Saturday, April 24, 2010

you're alright, birthday. you're alright.

Before college, I'd always built up my birthday as this one shining day in a sea of ordinary days on which you're allowed to believe in this fantasy that the whole world revolves around you. My best friends and I used to lavish each other with attention on each others' birthdays. But when I got to college, my social network shrank, and my birthday became more insignificant. And then junior year happened. That year, I got in a fight with my housemates (read: only friends) around my birthday and almost all of them proceeded to not only not acknowledge my the occasion, but also basically ignore my existence for most of the day.

So on my 21st birthday, of all days, I had never felt more alone. My boyfriend was backpacking in Europe without a cell phone, my best friends were in separate states, and the people I lived with hated me. I decided to make my own happiness that day -- I got myself out of the house and went shopping alone and blasted music with the windows down and gorged myself on a Venti Mocha Chip frappuccino (Venti! Who needs that much frozen cappuccino? Who?!). My parents and sister came to visit and take me out to dinner. But all-in-all, it was one of my worst moments. At 20, I had never known that the universe could be that cruel. A lot has changed in 3 years, but the memory still stings. And I'm still working on allowing myself to be excited and happy on my birthday.

This year was a good case for the "Birthdays Rock!" side of the debate. After the Dead Baby Bunny incident, things looked up. I had a day off from work, so that was a plus from the start. I spent almost my whole day tinkering around on this blog, and I joined 20sb and went a little forum-happy. I ate a sandwich and a chocolate muffin. I made some plans to hang out with some of my friends from Ye Olde College Days. I got sucked into a marathon of The Hills. Oh! And my best friend Lindsay called me and had her entire class of first-graders sing "Happy Birthday" to me (complete with "cha-cha-CHA"s). It was pretty much the best thing ever.


Then my boyfriend Matt showed up with an arsenal of geeky presents: a PS2 and like 6 editions of Final Fantasy; Super Mario Bros Wii; and the piece de resistance: my very own factory-sealed limited-release Lord of the Rings extended edition DVD box set. There are only 1,000 of these in the whole world and I have no idea how he found one because I assumed they had all been sold back in like 2003 or whenever they were released. Since Matt already has his own copy, we're going to continue watching those and just keep this one forever unopened and maybe displayed in its own back-lit case or something. Because we are That Kind of Nerd. And we went out to dinner and had the most epic Peking duck and fried rice.


Unfortunately, I fell asleep at like 9 PM because I didn't get any sleep the previous night and when I woke up at 5:50 AM, Matt was gone and I still had my nice dress on and Mario was still on my TV bobbing from side to side and shouting "Let's-a go!" at me.

Today the festivities continue. Matt's got this whole day in Philly planned for us, and later tonight we're getting together with friends to maybe play video games or maybe just watch Serenity for the 90th time.


Like I said. That Kind of Nerd.

10 comments:

  1. I'm glad you had a nice birthday. Everyone should feel like they are the most important person in the world on their birthday! Well, they should at least have an awesome time and be treated really well, I think! Also, playing video games and watching Serenity is my way to have a party, too!

    Happy Birthday!

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  2. Love it! Yay for awesome geeky boyfriend! Hope your birthday continues to get better and better.

    And there's nothing wrong with watching Serenity for the millionth time, let alone the 90th time. :) Every Sunday morning, we watch an ep or two of Firefly with coffee and Pillsbury cinnamon rolls!

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  3. "I still had my nice dress on and Mario was still on my TV bobbing from side to side and shouting "Let's-a go!" at me."

    Easily my favorite part of the entry.

    Hey! Happy birthday.

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  4. Happy Belated Birthday! My 23rd birthday is around the corner.... >.> I'm deciding to spend it with either friends or by alone for once. Haven't made plans yet. :)

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  5. @Caity - That's pretty much how I celebrate everything, no lie.

    @Kara - Now I have a HUGE craving for Pillsbury cinnamon rolls.

    @Juniper - Ironically, it was the lowest point of the day -- I guess it's those moments that make for the best blogging :P

    @Lady Mel - I recommend at least one birthday alone, despite my traumatic experience. I believe that as long as you're in the mood for it, solitude can be just as rewarding as socializing.

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  6. Ugh, I hate waking up alone.

    I love that you're That Kind Of Nerd, makes life so much more fun. Although it also makes you want to disown your friends when you find out that they thought "Serenity kinda sucked man". I may ignore my cousin forever after that snipe.

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  7. Junior year me still deserves a drop kick down the townhouse stairs for my behavior. Not that I was the worst offender, but I was an offender nonetheless.

    Also, I'm pretty sure having a classroom of children singing to you on your birthday has to be one of the best things ever. I'm kinda really jealous.

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  8. Hey! I'm a newbie and I've only read your latest post and this one and I love both! First, I LOVE my birthday. On my 17th birthday my older sister (in her 40s, so not a "child") screamed in my face that she hoped Jen (my then fiancee, now wife) would cheat on me, and that we'd end up breaking up (aka: my sister had issues, was cheated on in her marriage, so she wanted the same to happen to me...)

    I was LIVID.

    Also, this "I woke up at 5:50 AM, Matt was gone and I still had my nice dress on and Mario was still on my TV bobbing from side to side and shouting "Let's-a go!" at me." is SO funny. Made me laugh out loud, for real.

    And finally, YAAAY another female geek! :P Both my wife and I are very geeky. So we always love meeting more geeky people. So yaaay! And that LOTR gift? AWESOME!

    Um. So. Yeah... Hi. :P

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  9. @Vanilla Bean - I recommended Firefly to one of my best friends and she reported back that she stopped after 5 or 6 eps because she "just didn't feel connected to the characters" and that "it's no Buffy." I love my friend but I literally shuddered and gagged when I read that.

    @Cait - Oh darling, you are exonerated forever. P.S. The kids singing really was boss. It was one of the coolest and cutest things of my life.

    @Lariats - Hi! Thank you for the compliments and the visit. Also, GEEK LIFE 4EVA. ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.

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  10. I really enjoyed reading this one - i always worry that my birthday's going to be rubbish too but my friends always make it awesome. However, I spent my birthday last year with my gran and mum, eating Chinese takeaway and opening presents. I thought my dad and brother were going to be there but they couldn't be bothered with it. Whatever that meant. I was upset and disappointed at the time but ended up having the best family-based birthday night with the ladies of the family (despite pretending to be really disappointed when i went home hehe).

    OMG Firefly/Serenity. I'm drooling over my box set right now.

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