Grin and Bare it

So I turned 24 on the 16th of March 2016! 

This birthday was approached with a more subdued tone than my previous ones in general. For a start, I didn't really parade the occasion publicly - as I normally do with hints and excitement. I'm off facebook this year (to cut down on my influx of useless daily data for a while, but perhaps I'll be on that soon) so the event wasn't blasted on social network much, and my wishes this year are significantly lower than the past (so if you remembered, or lovingly saw a wish somewhere and joined in, thank you so much). 

This is slightly weird for me because I'm a big fan of birthdays, I'm telling you. Big. Fan. No matter how blase or unimpressed I act (ehh no need to party laa) I usually want some form of acknowledgement (such a girl, sigh). I used to make my best friends dress up and hint to be taken out for fancy dinners to celebrate my existence. I would plan elaborate surprise parties for them on their birthdays (and fail haha) or at the very least go out for a cake outing. I still believe that we should rejoice our life - because hey, we've gotten this far! Alhamdulillah! So, much unlike the years before this, I took this one as another day.

Because... truthfully, it's been a really tough past year. I might not share out my personal battles with the world, but I thank god for the circle of support that I have, and above all, to Him. I've had to face unprecedented situations, navigate through a whole barrage of new settings, and safe to say that it's been a fruitful period for personal growth. I didn't quite get what I thought I would, did a plenty of things I never have done, and I got a whole load of lessons in return. And, that's life. Things don't necessarily go according to plan. Oldest lesson in the book.

Postscript; 

I say I didn't want to celebrate but I still had to commemorate it in some small way. So I bought the balloons at Canary Wharf and dragged Izzt to help me take photos (thank you tons). I had to wait outside the train station for quite some time - it was freezing cold and even started hailing for a while! I remember thinking, "oh god, oh crap, let's forget this. This serves me right. It's not even my birthday today. I should just go home." But I calmed down eventually and we made our way to the Tower Bridge and had a couple of laughs. 

And I have to hand it out especially to my friends and family for doing their best to cheer me up. 

Got my 24th birthday video here: Sha turntrippin 24 and a separate one from Srz and Sheen. Of course I cried buckets and felt like punching each one of them. But it's okay, I'll do that when I go back for the summer. 

Ok la. Birthdy post done. Now let's hope for a good year. Bismillah.