My other birthday presents

A not so great birthday present was Benazir Bhutto's death. I wake up and CNN is on (of course...) and the main story says in white letters, "Bhutto has been assassinated." I'm like, "So? It's my birthday!!" Yeah, I really am sorry that she was assassinated, because she was against extremists and militants and terrorists. Pakistan is going crazy now, and the U.S. had a really good ally in Bhutto. I'm not so sure about Musharraf. The U.S. is saying, "Oh crap, what are we gonna do now?"

My sister, the great economist and historian, was very upset about her assassination. "I loved Benazir Bhutto so much, I even dressed up as her for Halloween ten years ago!" This I found quite funny. She put one of those garment things around her head, did the dark eye makeup, and went to a Halloween party. It stunk that she was killed, and it stunk almost as bad that I had to hear about it on CNN all day. Usually CNN doesn't report just one thing all day, so I can keep my sanity a little better. I got to hear what Bush had to think about it, I got to hear what McCain got to say about it (I think my family likes him a little bit? He's apparently probably better able to handle the situation in Iraq...he's just old. Speaking of which, I get to register for voting!), I got to hear what everybody's mother had to say about it. So, Benazir Bhutto, I got to hear all about you on my birthday. You're 54, have three kids probably all under 15, and a husband. You knew the militants were out to assassinate you. You wrote an email that was forwarded to Wolf Blitzer in which you said that you would blame much of your future assassination on Musharraf's inability to protect you with adequate security. You wore unstylish glasses sometimes. The last word you said was Allah. You were running for a third term as Pakistan's prime minister. You were Pakistan's first female prime minister. I think you had two gunshot wounds--one in the neck and one in the back? You died in the hospital an hour after you were hit. John McCain personally knew you. My sister was you for Halloween, and you died on my 18th birthday. Pakistan is now Terror Central, according to CNN!

But, my early birthday present was a Samsung Upstage II cell phone. It's not a flip phone; it's a very slim "candy bar style" phone. It has an MP3 player, 2.0 megapixel camera, and it's kickass! (http://www.infosyncworld.com/mobility/samsung_upstage.html) My other presents were some clothes that we went shopping for on the day after Christmas. I'm changing my appearance a little bit during this month and when I return to school. It's going to be fun. I'm really excited about returning for my second semester in college. It's going to be different...new classes, a new job (or two), a different perception about some areas of life, and hopefully I'll be working on some new projects. I'll blog about them if they come into being. But, I'm very excited. My appearance will probably change after I buy myself some personal birthday presents (and, I don't know how I'm going to get all of the money for them until I start working)...I'm going to buy a bunch of CDs (I love music and books!), get an ear cartilage piercing, get some sort of coloring in my hair (never done that before), and buy a symbolic ring. But, I need to know my ring size first. I still feel dumb, so I'm going to make an attempt to read more, even though I'm not sure at this moment which books I should read.

I miss Barnes & Noble! I can't wait to see it when I go back to the metroplex next week!