happy birthday to me

So this is what it feels like to be thirty...



... it feels pretty awesome if I do say so myself.



I still remember when I turned 13 years old. I remember being excited that I was officially a teenager and I remember looking in the mirror that day to see if I looked any different. Nope.



And my thirty-year-old self looks just like my twenty-nine-year-old self. Which is fine with me. I would kind of have hated to wake up and suddenly looked a lot older, ya know?



I expected to be upset about turning 30. I remember back when I was 23 and I had all these things that I wanted to accomplish before I was 30. I didn't accomplish all that many of them. Oh well. I think that is part of growing up- you realize that your life path changes and you don't have to get worked up and upset because your dreams have changed. That's how life works.



So what have I learned in the last 30 years?



I've learned that:

1) red wine goes with everything

2) so does chocolate

3) a few really good friends are worth more than a hundred artificial friends

4) you should dance for at least five minutes every day

5) everyone has their own path to take and you can't choose it for them

6) 20/20 vision is so worth a couple of thousand dollars

7) dogs are better than cats

8) releasing the pectoral muscles and psoas will cure your back pain

9) listening to rap music makes me angry (not at the music, but it just brings out my violent tendencies)

10) we all make mistakes

11) energy work is really powerful stuff and is not some hippie nonsense

12) things are going to change. nothing stays the same. so if it is bad, just keep going, cuz it can't be bad forever

13) you have no idea what is going on in other people's heads- for example, I thought this member at the gym where I worked really didn't like me (he was rather grumpy) and then on my last day of work there (he didn't know it was my last day) he made a comment to me about how I was the best employee there and how he always looks forward to my smiling face because it is a good way to start his day

14) holding a grudge will make you miserable

15) drinking lots of water is the best way for me to avoid being sick

16) it's a lot easier just to tell the truth

17) my parents were right about a lot of things

18) I shouldn't drink caffeine after 2 PM or I will be up all night

19) it is worth being the annoying person who is taking pictures all the time, to have those pictures later

20) I should always trust my gut

21) you shouldn't feel bad if you set goals for yourself, like coming up with 30 things that you have learned in the last 30 years, and then give up at 21. that's okay. it's not going to affect your life negatively