11 posts tagged “birthday”
I am 33 today! Birthdays are a little different now. When I was (much) younger birthdays used to be all encompassing. I was pretty much always on holiday around birthday time because school had closed for the year so the day started with birthday prezzies and the rest of the day was playing with them, trying them out.
Now as a grown-up birthdays are often caught up in the day to day stuff. Feeding dogs, changing nappies (diapers for my American readers) and so on. One thing I don't do on my birthday anymore is work (at least not a full day - I have a meeting today I have to attend). The last time I did that I was working part-time at a local stationery/book store/music store and it was an awful way to spend a birthday. Since then I have either taken leave or, since starting my own business, just taken the day off.
The one thing I don't want to do is see my birthday as "yet another day". Birthdays are special even if they tend to come around again and again. They are the anniversaries of our entry into this world and given our uniqueness, they should be treasured days.
Anyway, I apparently have a flat tyre which I need to go and change ... :-P
Ok, so a couple people have asked what I would like for my birthday so here are a few suggestions:
- The Bourne Ultimatum (movie and soundtrack);
- Stargate SG-1 Season 9 and Season 10 boxsets (these are biggies)
- Star Trek Voyager Season 6 and Season 7 (would love to see the end of the series)
- Exile on Mainstream by Matchbox 20
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie (yes, I am an adult but this must be required viewing??)
- Planet Earth (this is apparently spectacular)
- The Complete Clapton double CD
- Goo Goo Dolls "Let Love In" or "Greatest Hits Vol 1"
- Essential Paul Simon (version with the DVD)
- Moby's "Go - the very best of Moby"
- Smallville - the complete 6th season
- 300; and
- vouchers for DVDs and CDs are always welcome because I can get stuff I hadn't thought of or put them together and buy bigger items.
It is Ari's birthday party today and we are at JB's in Melrose Arch for a quick supper and celebration.
I am at least a decade older than anyone else at this party (except for Gina of course).
We are at Tina and William for Tina's birthday tea. It is a very laid back afternoon with some really great baked things to eat.
We are at Gina's grandparents (on her dad's side) for tea. Her grandmother, Ruby, is celebrating her birthday on Monday. I believe it is her 90th birthday. Her grandfather is already in his early 90s. Last year they celebrated their 64th anniversary.
Yup, today marks the day I am another year older. It was on this day many, many years ago that I was introduced into this world. I share my birthday with my late grandmother and with our friend David (not to mention all the other 8th of December babies out there).
Some of the more notable events to happen on my birthday during my lifetime include:
- 1980 - John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in New York City.
- 1987 - The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed.
- 1991 - The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.
- 2004 - The Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.
- 2004 - Guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott is murdered onstage by Nathan Gale at a Damageplan concert in Columbus, Ohio.
- 2004 - The population of the Australian state of Victoria reaches 5 million for the first time.
- 2005 - Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 slides off the runway at Chicago Midway Airport, killing a 6-year-old boy and injuring 11 other people.
- 2005 - Ante Gotovina, Croatian army general accused of war crimes, is captured in the Playa de las Américas, Tenerife by the Spanish police.
There are a few observances and holidays that take place today too:
- Buddhism - The Enlightenment of Gautama Buddha
- R.C. Saints - The solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary: a Holy Day of Obligation
- Bulgaria - Day of the Student (studentski praznik)
- Italy - In Milan, the opera season starts.
- Austria - Public Holiday.
- Malta - Public Holiday.
- Romania - Constitution Day
- Afflux (50 Aftermath) (Discordianism)
- Panama - Mother's Day
All in all, it is a pretty eventful day! To commemorate the day I have taken the day off and intend being totally self-indulgent. In a short while I am packing my PowerBook and iPod and heading out for what will hopefully be a really nice day filled with all sorts of nice things for me.
Happy birthday to any other 8 December people out there! It is a really good day to have been born.
