33rd Birthday Reflections

Last Friday, my 33rd Birthday came and went. This year, I was fortunate to have the day to myself—I was the only person at work all week for our department, but my supervisor made arrangements to make sure I could take the day off. If I had to work, it certainly wouldn't have been the end of the world or anything. There's nothing particularly special about this Birthday. However, everybody deserves a day now and then to themselves, to splurge and treat oneself a little. After nearly several months of consistent stress, I was grateful for the opportunity.

What did I do that day? Wasn't really anything spectacular, but after touring numerous places over the past couple of months, I was in no mood to travel anywhere exotic. I merely slept in a little, then jumped in the car and started driving.

My first goal was breakfast, of course. Though I make my own nearly every day, I had a free reward to claim at Starbucks, so I resolved to visit the closest one to me and claim it. It was a small place located in the middle of a grocery store. When I got there, I was a little dismayed to find that specific one didn't allow me to claim rewards (and strangely, this is the second time I've run across a Starbucks place that doesn't take the reward card—the second being the lobby of the Marriott in Provo. It seems that these smaller places connected to other establishments don't cut it—I needed to find a real, dedicated Starbucks shop). It was a minor inconvenience, but I still needed food—I ordered coffee and a sandwich regardless. Starbucks breakfast is not exactly the greatest in the world, but it was warm and tasty enough for me.

Next, I drove to the library—I had been visiting libraries more often to check out more movies and music, and I needed to return a number of items. This library I went to was larger and always had a shelf of things for sale. This time, I was amazed to find a deal going on: ten items for $1. I decided to grab four CDs (mostly soundtrack music), five novels (stuff that caught my eye: Shane, Grunts, Touched by an Alien, Saltation, and The Ophelia Prophecy), and one Amy Winehouse documentary on DVD (why not?). These ten items may be the cheapest things I ever bought. On top of that, I perused the library's catalogue and checked out more music.

For lunch, I stopped at a place called Pirate-O's, which specializes in selling imported foods. I had a turkey sandwich there for lunch (which was great), before looking at their selection. I pretty much always walk away with British candy—having spent 14 years in England, I found it gratifying to find English-brand sweets and other goodies in the middle of America. The place has a fine selection of the usual Cadbury chocolates, but on this day I opted for Digestive-brand cookies and an Aero bar. Fentimans drinks are available there—I couldn't leave without their fermented lemonade. I stopped short in the drinks aisle when I saw something I hadn't even seen or thought of in years: Lilt soda. I typically avoid soda, but I was compelled to treat myself—I remember Lilt being quite refreshing, and it brought back memories of English commercials and English groceries stores, which in turn correlated to the overall England experience I treasured so much.

Moving on from there, I drove west a little ways to hit Gamestop: I had a fistfull of PS3 games to trade in, and I wanted to browse their used games aisle. The combination of trade-ins, cards I had from before, and their rewards point card netted me about $25 worth of savings. I picked up the Assassin's Creed Chronicles collection (because I'm a franchise fan), and The Talos Principle (because I yearned for a good puzzle game).

In the same vicinity was Best Buy, so I swung through there to browse a while. I had a $10 coupon from their rewards program. I happened across the Collector's Edition of Manhunter on Blu-Ray, and a Rhianna album from their bargain bin (in retrospect, the two things couldn't be more different). Thanks to the coupon, I only blew $15 on these.

I checked my phone and wondered what was playing at the Cinemark, which would have been on the way home. I went through the motions of driving up the road, walking to the kiosk, and selecting the showtimes for the Ghostbusters remake. Why not? Reviews from average moviegoers claimed it was funny. But I had to stop and ask myself if it was worth $11 for a 3D XD matinee showing. I decided to walk away—in a few more days, I could see it for more than half the price. If I want to see it at all. My enthusiasm for Ghostbusters remains lacking—it's Star Trek: Beyond I want to see the most right now.

Turning around, I went north and finally claimed that free Starbucks reward at an actual Starbucks joint. As hot as it was outside, I opted for a vanilla cream iced coffee. The girl behind the counter said it was good. It was, and it was especially refreshing in the July heat. It lasted all the way home, where I unloaded my various purchases. I ate dinner, had a piece of cake (on clearance from the grocery store—is it me, or am I starting to sound like a cheapskate mentioning all these sales and coupons and things?). To psyche myself for the next Trek movie, I watched the 2009 Star Trek film in the evening. Then, I popped in that Talos Principle game and just couldn't stop playing it for a long while.

So, it was nothing but some shopping and eating and TV and gaming this year. Nothing particularly special, and not a whole lot of human interaction involved. I imagine some people crave attention and can't stand to be alone for an occasion like a Birthday. I personally found it laid back and gratifying in its own right. I value my time alone and am grateful for all I have and have experienced. In 33 years, I've worked for my entire adult life and visited several countries along the way—there are people who have seen and done less in the same amount of time. 

In the 30s, some people might look back and wish they were young again. In my youth, I was always looking ahead and wishing I would grow up already, to move on from school and become a responsible working adult with free agency. At this point, I feel I've achieved that, and I'm right where I want to be. I don't want to relive any part of my life, I'm happy to simply live. And there's still plenty to look forward to—especially with all the Birthday goodies I got for myself (in addition to what's above, I also had a number of novels on order that I really wanted to read—Ready Player One, Fight Club, Solaris, Roadside Picnic—plus Papillon on Blu-Ray).

In between living year to year, everybody needs time to themselves to stop and eat some cake.