Birthday 2011: Friends, Family and Facebook

I celebrated my birthday yesterday, not with lots of beer and other high octane drinks plus high cholesterol food that I used to do several years ago, but with replying for hours to many greetings in facebook. So I wrote this today in my fb Note.
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Birthday 2011: friends, family and facebook

by Nonoy Oplas on Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 4:59pm

Facebook is awesome, or can be cruel, during one's birthday. Since the evening of October 23 to afternoon of October 25 (today), I received close to 300 wall greetings and 20 fb private mails. Last year, I also received nearly 300 birthday greetings both in my wall and in private mails. I'm not sure if I replied to all greetings last year, but this year, I replied to ALL greetings. Just a modest way of thanking all my greeters and well-wishers.

On top of fb greetings, I also received greetings in my yahoo and gmail addresses, by text messages. One friend from the DOH, Mhyanne, greeted me 3x yesterday, 2x in facebook and once in google chat. I told Mhyanne that she's the record holder this year of most greetings from one person.

THANK YOU ALL FRIENDS. You made my day, I felt like a super star even for two days, hehehe.

I am approaching the half century mark next year, meaning leaving the four decades mark. I have some regrets in life, some complaints, but the blessings and good things have definitely outweighed those regrets and complaints. I am happy with having 3 beautiful girls in my life -- my wife Ella and my two young girls, Elle Marie 5 years old, and Bien Mary 1 year old. The two kids were also born in October.

I seldom look back, mainly to reminisce good things and good times with friends and family. It's always better to look forward and leave history behind as footnotes and lessons for our future action. 

I love my current work with Minimal Government Thinkers. It's not financially rewarding and so stable, our funding is very limited, but I find great contentment with what I'm doing there, which is to propagate the philosophy of more personal and parental responsibility in running our own lives, to rely less or nothing on government whenever possible, and for government to focus on promulgating the rule of law and property rights, then it should step back, or step out. Campaign for free market, free trade, small and few taxes.

I only wish one thing in life: good health. With good health, I think many things will follow. One cannot have all the riches and wealth in the world, but one can have contentment with what he's got. I keep a very modest and humble life whenever possible. Whatever extra savings I got, I reserve it for my family, especially for my two young girls.

Most of my friends and acquaintances my age have kids who are already in college, a few have graduated from the university and are working already. My kids are not even in Grade 1, so the challenge for me is big as I'm not getting any younger. The funny thing here is that about 80-90 percent of strangers who see me carrying my 1-year old would ask me, "Sir, apo nyo?" (Is she your granddaughter?). Of course I don't get mad or get angry, it's evident from my face and white hair that I'm not young to be a father to such a young girl. Besides, it's against my personal philosophy to be humble and cheerful whenever possible.

While I can write more about my life and my family, I just find it impossible to get where I am now without my wonderful friends and acquaintances. One lesson  I learned while I reply to all birthday greetings is that some of them are not very close to me, they were friends of friends, some I have not met personally. So I have to click on their profile to get a glimpse of when and where I have met them, or who was our common and mutual friend/s, as they took a few seconds of their facebook time in dropping a birthday wish for me.  

Birthdays in facebook is one cool opportunity to meet up with new and old friends. I thank facebook, I thank my friends, I thank my family, I thank my creator, I even have to thank some of my enemies, personal or philosophical. But as I age, I wish to minimize my enemies or people who think that I am their enemy. I have to change tack in my writing, to be conscious always of criticizing the message, not the messenger. But stopping from criticizing is far out from my agenda for now.

I highly value my personal freedom and the individual freedom of others; I also highly insist on more personal and parental/guardian responsibility in running our own lives. So I shall continue to criticize public policies that want to reduce if not forget or hide such personal responsibilities and push for more "government responsibility" and coerced collectivism.

I look forward to another friends-filled birthday next year. I also wish all my friends, even those who forgot to greet me, a happy birthday, belated or advance, and a happy life. If we find our place under the Sun, we should derive contentment and happiness, somehow.

Cheers my friends and thanks again for a wonderful day. 

Have to correct myself. A really dear friend -- way back from UP in the 80s, friend in UP Sapul, godmother to my 1 year old, Boye Quiambao, is the record holder of greeting me several times, should be at least 4x -- the first to post in my wall (about 3 days in advance), texted me 2x, greeted me again in my yahoogroups, where else...

Friends like Boye make me feel rich and wealthy. Not materially or financially, just emotionally or intellectually rich.

Teka, baka hihirit pa si Ninang Kris ni Bien, sige lang Kris, sister-friend talaga kita :-)