#5 Thoughts on Turning 23

I'm just going to do this because it has been sort of a tradition since the last 2 or 3 years I think? I seriously have nothing planned in my mind about this post but let's just carry on..

So yeah today is not my birthday. I'm two days late just because I'm lazy. It's a pure simple reason. These days I've been lazy, in fact, so lazy than usual, and finals is just in two weeks time. This is crazyyy.

My thoughts on turning 23?

Dios mio, I don't have any deep thoughts about it!

You know that Passenger song that goes

Cos we're bullets,

and we fire from shotguns,

flying through birthdays and new year.

Man, really, we're bullets. 

Sometimes I can't believe I'm still alive and well, after all that had happened. But it's like I've always been writing about that shit and I no longer think it's important to keep on repeating about it. But sometimes, I do admit, I'm proud about it. I'm no longer ashamed about it. And sometimes I just want to run into the middle of a road in Kuching and thump my chest and roar that I'm alive.

But then birthdays really mean less about us and more about the people around us as we grow older, I guess. 

I've saved the new year, and Easter, to think about how I want to become a new person, a better one, and since the new year and Easter were just a few months/weeks back, there's nothing really new to think about on my birthday.

I thought about my mum, how she lost a brother two weeks before I was born, and I thought about all those people who have brought me this far, and all those people who used to be so close to me like siblings, but now we don't even talk anymore.

My birthday was a lonely one.

You see, other people at the age of 23 mostly don't live at home anymore, or at least they have a group of friends to celebrate it with them.

My time for those sort of celebrations have ended. It was more than enough that I had memorable celebrations at the age of 19 and 20. And I don't have the slightest desire to be celebrated anymore, to be honest. 

The only reason why I no longer hid my birthday on Facebook was purely to reconnect with those who have not spoken to me for too long...

..and I'm really glad that some people really did reemerge.

Look, I'm not trying to say that I'm waiting for them to make the first move.

But really, sometimes it's just like that. I really miss some old friends, but I'm not sure whether they want to reconnect. And birthdays are like one perfect reason to break the awkwardness and say hi, I guess.

Anyway, on that particular day, I was left alone at home. It was a really sunny day, and I had no classes to attend.

But I had one assignment which had to be submitted by the 15th, and, well, I've been procrastinating.

So I spent the last hours of my 22nd year and the first few hours of being 23...on my assignment, in front of the laptop, in my tiny bedroom, when it was all sunny and bright outside.

And since there was no one else at home, I made a perfect decision to go an extra mile, literally.

I hopped on a public bus, and guess where I went to?

The library. The magical, mystical DBKU City Library.

It's a rather crazy thing to do, travelling 22 kilometres for RM 2.50 under the blazing sun, waiting at the bus stop for 40 minutes, sitting next to sweaty strangers on the bus..all on your birthday, with no real reasons at all, other than the desire to spend like about 2 hours at your favourite place. And guess what's more depressing? Travelling back home for another RM 2.50, but before that, walking under the heavy rain just to reach the bus station. 

It was a foolish thing to do, but strangely, some foolish things are rather..satisfying.

Oh, you can imagine how I happy I was, despite having to go through all of that, receiving basic interactions with perfect strangers who didn't know it was my birthday on that day, but my heart was overfilled with joy, again, for no other reason than pure delight at the thought that I was alone, in a library, reading a terrific book, and nothing else mattered.

Oh and I had a can of latte, which was probably why I was kinda high. 

Anyway I still had high expectations about the day. Like, y'know, the possibility of meeting good strangers, or the possibility of having the chance to help someone, or y'know, all those weird shit if been really interested in since the past few months. 

But no, it was a surprisingly dull day.

The sleeves of my hoodie were drenched by the rain, I almost missed the bus because my wristwatch played a trick on me, and the bus was air-conditioned. Oh, it was still a perfect day.

I began thinking that oh, it's my birthday, and it's been so dull, so come on Fee, let's make it  a bit interesting. I saw faces of tired people at bus stops, waiting for other buses, and my mind went alive. I smiled enthusiastically at them, and waved my hands excitingly at them when the bus whizzed past the bus stops. 

Hit pause,

that was fictional.

That was just in my imagination, in the perfect world of silly and sociable and adventurous Fee.

I still think of doing it next time though. For no real reason other than pure silliness. 

Once I arrived home some of my family members were already home, and my mum said let's have some coffee and cakes.

So I had more latte.

I woke up the next day with a terrible headache, and I know it must be the latte. Latte is good, but I had a little too much latte that day.

Let's get back to some serious things.

Thoughts on turning 23? 

Hah! I still don't have any.

I'm just happy to be alive, to have the ability and skills to ignore my problems and not dwell too much in them, and the ability to somehow have crushes and be crushed over and over again, and idk man, at the age of 18, I was excited to grow up and meet people and see the world and become independent. At the age of 19, 20, and 21 I spent most of my years wishing that a car could hit me when I'm crossing the road. But those years allowed me to grow so much and meet so many good people and learn to hate and also love my family, and at 22 things seemed to get a lot better, and now, reaching 23, I realise that as life goes on, there are more and more chances to learn and discover, to love and to grow. There's no such thing as being too old to do something (maybe?). Birthdays are cool, but every day can become your birthday once you discover that each day brings something new in your life.

Pergh, philosophical gila.

We've made it buddy, we've reached this far.