  It is my birthday. I saw Spider-Man 2 with Ben even though I didn’t want to. Spider-Man 1 beat Star Wars in opening weekend records and I still hold a grudge but it looked good so we saw it.
It was good. I decided to ask for nothing this year for my birthday. There wasn’t anything big that I wanted so I decided to see what I would get. My parents know me and they know what I want. The only thing I don’t like are little things. I like getting one big thing.
My parents have a knack for picking practical gifts because they cannot think out of the box. Ben got me A disco light (I have wanted one since 5th grade), car air fresheners (uh, it is Ben), a plastic coconut (for mimicking Monty Python scenes), and his mother made me a shoe bag. None of that was practical, I LOVED IT! He was so creative and bought 4 presents under $30! They were so great!
So my parents buy CD labels……………...……they don’t want me to need to spend the money 100 Blank DVD’s ………… that is like $150, I usually buy them when I need them Mini DV tapes …………….. I need them but they are for work. I also find them all over the media room for free DVD case inserts …………. I know the measurements, paper is fine, I can cut them out Printer Ink cartridges …..…. So I don’t need to go down to Kinko’s All that stuff went un-appreciated because I buy all that when I need it, it is not a gift.
It is like them buying me a backpack, pens, pencils, markers, and binder paper. It is a tool I dispose of regularly. They didn’t get my point so my dad treated me like an unappreciative brat during the opening. It is so tough to open presents in front of him! Oh yeah, the good gift… 512 megs of ram for my Mac. I knew it was coming, he quizzed me on the phone a couple days ago, I expected it.
I also told him on the phone that I didn’t need it, it was my HD that needed replacing. So I got a great gift! He is taking me down to the apple store to fix my computer PLUS I get the ram! I was very happy with this; I hope they learn from that!
I was extremely appreciative when they got me a gift I would actually enjoy. I know I sound like a brat here but if they were going to spend that much money on me there are many things I would have liked more. $150 on 100 DVD’s seems like a waste on a present to me. We went to see the fireworks tonight. I felt really good to turn down something that afternoon. We went to buy fireworks. I remember last year’s after the fireworks, firework to be boring because they were like big whop, I just saw real ones.
I was glad to stand at that fireworks stand that afternoon and say I didn’t really want any fireworks. We bought a pack for $10 because my mom wanted the sparkelers and my dad got a big firework for $6. I said we didn’t need it but he insisted. I did ask for a pack of smoke bombs though, they look great on tape as a grenade. My parents even asked “do you want two?” and I turned them down. That felt really good. 
