Happy birthday to me

[rebeccmeister]

*grinds teeth*

Birthdays are always awkward beasts for me for some reason. That's why I threw a cocktail party last week and didn't tell anyone about my birthday. This year's birthday isn't really a big deal, anyway. Next year, when I turn 27, I'll be throwing a big party because I will officially be able to race in the Masters A category. I've been waiting to turn 27 ever since I turned 18. I kid you not.

I've also been telling people that I'm 26 for about 2 weeks already--I'm not sure why. I guess that the age of 26 just suits me better than 25 did. Perhaps that's because turning 25 was a pretty rough experience: I was finding out at that time last year that some of the people I was around weren't making me feel or act like the person I wanted to be and I had to change. Believe me, it's not a pleasant revelation and the process of changing has been very hard. I sincerely hope, for all concerned, that I never have to go through such a thing again. (the teeth grinding at the beginning was brought on by those memories)

Anyway. This birthday has been quite lovely, generally speaking, because I've gotten to do lots and lots of my favorite thing in the whole world (you guessed it--rowing) and I've been surrounded by other people who are infected with the same sort of enthusiastic rowing disease as me. Really, who could ask for more?

Comments

[bluepapercup]

Happy Birthday!!

I didn't know...otherwise I would have sent you a stupid card or a chocolate oar or something.

Glad things are going so well this weekend...I admire you for undertaking the hard changes to make your life a happier place.

*HUG*

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Awww, thanks! Heh, I'm not that concerned about people remembering. Besides, you can send me a stupid card or chocolate anytime you want! :)

*HUG* to you, too! I miss you, but I should be up in your neighborhood sometime in May!

[zoobar.livejournal.com]

25 wasn't the greatest year for me either. 26 was by far a much more interesting year and while I had some rough patches It was by far a better year.

Here's to having a great 26th year! Hopefully you continue to get to do everything you love!

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

One's birthday is always a good opportunity to look around and realize how great life can be.

It's funny to look back on certain years. Both 24 and 25 had some pretty rough patches. I'm not sure why I'm more optimistic about 26, but I am.

[boolean263.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday! It sounds like you're having a wonderful day, and I'm glad!

I didn't realize your birthday was so close to mine. I didn't find 25 to be so bad at the time, but 30's going to be a hard one.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Hooray for February birthdays! It was a very lovely day, to be sure.

Yeah, 30 seems to be a milestone for a lot of people. Just be glad that you aren't turning 30 around the people I hang out with--we have been known to find strippers for 30th birthday parties, with mixed success...

[purpurin.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday. My 26th birthday is next week, and I am not so excited about birthdays either. But, my roommate is throwing me a big girly tea party. It's a cookie and cake potluck. I think 29 will be a pretty good year, maybe 33.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Perhaps my lack of enthusiasm has to do with the fact that we're expected to be really excited on our birthdays. I'm not sure.

Your roommate is absolutely splendid. I hope you have fun! I sneakily decided that the dessert and cocktail party last weekend was going to be my birthday party. It was quite a nice party as well. I suppose that just goes to show that it's hard to go wrong when dessert's involved.

29 and 33 both have good sounds to them. I think 26 will be all right. And hey, even if it isn't, it will be over before you know it.

[mokey4.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday! Did you get any cool gear?

I hear you on turning 27 being a big milestone. I was so happy when I turned 30 because a lot of the head races around here require 30 as a minimum age (for all rowers, not just averaged) for masters. But 31 just seemed... superfluous. I don't know about 32, that's scary.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Thank you! So far, the biggest gift has been sculling camp, and it was absolutely fantastic (if you couldn't tell already).

Wow. 30 for head races?! Jeez, that's a bit extreme. I find some of the age categories for rowing kind of annoying. Back when I first started waiting to turn 27, there wasn't even the AA category--basically, everybody had to row Open, and Open events were always a random jumble of all sorts of crews.

I recently heard that USRowing has changed its rules so that AA/A rowers can race up, but at least for regattas like the San Diego Crew Classic, the race organizers are sticking to the old rules. That made for some problems on our lake because one of the programs organized an 8+ but I'm too young to race B and the AA/A category filled up. So we're stuck rowing Open again, just because of me. Oh well.

[mokey4.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, sculling camp- I wanna go too!

Most of the sprint races around here allow anyone 21 or over to row masters, as long as the average age in the boat is within the category limits (eg 27 and up). So there's not really an issue with AA etc, except maybe for scullers. But for some reason, head races follow entirely different rules... I think it's the Head of the Charles influence

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

HOTC rules are 30 for masters singles. You're lucky about the AA category, though; I learned to row at 23 and for the first four years my racing had to be somewhat limited. 26 was a good year for me, because I had a lot of happy milestone things that year. 28 was good because I finally escaped from Houston. 30 was good; one of my work friends arranged a party, that month I went skydiving, and that year I learned to fly.

I hit 40 next month. The birthday should be good I don't know if the year will be good but it ought to be interesting at least.