Birthday NPC

A friend of mine (who is also my DM) recently had his birthday, and when I told him to name me a character and I'd sketch it for him (quite selfish on my part: I still have a looooong way to go on this 365 Project) he did me one better and told me to roll up an NPC and illustrate that, and then he'd put it in our Game somewhere.  I then accused him of being a Hobbit, and giving out gifts on his own birthday.

Well apparently the Universe liked the whole "Hobbit" idea, because here's what came out:

Yes, a bald halfling.  The dice deities, they have senses of humor.

Here are the traits I rolled for her, as well as the commentary I went back and added to each trait as she became a Whole (Half?) Person in my brain:

Distinctive Physical Feature: Bald (she got tired of her hair catching fire)

High Ability: Wisdom (notices details, even if she then trips over them)

Low Ability: Dex (hence hair catching fire and perforated eardrum and lots of little knife and burn scars)

Talent: Expert Cook (chef, really, because CREATIVITY)

Mannerism: Speaks Loudly (perforated eardrum from childhood)

Interaction Trait: Curious (about people in general but with a special interest in food they've encountered)

Chaotic Ideal: Creativity (specifically with food)

Bond: Protection of Valuable Possession (workbook)

Flaw: Arrogance (about her cooking but also it's merited?)

So that was an extremely fun exercise that satisfied my Project on the 19th-21st.  In case you're wondering, her outfit is dragon-hide, because when you're that clumsy of a cook you need some seriously fire-proof clothing.  And steel-toed boots, for that matter.  Those pink speckles you see all over her hands and face are burn and knife scars.  She's a mess!  But her food is awesome, so there you go.

Tacos and Tiaras

It's your birthday indeed

And when the sun rises

We'll have a whole day

Of birthday surprises

Except that it's my birthday, not my son's.  Although he was the one to wake me up well before sunrise.  Not to wish me a happy birthday, per se, but hey- I'll take what I can get.  Especially when was I can get is him to go back to sleep so I can sleep for another hour or two.

Anyway.

As mentioned, today is my birthday, and a very good birthday it was, indeed.  I've been dealing with some Stuff, lately, so the days leading up to my birthday had put me in a very Forlorn sort of mood, to the point where I wasn't looking forward to my birthday at all, and in fact I was pretty sure it wasn't going to be a particularly good- let alone special- sort of day.  This is very much the opposite of my typical, "MY BIRTHDAY IS COMING ALL HAIL MY BIRTHDAYNESS!" frenzy that generally kicks in around March 1st.

But.

After the 0430 False Start, I woke up for the second time and sung very quietly to myself in a sad sort of way as I got out of bed and started my yoga.  About halfway through my sun salutation, Nathan leapt out of bed and rushed downstairs, and by the time I was breathing myself into a deeper pigeon pose, he'd come back up the stairs and placed a piece of chocolate birthday cake in front of my nose with a flourish.

"It's gluten free!" he crowed, and I smiled.  It smelled like Birthday.

I managed to hold off eating it until I finished my yoga, but when I did I found that it was oh-so-delicious, as well as being gluten-free.  Good job, husband!

Thus fortified for the day (he also made me eggs),  I decided to try wriggling into a dress I haven't worn since having a baby- and it fit, which was definitely a Birthday Triumph.  So naturally I decided that what the outfit really needed was red lipstick and a tiara, and thus I applied the one and stuck the other in my pannier.

The ride into work was just perfect- a welcome spring morning after so much rain- and once I got my bike safely stowed I took the time to put on my Birthday Tiara:

Not practical for under-helmet-wear.

By the way, here's the dress:

Feeling all mod like Gwen Stacy.

The Captain came in a bit later, and darned if he wasn't carrying a balloon!  He presented me with said balloon, which was delightful because a) everyone loves a balloon obviously and b) I knew it would make Neeps's entire evening when I let him play with it*.  The Captain also gave me my favorite candy bar (two of them!), a funny card, and later bought me tacos for lunch- because he knows I love them.  Mmm, tacos...

Nathan swung by a few hours later to present my birthday gift (a gift certificate for an hour-long massage!  Woo!) and after that my buddy Jerry popped in to present me with this bit of awesomeness:

Cap'n Tight Pants, Sir

which I cannot wait to get hung, probably in Neeps's room because every boy need a pragmatist-with-a-heart-of-gold idol.

Throughout the day I was bombarded with well-wishes via text, email, and FB, each and every one of which serving to lift my spirits.  People are so kind, and it was just humbling to have so many people reach out to me on my day.  By the time I left early (another gift from my excellent boss) I was feeling quite buoyant, much like the balloon I tied tightly to the back of my bike:

What could POSSIBLY go wrong with this scenario??

Nothing!  At least, nothing that wasn't solved by a quick stop to re-tie it closer to the rack!

Since I was home early, I got to go with Nathan to pick up Neeps, and then the three of us picked up some Birthday Pizza, and then we ate it, and all was right in the Birthday World.

Thanks, World.  Days like today make it easier to ignore Jerk Brain.






