was one called Methodology. They have a jazzy Rn'B sort of sound, whose energy I enjoyed. I bought some chocolate ice cream too. At about 10:30pm, I left, taking a long bus trip home. Mind you it was only two transfers, but I covered like 50km and it took like 1.5h. I finally got home at about 12:30am, but my brother and some of his friends were still up watching Amenityville Horror. I watched the ending half of it with them, before retired to my bed.

Today, it's just a family affair and much more relaxed. As I write this, my dad is preparing a stuffed pork roast with some potatoes and vegitables. I aniticipate a delightful gastronomic experiance.

I just thought I write these events out for prosterity. I hope you find reading them as interesting as I found doing them! :p :LOL:

-- Title shamelessly stolen from digitalwanderer.
 
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I don't understand why you want to be congratulated for turning older and becoming more decrepid, but alright! :D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Hope you're having a good time and that people are nice to you.
 
Should we be checking on your whereabouts 20 years and nine months ago then? ;)

Happy B-day, DudeM. . . but 86 at bowling? That's pretty pathetic! :p

It was still the best score! But, yeah, I usually get about 120. I haven't played in at least 6 months though. Still, I can't compete with by older brother who regulairly gets 200+.

Oh, and thanks to everyone for posting!
 
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Happy Birthday! Now celebrate it like you were a Kennedy!










..... avoid all drunk driving and having your head blown all over your wife in your motorcade, please. Oh and no crashing your plane. Tell you what: don't celebrate like a Kennedy....
 
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