It's funny how different the world looks waking up at 4am, as opposed to how it does when going to bed at 4am.

It was an incredibly early flight out of San Diego on Thursday, and while I hate waking up just a few hours after going to bed, I like arriving at my destination with a full day ahead.

Like New Years, birthdays are another time that I begin a drawn out, week long session of self evaluation. What did I accomplish? How much have I learned? Did I do enough personal art? Yada yada yada.. Because for some reason, it seems like many of us take better comfort in aging, when there are various senses of accomplishment.

When I exited my 20s and entered the so called "dreaded 30s" I think my biggest fear was the same fear I had leaving my teens. That some how aging involved casting away the carefree spirit and embracing some sort of adulthood conformity.

What I can say about that is, after years of playing video games with other adults, quite a few nerf gun wars, happy hours and work events, and still "playing outside" with some of the same friends from decades ago (now we can take airplanes to our favorite playgrounds), those of us that were born carefree spirits will most likely remain that way till we die.

So here it is, another year older and I'm actually stoked about how much this past year has brought me and what may be to come.

Professionally I'm so lucky to get to work in a field I love, work with other talented designers who can school me on new things and consistently meet cool clients.

Physically thanks to crossfit, I'm stronger than I ever was in my 20s (though that could be attributed to many good nights out and lack of sleep).

More than anything, I think what's the best about aging is growing a good sense of self. Having the cojones to pick and choose what you want to do and who you want to be, without regard to nay sayers is an amazeballs feeling of freedom.

So cheers and <3 to the friends/readers/facebookers/tweeters for all the awesome birthday wishes.

It was a great night of food, laughs, sports/gaming talk and even a bit of chow roasting.

Ps
I usually don't post quoted text, but the block below is something a friend sent to me a while back, when I was having a night whining session about how tragically mediocre my skills were and how I feared becoming obsolete >_< it's hilarious looking back now, but we all have moments of weakness.

My favorite line "create something beautiful, then destroy it.".
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