Hey Diary,

The Earth keeps revolving for so many gazillion years. Sometimes it might have stopped too, who knows. Life is so short in comparison to the age of the Earth and other planets. I can't believe that I have been living for so many years. Another year of my life is about to begin tomorrow.

Like my previous birthdays, I will go to the Goodwill in the morning to donate quite a few things for the less fortunate children. In the evening, all my friends will be here to enjoy the occasion. Dad is inviting some of his friends too. Dad's friends are boring like most Adults.

How can their discussions be interesting when they don't even ask each other if one of them found a quarter in play ground or how neat somebody's locker is? They always talk things like... "Samson stinks. He hardly ever takes a bath". Only exception is my aunt Nanhi. Unlike adults, she expresses jealousy when I don't play with her. She seriously believes that she and I are aliens who do not belong to planet Earth. Sometimes she acts silly but overall she is my best friend.

Dad is the greatest person on Earth when he is not singing but somehow he always sings. Besides singing he has a very annoying habit of making a song of anything I tell him. He has to study now when he is overloaded with job and family responsibilities. Looks like that he did not study well when he was a child.

Like my Dad, I don't like studying. Mom forces me to study. She says that I cannot become a doctor or engineer without studying hard. Who wants to be a doctor or engineer? I don't want to be a bore like my doctor uncle Rasik or engineer aunt Devi. I want to be an artist but Mom insists that I need to study even to become a good artist. If that is true I prefer to become a gardener when I grow up. I don't think that the plants care about my degrees.

When my classmate Neha insisted that she was a vegetarian, I told her that she cannot be a vegetarian because she eats fish. She replied that I too am not a vegetarian because I drink milk. In the evening, I asked Dad if drinking milk makes me a non-vegetarian. He reassured me that a vegetarian can drink milk. Dad's words were satisfactory. I could not wait for next morning to tell Neha what I knew about milk. She did not come to school that day because of sickness. Next day when she saw me, she smiled. She was happy to see me. I asked her about the sickness. She didn't tell me any interesting stories about her sickness. I forgot the entire episode about vegetarianism by next day. But then she told me that her Dad confirmed that she can be a perfect vegetarian even after eating fish because fish is a sea vegetable. I can't believe that.

Jessica is another friend of mine. Her story is very interesting. She has 52 brothers and sisters who live in China. Her school was long hours in China. She used to come back home from school at 8:00 PM. She had to cross a dense forest all alone every day. That is why she ran away to USA and found her new parents here. I don't tell Jessica's story to mom because she starts laughing. She does not believe that I am telling the truth.

Last year somebody stole my bicycle. Jessica told me that she saw a man riding on my bike. She also saw my name written on the bike. When I told this to my mom, she started laughing as usual. She never takes anything seriously. She even insisted that my name was never written on my bike. So what? It was my bike and Jessica had seen it.

I was very sad yesterday. Chris, my classmate was leaving her home. She had to go to live in a place where she would not have a shelter, or any food to eat. I was shocked to find my friend in such a bad situation. She lives alone with her Mom while her father lives with some other woman. I could not sleep for whole night. I saw Chris in my dream. It was a winter night. She was sitting on a sidewalk barely trying to save her from snow and cold wind. She looked tired and hungry. I tried to grab some hot soup for her but all the shops were closed. I looked for mom thinking if she could cook something hot for her but she was not around. I sat on the sidewalk next to Chris and started crying. She held my hand. This is when I woke up to see that mom was holding my hand. She asked me why I sobbed in my sleep. I told her about Chris.

Oh doorbell. It seems that the guests have started coming. I see a beautiful Barbie cake wishing me happiness on my seventh birthday. I have to close the diary for today. See you later.