Another Year Bites The Dust

As usual, I keep forgetting my birthday. I'm not the the person who memorizes dates. Ask me what's today's date, much less next week's, I'll draw blank nine out of ten times. In this sense, I feel like I'm an Aborigine living in a dream world, wholly divorced from the rigid structure of real-time. I only remember when my deadlines are, say, I know I had to finish that book on Arab Nationalism by today or submit my Fulbright application by next Monday. Everything else seems like a blur.

So thankfully, my mom called yesterday to remind me that I'm a year older. Anyway, I don't really have much to say on my birthday. It's just like any other day. It loses its significance when you hit 10. Well, there was a cake waiting for me at the office, which was a sweet gesture. Mary Jo, my boss, made a scrumptious pineapple cake and she was a bit worried if I didn't show up for work. See, for a long time, I didn't have a fixed schedule. I still don't. It's kind of nice going to work whenever I feel like it.

But yeah, today is just another notch on the post, another ring around the tree bark. I guess I'm a bit more mature now that I've been pondering hard about my future. The urgency of time finally gets to me--and not including an effort to appease my parents. I can now say with relative assurance that I have a quasi-direction and on an almost-straight track to a semi-tangible destination. It's better than to be drifting aimlessly, right? We'll see how it goes...