My Birthday is this month, and I am not happy.  Instead of feeling great that I survived another year, I just feel I’m getting fatter and more cynical. I should be celebrating like I’m fifteen years old and having my sweet quinceanera. Well, I’m not fifteen years old anymore and I’m now the pinata that gets bang around. And because of this pandemic, my options to celebrate with friends is limited to going to a bar and drinking myself into a stupor, or staying home and drinking myself into a stupor. Both options are very bleak. But it is my special day and if I can’t go and party I can still try to enjoy myself one way or another.

Staying home and watching Netflix has been a great time killer, but I have already run out of shows I want to watch.  Everything from “Stranger Things’ to Tiger King; and once you get bored with Tiger King, I don’t know what else is there to watch. Sure, I can check out “Cobra Kai” and see a much older Ralph Macchio do fake karate or I can just watch the Karate Kid again. Both options are not very interesting because I don’t want to watch something I  have already seen. Still, it is my special day and I  want to do something. Staying home alone isn’t something I want to do, especially on my birthday. I went for a walk in the city.

Once I got into the city, I notice how quiet it is.  Even with the pandemic, the city is such a peaceful place to walk around in, so many magnificent pieces of street art to look at.  Before the pandemic, I would just walk right past them, not given them any notices.

But now,  I have the time to stop and look.  One of these pieces of art is The Granville Island “Sao Paulo”. , one of the best pieces in the city. Because just standing there and looking up at these painted giants on silos, make me feel like a tiny ant. These giant yellow looking people, makes me want to run and hide or I might get stepped on.  I wish we had more public pieces of art in Vancouver.

As I left Granville Island, I walked past the newest tent city. Looking at the growth of the number of homeless people we have reminds me of Spawn comic’s rat city.  Great to see some local nurses down there, helping those who need it.  Being there among the less fortunate is a glorious reminder that I have it better good compare to what the homeless have.

So, I went to my old music shop, Zulu Records. I haven’t been here in years, but they are still open. Even with the rise of online music and the death of many other music shops in the city, Zulu is still open for business. Walking into this place with (my medical mask on), it still has that old static  80 musks that you can’t get anywhere else, felt like I never left.  I wanted to pick up a vinyl album as a birthday gift to myself. I’m not one of those hipsters will just collect album because it’s trendy, but I enjoy the art of the album and the sound that comes out of the vinyl record player.  I remember reading about how music can be very therapeutic. How music can change your mental state into a more positive one but also aid in helping your physical body as well. From lowing your blood pressure to reducing your heart rate. Knowing this, I obviously pick up a copy of Dethklok’s Album “The Doomstar Requiem” surely these minstrels can turn my frown upside down!

I got home in the evening, put away my album, and I turn on the television and watch the news. I was hoping for something good that happens today, but  I knew it won’t be.  It was nothing but  cOVID-19 trash and more President Trump controversial. I turned it off. After my adventure around the city, I didn’t feel I wasted my birthday.

I took a walk in the city, finding out how peaceful and gorgeous the city can be when you don’t drive all the time. Show some great street art that the city can produce and stop by the tent city was a pleasant reminder that I don’t have it as bad as the others.

Maybe that’s all it takes to change your mood, to make you feel less shitty.  You just need to put in a small amount of effort and get your body moving.   Overall, a pretty decent birthday.