June 22: On Birthdays, Gatherings and Career Plans

As I sit here and type, it has been a madcap couple of days. Ex-PM Abe was assassinated, and PM Johnson was forced to resign. President Biden, on the other hand, is fighting a losing battle against the electorate and his own judiciary. Not a good few days for the liberal world order.

But I digress. Let's talk about June.

June is, of course, the month of birthdays. My eldest daughter, wife and mother-in-law all have their birthdays within the space of a few days. Let me summarise what happened:

• The daughter had a party.
• The wife had a getaway (sort of - this is just a fancy way of saying I didn't get her anything)
• The mother-in-law got a simple family gathering.

Khayra's birthday backdrop. I reckon this wall has seen 30 years' worth of birthday backdrops.

Not where we went for the getaway but the view from our balcony. I like this picture.

At work, there have been tonnes of gatherings. I suppose it is to be expected, given we've not had a lot of face-to-face interaction in the past two years.

I was not kidding...

When I said there were...

A lot of gatherings...

I also got a half-lecture, half-reprimand from the boss about my career plan. It's not something I've thought about, but I acknowledge I should start. I managed to annoy her when I did not respond to what I presume is her cue for me to reaffirm my love and commitment for the current department. Khael does not take social cues. 

Quite frankly, she also annoyed me with her habit of bringing things up from two years ago. But at the end of the day, I think she means well, and I'm not going to take it personally.

Outside work, I've started virtually tutoring a little boy to read in English. I had been looking to volunteer for years, so it feels good to finally start something. I thank God for being assigned a student who has supportive parents. I don't think I'd have a clue what I'd do if they were not around to help guide the boy.

See you in a month.