I am holding half an acre / torn from the map of Michigan

[raven]

I feel like I have a tradition of posting on my birthday by now? (Like... twelve birthdays later.) And I have traditionally used it for taking stock, deciding where I am and where I'm going and where I'd like to be. (Nothing constant but growth; nothing solid, even land; etc.) But twenty-six was a big year - a huge year, the biggest of years - and whatever this year brings, I hope it'll be quiet. I was born at a few minutes past midnight, dawn Indian time, so I have been twenty-seven nearly a day; here is what has happened so far.

-Shim gave me a number of birthday presents, one of which was a book - a travel guide for South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland;

-My colleagues gave me a birthday PIE (very small; lemon meringue; delicious and so sweet of them);

-such_heights and purplefringe gave me a birthday CAKE!;

-While happydork and forthwritten wrote me birthday DINOSAUR PORN;

-But they all sang the song to me! And I blew out invisible candles, and cut the cake.

-A lot of you sent me loving, thoughtful birthday messages, full of kindness and experience;

-And soupytwist wrote me a birthday POME! Oh my goodness, it was so wonderful.

-And in the morning, I told this story on Twitter, but I was running late this morning. I ran for a train that did not come, and did not come, and did not come, and then was coming to platform 1, then platform 4, then platform 5, and then platform 4 again. And a train did drift onto platform 4, but the people from FCC came running down and shouted, "This is not the King's Cross train! This is the train to BIRMINGHAM!"

I was thinking, the Birmingham train looks nice, Birmingham is nice. There are trains to Liverpool every hour from Birmingham-. I have been feeling a little anxious lately - not in the terrible way, maybe, but in the sense that there is a lot of good in my life right now, a lot of things and demands on my time that are good, but take time, and it's hard shaking them down so they all fit. I figured it out in the late afternoon and rang up and said, look, it's a lovely birthday I'm having, really it is, but I think I want to come home, for a little while. My parents said, we'll pick you up from the station. We'll make dinner reservations.

And... well, anxiety aside. And it can go sit aside, because this is just winter, just foggy frosted winter (and even now, beautiful things: even now, fog and frost over Camden Lock) and that's the sort of brain I have and here we are. Here we are, and I am twenty-seven, and not just married but with a partner, which I don't say lightly, and that too possibly the kindest human being there is; surrounded by friends most everywhere I go (South Africa! Lesotho! Possibly not Swaziland!); and I have found the great intellectual passion of my life and the work I do every day makes it more accessible to everyone. And I've taken up Hindi grammar classes, and my teacher is strict and yells at me for making mistakes in grammatical gender and case markers, because she thinks I should get it right. How wonderful is that.

It has been a wonderful birthday. Thank you all.

Comments

[musesfool]

Happy birthday!

[raven]

Thank you!

[sir_guinglain]

Happy birthday, as said elsewhere. You have a lot to be proud of, both specific to today - like working out the anxiety and how to deal with it in the here and now - and more generally.

[raven]

Thank you very much. <3

[hannah]

Hey, happy birthday!

All I have to offer is the image of Ron Swanson bonding with his stepdaughters by teaching them woodworking to make furniture for their dollhouses, showing them real-world applications of math and algebra and opening up to them - will that do for a present?

[raven]

Oh, goodness, RON. <3 Thank you very much!

[hannah]

You're welcome!

(At first, they're only allowed to touch one thing in his workshop: their goggles. Then, their goggles and the wood, but only to bring it over to him. He's not sure where this concern comes from, except that they're his wife's children, and precious to her, and they should be precious to him as well.)

[via_ostiense]

Happy birthday! May 27 bring you endless days with your friends and family, and passion, and love, and language.

[raven]

What a wonderful blessing! Thank you!

[lovelythings]

Happy birthday, lovely friend! I wish you the best of years and the best of luck with your gender and case markers.

[raven]

Thank you so much, my dear!

[celli]

Happy birthday. :)

[raven]

Thank you! :)

[soupytwist]

I am so glad you liked it! :D

And it sounds like heading North so your brain can sift through stuff a bit and let the sand settle is a good plan. I hope it helps.

[raven]

Thank you, my dear. <3 <3

[forthwritten]

Happy birthday! I would like to note that I had very little to do with the dino porn and that it was mostly happydork's doing because she's awful.

[raven]

She is indeed. Thank you!

[forthwritten]

So, so awful.

[hedda62]

So glad you had a pleasant birthday!

[raven]

Thank you! :)

[spiderwolves]

Happy birthday! So glad to hear it was a good one. I very much like your phrasing of "nothing constant, nothing solid". Wishing you all the happiness, and everything else that you hope for, especially quiet.

[raven]

Thank you so much, lovely. <3

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

I am so happy that your life has so many good things.

(DINOSAUR PORN? Does not compute.)

Oh, trains. Did the King's Cross train ever come?

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

It didn't compute for me either, believe me. <3 Thank you, my dear. The KX train eventually limped in and disgorged MANY ANGRY PEOPLE!

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

Oh goodness, yes. I bet they were very cross. (Also, while I can see the appeal of going to Birmingham, hurrah for FCC people warning you what the train was. Confusing station announcements are a particularly special irritation. I remember going back to Oxford once and having to change at Guildford for some odd reason, catching the York train; there was a platform alteration, and then an announcement saying "Do not get on the next train to pass through this platform. It is not stopping." It stopped. The sign on the front said "Newcastle". Everyone hung around confusedly for a while and then asked a guard where it was going. It was the York train. Helpful staff members rushing up and telling us what was going on would have been great.)

[icepixie]

Happy birthday!

(P.S. A+ Hem lyrics in the subject line.)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I really should listen to more Hem - I only have a few of their songs, but I do like them.

[highfantastical.livejournal.com]

I love reading of your happiness.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Oh, honey, you are so lovely.

[troyswann.livejournal.com]

*smiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish*

Dear you, how are you so lovely?

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

how are YOU so lovely. How. <3 <3

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Dinosaur Porn! That's so awesome.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[bibliotropic.livejournal.com]

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

you = best <3

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Happy (now belated) birthday! You are marvellous and I wish you a marvellous year. x

(Also, thank you for linking 'Halfacre' in your recent post - I have been listening to it obsessively.)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thank you, and you're very welcome - it's one of my favourites. :)

[tau_sigma]

Hooray, I'm so glad you had a lovely day :) going home sounds nice; and hooray for Hindi grammar!