Happy Birthday to me
My birthday came to a close about an hour and a half ago. I had a fun weekend of celebration. Here’s what I did.
On Sunday a bunch of people and I went to Fujiya on Lake Street in Minneapolis. Fujiya is an awesome Japanese restaurant that has very good sushi, and an amazing tempura fried ice cream. There were 19 of us and we (meaning I)reserved one of their private rooms. First of all, let me talk about Fujiya for a bit. Our waitress did a pretty good job of keeping track of everything and making sure that everyone got their meal. The fact that there was one waitress for 20 people (with varying facility/knowledge of Japanese food), and we were splitting checks made it a challenge that she handled well. Fujiya was also pretty helpful as far as dealing with our reservation and the like. The party was fun, I took a small risk and got people together from different segments of my life for one party. I think it worked, or at least I enjoyed it, and, by gum, it was my birthday.
Monday, (just a couple of hours ago actually) my former roommate and I went to dinner and then went to see the Forbidden Kingdom (starring Jet Li and Jackie Chan and choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping). That was an enjoyable movie. Let’s be honest here, if you are going to see a movie with Jet Li and Jackie Chan that’s choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping, you are really going for the amazing fight scenes, but the plot is of minimal importance. Well I can guarantee you will get amazing fight scenes, and a plot of minimal importance. The fight between the two stars is worth the price of admission alone.
Tomorrow, I have the official final celebration (ie the birthday lunch with my work people). I haven’t decided where we should go yet.
So, why is there such an extensive birthday celebration this year? Especially, if you know me, I don’t generally do birthday parties. Well for two reasons. One is that this past year has been a year of solidifying my identity, and gaining some agency in my life. One of the things (and the reason I have this website rather than the multitude of journals and blogs I had before) is that I am trying to bring more aspects of my life together, to have, as much as is possible, a single identity that goes from situation to situation. I’m finding out who I am.
The second reason is that there is a possibility that this is my last year living in the United States. This isn’t my goal but it may happen, and if it does, I want to have had this celebration.
Woven throughout these things is a theme of identity, permanency and agency (collectively known as adulthood) that’s been running through my life this past year. I feel like I’ve grown up a lot in the past year. Moving into my own apartment was a part of that, some of the things we’ve been talking about as a staff team in InterVarsity has also been a part of that as well (as has been getting my own car). All of these things in some way have involved the power to choose, as opposed to being moved to and fro by one’s circumstance or by other people’s choices. Agency is an attractive thing.
This attractiveness of agency is partially why this may be my last year here. If you know anything about the H1-B visa (the type of visa that I’m on), you know that it’s a visa that doesn’t allow the holder much self-determination. It’s for a particular job, for a particular period in time that you are particularly qualified for. If you quit or are fired, you lose your permission to be in the U.S. along with your job. You aren’t allowed to take a second job on the side (without applying for a second H1-B visa) to make extra money, and you aren’t even allowed to apply for the visa yourself. It also lasts only for 2 terms of 3 years. Quite frankly, after my first term on it, I’m quite done. At 27 years old, I am tired of being in transition. I’m looking towards building the type of life that is right for me and is where God wants me to be. I think I may talk more about what that possibly looks like in another post as for now, my birthday is over and I thank you all for sharing this small moment with me.
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