Today was my birthday as well as the start of a three- (maybe four-) holiday for me. (Is it really a holiday when all you have on any given workday is a single lesson with one or three cute kids?) The biggest change in turning another year older is that I can no longer laugh when Thais inquire about my age. It was brilliant all year last year as I was fifty-five. In Thai, the letter “five” is pronounced “ha” so “55” is “ha-ha”. Sorry, but “ha-hok” just does not have the same ring to it.

It was a beautiful morning and I had all intentions of taking a nice walk at some point. But first I had some tasks that I wanted to complete such as a rundown of all the stamps Thailand has issued since May that I have not been able to purchase myself. The philatelic center next to our local post office remains closed. I also read some, caught up on my news feeds, and managed to fall asleep for two or three hours in the afternoon. Signs of getting older?

At any rate, the clear skies had clouded over and I talked myself into searching the 1112 delivery app for dinner options. I decided on Sizzler and managed to rack up a bill of 576 baht (US $16.99). The Southwest BBQ chicken was pretty good as were the cheese fries, baked potato, and egg tarts. The chicken pieces seemed a bit under-cooked and rather than the two cans of Coca-Cola Classic I’d ordered, they sent four mini-cans of Coke Zero. Anyway, my belly is happy.

Now, I just need to get outside and walk off the birthday dinner tomorrow. Of course, the forecast is for more rain…

Bonus photo: I brought my bookshelves from my old office back home yesterday (finally!) which gave me an opportunity to slightly rearrange my books and stamp albums. The albums are now at eye level to encourage me to open them more often. Today’s stamp blog was a step in the right direction. I believe I will spend some more time with my stamps over the long weekend. Especially while it’s raining.