Celebrate my birthday this Sunday? Have a Slurpee from 7-Eleven and a Solar Eclipse on me!

27 Replies

That’s right, peeps. I’ve got you all FREE Slurpees AND a Solar Eclipse on my birthday because that’s how I roll…

You do need to get to the Southern Pacific Ocean in order to view the Solar Eclipse though you will thank me when you are staring at your own feet taking a sip from a tropical drink with an umbrella on top.

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Outings for Slurpees at 7-Eleven have been a cheap thrill for my kids, so maybe the less mobile amongst you can take advantage of this other FREE gift that I have got you. It is a great family bonding ritual. And you don’t know how awesome the brain freeze you get from a Slurpee can be until you watch this video.

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I am pretty sure there is no added hallucinogenic inside Slurpees. They are simply awesome on their own.

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Perhaps sharing the same “birthday” with 7 Eleven has made me partial to this chain store since I was little. It does not hurt that 7 Eleven is one of the ubiquitous convenience stores in Taiwan. Where my parents used to live, there were three 7 Eleven’s within easy walking distance. Where they live now? There is one right outside the alley. And this IS perfectly normal. In fact, it is expected:

“Boasting more than 9,100 convenience stores in an area of 35,980 km² and a population of 23 million, Taiwan has Asia Pacific’s and perhaps the world’s highest density of convenience stores per person: one store per 2,500 people… With 4,665 7-Eleven stores, Taiwan also has the world’s highest density of 7-Elevens per person: one store per 4,930 people.” (Source: What else? Wikipedia of course)

The amount and array of goods you can find inside a 7 Eleven in Taiwan is astounding, especially the food. Drinks. Snacks. HOT food: Dim sum. Steamed buns. Bentos. Tea eggs. Hot dogs. For Chinese New Year, they even “cater” the entire meal of 10 courses!  Whenever we visit my folks in Taipei, visiting 7 Eleven becomes a daily ritual. The boys, all three of them, have a great time figuring out which beverages out of the 158,826 varieties will be better than the last one they enjoyed.

Because the corporation that owns the 7 Eleven franchise in Taiwan also owns a large bookstore chain, you can order books online and pick them up from your local 7 Eleven, quite often on the very next day! In fact, you can pay all the municipal fees such as water, gas, electricity, parking fees, traffic violation and parking fines, telephone bills, credit card balances at your local 7 Eleven and any other convenience store.

They put the CONVENIENCE back in Convenience Stores.

More than anything though, 7 Eleven aspires to being a people pleaser. Wow. Sounds like somebody I know! Your local 7 Eleven strives to have available anything that you could ask for: spirits, courage, a star, a good feeling, and they will bag it for you…

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That’s what I would like for my birthday. A good feeling bagged to go.

27 thoughts on “Celebrate my birthday this Sunday? Have a Slurpee from 7-Eleven and a Solar Eclipse on me!”

  1. Justine

    OMG, I’m salivating to this: HOT food: Dim sum. Steamed buns. Bentos. Tea eggs. Hot dogs. For Chinese New Year, they even “cater” the entire meal of 10 courses!

    And books too! At a friggin’ 7Eleven??!!! Holy shit, that’s AWE. SOME. I’m jealous. Well, I feel a little better knowing you’re suffering the same unremarkable ones I am now in the Middle West of America. 🙂

    Hope you had a fabulous birthday! 🙂

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      1. Jen @ NathanRising

        I’ve been doing pretty good, thank you! Chasing after Nathan, who is walking now, by the way! And he is EVERYWHERE. (Seriously. He’s so fast sometimes I think he’s actually in two places at once.) I’m sorry I haven’t been around much! How have you been?
        Jen @ NathanRising recently posted…Six and SehMy Profile

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        2. Absence Alternatives Post author

          No need to apologize. You have a young baby who just turned mobile. If anybody gives you a hard time for anything, just give them the finger. It is 100% sanctioned by the Guild of Mothers. 🙂

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  3. Nance

    I hope it has been just the best day and that your men have all come through to spoil you silly! I don’t know how I missed out on that Easter Island eclipse jaunt, ol’ jet-setter that I am. Dang it. And 7 Elevens in Taiwan sound wonderful!

    Now, I’m curious how they came to be everything to everybody there and, here, they are just another place to gas up and buy some peanuts or a Penthouse. About all they’re equipped to cater in my neck of the woods is Super Bowl Sunday! America is a very strange land.

