Angela Tung Oversharing on the internet since 2005.

This post will be all about me (as opposed to the rest of this blog, right?), but even more so, cuz guess what?  It’s my birthday!

This year, I kept forgetting about my bday, for a change, between being busy with work and readying my memoir for publication.  Then it hit me this weekend: I am now just one year away from 40.

Waaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!

Ahem.

Anyway, I’m trying to remind myself age is just a number, and I have a lot to be grateful for.  Wonderful friends and family, parents who are still healthy and active (knock wood), my own health (knock wood again), MB, the chance to live in a new city, and the opportunity to pursue my writing career in the way I’ve wanted for such a long time.

Life is good.

But part of me still wishes I could be 33 forever.

Why 33 you may ask?  Why not 25 or 17 or 29?  Because at 33, I started to feel like I was coming into my own.  I was living totally independently and getting to know myself again and living just for myself.  I was living the life – single and in the city – I had been fantasizing about for years.  Plus I was still skinny, had fewer wrinkles, and gravity had yet to take its toll.

Oh well.

Then again, I had a job I hated, and hadn’t met MB yet.  I was hardly published.  I was still angry about my divorce and took it out on my parents, who took out their hurt on me.

So I guess what I’m saying is there are good and bad things about every year, and actually this year, there is far more good than bad.

~ ~ ~

In other news, I finally have some really nice author photos.  Till now I’ve been using candids.  Not bad but also not very professional.  YP took this one of me which I love and I’ll still use –

– but I also wanted something less wintery.

I looked into getting headshots last fall, but got lazy/chickened out.  I started looking into it again last week when MB suggested his friend, a talented photographer.

We met up in Union Square, and took pictures all around.  A nearby hotel, against building walls, etc.  He was very good at making me feel loose and comfortable.  “You’re stiff!” he’d say, and I’d jump up and down and shake out my arms.  And all those years of watching America’s Next Top Model apparently paid off: when he had me look off to the side, I made sure to focus my eyes far away – rather than at something close-up, which can seem cross-eyed – to project a dreamy look, and to actually think of something which would give my face some expression.

After not very long, we ended up with these five as my “best shots.”

I love all of them but the first two are my favorites – I’ve already updated my Facebook profile pic with the first one, and will use the second one for my book. I’m sure I’ll find a use for the others as well.

Yay for pictures that aren’t five plus years old!  And thanks again to MB’s very generous and talented friend!

Now to stuff my face with (anti-paleo) red velvet cupcakes.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 18th, 2011 at 12:27 pm and is filed under birthday, writing. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.