on-the-spot

you know what makes me uncomfortable? when people ask you what you want for your birthday. it's such an on-the-spot thing, and usually i don't really know what to say. my cousins asked me to make some suggestions, and i was at a total loss. i mean, if you pick something that's too expensive, then you look greedy. if you pick something that's too cheap then you're insulting them. (like when my cousin "P" asked me what i wanted for housewarming and i asked for a brita. he ended up buying me the wardrobe...and the brita. i love P oh-bbah, but he spoils me).

plus it's like - if there's anything that i really wanted, i'd just get it. unless it was too expensive for me to afford, in which case why would i ask someone else for something so extravagent? and half the fun with gifts is that someone thought of you...i don't know, that's why i usually don't like it when people give me gift certificates. (ah...the bane of "R" the last couple years).

but alas, that's the way it works in the lee-chong-pak households, they're into everyone getting gifts that they want. so there's a lot of maneuvering around christmas and birthday time, with all the spouses getting interrogated as to what someone would like, and everyone chips in and buys something nice together. i think they actually are into making wish lists. i find that absolutely bizarre...but i'm just not used to that sort of thing, i guess. well, i don't have a spouse so i have to make my own list. reason #6003 why i need to get married. (#6001 being so that someone will check the mousetraps and dispose of them, #6002 being so that someone will kill the bugs).

the only thing i came up with (and sheesh i didn't even come up with it, liza did!) was a new camcorder, since my faithful panasonic of 4 years is on its dying breath as of late. however, that was out of their budget, so i got to feel sheepish asking for it. rawr, just what i didn't want out of this whole thing. though in the end i got a great deal (again, thanks to P oh-bbah) and got one myself.

but then i was back to square one with this list!

in the end, i put a few things on there in different price ranges. i hope they get the first one. haha, totally frivolous and i would never buy it for myself, but it'd be cool to have: PS2 with DDR. well the real #1 thing on my list was the death of all mice in NYC but i figured they'd gloss over that one. *sigh*

though i feel embarassed by this process, i must say, it's nice to feel like a part of a big family with sibling-esque figures who remember your birthday and stuff. eesh, 25. it's coming. time to have a quarter-life-crisis...