Happy Birthday To Me! *mwahaha*

[newmoonstar]

So, today is my birthday. I did indeed do the hanging out at Barnes & Noble thing, which worked out very well. :) Before I went there though, I had a lovely jaunt at the lakeshore, which was wonderful, because the weather was incredible. Usually it's freezing cold and wet and cloudy by the time my birthday rolls around, but today was sunny, and relatively warm, and would have been downright hot in the sun, if it hadn't been for the strong wind. But god I love living on the bay on days like this. Hearing the lapping of the water on the rocks and the cries of seagulls is too wonderful. I never really thought of it before, but there are places where there aren't seagulls all over the place. I honestly could not imagine living somewhere without seagulls. On summer days when I go to the grocery store and they're all over the parking lot, it's like magic. Really it is. I love the seagulls so much. The sound of seagulls is the signifier of water, and it makes you think of all the good things that go with standing on the shore looking out over the water that streches to the horizon; it's like joy and peace and excitment and everything good and hopeful. It's one of the few things that almost makes you forgive the obnoxious paper mills enough to really love living here. :)

So, after all that good stuff, I look forward to a heap of presents (admittedly mostly from myself, but I feel I deserve to splurge a little since I'm 18 now, and I need a little consolation, because now I'm going to have to act like an adult at least some of the time! ;-D) and to a turkey which Mum is making, and which I'm very much against, but now that she's bought it, we have to eat it today or throw it out, so I'd better break out the cranberry sauce to make it palatable. Oh well!

Strangely enough, I really do feel older today. I always got depressed about birthdays before, because it represented another year gone in which I hadn't done something extraordinary or gotten famous, but I never really felt any different from how I'd felt before. Today, I feel older, but not in a depressed, 'oh I've wasted a whole year' kind of way, but in a more grounded, hopeful, 'what can I accomplish in this new year?' kind of way. I'm really liking that. :)

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_toffee/]

happy 18th birthday! you can vote now! :D i still have to wait a little more than a year for my 18th.

it sounds really nice where you live--sort of P.E. island-ish, hehe. or 2,000 acres of sky-ish. (brit drama).

[http://users.livejournal.com/_toffee/]

i just noticed you're listening to Keane! <33

[solidor.livejournal.com]

I tried to reply to this TWICE and LJ said no data? But whatever, it works now. So many, many happy birthday wishes, because you deserve them. And drat, I need more greeting cards to send out. *plots and plans evil things that GOD WILLING SCHOOL SHUTS UP FOR HALF A SECOND will be accomplished*

[newmoonstar]

I'm SO glad I've turned 18 in time to vote in this election! Having as strong feelings as I do on the subject, I think I'd go crazy if I couldn't vote when the day came.

And I don't know if I'd compare where I live to P.E. Island, (well, actually, no, I'd NEVER compare where I live to P.E. Island in a million years!) you can still find some beauty in the water, trees, and sky, if you look away from the smokestacks and giant black mountains of coal that take up most of the view.

[newmoonstar]

And oh yeah! Keane is great! I totally love "Somewhere Only We Know"! (In spite of Victoria's Secret having used it in one of their annoying bra commercials!)

[newmoonstar]

Oh, I know how frustrating LJ can be sometimes! But no worries; even belated b-day greetings are always appreciated. :)

And you poor thing, get some rest! Don't fret about greeting cards! Trust me, once you get started, you just get pulled farther and farther in, until you're designing your own Art Nouveau and/or Victorian greeting cards at great cost to your health and general productivity in all other areas of life. Believe me, I know! I'm there! ;-D