23

The kindness of strangers is one of the most heartwarming and wonderful things in life. You always expect your close friends and family to be the ones to lift you up when you're down, but sometimes that isn't the case. And then, out of the blue, someone you don't know comes along at the right moment and does something so amazing you just have no words. And nothing else compares in your mind.

That's the best way I can describe my birthday this year.

I can't say that I was depressed or anything beforehand, but I was worried about it. Moving to a new place where you know no one just a few weeks before your birthday is scary. Would I have anyone to celebrate it with me? Would my friends back home remember? Would I fall into a hopeless case of homesickness?

Well, all I can say is that I had one of the best birthdays I've ever had this year, thanks to people who were strangers to me one month ago. On my actual birthday, a couple of my girlfriends from my dorm organized a little something in the common room, where we all had dinner together, which was cute. One of them also got me a purikura album, some pretty tape to decorate it, and a dinosaur chocolate mould :D

So when I had half-assed organized something for this past Saturday night, I just assumed that we'd go to the izakaya, then karaoke and just have a small little thing. But no! My friends from my dorm actually organized a surprise party for me :D They invited most of the kids from the US program along~! Altogether we were 13 people~! It was so nice of them :) And it was so nice of all those people to come too! I had barely talked to most of them before last night, and they all live pretty far out, so I was really touched that they made it to my party :)

So we Izakaya'ed and Karaoke'ed and it was great :) And when I got home there was something hanging off of my door! It was a piece of cake roll from my dorm manager! I think that that was the cherry on the I-can't-believe-how-nice-some-people-are cake. Not a single person had to do anything for me for my birthday. These people had no obligation to me, and yet, they spent so much time, energy and money on me. I have no words for how grateful I am :)

I forgot to mention, I also got to see my favourite band, Blonde Redhead, this week. A birthday present from me to me :) They played at Club House Fever on the 27th, which is actually a suuuper tiny place next to a super tiny train station. I almost didn't go because I had been sick all week... but I had already bought the ticket and didn't want to waste 3000¥ (or miss BR T_T) and it was just a cold, so I decided to go anyway. And it was wonderful. It was pretty much a one-hour-long musicgasm. It's the second time I see them, and the second time that I go alone. It isn't lonely at all though. If anything, it's better that way. It's nice to dance around with a bunch of strangers in a foreign place and just absorb what's going on around you, without having to worry about how A or B is enjoying the show. I sort of like how no one I know likes them as much as I do... It makes them more special in a way... I like things I can have a very intimate and exclusive relationship with. I guess that's why I'm so possessive of things and people... Ah... the power of reflection lol.

They changed their setlist and their order of songs a bit from Montreal to Tokyo, which makes sense, because they played a somewhat shorter show in Tokyo. They left out my favourite song from Penny Sparkle, which was a bit disappointing. I was afraid they were going to leave out 23, which would have made me cry. But they kept it for the encore this time. Not only is 23 my favourite song of all time, it is also the age I turned on Wednesday, so I felt like they had to play it.

Listen. Enjoy. Fall in love.