Personal Recount:

In all of my 'colorful' memories, the best one is on 25/1/2007. It was on my tenth birthday and was one of the most memorable events of my life. It all began on a Sunday morning.

On that day, I woke up, aware that it was my tenth birthday but not aware of the surprise waiting for me. After breakfast, my father decided to drive to a few shops to search for a suitable birthday gift for me. That was when I realized that we were driving towards a harbor with a big cruise ship docked beside. I asked my parents if we were allowed to board it a take a look of the interior of it. That was when I realized that they had already booked the tickets and it was a birthday treat for me. Yes, I was overjoyed and excitement was rolling over me in waves.

The first thing we did was to have lunch. It was the most sumptuous meal I ever had! The desserts and fried food were unhealthy but at least they were delicious! I ate till I could not stuff anymore in.

However, what I thought was the most perfect day of my life scarred me for the rest of my life. Well, after lunch, I was running on a wet deck with my brother and I slipped and fell flat on my face. My forehead hit the ground and started to bleed. As I was still immature, I thought that I was going to die (as that always happens in movies) and started crying loudly. My parents raced me to the sick bay on the ship and I got bandages on both my forehead and knee. I was comforted and told by my parents that I was not going to die and should calm down.

After the incident, I was brought to our cabin to rest. I was told to sleep but since there was a computer in the same room, I played with it the whole afternoon. Since we were only there for 1 night, we did not have any luggage so the room was quite spacious. I did not know that while I was totally engrossed into my computer gaming, my family was preparing my birthday gifts.

I was so oblivious to my surroundings that I could not even hear my mother when she called for me to have dinner. She was obviously angry that I played computer for the whole afternoon, which was bad for my eyes and my injuries, but just game me a stern warning as it was my birthday. We had buffet for dinner and ate my birthday cake as well.

When we got back to the cabin, I opened my presents and found all kinds of wonderful stuffs. I got a new mobile phone from my father, a new blouse and skirt from my mother and a drawing from my brother. (I still could not make up what it was until now) I was really tired but happy at the end of the day. But mostly, I felt lucky to have such a great family.

By: Xiang Lan