Birthday blues

It was my birthday a few days ago. I always have mixed feelings about it- I love other people's birthdays and I love organising big celebrations for them. But my birthday was marred by an incident about 11 years ago... and it's never felt the same since.

This year I was in Korea, at work and alone for most of the day. It really didn't feel like my birthday. And despite lots of Facebook messages and emails it didn't feel special at all. Maybe because no one said 'Happy Birthday' in person. I felt miserable all day... when I Skyped with Glen I even started crying, suddenly it all felt too much- being here, too broke to even take myself out for dinner (waiting on an international bank transfer to come through)... I taught a few classes, did some research and then went home early to watch Offspring. Late in the afternoon I got an email with the above photo in it- I'm not sure if you can tell but it's a collage made up of photos of my face. I love it! It really made me smile.

I shouldn't complain too much because the weekend before I went to Osaka! It was so nice to be back, so great to see all my friends again, even though it'll probably be the last time for a while.

 Yes, there were tequila shots.

 And mexican food.

And messy drunken photos with random bar patrons.