Of Birthdays and Being Sick

Yesterday was my 27th birthday. I didn't do anything special but I did receive birthday wishes from family and friends. I guess the older you get birthdays are just like any other normal day. But I did receive the email below from a representative of the 'B-Day Fund':

Dear Dr. Anisa

Happy birthday from B-day Fund! Due to time constraint, the board of directors has agreed to postpone the present-giving ceremony to a later date, which is to be decided by you. The ceremony is to be held based on the following procedure:

1) Choose a date of your liking
2) Choose a shopping complex of your liking. You are advised to think carefully of your selection, as the quality of presents will depend on this.
3) Inform the B-day fund coordinator
4) On the chosen date, a representative of the B-day fund will escort you to the selected venue and bring you to the respective shops where you are allowed to choose your present. The amount of money, we regret, cannot be disclosed at this point but the representative will advise you when the limit is approached.

Note: This offer will expire 14 days from the date of this email.

Thank you and have a nice birthday,
B-day fund coordinator

So, what I've got to do now is chose a date and a place for me to receive my birthday presents. The place is easy, either One Ut*ma or Midv*lley but the time is a big problem. From now on weekends are all taken up by other activities. I'm hoping to go get the presents before the Year End Sale ends. Anyway, I'll certainly think of a way.

Now on to today, i.e. post-birthday. I am sick! I woke up with a terrible sore-throat and a slightly swollen right eye. Luckily the swelling on my eye-lid is not that obvious but it does irritate me, I think something must have bitten my eye last night while I was sleeping coz the swelling hurts a little. To add to that, the moment I stepped into my office, my nose started running and my eyes started watering. I guess this has to do with the temperature of the office which is getting colder by the day. They must have done something to the air conditioning system coz last week my office was quite hot. Anyway, by 10am I was not getting any better and I had to cancel my lecture. I was ready to go but I just could not stop sneezing and my nose kept watering. And now I've got a blocked nose. Luckily I didn't get sick on my birthday.

P/S: This weekend we'll be moving into the new apartment. We purposely postponed the move until the people from As*ro comes to move the dish to the new place. So the appointment with an As*tro technician has been set for tomorrow.