The Whole Birthday Thing

Yeah, it’s the 18th of November again. Happy Birthday to me, etc.

One interesting thing about journalling (or blogging) is that you can look back through the years and remember how you felt and where you were on specific days.

I had three birthdays in India. If I had blogged my birthday in 2003, I doubt it would have made cheery reading. That was a difficult month in a difficult season and the climax of a difficult year.

2004 wasn’t a lot better, judging from this post. I could describe that year as one of existential angst, but that would be an understatement. It was also, as I recall, one of a number of years where my partner was absent overseas, through work, on my Birthday. Not something I lament too much, but tough nonetheless.

2005 was a much better year and I recall a lot of things about that birthday. I had found my way in India and was developing my musical voice. I also remember spending most of that birthday stuck in Delhi traffic, what with it being wedding season and all. Why wasn’t I more into photography back then?

2006 the retail nirvana of Hong Kong was still flush with was still captivating me. Being a Saturday night, I stayed home but I remember it being a good day and I also remember that, way back then, I had some friends and a social circle in this city.

2007 was another year flying solo on my birthday and my thoughts really were elsewhere. I also remember that, my initial enthusiasm for Hong Kong had really waned. In fact almost all of the initial glow over being in Hong Kong had faded.

2008 was a tough year and although I had a marvelous pre-birthday trip to Copenhagen, the day itself was quiet. Although those key years do tend to make one more philosophical, I was also in that mood because 2008 had been a very tough year: draining, emotional, lonely and repetetive. I was getting better at many things, but with little to show for it. I was meeting people, but with no real sense of developing new friendships.

Which brings us to today, flying solo again, but generally feeling better about life; with a growing social circle, a better (if more circumspect) feeling about this city and the sense that some real big creative milestones are now within grasp.