Today at my job we had an education day where a group of kindergartners came in to see a performance by a Korean drumming and dance ensemble. The kids were ecstatic. They were moved by the music and they got up and danced as they felt it. You could see the excitement in their eyes.

They danced like no one was watching. That is something we lose when we get older. As time goes on most of us go from being free spirited and uninhibited to self conscious, and worried about the perception of others.

I think we should keep our adult wisdom, but live like children. Dance like nobody's watching, love like you've never been hurt and sing like nobody's listening. Enjoy life without the worry of someone else's perception, at least every once in a while.

When someone says "I felt like a kid again" they usually refer to an instance where they were able to feel free, able to let go of preoccupation with other's opinions and just LIVE. We should do that more often. Although it's hard to hold onto that youthful fire as we get older and gain more responsibility, adulthood doesn't have to be full of constraints or rules. Adults can have fun too

Intercity public transportation: The trains, subways, and buses that run in the city run all the time, on a pretty frequent schedule. Living in the suburbs I have to schedule my life around a train that comes about once an hour, and doesn't run after midnight. This means when I go out on the weekend I have to make sure there is someone willing to take me back home after a night of partying (which rarely happens) or that there is someone's house I can crash at for the night. I can't just get up and go as much as I would like to when it comes to going out. Getting my license would alleviate most of this problem though.

Chinese food and pizza: When I lived in the city, I could order pizza or Chinese food until about 3am. Last night, I wanted some Chinese at 12:12am, and NOTHING was open. Also, in the city there were lots of places that delivered to my area, here, I don't have very many choices when it comes to delivering food.

Neighbors: You would think this would be the opposite. Most assume that friendly neighbors would be in the suburbs, and rude neighbors would be in the city. In my case however, its the complete opposite. There was a kind of morale that floated through my neighborhood in the city, block parties, shared barbecue off the grill. In my suburban neighborhood people just seem to keep to themselves - unless they have a problem - in which case instead of knocking on the door to share their grievances,they go directly to the condo association.

Things I like about the suburbs: cleaner, somewhat safer (the neighbors to our rear had their house broken into not too long ago).

I do love my house though. If I could pick up this house and put it in the city, I probably would.

I'd say my birthday celebration really started on Wednesday night. I came home from a business meeting to a birthday cake lit with 24 candles with my name on it. (Gotta love a thoughtful hubby) I received my gifts from him the night before also, some silver hoops and an ESPRESSO MAKER!! So, of course, although it was about 9:30 at night I had to try out my espresso maker by making some latte's. Needles to say, after having birthday cake and lattes at 10pm I wasn't able to go to sleep until about 1am.

Yesterday, on the actual day of my birth, I had a really nice day. Of course I was greeted with a barrage of Happy Birthday messages on twitter/facebook/text message. The weather was warmer and I was in a happy mood. My mom called me in the morning to sing Happy Birthday.  In the afternoon my 2 year old god son called and gave his own rendition of "Happy Birthday" which pretty much consisted of "Happy Birthday" and "I love you too" in alternation lol. My coworkers surprised me by taking me out to lunch to this nice Italian restaurant. Great food, but no that great of service. We did happen to dine next to boxer Bernard Hopkins, so that was interesting. 

In the evening my husband took me out to eat to Honey's Sit and Eat restaurant. The food was great and we had a really nice time. My birthday night ended with a lovely "Happy Birthday" serenade from my grandparents.

The birthday celebration isn't over yet! Tomorrow (Saturday) I'm going to see Avatar in 3-D and Imax during the day with the hubby, and then I'm going out to eat to this great Spanish restaurant with my friends and to a lounge/club afterward.

24 was/is a good birthday I must say.

Do I feel older? No, not at all, although 24 somehow sounds older than 23.

There has been a lot of uproar recently about the full body scanners being used at airports. Some feel like it is too invasive of privacy. The images they take come out like this:


So you can see the outline of the body- breasts, penis and butt included.

My take on this is that I don't mind it. If the outline of my figure is going to be seen by a trained airport security professional so that I can get on a plane with no weapons or bombs concealed, I'll take it. So many people ask "What part of your privacy won't you give up in the spirit of 'security'?" I understand this sentiment when it comes to prying into personal information such as buying, web browsing and library book history, but my body, eh, there is nothing so secret there, we all have the same parts.