Birthdays

Age is a terrible thing. On Monday evening I was in my early twenties, and then with one swift movement of the second hand on the clock, into my late twenties, or 'almost thirty' as some people put it.

Actually my 26th Birthday went by with little fuss this year - just a meal with my sister and her fiancee, lunch with some friends and a night out with other friends (although I did have a Raspberry Mojito while sat with people drinking Appletini - it was starting to sound like a Scrubs script).

My present collection was quite unusual this year - in that I actually managed to think of things I wanted, and thus got real presents instead of vouchers and money (though I got some of that as well).

Thus my trusty (but heavy and large) 2.0Megapixel camera gets traded in for a new small sleek 7MP one, and I have a small 2 person filter coffee machine - very tasty and useful! I also got some books and Brain Putty which apparently can boost my intelligence....

Still no birthday cake though.

Roll up, roll up, Bargains to be had

One of the issues with a December birthday is the fact that any gifts come in one month. This means that you have spent them all by November. Due to the English LEA Student Loans system paying out on a termly basis for me (pre 2006 entrant) as opposed to the new monthly system which applies in Scotland and to new entrants in England, I also got my Student Loan at the end of September.

Thus November is always a bad month for me financially, and I;m having fun at the moment trying to find things to sell on Ebay / Amazon.

Examples include a textbook which I owned but then was sent for review purposes by a publisher (So as not to break the rules, i am selling my copy, not the one that the publisher sent me.) and some DVD's. Sadly I tend to break the CD cases so none of them for sale...actually i can't think of anyone who'd want to buy my CD collection... Anyway, this is how I'm spending my Saturday evening!