If you don't work hard in your 20s, no one loves you in your 30s.

Paul Bowles said that.

Ok, so today really is my birthday. And I'll stop blogging about it (so much) (after today).

My students were surprisingly sweet today--I got a little bookmark in the shape of a Korean kite, chocolate from various countries, and a bottle of very nice pinot noir (I fear that one was a bribe). One of my students kept saying "the whole world congratulates you."

My sister Michelle sent me an organic rubber, totally biodegradable yoga mat. So now that I've finished grading and work etc etc I'm going over to the studio to practice.

Happy Sunshine Blond Girl of Death Happy

I went back to teaching ESL today. I have a group of students that I've worked with off and on for the past three or four months. Many of them are leaving in the next four weeks, so it's nice to be able to send them on their way knowing that their English is much better and none of them have gone insane. It's the first day of the session, so of course I'm happy and optimistic; but it's nice to be working with an especially great bunch of students--everybody likes and respects each other. Teaching intensive language classes is rather...intense. I work with students for 3-5 hours a day, five days a week. It's different than semester-based classes, because everyone becomes either very comfortable or very uncomfortable with each other quite quickly, and the subtle shifts and adjustments that happen in a semester class happen much more rapidly and frequently.

My new bike is a dream to ride. Today was the first day that I commuted to work on it, and I shaved more than five minutes off my ride, and I wasn't even working very hard.

After teaching I headed back to Carlsbad to get a pedicure (part of a credit from a birthday gift last year). I had time to kill and so went up to the yoga studio to chat. I'd missed the hoop dance class, but the teacher was still there, so we hung out and she showed me and the owner, who was also there, a few more tricks. Hooping is totally fun addictive--especially to anyone who used to do it as a child. Anyway, I left the studio with some very excellent and total surprise birthday gifts: a hoop and a pair of pants that I'd been eying for at least two months.

Mark and I just got back from a pre-happy birthday happy hour. I'm feeling quite happy and pleased with myself. I have a book coming out by January from an awesome press, I like my boyfriend, my work doesn't make me crazy (all the time), I live near the beach and a great yoga studio, I'm learning how to do tricks with a hoola hoop, my bike is awesome, I get to hang out with poets I like both in San Diego and outside of San Diego; I'm in good shape.

I am nostalgic in the most self-indulgent way possible.

This picture was taken in Singapore, ten years ago to the day. Actually, I'm not that self-indulgent or nostalgic. It's just overcast and the last day of my half-vacation. I'll go for a walk. Clean, organize, read more Anna Karinina, ponder deep issues such as

What kind of cake should I make?

I've always been fond of carrot cake, but I also have a recipe for an almond-plum cake with crème fraîche and a crazy banana layer cake with mascarpone frosting. However, since Mark and I can only eat so much cake (and I'll make a second cake for his birthday later in the month), I wonder if I should make something simpler, like flan (which I love but have never made). I won't be doing any cooking until this weekend.

3 More Days Until I am 30

Not counting today. I am making a medium-sized deal out of this.

I did a medium-length asana practice on the beach yesterday. I like practicing handstand on the beach, because the sand is soft and nice to fall on.

My left hamstring/femoris is sore, but I learned a few ways to make it less sore.

I want the Celtics to win, but I don't think they will.

No one can drink alcohol legally on Mission Beach anymore. There were 400,000 less people there this past Memorial Day weekend than the one before.

I made fish stew. Yes. In San Diego in June it is still cold enough to eat stew. It is 98 in DC.

I went to a women's teachers club meeting. Yes, I did.

I'm going to attend a 2 hour training seminar on critical thinking on the evening of my birthday.

There is new construction in Carlsbad. It will be a mixed-use building. There aren't any high rises here, although there are a few in Oceanside.

Still reading Anna Karinina. She did not die in childbirth. The wedding scene between Levin and Kitty is crazy and long and ritualized and both characters are very beautiful and very dazed; neither of them has eaten very much because they are so elated and overwhelmed and in love and clueless.

T-1 day until the end of my half/medium vacation.

I've never, ever had a successful diet that didn't include alcohol, bread, and cheese.

I did three rounds of hanumanasana in my yoga practice today, and also worked on jumping up into handstand from two legs. Hanumanasana remains a challenge, but I think my hamstrings are opening up a bit. They'd better be after all those hanumanasanas! Handstand, though, was more satisfying. I managed to jump up (with two bent legs--instead of kicking up) and balance before I hit the wall. That must mean that my core muscles are getting stronger, since I have the strength to not only jump up, but also break and balance. I'm still working on jumping into it with straight legs, though.

Yesterday we went to the beach and today we also went to the beach. I have one more week left before I start teaching ESL in the mornings again. I intend to go to the beach a lot this week.

I've been looking at Mario Batali's new book on Italian Grilling. I like his recipes--they work, even if you don't have a fancy kitchen, etc. Yum. I'll still be cooking/grilling my favorite Middle Eastern and South Asian recipes this summer, but I've decided that it also won't hurt me to begin studying updated European traditions, either.

I said that today's birthday wish would be something about health and vanity. I've been reading Anna Karenina. Levin's just started his obsession with death, and now Anna has picked up on it as well. I'm not obsessed with death. I am at times obsessed with the nexus between health, beauty, and physical comforts. I spend quite a bit of time maintaining my health (through exercise, yoga, and food) and my beauty, but I'm not interested in maintaining either of those things at the expense of enjoyment.

So, today's birthday wish is that I'll practice yoga well into my 70s and beyond, that I'll never develop some weird sensitivity or allergy to cheese, wine, or scotch, and that I'll maintain my ability to stay up well past midnight.

How cute, I will be 30 soon

11 more days until my birthday. Although this day is not yet over, I am considering it over. Since I know I'm not going to receive real estate in Spain (or anywhere else), today's birthday wish is for all of my friends to keep visiting and to keep inviting me to visit them; I also want to give more readings, go to more parties, more art galleries, etc.

Tomorrow's birthday wishes will probably be about health and vanity.