31 years and I've Learned Nothing

You were born an original. Don't die a copy. --John Mason

Someone once said “A year older, a year wiser.” Well, I don’t know about the wiser part, but my 31st birthday was celebrated the way I wanted it done – health and friendship, life and love.

The best thing was it wasn’t just one day – oh no, my birthday needs to be bigger event than 24 hours. After all, my mother was in labor with me for longer than that. So it was really more like a birthweek. Which means I get to celebrate and do fun stuff during the days before, and after, my birthday... as long as I can say it’s within one week of March 5th.

After the angst-ridden months leading up to my 30th birthday, and subsequently having a fantastic year, I made a secret (well, not anymore) resolution to myself – all my birthdays from then on were going to be a celebration of me, my friends, my home, my family, my body, my soul, my LIFE. That day is the one day that is truly mine. That one moment I came into this world is special because there is only one of me, the moment is unique, I am unique.

There is no more life-affirming, self-defining moment, than that of one’s birth.

Then again, it’s all another reason to party down so maybe I’m ascribing deep reasons to a shallow event. But heck who cares, I had a lovely time and I’m looking forward to the next one already.

Here’s what happened during my 31st birthweek:

1. After driving me mad by not telling me when he was going to be in Hong Kong, Johann showed up on – surpise! – Wednesday. Final giveaway clue: background noise on his mobile phone, sounds like Cheng Muht Kao Gan Cheh Moon which means Please Stand Clear of the Train Doors in Cantonese. He stayed a fantabulous 8 days, yay!

2. My dad sent me a text message, which he does every year, with a pearl of wisdom. This year’s: "Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have."

3. Office gals Gloria and Elise brought me out to lunch, Xiao Nan Guo Shanghainese restaurant in Central (Man Yee Building). Awesome greenhouse theme, delicious food, lots of leftovers which very conveniently fed my houseguests. :)

4. Made a new friend, Cindy, from Singapore. She is an attorney on secondment in Hong Kong, making the best out of a luxury corporate service apartment and the oh-so-confusing array of shops in Hong Kong. Yes, I’m being sarcastic.

5. Dinner with my new Hong Kong friends in Greenlands Indian Restaurant, Lan Kwai Fong. The food was delicious but it was nothing compared to the 3rd degree I got from Ophelia (yes, Ophie, I am naming names) and the ruckus over a pair of kissing-cows-mobile-phone-ornaments. They have been immortalized in my birthday pictures – note the little white bits in my hand.

6. Had my first mahjong lesson. This is a confounding but curiously addictive game that challenges the mind and speed of hand-eye coordination. A mix of gin rummy and poker, with a score-keeping system that requires quantum mathematics, and the Chinese penchant for all things colorful and whimsical, mahjong is a true Hong Kong pastime. It also gives you a lot of chances to say "Puhng!" in all the dramatic styles you wish to experiment in. I lost HK$86 to Sensei Kintun that night, consider it a tuition fee, and don’t expect it to ever happen again! Hmph. (Of course these are famous last words since I’m a complete loser and Kintun plays with “flair”)

7. Mom and sister called to tell me they got me a handbag, a set of earrings, a pendant with my name on it, and delicious cookies from Malacca. Yay, one stop shop!

8. Dinner with my Uncle Charlie, Aunt Janet, cousin Yippy, Aunt Esther, her husband (who doesn’t have an English name), Johann, Penny and Mark in a rather exclusive Suzhou/Zhejiang Resident’s Club Restaurant. Is it any surprise the food was delicious as well. And I got my birthday cake!

9. A couple of days later, we went climbing up Lion Rock. The level of difficulty was harder than we expected, and the dizzying heights! Oh dear I had not felt vertigo like that in a LONG time. It took me longer than expected to get up the first pitch, after scratching my arms to shreds and almost peeing my pants with fear when I fell and swung on a rope to crash into a tree, all of Kowloon and Hong Kong in a dizzying whirl in front of me while I try to reach and hold on to something, anything.

I suppose it’s a true test of how much wiser I am when, after Johann offered to lower me, that I stubbornly insisted that I could climb this. And I did get up, scared as hell and refused to open my eyes for the first ten minutes. But when I did, it was the most amazing sight that greeted me. Hong Kong in all its glory – it was most worth the pain and the fear.

Never mind that I looked like Wolverine just went mad giving me a bear hug, that this was my first rappel, that we were at a height that was equal to the top of the International Finance Center (100 stories? 120 stories?), that if someone had a hand cramp I may have died. The view, especially the one at night, was so fantastic I was just happy to be there.

So as I said in the beginning, 31 years and I’ve still learned NOTHING. Happy birthday to me. PICTURES HERE.