04.23.04
Posted in miscellaneous stuff at 5:46 am by admin
yesterday in the mail i got a cute gift basket from my parents. that was nice. 
fast-forward to today.
i awoke at 7:45am to a call from my grandmother. she called to wish me a happy birthday and said she figured i was on my way to work. well, i was actually sleeping, but she meant well so that was okay. and that’s how my day began.
i took a quick shower, put on my favorite pair of gap khakis, grabbed a ready-to-drink protein shake and said goodbye to mark and scooter, and i was on my way to work. mind you, i’m still feeling pretty sick. but i’m trying to make the best of it.
so anyway, no one at work knows about my birthday. that kinda sucks, but what can i do? appear to be needy by telling them? no way. so, my mother called me on lunch to wish me a happy birthday, and i talked to my father also. i was mad that she put him on the phone b/c i would have liked him to call me himself, instead of getting on to ask me about the missing yellow color in his ink cartridge.
i received an email from wishing me a happy day, which was really nice, and the girl at the bank wished me a happy birthday when she asked me to verify my birthday when i called to change my mailing address to my new one.
for lunch i took an extra 45 minutes and went to the mall to have a steak sandwich at steak escape and a cinnabon (hey, screw healthy. it’s my damned birthday!) not sure exactly what i’m doing tonight. mark and i will probably have dinner, but i have no idea where yet. so we’ll see.
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04.22.04
Posted in miscellaneous stuff at 7:27 am by admin
i’m home sick today, so it’s time for a nice long post. heh.
the birthday is really a curious thing, isn’t it? as you get older and your life gets more complex, and the lives of your friends and family members get more complex, birthdays don’t really seem to matter as much anymore. i’ve been so incredibly busy with my move that mark’s birthday went by fairly uneventfully and now it looks like mine might too, for various reasons. we’re still getting unpacked and set up, one of my best friends is in rehab so we won’t be able to celebrate until she gets out, another one is looking for a new apartment and yet another just recently got engaged, and the rest are a world away. assuming i can make it 100 years, every single year is another 1% of my life complete — like a really long download. so i don’t want to forget some of the best moments along the way. with that in mind, here is what i can remember about my past birthdays:
* when i was very young, my mother used to make extremely elaborate birthday cakes for me every year. one of the earliest birthdays i can remember was celebrated at mr. gatti’s pizza, and involved a he-man cake that my mother made. decorating these cakes involved placing 4 billion little stars of icing in different colors all over the face of a cake in the shape of he-man. my mother was so incredibly proud of those cakes. this was back when i had a dozen little friends to invite to a birthday party, and i think that it may have been an attempt to impress the other mothers with the elaborate detail, but it really meant a lot to her. this particular party (maybe from 1986) has a video but for some reason the audio is missing.
* on the he-man front, another story that i hear frequently from my parents is jumping into bed with them on the morning of my birthday when i was very little. i told them that the only thing i wanted in the whole world for my birthday was castle grayskull, and that i really hoped that i would get it. my dad hadn’t planned on getting it (it was particularly expensive for a 5-year old) but my parents couldn’t stand to break my heart, so my dad had to go and buy it at the grocery store (since it was a sunday) and he paid more for it than he should have. i played with that toy for almost 10 more years with action figures from he-man all the way up to star trek: the next generation.
* when i was in elementary school (maybe 5th grade or so) i remember having a party where i told everyone exactly what i wanted for my birthday. i gave people specific instructions to get specific teenage mutant ninja turtle action figures for me. thinking back, that was a little selfish. but i did get exactly what i wanted. i also remember one of the kids who was coming to my birthday party telling me, “you should invite this kid who lives on my street — daniel dupriest. he always gives really good birthday presents.” i didn’t really even know him, but i remember that i invited him anyway (although that memory is a little fuzzy). i think that’s how i was friends with dan through middle and high school.
* i received my first CD when i was 13. i had a small get-together and i don’t remember everyone who was there. i just remember that briony got me the genesis cd, “we can’t dance”. it’s not a bad CD overall.
* one of my most memorable birthdays happened when i turned 17. (nicole), (christina) and i went in christina’s truck to go see “the object of my affection” for my birthday. the movie was funny overall, although not too fantastic. the real fun started when we left, though. we were on our way to “willie’s ice house” for dinner out on 1960, but christina’s truck broke down, and we had to pull into a gas station, so we never quite made it to dinner. nicole gave me this folder with a whole bunch of astrological stuff she made for me, which i thought was incredibly thoughtful. mike cunningham came and rescued us in his big white car and took us to bennigans. it was definitely an adventure, but i loved every minute of it.
* on my 18th birthday i remember doing several things. i remember going with (kelsie) to “slick willie’s” to play pool overlooking bayou place. i remember her mom saying not to drive the car over 76mph because it would break. i remember her not listening. i also remember going after my birthday with megan spradlin and kayla and (jason) to rich’s, and them letting kayla in even though she was just about to turn 18). she was so worried about using her fake id and decided not to bother, but it turned out okay anyway. also, dan, kelsie, matt and I all went to see a play (the name of which i cannot remember) and we went for coffee at deidrich’s. i have the pictures from that evening. we got all dressed up and went out for a theatre night and felt so important. it was a lot of fun.
that may have been the last incredibly memorable birthday that i had. i’ve always done something for my birthday, but i’ve never really been able to recapture that excitement that comes along with a birthday because there are always so many other things going on in life, both with me and with other people. i’m also not surrounded with a lot of family, so i don’t have a lot of people eager to plan something for me. i would have if this post ended up looking like a “poor sad me” post because it’s not that at all. i just want to make sure i can remember these special birthdays down the road. if anyone reading this has taken part in any of my birthdays and can remember anything that i may have left out, please reply and let me know. i’ve only listed the ones that stand out, but anything you can add to the books would mean a lot to me.
anyway, this year i will be going to las vegas (next friday) and will probably do something for my birthday with my dad when i’m there. i went last year too. not sure what i’m going around here for my birthday. i’m tentatively planning to go to dinner with mark and our friends for my birthday (combined with his belated one) and we’ll see what else happens. anyway, it’s fun to remember. 
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