What birthdays mean to me

Birthdays are wonderful events. Even though we know that we will grow older by 1 year on that day, we are still looking forward to it. Well, at least that’s how I felt on all my birthdays.

I’ll dress up for that occasion. It’s become my preferences to wear new clothes on my birthdays. To me, it symbolizes a new beginning – an opportunity to start afresh again in my journey of life. However this year, I get to dress up my daughter instead. I let her wear all the new clothes that we bought for her from Hawaii on that day.

I just had my birthday recently, and this year’s birthday has been an exceptionally different from the rest. I get to spend the whole day with my daughter, and that’s really the best of them all. That’s because this year my birthday falls on a Sunday. And to top that up,  my father and mother decided to give me a last minute surprise by coming all the way from Ipoh just to celebrate my birthday with me. Isn’t that touching?

I love birthdays, and that’s why I could remember the birthdays of people around me without much trouble. My friends kept saying that I’m very good in remembering birthdays. Initially, I couldn’t believe that there are people who can’t remember the birthdays of those close to them. I felt that it’s because they don’t care for them as much. But I was wrong. There really are such people. Maybe it’s because I look at birthdays differently from the rest, I put too high an importance on that.

Why is this year’s birthday different from the rest? That’s because this year, I got the most wishes and treats compared to my previous birthdays. I’ve accepted the fact that no one really remembers a birthday, and that doesn’t mean you don’t mean a thing to them. But this year, I’ve got wishes from many unexpected friends (my family always remember my birthdays, thank goodness), and that’s not all. My lunch appointments were full  throughout the 1 week before and after my birthday – all were birthday treats from colleagues, ex-colleagues and friends. 

I’ve never felt so popular before (ahem..), as I’m the quiet type, so people tends to forget my birthday. I got a yoga mat from my chi muis as a birthday pressie.  That’s also part of the reason why I rejoined yoga, something which I had dropped 2 years ago. I hope to write more about yoga later. On top of that, I had a free trip to Hawaii (fully sponsored by hubby, with shopping expenses included!) That is a pre-celebration, of course. Well, it’s not always I get pampered like this, and I have to thank my lucky star for this.

Talking about lucky star, I got myself a Double-eyed Dzi, which is a Tibetan bead. It’s a kind of stone which signifies matrimonial harmony and family bliss, carreer success and growth in wisdom. Actually I was looking for a crystal bracelet, and while busy choosing the bracelet, my MIL came upon this Dzi and recommended that I get one for myself. Since it’s my birthday that day, so I thought I might as well get this, since I haven’t given myself any treat this year. I’ve always pampered myself during my birthdays, with many shopping indulgences. Well, this year I haven’t done much shopping for myself lately, so I felt that it’s not too much to get one of this. And I managed to convince hubby to get me the crystal bracelet, which I’ve always loved but didn’t manage to get one for myself. I used to buy lots of that, but I always end up giving away as gifts to my mom, sisters and friends. So this year, I asked hubby to buy me one, hehe… I chose a rose quartz which symbolizes love and compassion that brings peacefulness and calm to relationship. Actually I’m more attracted to its pinkish color than it’s actual meaning.  

I certainly have a meaningful birthday this year, a very memorable one too.  I can’t help praising and thank God for such a blessed day.

A blog of my own

I’m a very quiet and reserved person in nature. I don’t normally go all out to tell someone my opinion, or relate my tales to those around me. I consider things that happen around me are personal to me,  it’s not anyone’s business to know, except for those close to me. So, it has not occurred to me that I will be blogging soon, since this is very contradicting to my nature. But hey, here I am. And I’ve been thinking of this for a few months already. I do have a blog dedicated for my baby, but that is written from her perspective. I didn’t get to express my own feelings there. Many of my blogger friends told me that it’s ok to change the style of writing in my baby’s blog, but I just don’t feel comfortable doing so. Especially since that blog was started by my husband for my baby girl.

And the urge of starting my own blog becomes stronger due to a few circumstances that happened recently:

1. Pei Sze, my breastfeeding buddy who is also an active blogger started to tag me – especially on subjects about me rather than my baby.

2. I’ve been reading about how people get paid when they blog about a certain subject (Pay Per Post).  Any extra income would be very tempting. However, since I hardly have time to blog (I’m still struggling to keep my baby’s blog up to date, but it is still way behind), I am not sure if I am ready for this. So, starting my own blog will at least lay the foundation first and when I’m ready for that, I could just start right away.

3. I enjoyed writing – it used to be short stories when I was in secondary school, and have even thought of signing up for a writing course to prepare me to be a writer later. But the thought was abandoned since I still need to focus on my studies then. And now, after all these years, my writing skills is slowly rusting away, especially when I hardly have time to read any reading materials (other than work related, which is very technical and boring). You wouldn’t believe me if I tell you that I didn’t even read the newspaper! Catching up with life is just too exhausting for me, especially when I have to juggle my time in between my super energetic toddler and an R&D career. But luckily my interest for writing has not faded yet.  

4.  As I mentioned, I didn’t get to express my thoughts and feelings when I blog as my baby in her blog. I intend to do that here, so that when she grows up later, she could read all these and know what Mommy has been thinking all these while, also the reason behind many of Mommy’s decicions on her upbringing.

So, finally here I am - cheers to the blogging world out there!