Although things didn’t start exactly as I wanted — due to some late-night/early morning uploading of pictures unto danbooru, I woke up at around ten instead of at five — my birthday went more or less without a hitch. Tatay had apparently bought the pork barbecue skewers as expected, and by the time I went downstairs to freshen up my cousin was preparing the sauce for the pasta that was going to go along with it. All that was missing was some cola… which apparently fell to me to purchase.
Hmm.
Somewhere along the line, I guess stopped being “merely” a birthday celebrant, and was now also responsible for buying some of the stuff needed for our very modest celebration. In this case, it was two bottles of the aforementioned cola (2 liters of zero and normal Coke) and a cake. Yes, I had to buy my own freaking cake. Oh well, at least I got to choose the flavor and size this time, which is to say that I bought a small black forest cake from the nearby Goldilocks. Mmm.
Right on schedule my sister (and her husband) arrived, so after waiting for the barbecue to finish we had lunch as a family. Though the spread was set up for five people, there was still a bit left over for dinner.
In a bit of an aside, I was a bit surprised to find out that my sister was apparently already at least five weeks pregnant. Why was I the last one to learn about this? Oh, right, my sister doesn’t talk to me. D’oh. Anyway, I expressed as much to my mother (who called sometime prior to lunch to greet me), to which she replied that I was going to have to do my best to become a good aunt. Uhm, okay. Well, that, and she’s got some of the books on my review list ready for shipping. Now that’s a good and useful birthday gift if I’d ever known one.
And hey, I managed to dodge a potential bullet there — the leading question on when I’m planning on giving them grandchildren…
Since I missed out on the morning mass, I had to make do with a late-afternoon one, however the only schedule we knew reliably was the one held at Baclaran church, so I had to leave early to even make it… And make it I did. It was short (for the curious, the gospel was about the parents of Mary), and enough for me to pray and give thanks for the blessings I’ve received so far over the year. Okay, it’s not exactly been peachy (I did miss out on this term’s comprehensive exam after all), but there’s still a bit to be thankful for.
And to top it off, I didn’t get rained on when I went home. That’s always a plus during my birthday.
