SteveJamieson.com

Wednesday night is small group night for me, and since tonight’s small group meeting happened to fall so close to my birthday, my friends decided to throw me a little birthday party. The Speichers made a lovely meal which included chicken alfredo, garlic bread, corn, and green beans. Since I was planning on making a cake anyway, I volunteered to make the birthday cake. I started the cake this afternoon after class was over, and everything looked pretty well at first. I remembered that I had a hand mixer in storage, so I pulled that out and it helped tremendously with the mixing of the ingredients. Now, I was originally going to do a sheet cake, but I decided to go with a two-layer cake instead. Unfortunately, the layers came out of the oven very un-flat, so when I put the top layer on during the icing process, the top layer split into three large chunks. I was very discouraged.

When I got to the Speichers’ house, however, things began picking up. I got to meet the new puppy. The dinner was very good. Andreas gave us all Euros, and taught us a polka. Plus, the cake, while not much to look at, was certainly quite moist and tasty. All-in-all, despite a rough start, my extended birthday turned out to be a lot of fun.

My parents called. I got some online birthday greetings. Some friends came over to play a game. Yet, for some reason, I felt very alone. As I tend to do when in such situations, I dialed in to the internet to see if any of my good friends were on AIM. No such luck. While I was online, I figured I’d check to see if any of my friends had updated their blogs. It just so happened that Laurel had added a new entry only a few minutes prior. In her entry she discussed the practice of going for walks, or rather the fact that there are people who love going for walks, and people who don’t understand the point of going for a walk. Suddenly a light clicked on in my head. I needed a walk. Well, it was a little late for a walk, and walking around my apartment complex isn’t exactly scenic. However, it’s a clear night and I have a deck, so I could sit out and look at the stars. Yes, that would do nicely.

I disconnected from the internet, and had just pulled out my gloves when the phone rang. It was Andreas from my church small group, and he proceeded to sing a German birthday song to me, in German of course, since he is, after all, German. That cheered me up. I still wanted my stars though, so I put on my coat, grabbed one of my collapsable chairs, went out onto my deck, and reclined in the chilly night air. I looked deep into the far reaches of space, observing the celestial inhabitants: Orion, Taurus, the Pleiades, and Cassiopeia. As my eyes wandered through the sky, enthralled by the enormity of the scene, a bright shooting star suddenly streaked through my field of vision. It cut a path between Orion and Taurus, and then, having had its split second of blazing glory, it disappeared. I made a wish. I hope it comes true.

Yes, it’s true. Today I turn 24. I’m officially in my mid-twenties. As I get older, I am noticing that birthdays are becoming less significant. For one, I’m past the major age milestones of 16, 18, & 21, so there’s nothing really to celebrate in terms of gaining new freedoms and responsibilities. In addition, I’m away from my parents, and parents have a special tendency to encourage revelry on one’s birthday. For example, as I was rushing to get my school stuff together this morning, I let the answering machine pick up a phone call, which turned out to be my Mom, who then proceeded to sing “Happy Birthday”.

So what do I plan to do for my birthday. Well, unfortunately I couldn’t convince the seminary to cancel classes in my honor, so I have to go to class. After that it’s off to the supermarket and the bank. Perhaps I’ll get a birthday haircut, since I don’t want to start out being 24 looking shaggy. Finally, some friends are supposedly going to drop by to harass me tonight, so fret not for I will get some revelry in today.

I love Groundhog Day! It’s probably one of the most pointless holidays on the calendar, but I love it anyway. Perhaps it’s because it’s only 2 days prior to my birthday, and thus gets caught up in the excitement associated with that event. Perhaps it’s because all the tradition and celebration surrounding the act of asking a groundhog whether or not he saw his shadow on a particular day really amuses me. Perhaps it’s because it’s the day that I get to show off my Pennsylvania pride, because Pennsylvania is the home of the official groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil. Whatever the reason, I was anxious to visit PunxsutawneyPhil.com this morning to discover Phil’s prognostication. So what did the groundhog have to say? When Phil was taken out of his stump, he proclaimed to the world that he had seen his shadow, which means 6 more weeks of winter.

After getting home from presbytery and food shopping, how many consecutive days was I locked up in my apartment working on my 14.5 page paper for The Chuch and Social Responsibility?
Read the rest of this entry »