I turn 26 today. Wooohooooo yaaaaaay brrrrrreeeeeehpppphhhhhhh! (That last sound is supposed to be that roll up paper thing that you blow into and it sounds like an elephant sneezing)
25 was truly a great year for me. I feel like I’m more confident in my thought process and rationalizations (you have no idea how important yet difficult this is in my job), I’m a teeny weeny bit more mature and I’ve pushed myself hard physically and gotten stronger. Achievement of the year was passing my CFA level I, which sadly, is pathetic in my opinion in the greater scheme of trying-to-change-the-world but still, it means I beat at least 50% of the candidates who made it to the exam hall. I hope I was a good friend in the past year and I want to be a better person – a better listener, funnier, more widely read, less lame and less awkward at networking/social events.
I used to judge how good my year would be based on my birthday celebrations. Usually the celebrations are awesome – friends come together, we eat a lot, dress up, do silly things, party. But some years my birthday just sucked -100 on a scale of 100. One year I flew back to the States for school, arrived on my birthday and was jet lagged for like 18 out of 24 hours. Then the person I was dating went to a party and got hit on by a girl and I found out from a few friends. Yeah not the best present. Another year, the person I really wanted around for my birthday refused to drive down. My 2 buddies took me out to a winery and we drank nice bubbly and had Thai food for lunch. But then I let myself get all miserable and spent the night crying. Those were the same years I had the craziest stressfullest times job and internship searching.
Alas I realize birthday celebrations are not an indicator of how the year will turn out. My 24th birthday celebrations were pretty darn awesome (2 days of clubbing, dinner with friends, spa during the day) and then my grandpa passed away. Life changing moment on a theoretically ”good” year. This year, I had a relatively subdued but nonetheless fun celebration. I didn’t club at all/do a zillion shots. I had a lovely Young Hollywood -themed party with all my friends around. And I genuinely enjoyed seeing them and catching up, which doesn’t always happen when I throw ambitious parties. Today, I got lots of birthday wishes and my sister bought my favorite Cedele cake – the chocolate hazelnut crunch cake – which I will gleefully break my 4HB habits for an hour, to devour. So I think this is me maturing. Celebrating life without too much madness, but still free and mad enough to do something fun… and I like it.
So thank you. God, family and friends, for making my life what it is. I lack a decent paycheck and I’m floundering in the wilderness of what-should-I-do-with-my-life but boy do you make my life anything but dull. I feel blessed because I have people who tolerate me, who are willing to have a beer after work, who love me despite how downright ridiculous I can be sometimes. Thank you, I love you and here’s to another year of greatness.
