Joining the quarter century club

Since the last time I wrote, I passed what some might consider a somewhat major milestone: I passed the quarter century mark, and am now officially in my mid-twenties. I wish I could say that my 25th birthday in Paris was an occasion that I'll never forget, but the truth is that he day I turned 25 was an incredibly uneventful day. I took the day off from work, but was an uncomfortably hot day in Paris, and I honestly didn't feel a need to paint the town red, so I stayed in for most of the day, leaving the house to buy a loaf of bread, and to meet with a friend for an evening (non-celebratory) drink. Otherwise, I spent the better part of the day doing some financial housekeeping, trip planning, and just hanging out. It sounds pretty dull, but for those of you who know me well, you know that I'm just not much of a birthday person. It's not to say that I'm a birthday hater, but since I just don't feel the need to do anything too crazy to mark the occasion. I suppose that this might have to do with the fact that I haven't spent a birthday at home in a number of years, and so the day feels even less significant in the absence of close friends and family.

In any case, the combination of turning 25, not being enrolled in school for September for the first time in 21 years, and being days away from hitting the road for a three month trip without having a clear idea of what my life will be like at the end of the three months has left me feeling a little apprehensive about the future. Okay, that's an understatement, because the truth is I've been experiencing a good amount of anxiety over the future. For the most part I'm excited about the future; I've been itching to get out of school for awhile now, not because I don't love school but because I've been wanting to get into the workforce and feel like a more active participant in life beyond academics, but now that the longed for freedom has been granted, I'm feeling all of the anxieties of a new graduate looking for entry-level work at a time of unprecedented economic turmoil. It doesn't help that just about every day the New York Times and the Globe and Mail seem to publish a new article about how my generation is the generation that got the shaft/the soaring unemployment rate/the devaluation of university degrees/etc...

I know I've been saying it all along, but the end of my year in Paris is quickly approaching. In fact, at this point, the end is coming at an alarming speed. In so many ways the summer has gone by incredibly quickly, and yet at the same time so slowly. I guess the daily monotony of getting up and going to the same job has that effect on day to day life, no matter where you live.

Random Rambling

This afternoon, I was on my way home from work on the metro, and wound up sharing a bench with three french children, two girls and a boy, all probably under the age of 7. I usually don't pay much attention to kids in the metro, but after a couple of minutes, I realized that they were playing everyone's favourite childhood game, 'pierre-feuille-ciseaux', otherwise known as 'rock-paper-scissors'. I've seen this game played in China, Honduras, Egypt and, of course, at home in Canada, so I guess this really is a universal game. Anyhow, normally I don't care much for the game, but the kids were kept chanting 'pierre-feuile-ciseaux' over and over again, so i couldn't help but to observe, and and just when I was beginning towonder why they weren't getting bored after the 9th round, the little boy decided to liven the game up, and on the 10th round, when the moment came for the big reveal, he yelled 'pistole!', and mimicked pulling a trigger with his tiny 4-year-old hand. Naturally, the two girls immediately denounced the move, haughtily telling him that he clearly didn't know how to play the game. Am I the only one who finds this ingenious, hilarious and alarming all at the same time?! Ah, kids these days....

In other news, so to speak, there were a couple of interesting articles in the NY Times today that I thought were interesting and worth sharing. The first one is about why we go to museums (and travel, more broadly), and what we get out of the experience. I felt like it was a pretty aptly timed article, seeing as I will soon be hitting the road, and often find myself asking these exact questions. The second article was about Chinggis Khan and what he represents in Mongolia. I have a real soft spot in my heart for Mongolia, and so I'm always happy when I find any articles about the often neglected country. I love how the article refers to Ulaanbaatar as the "drab capital"...clearly I am not the only person who thinks that UB is a major eyesore. Anyhow, I thought that these were decent reads, and encourage you all to take a quick look if you have a couple of minutes.

After 30 days of deprivation, I am super pumped about getting up early tomorrow morning to hit my favourite boulangerie, Boris Portolan. After an agonizingly long month of the baker having been on his annual summer holiday, the doors are reopening tomorrow, and I will be in line for their insanely delicious pain de tradition!