    Thanks for the Slurpee, sugar!
    Nance recently posted…Free Range Friday- To Vuja Dey And BackMy Profile

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    1. Absence Alternatives Post author

      You are very welcome, honey. 😉 Maybe because in Taiwan and other Asian countries there is not such land mass to afford mega stores as in the US? Also people still take public transportations everywhere and there is no land for suburbs (at least in Taipei…)

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  4. secret agent woman

    Oh, a very happy birthday to you!!!!

    At the center of the earth
    in the parking lot
    of the seven eleven where I was taught,
    the motto was just a lie.
    It says “home is where your heart is”
    but what a shame
    ’cause everyone’s heart doesnt beat the same
    it’s beating out of time     (Green Day)
    secret agent woman recently posted…Ill take mine with milk and sugarMy Profile

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  5. Jane

    Happy, happy, happy birthday! I hope it’s a fantastic day! Alas, we have no 7/11’s – so I have no free Slurpee to toast you with. 🙁 But I do have my sweet tea with extra lemon – so I’ll raise that to you instead! Happy birthday dear friend! xoxoxoxox
    Jane recently posted…My Blog Is Shrinking My Clothes-My Profile

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    1. Absence Alternatives Post author

      Thank you. 🙂 There was this guy on David Letterman and he used Taiwan as an example of how countries should not rely on their natural resources to get wealthy (because that tends to lead to misery at the end) but rather should teach their people to be innovative. I was blushing when I watched that segment, all by chance. What a nice guy! 🙂

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  7. Miss B

    Happy happy happy happy happy birthday, dollface!

    (I would sing you a birthday jingo, but I don’t know any good ones…)

    Slurpees are one of those things that I loved as a kid, but that make me instantly ill to even have a taste of now that I’m an adult. (Cadbury creme eggs fall into that category of things, too. Basically any kind of soda or carbonated beverage, unless it’s diluted as mixer in a cocktail. And creamy salad dressings. Those are the top items in the list of things I could eat as a child that I can definitely not eat as an adult. Not that you asked.)

    p.s. Happy Birthday!!!
    Miss B recently posted…IndependenceMy Profile

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  9. Vintage Christine

    We have no Slurpees here but we DO have Slushees and that New Orleans favorite, the SnoBall. Which is just a scoop of crushed ice on a paper cone doused with about 5 million calories worth of flavored sugary goop. They’re disgusting but you can’t live without them in the summertime. So in honor of your birthday I’m hereby awarding you a Nawlins SnoBall to smash against your forehead while you’re singing Happy Birfday To Meeeeee! Love ya, girlfriend!!! PS–if you don’t want the SnoBall, you can substitute a knock-yer-socks-off 180 proof Everclear Nawlins Daiquiri from our local Daiquiris ‘n Creams Drive-Thru. I DO live in a wonderful place, don’t I?
    Vintage Christine recently posted…Two Great Dames Dames I Said- Not DANES JeezMy Profile

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    1. Absence Alternatives Post author

      Nawlins SnoBall sounds awesome! Sounds similar to “shaved ice” originated from Taiwan. Yup, that’s our claim to fame. LOL. I would LOVE an 180 proof Everclear Nawlins Daiquiri… Hold on. Did you say DRIVE-Thru? For alcoholic drinks? Yes, m’lady, yes you do live in the land of unicorns.

      p.s. I tried to say Nawlins like a native and I bit my tongue….

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  10. Rachel

    I hope that you have a WONDERFUL birthday!
    Wouldn’t it be lovely to see the solar eclipse … too bad that would be impossible ;-/ Especially with the going price of 13,000 JEEZ!

    I wish you all the slurpees you can brain freeze out on 🙂

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  11. Velva

    First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! Promise me you will enjoy your day.

    I was listening to NPR about a guy who charters a plane to fly through the eclipse. A window seat is $13,000 and if you share a window seat it is $9,000.

    As soon as I see slurpees it reminds me when we were kids we we were throwing rocks in the parking lot behind our elementary school. Well, I got hit in the eye (whoa what a shiner I had) and my friend Becky in my honor, threw her cherry slurpee on John Tundadoor’s head.
    Sad for me, there are no more 7-Elevens where I live, or I would drink one each year in honor of your birthday, and Rebecca Tykonciski.
    Velva recently posted…Insalata CapreseMy Profile

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