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DATE: 06/07/2004 05:15:03 AM
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BODY:
Thank you guys so much for the kind wishes, and for the even kinder gifts. On Saturday, I received a package that included quite a lot of pirate treasure from various people:

* A digital camera (Kodak, 3.1 megapixels with 4x optical zoom), courtesy of Dave, Virve, Carrie, Daina, Andrew, Ashley, Ed, Tom Kim, Joe Yang, and Aki.

* A 256 MB memory card and carrying case for the camera (from the same people as above)

* My first season of 24 (courtesy of Joe originally, and now Dave because I lent it to him before I left).

* The Kanye West album <i>College Dropout</i> (from Dave, burned)

* A new waterproof/breathable rain jacket to replace the one I lost at the bachelor party (from my mom)

* Dante's complete <i>Divine Comedy</i> (the John Ciardi translation), from myself (but inspired by Ed)

* "The Ring" on dvd, from Dave.

The weekend was actually relatively uneventful, in part due to my bad back but generally because I wanted to relax. Friday I went out to dinner at a swanky restaurant with some of the Pretoria people (Toni, Andrea, Titi and Nathan were among the attendees. Afterwards, we went to Melville for some drinks, I met a couple of cool girls and called it a night.

Saturday, I picked up the package of booty, learned how to use the camera, hung out with Renee, then went to Melville with Nikki and Samora. I got pretty drunk pretty early (got home at 12:30).

On Sunday (my birthday), I woke up, read some Dante, went swimming with Nikki and Sara, ate, came home, prepped the house and had some people over for drinks. During the course of the evening, I got calls from Daina/Andrew, my dad/stepmom, my mom, my brother, and Dave/Joe Yang (who were surprisingly hanging out in New York). Since we had to work in the morning, I pretty much called the evening at 11 or so.

Not too much to it, but that's probably a good thing. The camera is sweet; I've taken 12 pictures, and I can take a total of 279 (!) when the camera is set on Best Quality. It's funny -- now I can literally take a picture of everything.

This morning, my co-workers ot me Nelson Mandela's autobiography <u>Long Walk To Freedom</u>, as well as a pair of gloves -- and they are buying me lunch. Oh, and God got me an improving back for my birthday as well. It was a good weekend, and it feels great to be so loved and thought about.
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