03-10-2008.....Bittersweet!!

03-10-2008 is my birthday....I turned 28 years old today. But when I compare it with even last year, I have to admit I enjoyed it much less than last year. I was expecting my so called friends would remember my birthday, as such I was waiting for calls and messages to start coming from mid-night itself. But I guess I am a bad judge of people, because except for one message that arrived from a 2 year old friend, I got nothing else. I actually had a fit full sleep for the initial hour or so, waking up to check my phone!! Still when I woke up I was confident that many more calls and messages would be forthcoming during the course of the day. Till around 9.30 am, I had received two messages- one a cousin brother and one from a friend, and one call from my parents. Surprise surprise, my own colleague had forgotten completely and could only remember when two other colleagues came and wished me. Even my boss conveniently forgot to wish me when he called me in the morning for some official work. Anyhow during the day only a handful of wishes came my way. The day even plumbed the depth of my not being able to get a decent lunch, at the office( where I was for a meeting), as the food was finished before I could eat. My bosses tried to make up for this by arranging for chicken sandwiches to be delivered, which all of us ate to our hearts content. The saving grace was that I actually cut a cake on my birthday, and it's not very often that I have done that in the last 28 years. Inspite of all this one thing still rankles- the HR manager didn't deem it fit to wish me in the morning when we met, choosing to wait instead for the cake cutting ceremony. I so very much hate pretenders!!
A departure from last year was that one of my childhood friend who is bad at remembering birthdays remembered and cared enough to give me a call to wish me. I had given him a huge dressing down last year for forgetting my birthday!! Not that this year I was in a forgiving mood either. The list of people who missed is huge, but two people stick out like sore thumbs. One was the person to wish me first last year, and the other person has never forgotten to wish me in last many years, even when we were on barely talking terms. It hurt real bad, and am still nursing my wounds. Other significant oversighter's were my colleagues from my work place, I got a call from one of them who remembered at 9.30 pm in the night, and boy was I rude!!
After the meeting was over, our team had an impromptu beer party, sponsored by my boss. I took a drink one too many and was really sozzled, when I got that call from my colleague, but I am not sorry for lashing out at him!! I am hurt and angry....maybe time for some introspection and review.
But as the saying goes I may be down, but I am not out!!