Time for some self-absorption.

Today, right now, is my 27th birthday. Actually, if you wanted to be technical about it, it would've been my birthday yesterday since I was born in Singapore, and the 18 hour time difference would mean that I've already turned 27. But I'm just feeling kinda "eh" right now. Feeling a bit crap, actually.

My day was actually not bad, got another wedding finished, just two more to go. Had a really good time playing around with my wife today, feeling like the couple we were before baby. Had a relatively easy day with Alex. Regulated body temperture with lots of Coke.

But what put me in a funk was going to the Post Office, and finding out what I got from my mom and brother. It was a receipt for a paid for stationary bike. In all honesty, I basically said, "What the hell, dude?" and just spent the rest of the day moping because of two reasons. One, this was essentially, the only present I was going to get because my wife's been on maternity leave for the past seven weeks, and I totally understand that she cannot afford to get me anything, because I couldn't afford to get myself anything, and two, this will, and has, escalated the whole gifting thing between me and my family.

A little history lesson.

My mom and brother don't really understand me. I like movies, video games, Macs, video and camera things. That's it. Anything else I might fancy would be pedestrain, a phase. Also, I'm practical. I like things I can use often, or things that are cheap and effective. I don't believe in newer is better, or bigger is better... usually. My family however, isn't on the same train of thought. I don't really know what they're thinking a lot of times.

Granted, I have returned a lot of their gifts in the past. Columbia Jacket. Wedding watches for my wife and I. Stroller. But that's because anyone who knows me would know that I'm just a practical guy. It's Bellingham, and Columbia jackets are not only excessive in thickness, but also in brand status. Don't care for that at all. Watches were 100 bucks each. Fancy. My wife and I aren't fancy people. And Stroller is easy, we got a free hand me down, so we had to tell my brother to return his. Because we had one. For free.

So, right now, I've been msn messenging my brother about the stationary bike, and it looks like the best damn thing to do is to keep the stupid thing. He's saying that it's about the thought behind the gift, which I do appreciate (essentially, they want me to be healthy. And a bike solves that.) but to me it's the practicality of it.

I don't wanna just bitch and moan about it anymore. I would rather just return the thing to them and give them their money back, but I don't know if that's gonna happen. In the end, it's not about getting something for my birthday, really. I have a son and that's a pretty good present. It's just about getting into the same stupid scenerio all over again with my family.

Alright, enough about that.

Bleah.