Birthday Thank You Notes

This is the story of how my family got me the perfect gifts for my birthday this year (even if some were by accident), and how my friends helped.

I guess I'll share the most complicated story first. Samantha, knowing I had a DS with a scratched up screen, went with Joe to pick out a new game and brand new screen protectors. They got me Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, which I'd played and loved but didn't owned. Later in the same week, Ted saw the game cheap and, also knowing I wanted it, bought it for me as an early gift. When I got to Provo, Sam luckily found out before my birthday, and they exchanged the game for Brain Boost: Beta Wave. The screen protectors they got me ended up being for the DSLite and wouldn't have fit on my DS Phat. Sad times indeed, but I brought them home anyway.

Part 2 of this story is, of course, when the diabolical plot to steal my DS was set into motion, and Troy appeared with a ridiculously complicated story of how his parents were coming through on the way to see his sister and he wanted to show them the DS and to make sure to include more of the educational games rather than the blah blah blah.. Unsuspecting, I gave up my DS for what would be the last time, as my friends cashed it in and purchased the DSLite upgrade to surprise me with later that week.

So now I have two new awesome games (one I wanted, and one that I didn't know existed but is way awesome) to play on my beautifully bright DSLite with brand new screen protectors and an extra stylus. Whew.

*Sanji Bauble Not Included

In a much more straightforward gift, Sarah got me an extra big memory card for my camera, which has lead to the photo surge seen earlier this month (and as seen above). Paired with my recent discovery of Picasa and Google Images (which I've already gushed about enough), I plan on keeping the photo trend going.

I also got some cash from my mom, which turns out to be the exact amount that the first One Piece uncut box set will cost when it hits stores sometime after Nov. It will be set aside for the specific purpose until then.

Ilya also suprised me with the DVD of Masters of Russian Animation: Vol. 2. I saw some of these in my History of Animation class where I fell in love with the Eastern European shorts, so this was a really great gift to add to my ever growing cartoon collection. Here's one of my favorites, a 10min short by Fyodor Khitruk in 1973 called "The Island."

Ilya's also been posting other Russian animation shorts on his blog lately if you're interested.

So Thank You to anyone who got me a gift, or was at my awesome party in Idaho, or sent me well wishes. It was a super great birthday.