Casino Royale

So my birthday is officially over. I can't believe it lasted for like, 3 days straight. Gah.

I have to be honest, though. My birthday was bittersweet. I wasn't expecting anything more, anyway. However, it was more sweet than bitter.

Allow me to break it down...

Sweet: Many people were still able to make it, even though I canceled, put it on again, changed the date, and changed it back again. Special thanks goes out to Yuri who emphasized to me that he had to make some serious study adjustments just so he could make it. 143, Yuri.

Bitter: We left Mississauga pretty late on Saturday. Later than I had hoped because I wanted to get there early to get some Poker in before clubbing. I still don't know whose bright idea it was to go to Pho before we left.

Sweet: The hotel suite was AMAZING. It was a very good thing I called days before to confirm I was getting the suite I wanted because they were going to put me in a regular room with 2 Queens. And then they said that I could get my suite but with only one King. I was willing to tolerate it but I was delighted to find out that when I checked in they had put 2 Queens in my suite. The suite was at the end of the hall (away from the other rooms) and our room was not adjacent to any other rooms. It's a good thing too, because we weren't quiet (hell, there was 13 of us!). Also, they gave me a room facing the Falls. BONUS!

Bitter: I ended up canceling bottle service at Dragonfly Nightclub because my main reasons for doing it (Nam and Alex) refused to go to the club and played Poker instead. Bah well.

Sweet: Dragonfly was awesome. It was 21+ crowd, so that meant it was mostly old people, which was nice because it made me feel young[er].

Bitter: I was treading dangerous waters by taking cold medicine and alcohol in a span of 8 hours. Not only that, I lost my voice at Dragonfly, thereby making my sore throat worse.

Sweet: We came back to our suite to our very full fridge of al-co-hol!

Bitter: Finding out Yuri had left in the middle of the night because he was fed up with the 6 other people he had to sleep with who were talking until 6 a.m.!

Sweet: Waking up to the Falls RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!

Bitter: Waking up with a mad hangover and a hoarse voice.

Sweet: Finding an All-You-Can-Eat Breakfast bar for $6.99 a block away!

Bitter: The All-You-Can-Eat Breakfast Bar we went to was too good to be true. The food was abysmal and their sign was deceiving because we didn't expect the $4-5 juice and milk!

Sweet: We got an extension of our check out time by 3 hours!

Bitter: My parents were going to come up Sunday afternoon but changed their minds which resulted in a shortage of vehicles to get back home. Me and Dev opted to take the bus home.

Sweet: Because we were going to take the bus, we figured we could finally play Poker, which is what we wanted all weekend.

Bitter: Nam tried to kidnap me into driving with 6 people in the car and I made him turn around because I wasn't about to sit in a 2-hour drive with 6 people in one car.

Sweet: Nam and the rest of the car ended up staying to play Poker, too. AND I WON $103 IN POKER! HOLLA!!

Bitter: There's no use in pointing fingers, but when we had to go buy our bus tickets (and we were getting a little scared about not being able to get home), Dev defied my suggestions which resulted in a "I-told-you-so" moment and he ended up having to pay for a cab for us to go from Fallsview to Casino Niagara (loonnnng story). It was basically one of our 'bitter moments' from the weekend as a result of poor, spontaneous planning.

Sweet: Dev and I made it home Sunday night.

Sweet: I don't regret having my birthday party as originally planned.

There were more 'Sweet' moments because they were memorable and funny like when Cuong was the only who got searched at the club ("Why me?!") and when Nam took some stuff from the maid's cart like it was a buffet. And of course, once again having [most of] the people I love who are non-family under one roof, even the ones who make rare appearances (Katie). Hey, my birthday party even evoked a ChinKL reunion (minus Minh) but without the nostalgic reminiscing of our dances. Heehee.

My birthday 'weekend' ended with a fabulous dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse with my boss and getting some gifts from some people our office works with. It's really nice to know that my work is appreciated even if I've only been there for a year and a half. That job satisfaction makes me happy.

The pictures from my camera of this weekend sucked, mostly because of out-of-focus-ness and lack of more pictures. Hopefully Meg will send me more because I know she took some good one. Anyway, deal with these for now...