The Birthday Blog!!

New most played song on iTunes: “Get Better”, Mates of State.

This album came out early this year, and I’ve only recently been really delving into the band. I have a habit of not necessarily loving something when it’s new, just because it’s new, but because it finally catches me. And well, they have. This song is a nice personal anthem.

Anyway. Last Monday was my birthday, and when I was getting ready that morning, I thought of the little ceramic Dr. Seuss figure my mother gave me I think on my 16^th birthday. Its base is a cloud, and the figure stands atop a spring, carrying a cake. It has a very Seussian face, although I don’t know exactly to what book it belongs. Printed on the cloud base are the verses, “Today is your birthday! Today you are you!” I thought of those lines in a sing-song voice while bounce-walking into the bathroom.

My last two birthdays have been okay. Last year for the big 25, we had a small party in the old apartment, and several friends came to visit and play Apples to Apples. It was a no-big-deal sort of party, except for the presence of Whole Foods brand guacamole, which of course was a hit. My significant other at the time gave me a vinyl copy of Erik Satie’s Vexations, which for the lesser musically knowledgeable is a piece comprised of a musical line repeated 840 times. Someone in my undergrad years once postulated that Ravel’s “Bolero” was the birth of minimalism. I laughed in his face. Anyway. It as a run-of-the-mill birthday, even for my quarter century.

Anyway. My 24^th birthday was actually really wonderful, and not for the reasons one might anticipate. I was preparing to be graduating a semester late from an already super-extended program, I was taking 15 hours including a graduate class, going to the school where I should have been interning at least once a week, working with a powerhouse high school marching band, and also working 40 hours a week as a box office wench at a local dinner theatre. And had just gotten my first car and was making up for time lost in commutes. I was miserable and didn’t have a day off for nearly two months – the first one off was my birthday. All I had was French class that morning at UCF, and then the rest of the day was spent with my mom eating lunch, seeing The Departed in theatres with her and the aforementioned Satie vinyl-purchasing ex, followed by getting my hair cut (at least a foot off at that point), dinner at the Mellow Mushroom with Marc and Nicole, and a get-together that included board games and Guitar Hero at the house I was house-sitting at that evening. It wasn’t the most spectacular or amazing birthday ever, but considering all of the madness that had been occurring in my life up until that point that fall – did I forget to mention I was writing/editing my undergrad thesis at that point, which ended up being over 100 pages? – it was the most wonderful day I could have imagined. It was a perfect respite.

I can’t really recall any other recent birthdays that have stuck out aside from the 24^th. My 19^th involved a college football game and of course, halftime performance, and the first party I stayed overnight at since the days of slumber parties as a pre-teen. My 21^st was spent writing a paper, going to a band sorority event, and recovering from a marching band trip over most of the Midwest the weekend before. My 22^nd was the night of the final 2004 presidential debate.

I love my birthday of course – who doesn’t!? I also share a birthday with Margaret Thatcher and Paul Simon, as well as Chris Carter and Fox Mulder. There were many pre-teen years spent watching the X-Files, with the quirky post-credit graphic for 1013 productions, voiced over by a child stating, “I made this!” I used to want to start a 1013 reed-making company, if I ever really got crackin’ on making bassoon reeds. Every time I looked down at one in college, I’d say, “I made this!” and feel slightly better about myself. My eighteenth birthday was on a Friday the 13^th, the only one of the year 2000 – my friend Michelle took me to Busch Gardens, I had a party with all of my friends the next night where we hung out and berated the Miss America pagent, and I also got to publish an article about my nifty birth date in the teen section of the Orlando Sentinel that I used to write for.

But what I’m finding is that my birthday is growing to be more the way my life goes. I used to look for the most fabulous things in life, not necessarily the most expensive, or most impressive even, but some of the most far out and/or amazing things. I used to want my life to be full gear, crazy mad good times and running on all cylinders at all times. I used to want for the most fantastical things in my life, never really expecting I would get them I guess.

This birthday actually turned out to be pretty swell. I manipulated my kids into behaving, telling them that the nicest birthday present they could get me was to be good in class…heh heh heh. Then Andrew came over, I opened presents, which were wonderful, and we met up with Elizabeth and Marcos, sojourning to Sushi Blues in downtown Hollywood. We ate a gross ton of sushi, veggie and otherwise, and I was really exhausted from friends visiting that weekend so after one shot of sake, I was done. The pictures prove it. We had gelato at my absolute favorite gelato place in the entire world, and then went home and passed out. Twas a good night, and my birthday was the only non-14-15 hour day I had in the subsequent week.

As I get older though, I find that the simpler things and taking time to spend with great friends, as I did this weekend, is so much more satisfying than seeking to have a party say, at Pure nightclub in Las Vegas with Paris Hilton. I don’t need to go crazy places. I am easily satisfied. Ethnic food and gelato in downtown Hollywood will certainly do. As an example, I don’t need to go on random wild trips for New Year’s, either. I strongly prefer my New Year’s Eves to be spent with friends, in someone’s house, playing board games and listening to records & watching movies. I still want great things in my life, but I look for them these days in different venues.

Pictures will come. Eventually. :)