It is going to be my 31st birthday in just under two weeks. Wow! It really doesn't feel like I am almost 31. That is a really grown-up age and I don't feel like a grown-up. I am not sure how I feel. I don't feel like a teenager (I don't really remember what it felt like to be a teenager) or in my 20s, I just feel like me. I feel timeless, in a way.
Anyway, I have arranged a birthday party to celebrate my birthday but I am beginning to wonder if I really want a birthday party this year. Besides the fact that half my friends are not going to be around and I probably shouldn't be spending that kind of money on a party for such an innocuous birthday (it isn't my 16th, 18th, 21st or even my 30th), I wonder if I really need to have such a shindig on this day?
What do you think? Do you have birthday parties every year, no matter the age, or do you just spend the day with your loved ones and otherwise carry on? I do have one tradition which I have followed since I was in my early 20s and that is not to work on my birthday so I will be taking the day itself and quite possibly the following Monday off as a kind of tribute to me but other than that ... I am not sure if a party is what I want.
We have just returned from a birthday lunch to celebrate Helen's 30th birthday (although you'd swear she was still very much in her 20s). The venue was the very unusual Goblin's Cove about an hour outside of Johannesburg. We got there a little after 12:20 or so this afternoon and met up with Helen and David while they were taking a walk around the place. Eventually everyone arrived (a few people got a little lost) and we ordered drinks, food and got on with the lunch.
There are statues of goblins, fairies and other strange creatures all over the place. The restaurant is located in the middle of a sprawling garden and has tables and eating spaces scattered through rooms with different sizes and shapes. The outside areas looks like they are totally overgrown and this really adds to the overall effect of the place. The food is pretty good and aside from an unfortunate incident involving salad dressing being spilled all over Helen, her chair and her friend beside her, we had a pretty enjoyable afternoon. Most important of alll, Helen seemed to have a great time. Happy birthday (again) Helen!
I have posted my photos from the afternoon on Flickr if you'd like to see more of Goblin's Cove.
Today has been a bit of a sad day. My dad would have been 56 today. He passed away over 3 years ago from pancreatic cancer, a nasty form of cancer with low survival rates, and I have really been missing him today. I gave the following eulogy at his unveiling which I thought I'd repeat here in honour of my dad's birthday:
We are here to honour our father, husband, brother, relative, friend and teacher and to pay tribute
to the man he was to us all, to his memory and to spirit he remains. Usually I speak my own
words. Today I will let others speak through me first. Others who are far wiser than me.When my father passed away Leonard, my sister's fiancé, said “It was a privilege to have known
such a brave, strong and courageous man.” It was more than a privilege, it was a blessing.In his book The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran wrote the following of death:
“For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what it is to cease breathing but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and
expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then shall you begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.”In his journal, my dad wrote that “Life is not anything, it is only the possibility for something”. What
is a life if not the opportunity to take charge of it and make it your own? Expressed differently,
“change and growth take place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved
with experimenting with his own life.” This is a lesson I draw from my father's life. He met his
challenges with stubborn determination to overcome them. They were not unearthly and
impossible challenges, they were the challenges we all face in our daily lives. They were the
challenges we will overcome, grow through and change so much for the better, if we choose to.I wrote this next item for my grandmother, my mom's mom. It is just as fitting here as it was for
her:eulogy
behind the silence
move aside the heavy folds
and reach beyond
to the unobserved continuation
of an existence hidden from
us
solely because we insist on
searching it out on the ground
before us as we shuffle forwards
look up and see that at
the end of this life
there is a continuity
in a last breath
where eyes close
and the soul calmly steps outside
into a simple awareness
I AM
Peter was not a great businessman or statesman. He wasn't an extraordinary scientist or artist.
He was Everyman and to us he was everything.
We went off for a picnic at Gilooly's Farm today to celebrate Sam's birthday. Sam has been Gina's friend for ages. Sam's boyfriend brought his daughter Jessie along and she is very cute. It shouldn't be too long before Gina gives me the "let's have babies" look. ;-)
I took a lot of photos of the park itself and the trees and plants around us in particular.
