Getting Older

Getting older has its perks. I mean, I'm not talking like I'm really old or anything. Twenty-six is still young and vital and there's plenty of time for me to make an impact in the world, hell, there's time at 56, 76, 96 to do so. But what I'm talking about is generally aging one year, and specifically reaching that mark where you officially turn the page on a year in your life. I'm talking about Birthdays.

Birthdays are fun because for one day, everybody sort of treats you like royalty. This isn't always true, though; I've had some doozies of bad times on my birthdays before. Any year my birthday falls on a Wednesday, it sort of gets swallowed up in the pre-Thanksgiving madness. The last time my birthday fell on a Tuesday, I had to be up at 5 in the morning to go to work. I've faced math tests, literature presentations, a girlfriend cheating on me (she didn't want to break up with me and ruin my birthday, she told me three days later when she did break up with me, and then it was New Year's Eve before I found out about the cheating from-get this-the guy she cheated with, real class act this girl), blizzards, a family neglecting me because my grandmother had just died (which, okay, really I forgive them, but it adds extra spice), long car trips, severe disappointment in gifts ("Oh boy...double A batteries. I could use those in a Sega Game Gear...if only I had a Sega Game Gear. But I don't. And this was the last present. Gee, thanks."), and the inevitable birthday beatdown from "friens" such as Chad Thompson and Cullen Shearburn. And, let's not forget that my father's birthday is one week and one day before mine, so now instead of doing two separate celebrations, we just group them together on the Sunday in between our birthdays (but I don't really mind sharing with my father).

But all in all, birthdays are great. Good looking girls who normally give you a passing "hello" in the halls smile and give you hugs. People spend money on you. Mom asks you what you want for dinner, and then actually makes it for you. And did I mention that people spend money on you? My father and I had our dual celebration this evening and one of my gifts was a pack of AA batteries and a Mary Kay Timewise Lotion box containing a Wiimote. The Wii, itself, was at home. And now it's hooked up and ready to distract me from all of my studies, family, work, obligations and (most dire to you folks) this blog.

My birthday takes place this coming Friday, November 21st. I like Friday birthdays for all the obvious reasons; you get to actually go out on your birthday and stay out late. You have a full day to recover from it afterwards, and then another day after that to accomplish all the things you meant to accomplish the rest of the weekend.

The last time I had a birthday on a Friday was 2003, my 21st birthday. The golden birthday, as it were. On a Friday. I mean...how great is that? But, as I recall, I somehow ended up only drinking a (pronounced "ah" as in one very singular depressing) beer and then managed to end up at my place of employ, buying a fake Christmas Tree for my parents (using my discount, of course). Then, we went to The City Museum, but for some reason I ended up driving...

And this Friday, I will actually be packing for a weekend trip to Springfield, IL, to see the Christmas Decorations and the Lincoln museums and such, with Kathy and our friends Heather and Drew. But that should be a great time, so no reason to complain there.

But, all you readers out there, if you would like to celebrate with me, you are welcome to come to The Blues City Deli on Thursday, November 20th, from 6 pm to 8 pm to get yourself some good food, good beer, and listen to some good music as The Rum Drum Ramblers take the stage.

Hope to see you there! Blues City is kind of a small space, so get there early and often. Er...or, just...get there early?

Secret Blogging

I am sitting in class and blogging.

Don't worry, it's part of class. Sort of. We're creating web pages and we have to link from our fake notepad html pages to real webpages, so I chose my blog. Pretty self serving, eh?