With Age Comes Wisdom
Exactly a year ago I wrote a blog about how disappointing birthdays get the older you become. Well apparently, with age comes wisdom. This year I discovered that birthdays are only as good as you make them. Last year I relied wholly on other people to make my birthday special so inevitably, I was terribly disappointed.For my 25th, milestone birthday I decided to go all out and spoil myself - and I ended up having the best birthday!
I decided to fly to New York to watch 2 of my 3 favorite musicals, The Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables (I would have seen Miss Saigon too if only it was still showing on Broadway). I spent an insane amount of money for and on this trip but it was most definitely worth every single penny.
My birthday itself was Phan-tabulous (har, har!). I’ve loved
The Phantom of the Opera for as long as I can remember and it is my absolute favorite so I made sure that I’d be watching it on the day itself. But the show was in the evening so I spent the afternoon at Strand Bookstore which boasts 18 miles of rare, used, and brand new books for dirt cheap. I thought I’d died and gone to bibliophile heaven. One hand was pushing a shopping cart in front of me while the other was dragging a 6 foot tall ladder behind me (to reach the top portion of the shelves) so by the end of the 3 hours my arms were killing me - but I had only gone through 1 section of the 3 storey store! There was still so much I hadn’t gone through but there was just not enough time; I swore to set aside 1 full day for Strand next time I go to New York. I had gone to NY with just a duffel bag so I had to limit my purchase to 8 hardbound books. These were all 50% off so I was itching to buy more but as it was, I had no idea how to get the 8 home, let alone more.
Phantom was just an emotional cocktail for me. I was so excited to see it again after 12 years (my Dad took me to see it in San Francisco when I graduated Grade School) that I was physically shaking while queued up outside the theater. When I saw the gold gargoyle statues (grabbing the boobs of the naked women) around the stage, my eyes welled up and as soon as the theater lights dimmed I started sobbing hysterically, much to the bewilderment of the poor man sitting next to me. He must have thought I was a right psycho to be bawling my eyes out before the first word of the play was even spoken. It was even better than I remembered it to be; I enjoyed every second of it. As I walked to the subway after the show I remember thinking to myself that Phantom was so Phan-tastic that it alone was worth the trip to NY. 
Little did I know that it would actually get better.
When they announced in December that Lea Salonga would be playing Fantine in Les Mis starting March 6 I was so bummed - my ticket was for March 3! I was missing her by 3 days. But as luck (and birthday blessings) would have it, not only did Lea start 4 days earlier than scheduled, she happened to be performing in the show that I had a seat for! I went from being totally bummed to positively psyched! I was pretty proud of myself that I didn’t start sobbing again as soon as they turned down the lights. But it was too good to be true: I started sobbing as soon as the orchestra started playing - again, before the first line was even sung! Just like Phantom, Les Mis was better than I remember it to be. Sure, this Valjean wasn’t as good as the first one I had seen (then again, I’m probably biased since the guy who played Valjean the first time I saw it is related to me) and Cosette was bordering on annoying but it was still an amazing show. To be honest, I didn’t really like Lea’s performance as Eponine, but she was great as Fantine: she stole the show!
I won’t bore anyone further with more details of my trip, I’ll just say that all in all, I had a wonderful time - because I made the effort (and spent the moolah). Last year I moped and wallowed in self-pity because my birthday turned out to be a disappointment - but did I lift a finger to even attempt to make it special? No. So I had no reason to complain. This year, I didn’t sit around and wait for people to make my birthday great. I went out and made sure of it myself and was rewarded handsomely!
So the day I turned 25 I learned a valuable lesson. If you really want something - go out and get it yourself. Don’t wait for the world to hand it to you cause if you do, then you’re certainly be disappointed.
Happy birthday to me, indeed! 
