You Say It's Your Birthday...It's My Birthday Too

I cannot believe that I am 33 years old today. I remember when I thought that any age over 30 was old. It’s funny how perspectives change, isn’t it? Well, today my sister and I left Las Vegas and headed to Los Angeles. When I was planning my trip, I decided that it would be fun to celebrate my birthday in both Vegas and LA. It’s worked out well. It was sad to say goodbye to my parents this morning. Even though I’ll only be gone for a few months, it felt similar to the time when I left the only home I knew in California to move to an unfamiliar and distant island in Hawaii. I know they are worried, and I am sure that I won’t truly understand that feeling until I have children of my own. But with today’s technology, the world is a much smaller place. Although I will physically be far from family and friends, I will do my best to make it seem that I am right next-door.

When we arrived at LAX, my sister’s friend Zach picked us up. It was a beautifully sunny and clear day in LA. Zach was nice enough to offer the use of his two bicycles to my sister and me, so we took them for a ride down to Abbot-Kinney (the main street in the Venice Beach area). Unfortunately, our timing wasn’t perfect and we got there right in between the lunch and dinner hours at most of the eateries. That is one of the worst feelings, particularly if you’re like me and don’t step foot into a fast-food joint and your stomach won’t stop growling. One of the few places still open for lunch was Stroh’s (a NewYork style deli). We grabbed a panini and ate at one of the tables outside of the deli.

Venice is an interesting town. The shops are eclectic in nature, so I can understand why my artistic sister is drawn to the area. To me, a lot of the shops seemed like the storeowners woke up one day and realized that it was time to make room for cars in their garage, and therefore figured that they had enough knick-knacks lying around to sell to wealthy individuals who don’t know what to do with their excess disposable income. However, Venice does have character, and what’s not to love about a city unlike no other.

After our bike tour around Venice, which mind you wasn’t strenuous or lengthy in nature, we headed back to Zach’s apartment and took a much-needed nap. Trying to drown out the noise of the neighbor’s mariachi music blasting next door was pretty comical, but I was able to capitalize on at least 20 minutes of shuteye. We decided to head back to my sister’s place and relax for a little while before we were to meet up with Autumn (my little cousin, who is much more like the little sister I never had) and her man, Jonathan. Coincidently, Jonathan is also a summer solstice baby (our birthday June 21st is the first day of the summer and the longest day of the year), so the dinner tonight was a dual birthday celebration. We ended up going to Rustic Canyon (a wine bar in Santa Monica on Wilshire Blvd). The wine was decent, but the appetizer and entrée portions were small. Overall, all five of us weren’t too impressed, but the company and conversation more than made up for the mediocre cuisine.

Considering the fact that I got 3 hours of sleep the night before, I was far from disappointed when we decided to not go out and do it all over again. We headed back home and called it a night. Every year on my birthday, I say a special prayer thanking God for granting me another year of life. This day was no different.

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