Life in Ink and Footsteps

Those aren’t my words; that’s the congratulatory message I got from Nordic Beauty. Best friends, am I right? It’s cute how we fear aging when we’re young, terrified of every added candle on the cake. Scared that life will lose its magic. I mean, I’m still young. But it’s sweet to look back and laugh at those early assumptions about age. Who knows? Maybe I’ll handle it with grace. But let’s focus on my birthday celebration from seven years ago, shall we?

The family I worked for gave me an incredible gift—two tickets to The Phantom of the Opera. It was beyond thoughtful and a dream come true. I had been in New York almost a year and hadn’t seen any musicals, so this was perfect. And they gave me two tickets, so I could bring a friend along. I was thrilled! The Phantom of the Opera would be my Broadway debut. Now, Gerard Butler might not be in the cast, but I was still over the moon. Naturally, I planned to bring Nordic Beauty with me.

She, in turn, had her own birthday plans: a Muse concert at the Jones Beach stadium. While I wasn’t too familiar with Muse, the opener was 30 Seconds to Mars—and let’s just say I was very familiar with Jared Leto. He was a teenage crush, and I couldn’t believe I’d see him live. What a birthday surprise! To prep, I played Muse in the car and discovered that I knew more of their music than I realized, especially “Supermassive Black Hole” (shoutout to my Twilight fan phase). By the end, I was fully converted; Matt Bellamy’s vocals were mesmerizing.

This concert was my first major one, and the experience was incredible. The stadium was massive, packed with fans, and the sun setting over the ocean was breathtaking. The music, the crowd, the salty breeze—it was euphoric. Jared Leto even paid tribute to Chester Bennington from Linkin Park, who had recently passed, performing “The Kill” acoustically. It was powerful, especially since Chester’s death happened on my actual birthday, which made it feel personal and poignant.

I almost wish the night had ended there because it would’ve been the perfect birthday. In my culture, there’s a saying that roughly translates to “stop while you’re ahead”—it means to enjoy a good moment and avoid pushing for more. Does English have something like that? I mean, it’s not like it was terrible afterward, but it was pretty unnecessary.

After the concert, we went back to my place to freshen up, then headed into the city. Why? I don’t know, it was my birthday or something and you are supposed to go to the club or whatever. So we went. Nordic Beauty had her boyfriend join us—a ridiculously gorgeous guy, tall and model-like, making them both look like something out of a magazine. They could be some kind of a power couple. Not intimidating at all, right? My short, chubby, 22-year-old self was definitely not feeling a little underdressed and insecure. Thank goodness I loved them both, otherwise I would have run away crying. Well, I loved her, he was okay. We hit club after club, which was more Nordic Beauty’s thing than mine. Don’t get me wrong; I love dancing, but I prefer smaller, more intimate venues. Still, she wanted me to have a full birthday experience, so we club-hopped through four different places. By the end, I was practically begging to call it a night, exhausted and ready to crash.

Finally, her boyfriend got us a room at a beautiful hotel. He was a realtor with a good handle on where to stay, and in the morning, they both saw me off to the train station, sending me back to my cozy corner of Long Island. My last little birthday surprise? Mr. FoodAdventure picked me up that afternoon, treating me to Nutella milkshakes at Krich’s. It was the perfect way to end my birthday weekend.

I was torn between two songs. Obviously, it had to be from the bands I talked about this time. In the end, sentimentality won. Here you go:
30 seconds to Mars – the Kill