Two weeks ago, I turned 34. I actually thought I was turning 35, but a bit of addition convinced me that I am indeed now 34, and I have another year to go before I hit 35.

I was very busy two weeks ago with work: there was a big bug in a system that I work on, and I was frantically trying to get the problem resolved before the holiday season. (The issue was finally resolved last week.) Work was keeping me busy, and I was fighting off a cold as well. I hadn’t thought much about my upcoming birthday because of the recent job change, and my continuing work with the NTCIR conference, I was barely getting enough sleep at night. The weekend before though I got a package from my twin and younger sister which reminded me: “oh yeah, it is my sister’s birthday is coming up, so that means that my birthday is coming up too.” That’s one of the good things about being a twin: usually your twin will remind you of when your birthday is.

On Thursday night, I was planning to head home and have a nice evening with my wife, but things were a bit busy at work, so I gave her a call to tell her that I would be a bit late. On the phone she told me that she was at Jiyugaoka, and when would I be there? I was a bit confused, but then when she asked whether I had read her email, I realized that I must have missed a message from her. Sure enough, she said that she had made reservations at a place at 7pm in Jiyugaoka (where I used to live) and if I moved quick, I just might get there only slightly late. So I closed out my work email and hopped on the train.

Back at Jiyugaoka, only slightly late, I met up with R. and we headed out. I thought she might have made a reservation at Lobros, a newish place that I had wanted to try for a while, but we kept walking. I was pretty sure that she had called up my friend Amadou who runs Saraba, my favorite bar in Japan and arranged for him to open up shop so we could drink there. Since Saraba is currently on hiatus, that was super cool. Sure enough, we made our way circuitiously to Saraba, but to my complete shock the place was packed with my friends! What really surprised me is that my friends from work, Dave and Ian, were even there! Just about an hour before they ducked out of work (at a reasonable hour) in such a way that I just had no idea that anything was up. I was later told that I didn’t act surprised enough when I entered the bar, but I was just so schocked I didn’t know how to react. My first reaction was to get a beer and drink it. (Normally a fairly good reaction to have in Japan.)

I had a great time that night, and it was great seeing all my friends. I wish I could have seen some of my other friends that live in America, but logistically that is just difficult to manage even on a non-surprise basis. 🙂 So thanks to everyone that made it a special night. This is one birthday I won’t forget for a while. Especially because R. made a night photo album with actual printed pictures in it!