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Shopping for a girl



Today (26 October) is my eldest daughter's birthday. 16 years old..... the most confusing age. I'm talking about me as a parent. After work today, I exited the NKVE at Subang Jaya to go to my
favourite haunt, Subang Parade. I kind of like it there since it's not too crowded like Sunway Pyramid, and there's MPH and Rock Corner, my two favourite stores and there McD and Pizza Hut and Nando's and Secret Recipe and Sushi King and even KFC.

Anyway, I thought of getting my daughter a soft fuzzy toy, but Nur is really known for the soft fuzzy type. Besides, we already have two big teddy bears and one turtle soft toy which are pretty much abandoned.

She like those Jonas Brothers.... not all of them, just one of them, t
he cute one... I don't know, it's Nick or Joe or Jacob or Jeremiah or something. So I thought maybe just get her a CD. The poster at the entrance of the CD shop looks new... but when I asked the shop assistant, she said the album was at least half a year old, with a "where have you been, old man?" look on her face. I hate Jonas Brothers.

The only thing I am sure of about Nur is that she likes to read. She'd devour books, thick ones which I take a month to finish, she'd take it all in in three days. And, then she'd read it another round or two, depending how much she likes them. By that time I still would not have finished my book.
At MPH, I headed straight to the teen section and there was a whole shelf of books about vampires. It is halloween season, after all, but, vampires seems to be the in thing. Stephenie Meyer started it a few years ago, with her quadrilogy of "deeply romantic" novels about vampires and werewolves. But, I blame Bram Stoker and his classic novel Dracula for introducing this blood sucker to the world.

Anyway, it was getting late, and I was still undecided on my girl's birthday present. Earlier, at the office I googled "what to buy a 16 year old" and got "a gift card or certificate" as the most popular gift. Of course, all of those who answered were Americans. We don't have those here... So, why don't I just give her RM100 and she can buy whatever she wants.

Then, as I turn to go, there before me, stacked on a table, was "the perfect gift for Stephenie Meyer's fans", so it was written on the packaging. A tin gift box, in it notebooks with the cover of the four novel in the Twilight series. And since Nur is a fan of Stephenie Meyer, I picked one up and asked the cashier to wrap it for me....

Driving home. I had second thoughts. Maybe she won't like the gift. What would she want to do with a note book... I mean, we've got face book and twitter and myspace and what not to express ourselves these days, who writes in a diary? Even I am writing this in a blog....

Well, I'm not turning back to Subang Parade, I will have to hand the gift to her and say something apologetic like...sorry Nur, this is all I can think to get you.... or, something flattering like, sorry Nur, what do you give a girl who has everything? Corny or cheesy (I can't tell the difference) but, maybe, out of pity she'll pretend to like the gift....

After the dusk prayer, and dinner, Sapiah called everybody to our bedroom for a birthday gift presentation ceremony. Ija with the camera and I and Nur posed, with Afiq and Aiman in the back ground somewhere....
Well, she loved it and thanked me a few times.... and it sounded genuine to me.

Money well spent, I'd say....

Happy Birthday, Nur.... I'll always love you.

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