Promised birthday update

After some relaxing Body Design noodles and Doctor Who Season 2, I'm feeling much better about this Friday. Still torn about whether or not the sun should come out and dispense the gloom (but really jack up the temps), but either way, I'm in my classroom with my airconjuseyo set to Antarctica, so life is much better.

As I may have mentioned before, I had a birthday recently, turning the big 2-5. One fun thing about being out of college and in the "professional" world is that I am no longer the oldest person I know! So exciting! See, I had this issue where I was always slightly older than my peer group, which (due to my weak psyche) gave me something of a complex about my age. Now, however, I have close friends who are both older and younger than I am, so I'm feeling much better about my age.

Anyway, my lovely friends took me out to a wonderful samgyeopsal dinner on my birthday (think thick cut bacon on lettuce leaves filled with deliciousness). It was so nice to be stable and in one place on my birthday, and to be able to plan this sort of event. You see, for the past 6 or so years, right around my birthday, I've had to be preparing to move from one place to another. First it was from Houston to DC, to start school in the fall, then moving apartments in the DC area, until I finally moved back to Houston for a short time before coming here.

But now I'm here, and for this birthday at least, I don't have to worry about uprooting my life in a few weeks. Which is wonderfully liberating.

So anyway, here are a few photos from my birthday dinner:

Ajumma visor, sunglasses and cupcakes. What more could you want?

My good friend Jill gave me her most prized Korea posession - her ajumma hat. I could not have been more touched. But then I saw them. CUPCAKES. Which are my favorite things EVER. She and another of our friends, Andrea, had baked them for my birthday, and they were DELICIOUS. Hippy Barfday, Oldy indeed.

And yes. That can of pringles was full. I HAVE THE BEST FRIENDS EVER.

So awesome.

Anyway, that was my actual birthday celebration. Well part I, anyway. Part II will be this weekend...so excited! 

Oh another fun thing about celebrating a birthday on the other side of the world: You get to have a birthday for about 36 hours! Fantastic! 

 

Wedding Update (For real)

I suppose I'm at that age. My current total is: three weddings in the last year, one engagement, and several other long-term committed relationships. Wedding season has arrived for my peer group, and this summer, I got to spend my summer vacation travelling back to the States to be best man in one of my closest friends' weddings. Naturally, this involved approximately 6 years of travel through three different countries, using buses, planes, trains, and automobiles.

What I'm trying to say is, it's not easy getting to and from America. Especially getting to America. A journey that took me approximately 24 hours, from Seoul to Tokyo to Atlanta and finally National Airport in DC left my brain in a puddle of goo. But I suppose that's what happens when you leave Tokyo Narita airport at 3:30pm and arrive in Atlanta at 4:30pm ON THE SAME DAY. Time travelling sucks. I do not recommend it (unless you're trying to become your own grandfather. I suddenly understand how that one can happen).

The wedding itself was great. Three days of parties and a fantastic ceremony, combined with most of my friends from college and a brief visit to DC made for a wonderful break from reality in Korea.

Well, wonderful and a bit melancholy. Knowing it all would end VERY soon and I'd have to leave these people who'd come to be a second family for me during college...well, let's just say that I miss those misfits like crazy. Homesickness and nostalgia aside, it just feels somehow "right" when I'm back in DC. So maybe that's the place I'm supposed to be? I'm not really sure...I like travelling, and I love seeing the world. And I think that for right now, it's just nice to know that I still have a place (well, at least a futon to crash on) back in DC, should I need it. And every once in a while, I think it's good to go back to the familiar and remind ourselves where we came from.

Weddings, too, are always a weird time for me. There's nothing that really shoves the fact of my single-ness in my face more than a wedding. As much as I love the weddings, and as happy as I am for all my friends who have found that Special Someone (gag me with a spoon), I always feel just the teeniest bit resentful toward them for it. Mostly, though, I feel like WHY DON'T I HAVE A RELATIONSHIP YET??? I mean, I'm kind of pretty, and pretty damn smart. I like romantic things like music and art!

And then I take a step back and tell myself to stop being ridiculous. So here's to you, J & C...it was a great time, and I can't wait to see you again as Old Marrieds. And here's to all my other Old Marrieds (L & P, R & M), I hope you have all the happiness in the world. And J & J, I'm looking forward to your wedding. In several years.

And who knows? Maybe one day, I'll be able to have my own wedding (in DC, at least). Till then, here's to some great parties to come.

Oh and here's the actual wedding: Pittsburgh + Catholic + Money Dance = awesome.