Not so much "mid-twenties" anymore
So ends another year of getting older. I used to fall under the category of being somewhere between my mid-20s and late-20s. But now, I am officially in my "late-twenties". Boo-yearns. Sigh.
All in all, it was a pleasant day.
I think I willed the weather to be lenient with me just for today. I wanted it to NOT rain at all, and guess what? It didn't rain at all! In fact, it was cloudy with sunny breaks so it was pretty nice and dry weather. Temperature-wise, it was pretty good. Ha, beat that, Environment Canada weather forecast, you were WRONG! I notice that every year on my birthday, when the forecast said that it would rain, it NEVER actually rains, it's weird. It's like the weather decided to cut me some slack and made it so it wouldn't rain. I asked for it and they gave it. Nice, nice.
Second, Jo wished me a happy birthday via text so that was pretty sweet of her. Third, I ended up having some pleasant conversations with the lab guys. Of course, I had to initiate and start the conversation but it was very little work, it powered itself after I gave it a little push. I talked to 3 people today, it felt pretty nice and warm. I got to know one of them lab techies better too, so apparently he worked upstairs but in the other side of the lab...ha, who knew? I tried not to talk earlier just to see if people would chat with me but alas, they were too preoccupied and busy to even pay attention to their surroundings. Oh well. But apparently if I start up the conversation, they just get pretty chatty, which is nice. If they weren't really chatty, they DEFINITELY did not want to talk to me, and that would totally hurt and take a blow to my self esteem. Anyway, one of the grad students I talked to seemed fine replying back. In the beginning, it was a bit abrupt and borderline snappy, but in the end, I just think that's how she usually responds to people, it wasn't meant to be malicious in any way, and that I shouldn't take it personally. Anyway, asked her some things, she responded back, she asked about the upcoming symposium, and even suggested I should submit a poster for the symposium, and so I told her I already submitted one, and she asked when it was, I told her, and then she said she'll pop by to check our my poster. Woot, I got support from my fellow peers! Think she's the only one around my age, hahaha...how sad. Then the consultant joins in the conversation and we end up talking about infection control, hospitals, Contagion (the movie) and hotel cleanliness. I think they both agreed that the first thing they find disgusting are the hotel blanket and sheets, they flip it over and stuff since it might be dirty. The consultant even scrubs the bathrooms since he thinks it's dirty, and he doesn't even use the glass cups, since hotel staff doesn't always clean them. The grad student added about fingerprints on glass cups, and that it'll be easier to spot with wine glasses and glass cups (something like that). Then the topic later veered into restaurant food infractions and hygiene, to McDonald's being very serious with food safety and hygiene, although I pointed out that the food there isn't as healthy, although the grad student pointed out they're starting to serve healthier alternatives like yogurt and parfait and stuff, which was healthy. And that was it with the conversation. Very interesting way to end my lab day, since I sort of miss talking to people. I needed to chat with people to increase my mood since I was feeling rather miserable in the morning.
Went to the symphony for some Kirov Ensemble and my god, they were bloody good, and then had dinner with my friend at Ensemble. Then headed home to find out my family waited for me to come home before cutting my cake. Took some family photos posing with cake and then NOM NOM NOM. Lovely set of events to end a lovely day.
In the end, it wasn't such a bad birthday after all. It wasn't the most miserable birthday I've had, I can tell you that. It was a Natsume sort of day, where everything worked out in the end. All in all, I'm satisfied.
All in all, it was a pleasant day.
I think I willed the weather to be lenient with me just for today. I wanted it to NOT rain at all, and guess what? It didn't rain at all! In fact, it was cloudy with sunny breaks so it was pretty nice and dry weather. Temperature-wise, it was pretty good. Ha, beat that, Environment Canada weather forecast, you were WRONG! I notice that every year on my birthday, when the forecast said that it would rain, it NEVER actually rains, it's weird. It's like the weather decided to cut me some slack and made it so it wouldn't rain. I asked for it and they gave it. Nice, nice.
Second, Jo wished me a happy birthday via text so that was pretty sweet of her. Third, I ended up having some pleasant conversations with the lab guys. Of course, I had to initiate and start the conversation but it was very little work, it powered itself after I gave it a little push. I talked to 3 people today, it felt pretty nice and warm. I got to know one of them lab techies better too, so apparently he worked upstairs but in the other side of the lab...ha, who knew? I tried not to talk earlier just to see if people would chat with me but alas, they were too preoccupied and busy to even pay attention to their surroundings. Oh well. But apparently if I start up the conversation, they just get pretty chatty, which is nice. If they weren't really chatty, they DEFINITELY did not want to talk to me, and that would totally hurt and take a blow to my self esteem. Anyway, one of the grad students I talked to seemed fine replying back. In the beginning, it was a bit abrupt and borderline snappy, but in the end, I just think that's how she usually responds to people, it wasn't meant to be malicious in any way, and that I shouldn't take it personally. Anyway, asked her some things, she responded back, she asked about the upcoming symposium, and even suggested I should submit a poster for the symposium, and so I told her I already submitted one, and she asked when it was, I told her, and then she said she'll pop by to check our my poster. Woot, I got support from my fellow peers! Think she's the only one around my age, hahaha...how sad. Then the consultant joins in the conversation and we end up talking about infection control, hospitals, Contagion (the movie) and hotel cleanliness. I think they both agreed that the first thing they find disgusting are the hotel blanket and sheets, they flip it over and stuff since it might be dirty. The consultant even scrubs the bathrooms since he thinks it's dirty, and he doesn't even use the glass cups, since hotel staff doesn't always clean them. The grad student added about fingerprints on glass cups, and that it'll be easier to spot with wine glasses and glass cups (something like that). Then the topic later veered into restaurant food infractions and hygiene, to McDonald's being very serious with food safety and hygiene, although I pointed out that the food there isn't as healthy, although the grad student pointed out they're starting to serve healthier alternatives like yogurt and parfait and stuff, which was healthy. And that was it with the conversation. Very interesting way to end my lab day, since I sort of miss talking to people. I needed to chat with people to increase my mood since I was feeling rather miserable in the morning.
Went to the symphony for some Kirov Ensemble and my god, they were bloody good, and then had dinner with my friend at Ensemble. Then headed home to find out my family waited for me to come home before cutting my cake. Took some family photos posing with cake and then NOM NOM NOM. Lovely set of events to end a lovely day.
In the end, it wasn't such a bad birthday after all. It wasn't the most miserable birthday I've had, I can tell you that. It was a Natsume sort of day, where everything worked out in the end. All in all, I'm satisfied.