Birthdays for me have always been these special, magical days – as a kid I’d get super excited, butterflies in the tummy excited, every time I’d think of how many days to go. I’d also remind everyone weeks ahead of the time thus ensuring they never felt the angst or trauma of forgetting, some might say Sixteen Candles had an indelible effect on me. Because lets face it, there is nothing more miserable than a Leo on her birthday with no prettily be-ribboned boxes to open (one might be lead to believe this indicates a very very spoilt brat – fortunately no-one I know would ever say that about me *cough* and live).
As the years have passed and I’ve grown older (possibly wiser) I’ve learnt to contain my excitement somewhat, still remind everyone weeks ahead of the time because lets face it…..
Still this year the birthday excitement was somewhat tempered by the mind boggling fact that I was turning 40 – how the heck did that happen? How did I go from being the youngest in any social gathering to one of the more mature members of the group? (In case you’re doff – that was a rhetorical question, I. Do. Not. Want. An. Answer). There were moments in the build up to The Big Day where I questioned my sanity (again….comments are not required) and *gasp* even considered ignoring the day all together. Something which would have caused a crack in the very fabric of the universe (you can tell I don’t read much Sci Fi) that was until The Big Day arrived and my usual birthday optimism and joy on receiving all things wrapped in pretty paper and ribbon kicked in.
It was a stupendous weekend and ranked up there with a previous momentous birthday weekend a decade ago…. oh my friggen hell……. did I just write decade?
{there was a short interlude due to the writer of this post attempting to slit her wrists with a very blunt nail file}
Family came over, family flew down from Jhb, friends sent b/day sms’s and facebook messages and there were presents, oh boy were there presents which leads me to my somewhat cryptic title.
I am now the very proud owner of an Apple iPad 2* and have completely gone over to the dark side. This baby is beautiful, mind boggling beautiful and dare I even say it, might very well be the death of the physical book? *ducks the lightening bolt* The screen is insanely sharp, some of the apps are really very clever and Gina the talking Giraffe provides hours of mindless amusement. I am by nature a hoarder and collector of things, I don’t care if I now have more books in my library than I could possibly read in a lifetime (which keeps getting shorter and shorter every blimmen year!) the very idea of being able to carry around 1000’s of 1000’s of books in one relatively light device, excites me almost as much as waking up on my birthday.
* very very spoilt brat!!