Today I turned 44. Whooosh… where did it go? Warning, this is a Poignant Young Man post, but as I approach my half century mark in six years, it doesn’t feel PYM. Never mind that 40 is the new 30, (which makes me about 35 in ‘new’ years?) and 60 is the new 40, I still feel like this will be a PMAM post or at times even POM. Here we all are in the cycle of life. (Pictured at left, the delicious birthday cake presented by the APAC HR Team in Hong Kong after my return from Beijing.)

With Tantalising Tess and the family back in Canada, what better place to spend my birthday than in Beijing, China. While I thought the day would be a quiet one, my colleagues and HR team surprised me.

First, on Wednesday night a US colleague and I had a drink (and me a cigar) as we waited for a late night global HR call to commence at 11 pm. Sitting there I knew, that while Charles’ wiring would have him hide his birthday, that would be unfair to those around me. Something about being willing to let acknowledgement in! So, after a few minutes I said to my colleague, "You know, I need to confess something to you because if I don’t and you find out afterwards, you’ll probably be disappointed with me." She asked "What’s that?" to which I replied, "Tomorrow’s my birthday!"

"Well funny you should mention that…" she laughed and promptly pulled out a hilarious birthday card and Borders gift certificate. How cool is that? She was more prepared than I! So there we sat in the Grand Hyatt lobby, talking about how much China had changed in the last ten years, the discussion shadowing how we’ve all changed in the last ten years. And speaking of ten, upon arriving to my room the hotel presented me with a leather picture holder, contained within a silk sachel, in honour of my tenth stay in the hotel. Wow… that was unexpected and delightful. (As an example of how modern China has become, especially in the major cities, take a look at the pictures below. On the left is a pic of a "metal canopy" between two buildings. The other pic is of two girls playing next to the water immediately beneath the "canopy." Click to enlarge the photos.)

Second, the China Sales VP bought me a beautiful, royal blue Chinese linen shirt presented to me at a dinner together. Third, today the China HR team took my US colleague and I out to lunch (left), presented we with a very unique and rare piece of China art and a birthday cake, too!

Fourth, Jet Airways (a terrific and growing airline in India) remembered my birthday. Sure, it was a computer custom-generated, automated e-mail, but neither United nor Air Canada remembered and they have my e-mail, too!

Fifth, Cathay also greeted me with a birthday message as I logged into their site to check the timeliness of my departure flight to HK. But folks, that was nothing compared to what happened at the airport. Approaching the check-in counter a CX employee greeted me by asking, "Hello, flying to HK… economy or business class?"

"Economy," I replied but then cheekily continued with, "but it’s my birthday so I want an upgrade!" They giggled.

I proceeded to check-in. The attendant kept looking at the screen and in Chinese asked his colleagues how to do something on the screen. I had no idea what was going on but suddenly a CX attendant appeared at my side, wished me a happy birthday and presented me with a beautiful silk pouch about the size of an evening purse. I thanked her profusely and inside my head thought, "Okay no upgrade but the purse is very sweet!"

The attendant checking me in continued to fumble a bit and then BINGO… next thing I knew a Business Class boarding card sat in front of me. I thanked him and went on my merry way. If one has to travel around your birthday, make it ON your birthday to angle for the upgrade. Now the thing is… the plane is practically empty. Therefore, they really did give me a birthday upgrade, not one because economy was overbooked.

And so here I sit in Business Class reflecting on my birthday, life in general, leaving for Canada next week to join the team, which will definitely be a reflective and introspective time because Fintry always is. And then there are all the things to do between now and then, including flying to India to take care of some HR items and a hundred things around the flat.

The main project Tess and I have tasked to yours truly is the CDs. We have probably 400 CDs that take up a lot of space in the flat. (We’re going through a big minimalist phase right now!) We rarely listen to these CDs. Doesn’t figure that prominently in our daily lives. In an effort to fully launch ourselves into the digital entertainment age we decided to get rid of our CDs. Using I-tunes we’re burning (I really mean importing) all the CDs onto our main computer and then we’ll sell the CDs. Imagine that… no CDs… I distinctly remember the shift from vinyl to CDs and now the CDs’ extinction is imminent.

Last weekend, after really getting myself organized, I hit a rate of burning 12 CDs per hour and completed 125 by Sunday night. I even scanned (or found on the Internet) the album artwork. Turning the corner into the work week I continued to import CDs at every opportunity.

Let’s take a moment to really grasp this project. I don’t listen to the CDs when burning (well some I do) but I am acutely aware of the songs floating past me. Songs I haven’t heard for years. We have lots of CDs that we come across dirt cheap during our travels… old Elton John, Billboard compilations from the 70s, the list is endless of creative, old and long lost collections found in Asia’s dusty corners.

Charles’ PMAM wiring would have him complete this project at a snail’s pace… stopping to listen and savour each CD and song, reflecting on where and when I first heard a particular tune. A while ago I wrote about how we measure time outside of minutes, hours, days or years and music definitely ranks up there as a time marker. It would be easy to procrastinate on this project but oh no… no no no no no no no… I am doing this project Tess style – get it done!

That’s why I brought about 50 CDs to Beijing. Every spare moment I had in my hotel room I burned a CD into I-tunes. I was like a machine… then a light appeared at the end of the tunnel but the light was a freight train with a PYM payload.

This morning, as I rushed about packing, answering e-mails, taking phone calls, I continued The CD Project. At one point Moodswings sat waiting for import. I slipped the CD into the travelling docking station. Without even thinking I watched the song names download from the Gracenotes database, then clicked the Import button. For some strange reason Moodswings didn’t play. It was something else. At first I was frustrated. We have about twenty-five CDs missing from their cases and during the course of this project I have found lots of CDs in the wrong CD cases, too. I thought, "Drat, another wrong CD."

My mind fleetingly registered the moment but not as music, instead as a moment in time, as The Cycle of Life. Then the recollection vanished. "What was that?" I thought. I quickly settled in front of my laptop to read the CD. Not Moodswings. I picked-up the CD case… NOT Moodswings. "Wow," I thought, "talk about a bird in ‘the the’ hand, I didn’t even know what I was importing."

But that wasn’t enough as my mind struggled to pull from the past. "What are you trying to tell me," I asked, "why have you stopped me here, at this CD, at this moment?"

Slowly the fog cleared. My parent’s house came into view, in fact the living room where my father had a fancy new stereo. The year was 1990. (The year I came to Asia for the first time.) I remember playing this CD in that stereo on a sunny afternoon. I remember admiring how shiney and smooth it’s surface. I remember making a tape for the car.

I sat there in Beijing, my conscious mind frantically scanning for answers… "Why this CD, why now?" Then I figured it out. Somehow, for some reason, I’d been stopped at the first CD I’d ever bought. At the CD where I migrated from vinyl to CD. Here I sat thousands of miles away in Beijing on my birthday, and years away from that moment in Toronto, importing CDs as Tess & I transitioned out of one technology and into another… only to hold in my mind the first CD I bought. "Should I keep it?" I asked myself.

I stared at the CD in disbelief as all the years between now and then washed through my memory.  "Full circle," I thought, "the Cycle of Life. Forty-four today, my friend. Happy Birthday and many, many more shepherd moons."

The artist was Enya. The CD was Shepherd Moon. What was your first CD?