Friday, September 04, 2009

How Important Is It For Others to Remember my Birthday?

Who can deny that it's wonderful for one to be given best wishes and greeted with smiles on one's birth anniversary?

Unfortunately, my birthdays since the mid-1990s have seemingly grown more and more dismal as my age advances.

Just five days before the infamous era-defining September 11th terrorist attacks, I broke the cycle of dismalness briefly by organising my own little gathering of fellow teacher-trainees.(And little it was as only 4-5 people turned up)

I can still remember being greeted by an ATM machine on Sept 6th 2003, and almost shedding a tear at the paucity of birthday greetings on my 30th year of living.

In 2005, I went over the Johor Bahru to give myself a birthday treat of a night's stay in the four-star Hotel Pan Puteri, followed by an unofficial 4-mooncake birthday 'cake'.

Birth anniversary 2006 was probably the most memorable in the past decade, as I happened to be staying at my cousin Hwee Lu's apartment in Hong Kong, and being the kindred soul she was well-known to be, she arranged for a small cake, complete with candles.

I was touched beyond words, and can still recapture the image of my little nephew Callum running over to greet me as I entered the door, late but present!

The next two years' anniversaries were so forgettable, I've forgotten them, although the one in 2008 was actually a day after my last day in my teaching job of seven years.

Of course, my parents dutifully sent the perfunctory card & made the usual phone call each year, but somehow it never really felt as genuine as those that others had received...(The fallacy of the grass being greener on the other side? Perhaps...)

The last weekend was spent in Kuala Lumpur, where a memorable celebration took place to simultaneously celebrate my father's, and my aunt's birthdays.

And memorable it was, taking place in a renowned Spanish restaurant-cum-Tapas bar, replete with roasted porkers and luxuriously decadent birthday cakes...


Every birthday seems to come with the same birthday wish for me : that I never was born in the first place...

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