Yesterday, June 25, marked the occasion of my 24th birthday, and so I am dedicating to this post to encapsulating my thoughts on this event so that I can view them later and have an accurate reckoning of my thoughts and feelings. At first I wasn't thinking my birthday was a big deal. I got into the mood a little bit on Friday, but Saturday was mostly a normal day for me. Reading and napping, and then in the evening I opened a couple cards from my mother and grandmother. My grandmother's card was a little bit weird, since she signed it "Sol and Family" and not "Grandpa and Grandma" as she always did before. This is also weird since my grandfather passed away on May 3, so the card should have been signed "Grandma". I started to open my mother's birthday package, but I haven't gone through all of it. A lot of magazine articles and newspaper clippings, also Playbills from Cabaret and Lion King since I love to read and collect Playbills.
I felt happier about my birthday today because I was able to celebrate it more. I saw the matinee of Billy Elliot because I hadn't actually seen it yet. It was a pretty powerful and moving show, and I want to write a full review of it in another post. (I am REALLY behind in posting reviews. I see plays much faster than I can write about them.) This was also the first time I actually paid to see a show in a few months, not since March I think. Everything else was a gift from family or I was ushering or otherwise seeing for free.
Last year when I turned 23, I was working for the Census as a Crew Leader, a position which I mostly enjoyed but I didn't know how long it would last. I also felt 23 was a weird number. It's odd, it's prime, not easily divisible. I'm glad to be 24 which is an even number and can be divided into halves, thirds, and fourths so that I can easily review the prior years in equal sections. This year I am working part-time at two jobs but the two positions don't add up to anywhere close to 40 hours a week, so I'm still not working full-time. I do enjoy math tutoring, but wish I could do more with my math skills. I need to focus more time on my part-time position so that I can give it 110%. It's hard to put time and effort in something that is only part-time, but devoting more time to it makes it easier to accomplish things.
At this moment, I am glad to have some sources of income, but I would like to have one full-time source that I feel is stable and secure. I would also like to have some other financial uncertainties solved so that they do not cause me any stress or other physical/psychological symptoms, which tends to happen. I hope that is coming year is full of new opportunities and accomplishments in life, and I have to keep thinking of ways to make that happen.
