He loves me so

As my birthday falls on a weekday this year, and on a day when I could not take leave and he has class at night, Doppy decided to celebrate my birthday yesterday.

A week ago he was still complaining about being stressed out over my present. He lamented that I was very difficult to get gifts for since (1) I don't have a hobby like PJ (just buy Swatch; can't go wrong) or (2) like jewellery (he thinks jewellery are cop-out gifts) or (3) have any real needs in my life (I already have way too many tech toys for my own good).

And so, I took pity on him and told him that actually, I have been looking for a chain. Since my last, one and only chain broke, I do not have a chain to wear my wedding ring round my neck (no can fit my fat finger after birthing XP) or the beautiful pendants that friends and him have bought for me.

And so yesterday when he said that he needed to go Vivocity and had his usual sheepish look on, I kinda guessed that he was going to get me a chain. For once, he told me to go shopping on my own and took our son with him while I went to the bookstore by myself.

We went to a really lovely Italian restaurant at Duxton Road last night for a very good dinner. He knows that I like pasta and really went through some effort (I believe he should have asked some of you for input) to find this restaurant to take me to. I wanted to take pictures to share with all but alas I could not find my camera just yet (yes, yes, today I am going to pack up the place). But we had a most lovely time and the food was very good.

While waiting for our mains to arrive, he asked me if I wanted my present. I, of course, said yes. And out popped a Goldheart Jewellery box. I opened it and saw a chain and was very happy that he got it for me. He was still complaining the other day that chains were very expensive. However, when I tried to take the chain out to wear, I realised that there was a BEAUTIFUL pendant attached to it. I was very, very surprised. :) He claimed that it was the shop assistant's fault for not arranging it well but I suspect that it was due to the box being jingled around in his pants' pockets. It is a most lovely pendant and he told me that he spent a long time choosing it, no easy feat with a squirming son in his hands, crying ma-ma, ma-ma all the while.

And then he said, "This is actually the not-so romantic gift" and I went, huh? Diamonds are not still romantic ah? He decided to keep me in suspense for a little while more and we had our mains and savoured our pasta with wine.

The conversation then took a strange turn. Out of the blue, he asked me if I knew who George Bernard Shaw was. I, of course, gave him an incredulous look and asked him, "You mean you do not know who George Bernard Shaw is?" He looked down at his plate and wore his usual wry smile and I decided that I should not be so condescending especially in a night when he has just bought me diamonds and wined and dined me. And so I said, "Eh .. you know, the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain ... " and he said, "Oh! That play!" and I went, "Yep, My Fair Lady which is adapted from Pygmalion which is George Bernard Shaw's famous work. That's who he is. A famous playwright." And he went, "Oh .. is it? I have never heard of him leh." and I went, "It's ok lah .. you are an engineer. If you were a Lit student, then it wd not have been forgivable lah. There are certain canonical figures that one should know, even if one may not have actually read their works." and the conversation meandered to Broadway plays.

After we were done with our mains, he then asked me if I wanted the more romantic presents he got for me before our dessert arrive and I said, sure. Out came a paper bag and in it, was the following book:

And before your dirty mind starts wondering what kind of exercises the book contains, it's literally, exercises in WRITING style.

Exercises in Style, written by Raymond Queneau (in French, the original title is Exercices de style) is a collection of 99 retellings of the same story, each in a different style. In each, the narrator gets on the "S" bus (now no. 84), witnesses an altercation between a man (a zazou) with a long neck and funny hat and another passenger, and then sees the same person two hours later at the Gare St-Lazare getting advice on adding a button to his overcoat. (Wikipedia)

I thought it was a real cool book and was real tickled by it as I flipped through some of the pages. I know a couple of the styles that it was written in but some others, I would probably have to google for them.

And that's when he said, "That's the semi-romantic gift cos I figured that it would appeal to the geeky side of you. Now this is the one that I think is the most romantic."

Can you guess what it is?

That's right. He got me a book by George Bernard Shaw. But mind you, it was not just any book. It was not his famous plays but rather a anthology of his prose (which apparently was very well-written but very little has been made of them as he was more famous for his plays). And it was not just any anthology of his prose, it was a Longman FIRST edition of the book published almost half a decade ago! I went ga-ga over it!

He was very pleased to see that I was so taken with the book. He even said that he should not bothered with the diamonds since they cost so much more and yet the marginal utility of returns could not beat an old, musty hard cover book. I told him that I like all the presents but they all appeal to different parts of me. But I must admit that the GBS book was my favourite present. He lamented that the place which yielded his find could only be used once since he could not jolly well give me another antique book for my present next year. I told him he might have just started me on a slippery slope to collecting antique books (my first one was given to me by my fellow Literature colleague, the guru, who bought me a poetry anthology that was published in the 1930s) and his challenge would lie in figuring out which titles to buy for subsequent years. He was so happy to see that I like my presents so much and sat in his seat brimming with pride. :)

The evening ended off with "Monsters vs Aliens" which was thoroughly enjoyable.

Though the evening was spent in a rather uneventful way, I was most happy last night. I am very touched by the thought that was put into my gifts and though he had a fair bit of luck to help him (he stumbled upon the antique section in the bookstore by accident and chose the GBS book based purely on instincts), I was nevertheless very touched that he would spend monies to buy me something that some others would have probably thought it silly to do so.

But he knows me so well.

I love you, darling. Thanks for all the lovely presents and a most wonderful evening spent with you. As we clinked our wine glasses last night, "To this and may there be many more to come".

Thanks, baby.