34 and Loving It

I am 34 officially! 

I declare this age with much exultations, I don't see the need to hide this now because this is a celebration. I am loving it so far. Well, I have only been 34 since the 6th and I can't wait to discover what this 'era' can offer in terms of my career (worthy professional progression as worded by my bro Sam Edillo, Teacher II for 12 years, it sucks right? Oh well), of my writing (more and more published works as the bulk of my many, many birthday greetings wishes), and my love life (nothing to say here except that as cliché this may sound, I am in love with life. We all should be). No complaints really. I take things as they come because at one point, fretting does nothing good. 

So how did I celebrate my birthday? Nothing too spectacular. I am not big on birthday celebrations. Probably because I was not raised that way. I do not have a particular pompous memory regarding my own birthday because truth be told, life in the province is hard. But I do not remember being sad about it. You know, you learn to accept a shortcoming even if you don't consider it as such. I just went to church with a friend to offer a prayer of thanks in the midst of torrential rain. I was wet half through and I think of it as a blessing. I do not remember having to celebrate my birthday raining so it's a gift from above ( please don't berate me on the rain that fell on Parasite, lels). 

Also earlier that day, I received a gift from Chuvaness which made my jaw dropped and I cannot disclose it here but let us say it is sizable. Did I also mention that I am also not big on cakes? You heard it right. Since my grandparents could not afford to buy me cake growing up, maybe you would have thought that since I am earning already there should be a change of tradition. Never. I attributed my non-indulgence to sweets because of it. But of course when a friend ( her name is Fae and she has a monthly column in the longest running magazine in the country, you have probably heard of Liwayway) sent a cake, that's a whole 'nother level of gratitude. I forgot to take a picture of the cake because the Lalamove apologetic delivery guy mishandled it which I totally understand  It is my birthday anyway and it is my civic duty to be nice. Don't get me wrong, I blow off a steam once in a while but I am nice all the time. Do I need to add to all these negativities? 

I also got overwhelmed by the amount of birthday greetings I received and I definitely felt the love. I have to apologize because I was not able to reply to all of them because it will prolly take me full throttled 24 hours. But I read all of them and I thank all of you with as much gratitude and love. Pre-Facebook, I can only only count with my fingers the people who could remember my birthday so even if sometimes social media can take a toll on one's mental health, having friends to greet you is a serotonin boost and you know with this pandemic we could use a little mood uplift. 

Gifties from Chuvaness and Ubegail

My journal spread

Inasmuch as I tried putting out my writing to bigger spaces, 2021 is turning out to be a publishing drought for me. I have so many rejections this year I forgot to count 'em. But it's a long way to go until the end of December so I really have to do something to step up. So when Hiraya Media accepted my writeup about the pandemic education in the Philippines, I could not contain my happiness. And it is for a topic that I don't normally write. I hope as your birthday gift, you could take the time to read- and react- in my article cleverly titled, SY-2KNEW-2KNORMAL. 

I am dreaming of course to celebrate my birthday next year without the fear of worrying that a small crowd you dearly loved that you gathered would cause panic for just being there. If you come to this point, and if you still haven't, get yourself vaccinated so we can be like the rest of world where they get to travel out, attend concerts, watched movies in cinemas and ultimately because this is a must, make out, lels. 

Xoxo,