Upper 20s: Life is Great from Now on

It's the 12th of July. I turned 26 yesterday. I guess I could take a day off since it was my birthday!

I've always kept a low profile and this point stayed the same this year. However, unlike the previous years, I see light. It simply makes me feel like everything will be alright from now on.

I had been afraid of my birthday. Since I was young, something always happens during my birthday. Something does not refer to celebrations or pranks. Let me break it down.

2006 - The government dentist came to my school that week. Out of the many days they were at my school, they had to call me on my birthday. I got my teeth filled. It was so painful I started to doubt the shot they gave me.

2007 - I was going to another classroom for Moral Studies. (We split classes when it comes to Moral Studies and Islamic Studies) Everyone was pushing and rushing. I fell on my face and broke a corner of my front tooth.

2008 - The same government dentist came and filled the tooth I broke last year.

2016 - I went out celebrating with my juniors. We were at the arcade. We were throwing basketballs when one of them bounced back and hit me right in the face. I broke the same front tooth.

2018 - It's my first year in Taiwan. I dropped my purse one month ago. It contained all the cash I had. I was literally broke. My bosses at work brought a cake and celebrated my birthday after work. It was ten thirty at night when we left the restaurant. We parted ways. I walked to the metro station and realized that I didn't have enough to pay for the trip. I didn't know that as long as I had one yuan in the card, I could use it. I thought I couldn't go home and wanted to message my boss to ask if I could borrow some money but I was too broke to buy Internet. I literally have no mobile data to contact them. I walked home. It took a total of four hours. Something happened on the way. I'll include the story in the night traveler series next time.

2019 - It was summer break. We were rushing our graduation projects. Time was ticking and we had to work hard days and nights. Just a month ago, my group was filming. I slept for a total of five hours in two weeks. Shooting ended at the end of June. I couldn't work for almost two weeks after that. I slept at least twenty hours everyday but still felt tired. A few days before my birthday, my roommate moved out. Her dad came to Taiwan so she went to live with him. I was left alone in the hostel with no food and money. I chose to sleep and never wake up for a few days. That way, I wouldn't need food.

2021 - I fell sick on my birthday. I had a fever and thought that was it for me. I was petrified. My grandma used to fall sick on her 19th birthday. That opened her third eye and she could see those that we can't. I didn't want to follow her footsteps. Thank God, I healed in a few days and I didn't see things.

Those were the events that happened during my birthday. During bad days, I believed that I was cursed. Bad things happened on the day I was born because I shouldn't have been born. On more optimistic days, I thought that bad things happened because I celebrated my birthday. It was the day my mom was in pain. Thus, celebrating and being happy on that day led to bad things. Slowly, I changed my birthday to private on social media.

Yesterday, my coach wished me in the group and the wishes kept coming in. She made a special drink for me and gave me a chocolate bar when I went for breakfast. I was a little touched. After I made my birthday private, almost no one remembers my birthday. My family don't celebrate birthdays. I still wish them on their birthdays but since birthdays are not celebrated, nobody remembers mine. At least, this year, I have a proper celebration. I'm deeply grateful.

I thought that bad things would happen because I celebrated. My schedule was packed. It might be an accident, either when I travel or during my aerial yoga lesson that night. I went to the temple to pray for safety and considered not going for the yoga lesson.

Surprisingly, things were perfect. I received a letter from the government to retrieve the ransom paid last year. I was almost broke and the money was life-saving. Then, I printed the resume I was supposed to fill before my interview that afternoon. I saw the terms and conditions. I decided to reject the interview. I could because it's my birthday :)

After that, I was troubled because I left home in a hurry, I left my make-up bag. I needed it after the facial that evening as I'll be going to my next event straight from facial. Surprisingly, my beautician called me to change our appointment.

I walked on a beautiful street that reminded me of my hometown Georgetown on my way to the cafe. The documentary was great and I rushed to my yoga lesson. The lesson was great. I did way better since it was my second lesson.

To sum up, everything went really well yesterday. I'm glad and thankful.