My birthday is on Tuesday. On the actual day I’m going to be in Knysna — a lovely seaside town in the Western Cape — as a guest of the of the Knysna Oyster Festival. I’ll be participating in countless exciting activities in Knysna and I imagine this will be a pretty fun way to spend my birthday. (It’s a big one, by the way.) But of course I am also a little bit sad that I won’t be celebrating in Jozi.
I more than made up for that this weekend though.
Last night my favorite Jozi band, BCUC, played a gig at Curiocity Backpackers in Maboneng. This gig was more or less organized in honor of my birthday. I don’t know how to explain how great it was. Here’s the only decent picture I got:
BCUC forgot their sound equipment so they performed without microphones. “We’re improvising for 2Summers,” said Jovi (center). At least I think that’s what he said. I was too busy swooning to hear him properly.
The lack of sound equipment made BCUC’s performance about 100 times more awesome, in my opinion, although I suspect that they’ve all lost their voices today. (Read my other BCUC posts here and here.)
Thanks so much to BCUC, and to Bheki and all the guys at Curiocity. I can’t tell you how much last night meant to me — it was absolutely the perfect Joburg birthday celebration.
Then today, this happened:
It’s tricky for an untrained eye to see, but it spells Heather.
Me and my epic birthday present. Note the 2Summers.net shout-out.
I’ve received quite a few nice birthday presents in my life. But never before have I received my own graffiti mural. This was pretty cool.
The big letters spell “HEAT” and then the smaller letters (you can see them in the middle of this shot) spell “her”. Clever, hey?
The mural (actually the proper term is “piece”) is in a tunnel somewhere in Jozi. I’m not allowed to say where, as graffiti artists (actually the proper term is graffiti “writers”) are secretive like that. The tunnel is wet and we had to wear gumboots to go in.
My piece was painted by a writer called Bias. I referenced him and his work in a recent post about Joburg graffiti. Bias (not his name in real life) has become a rather special person to me lately. You’ll be reading more about him.
You won’t be seeing his face though. Graffiti writers are secretive like that.
Tunnel vision.
I’m glad I fit in my Jozi celebration this weekend because I’m going to be away for most of the next month. I have a LOT of traveling to do over the next few weeks, so please bear with me if my blogging is sporadic. I’ll have a lot to say when I return.
So…yeah. This is shaping up to be an excellent birthday. In fact it’s shaping up to be an excellent year. I can’t remember the last time I felt this happy.
Life starts at 29, right?
Nicely done Bias!! Here’s to an awesome year for YOU Heather! You deserve all the smiles in the world 🙂 Shine Ms Mason. #HeatHer Love it.
What an exciting birthday present! Lucky girl. So glad you are so happy this year. Now is your time to “live it up.” And you are!!! 🙂
Love this. Congratulations and so glad you’re so happy! Safe travels! Xo
Sent from Erin’s iPhone
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Luck does not come into it. When you exude joy and fun and love it all comes back to you. I am sure that there a many who develop a zest for Jozi, South Africa and Life from your bubbly writings. Wishing you many more years of Heatherness.
Happy Birthday and what a creative and unique gift. Enjoy! xxoo
Wow that is awesome. Wishing you a fantastic birthday and year ahead. xxx
Happy Birthday Heather and enjoy Knysna !
Happy birthday Heather!! So good to hear about the wonderful start to your bday!! Have a great time I knysna.
Great to celebrate your birthday with you hun! Agreed, it couldn’t have been more special with BCUC singing especially for you! So jealous you have your own piece of graf. Great work Bias!
Had to pop in and wish you a great great happy happy Birthday Heather!! ♥ Full steam ahead for a stupendous year!
Oh wow, your own graffiti… I mean piece. The first thing I thought was that the tunnel is ideal for a Geocache. Hahaha. I hope you have an awesome birthday in Knysna!
You’ll have to chat with Bias sometime. He loves geocaching almost as much as you do 🙂
Sounds great! What an awesome gift 🙂
Wow! An entire wall dedicated to your birthday. That’s more impressive than a Columbia Flier cover.
Ha! Well that’s a close competition.
Happy happy birthday for last week! Sorry I missed it
Thanks Brian!