Birthday Week
Birthdays are my favourite celebration of the year, not just my own but everyone’s. You completed another year of life, your birthday is an opportunity to be thankful for that fact and do all the things that make you happy. Celebrating is beneficial not just for the sake of it but for your mental health so birthdays can be treated as your own individual mental health day. For me, I like to lengthen the experience to a whole week. I do a thing everyday that makes me happy. I also like to live life on the edge so during birthday week I never tell myself no, all the food and gifts I want for myself I get, that means I usually spend a lot of money.
In the past I usually have dinner with my family on my actual birthday, or at the very least we all get together to celebrate. We even continued doing this when I moved to University, often with my family coming to Guildford and all of us going to dinner along with some of my friends. This year however, we weren’t simply a few hours drive away and there was not a chance that any of us could afford to fly to the other so, I set out on my first birthday alone. Is this what adulthood is?
This year my birthday was on a Friday so I knew I was going to start Birthday Week out on Monday. So, Monday’s activity was leaving work early to go play with the cat colonies at the vet school. These cats are used for blood donation at the veterinary practice and are bred and kept in a sterile environment. You can go in this room and play with these cats if you don’t own a cat that is sick and you wash your hands before going in. So, of course I left work and went and hung out with the Harry Potter colony of blood donor cats. As they are kept in an isolated environment they only have each other to learn from and as such even though they are adult cats they still play like kittens, climbing all over you; chewing laces before finally settling in your lap and going to sleep. The other colony, the explorer colony, is much bigger and the cats more boisterous so they are also a lot of fun but, why wouldn’t I spend the most time with cats that have the names of Harry Potter characters.
Tuesday, I took myself to get froyo for dinner but, much to my mum’s chagrin, I went on my own. The frozen yogurt store on Hillsborough street has a deal that any cup after 4pm is $5 so you best believe I filled that sucker to the top and covered it in cookies and chocolate chips and sat in the store to enjoy. On the way out I wanted to buy a cupcake but when I mentioned that it was my birthday they gave it to me for free. They also sang happy birthday to me which was really kind and the cake was delicious. I ate it that night after I got into my onesie.
Wednesday was a lot more low key but I went shopping at the bookstore in the NC State student union with some money from my grandparents. I bought some shirts and a headband as well as an NC State wolfpack sticker. I love all the things in the bookstore but, of course as it is the licensed store of NC State, they are ridiculously expensive. Although the variety of clothes is quite good and the Headband I found was super cute there are some things you just don’t need your school logo to be on, like a whiskey decanter, or a door mat.
Thursday was a day for the movies and by day I mean whatever I could be bothered to do after work. So, me and a friend went to the free student cinema to watch Ant Man and The Wasp. We got free popcorn too which was a great bonus. The cinema itself was really nice, huge with a good sized screen, one of the larger ones I’ve been in and I went to the movies a lot last year. The movie was good although I feel like the whole plot would have been different if the main baddy had just asked for help in the first place, but maybe that is the point of almost all superhero movies. Overall, the film was good and the post credit scene made me really excited for the recently announced final instalment of the Avengers series.
Friday, the day I had been waiting for, my 21st birthday. I had made another year round the sun and this year had seen me finishing my second year of university and moving to the States. I had said goodbye to two pets and seen two of my favourite bands in concert. I’ve had a really great year and by the way things have been going I’m going to have just as good a time this year. I grabbed an early breakfast at The Smashed Waffle with a couple of friends who work in the lab with me. We got breakfast sandwiches and coffee before heading into the office. When I arrived, my office had got me a balloon and a body scrub which has an amazing smell (vanilla and clove) and they all signed a card for me which were all on my desk when I arrived. After my usual lab activities I called my mum and went home to dinner out with my housemates, they took me to Pieology, a build your own pizza place. It was delicious and fun. We finished off with drinks, cake and games.
Saturday, the last day of the celebrations, involved dinner at Olive Garden with a friend and her housemates which was a really good time with loads of breadsticks and free dessert. I could eat 50 lbs of alfredo fettucine and those breadsticks, I fill up on the breadsticks and take the pasta home for lunch the next day. The rest of the night included more drinks, I really drew in the 21st birthday tradition of America in these celebrations. Overall, a week to remember although it would have been made all the more better with family here.
