My New Chimerical Kit

Yesterday was my thirtieth birthday.  It came and went without any inkling of a nervous breakdown.  Despite this fact I’m still throwing myself a “Mid-Mid Life Crisis” party this weekend.  Last year I wrote about my absolute and utter fear of turning 30, and I’d like to have a quick recap about my “before 30 resolutions.”

Things I said I’d do the year I turned 30

• Participate in Script Frenzy
• Participate in my 4th year of NaNoWriMo
• Go to Egypt

Script Frenzy is the month of April… and I thought I was going to have this awesome screen play / stage production to write about.  And I actually did come up with a great idea.  Too bad when April 1 came around I decided that I was just too busy.  I know, lame excuse.  So I’m 0 for 3 so far.

I will likely participate in NaNoWriMo when November rolls around.  I see no reason why not… I’ve done it for the last three years running and I really can’t imagine fall without it.  So we’ll count that one as one I’ll complete.

Egypt… sadly, I will not be seeing the pyramids while my thirtieth year dawns.  There just simply weren’t enough funds in the kitty for that trip.  Maybe I’ll shoot for 40??  I’d still like to see them one day.

Things I’m actually doing in my 30th year

• I’m finishing up the C25K training program, and for the first time in my life I think I can actually say I’m on my way to being a RUNNER!
• I completed my first 5K and have signed up for a second one already!
• I’m going to Italy… on a bike trip… a bicycle trip… for 9 days! (How cool is that?)
• I’m in better shape than I’ve ever been in my entire life (except for maybe when I was doing archaeology full time)

All in all, I’d say that I’m doing pretty OK for 30.  It might not be what I had planned, but there’s some pretty exciting stuff going on and I’m OK with the new directions that my life is going in.  I realized that the main reason that I was bothered by turning 30 was because there were “things” that I thought I should have completed by this time in my life.  But really, there’s no timeline.  And if you’re trying to force your life to go in a particular way at a particular time you’re bound for only one thing… disappointment.  It’s so much more fun to just wait around and see what’s going to happen!

—

And with that thought… my actual birthday didn’t turn out the way that I thought it would.  In fact, almost everything went completely awry, but that was OK.

1. I got up and did my first real day of training for our bike trip.
2. DH took me to Leesburg so I could go do my “Birthday Blood Donation.”
3. Mom & I got ready to leave to go spend the afternoon having lunch and shopping when her car wouldn’t start.
4. While waiting for Dad to arrive to rescue us, I realized that my driver’s license expired that day and I was going to have to go brave the DMV.
5. After being rescued we did get lunch… but had to head straight to the DMV, the post office and the grocery store to do all the errands that I had forgotten about in the excitement of having my birthday.
6. The DMV was surprisingly not bad. (Thank you good birthday Karma)
7. While at the grocery store, Dad calls saying he can’t get in touch with The Wine Kitchen to make reservations… that’s when I realize they’re closed on Mondays….
8. After receiving an email from one of my dearest friends, @CeceSpitznas, I booked reservations to Clyde’s at Willow Creek Farm on her suggestion and we went  on to have a lovely dinner followed by home-made Chocolate Birthday Cake with Fudge Icing.

Not at all the way I thought the day should go… but not a bad birthday either!  I was showered all day long with happy birthday wishes from people on Facebook and Twitter, and a few people even called to wish me a happy day.  Not bad… not bad at all!

Related Posts

• May 8, 2009 -- And it all began with “I don’t like birthdays…”
• May 6, 2010 -- The Trip of a Lifetime
• December 18, 2009 -- Blood Donation Drag Racing
• April 21, 2009 -- The Year Before My Not-So-Mid-Life Crisis
• May 1, 2008 -- Happy Birthday Jinx