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Happy birthday to ME! I am so excited that I will now be able to say that yes, I was still finalizing my post secondary education in my thirties. Super. I’ve never really been into the whole five year planning thing; the only major goals in my life would be to own a house at some point, replete with dog and husband. Oh, and I want to retire at 55. So when I ask myself the question “where did I envision myself at 30?” I really can’t say that I had any specific ideas, only vague generalities. I never thought “oh, I want to be the controller of a multi-national petroleum corporation” because well, petroleum corporations are bastards and also because I must admit to a certain laissez-faire attitude in regards to my career path. I am a bit surprised that I am still going to school (though – fingers crossed – I will be done in less than two weeks); I would’ve thought that a) I would never return after the social rejection and humiliation that was high school or b) I would’ve completed what I felt was necessary before the ripe old age of 30. However you live and learn. You enroll in the CGA, bite off more than you can chew, fail horrifically and then cower in a corner for a few more years gaining the confidence to try it again.
Kids never entered into the picture. I never daydreamed about myself with a family as evidenced by my surgery earlier this year. So I guess I did a good job of not having kids at thirty… yeah, quite an accomplishment.
The housing situation. What can I say? If you live in Vancouver then you know my predicament. Houses in my neck of the woods start (for a beater) at half a million. I’d wager a guess that the average house price in Kerrisdale is $800,000. I don’t have $800,000. Apparently a lot of people do, so I just need to discover where they hang out on the weekends and infiltrate them. This would segue nicely into the relationship topic of my life. See, should I meet someone that can afford an $800,000 house and that also finds me tremendously witty and attractive (and really, who wouldn’t) and thinks that my ragings against the Bush administration, the way the Canadian government is failing the environment, and my liberal views on gay marriage, the legalization of marijuana and prostitution are quirky and genuine, and wants to make me Mrs. Crème de la Crème, then I suppose I would have solved both the housing and marriage shortcomings.
As it stands, today, at 30, I am wrapping up my two year accounting diploma which took me six years to complete. I work three days a week. I live alone in rented accommodations, and my nose is too big. On the plus side: I’m wrapping up my lengthy education! I only work three days a week! I can drink milk straight from the carton (well, I always did that) and leave the toilet seat up! I guess I just have to work on the nose thing.
Oh happiest of happies.