*(which, by the way, it totally did, right up until he ripped its balloon throat out and deflated the thing.  Ladies and gentlemen, we have a biter.)

On the Wall

My old climbing bro's brand new daughter entered the world today, and I celebrated by going climbing with my other old climbing bro.

I actually did a lot better than I thought I would: turns out hauling around a 25 pound kid keeps your arms in shape.  And, of course, the technique remains even if everything else (hand/foot strength) has disappeared.

I came home in such a good mood that I'm going to try to repeat it next week.  It would be pretty awesome if I could get back to climbing, even if only once a week.

Party People

Today was a highly social day for us, all things considered.

In the morning Neeps and I went down to Portland to get breakfast with some old friends, during which time we caught up on one another's lives, talked about our challenges as writers (and humans) in our mid-thirties, and provided insight, advice, and encouragement all around.  I came away from that date full of love and appreciation for the amazing people I've somehow gathered along the way.  Which is an excellent frame of mind to be in, I must say.

We (including Nathan) headed back across the river in the afternoon, for a Birthday Party where I couldn't help but feel Portland As Frick, what with my baby-wearing, cloth-diapering, baby-led-weaning ways.  Truly, I am a neo-hippie product of my time.

Lumberjack hat and cords?  Yeah that's a PNW baby FO SHO. (neat wrapping still a work in progress)

It was a fantastic party- just the right size to foster real connections and intimacy, in a great location with made-from-scratch Mexican food that was so good that all I wanted to do was eat it all night long.  Except there was also a freaking hammock in the kitchen, so that took up some of my attention, as well (and Nathan's!) which we were able to do because Neeps was more or less the star of the party, and got passed around to one and all.

Kitchen Hammock is brilliant.  BRILLIANT.

Nathan also knows how to Party.  In a hammock.  Like a friggin' CHAMPION.

(Makes me think we should be going to more parties where he is the only baby... give me a chance to get my Shenanigans on.)

Shenanigans.  (I think that camera's been drinking...)

On Birthdays and Elves

It was a very different sort of birthday, this year, in no small part because this is probably the first birthday I've ever devoted any time whatsoever to cleaning someone's poop off their clothes- let alone doing it twice.

One of the bright points of the day was taking a shower with Neeps (any day I get into water with my boy is a good day).  I was keeping up a steady stream of conversation with him, as I do, when I began to explain to him that today is my birthday, and that I am 35 years old.

"That means Mommy is..." I paused to do a bit of quick mental math, "...about 105 times your age.  Wow."

Now that I'm out of the shower and working not with rounded-numbers, I realize it's only like 93 times his age (oh what a difference two weeks can make!)  But even so, let's just put that into perspective, shall we?  I am to my son (in terms of Life Experience) what a 3267-year-old would be to me.

I repeat: wow.

(Also, I guess I can understand why elves and other immortal-type-creatures would roll their eyes at mayfly humans?  The idea of my infant son trying to dictate anything like justice or morality to me, on the basis of his life experience is... yeah.  Why do elves have anything to do with humans, again?)

But back to it being my birthday!

I spent the latter part of the day with Nathan and a pair of our friends, snacking upon copious amounts of food and playing a variety of highly entertaining games.  Tame times compared to birthdays past (::coughcoughpoledancingcough::), but good, especially with a bottle of specialty cider to call my own.

I'm looking forward to the coming year: I fully expect it to be the most interesting yet.  Now here's hoping that it manages to stay on the positive side of interesting, and gets me that much closer to understanding what it's like to be one of the star-people.

Three

Today is the pig's birthday.

Unlike the other animals in our household, we know this for a fact.

I like tell people that my dog has done a great deal to prepare me for eventually having a kid, in that I love her and am glad I have her and wouldn't trade her for anything- but holy crap she is inconvenient and probably I'd never do it again.  Unless I was drunk.  I might totally bring home a french bulldog/second child if I were drunk.  They're just so little and cute!

Candid Camera

We celebrated my Oma's 80th birthday today, and while I got many fine photos of my family...

Shy Eaglet

Some of our Bavarian cousins

My brother is skeptical: my nephew is satisfied.

The lady in red is Oma, matriarch of our clan

Boys in blue shadows

Lady and Gentleman

Definitely up to Questionable Good

 ...the photo that I ended up selecting as today's "photo of the day" is this one:

Go home camera: you're drunk

I like it because while it's obvious that I didn't intend to take that photo, it is equally obvious that I am laughing uproariously at whatever good time I'm having.  In specific I'm laughing underneath the pear tree that Nathan, David, and I were rehearsing our rendition of, "What a Wonderful World", while a decidedly pregnant Chelsea chased John around the lawn.

Capturing happy moments: the entire point of this project.

Not MY Birthday

It's not my birthday, but it is someone's birthday, a someone of whom I'm awfully fond.

I bought this gluten-free cupcake based on sheer prettiness.  Too bad the taste didn't live up to the color.

Making It

Dearest Readers, if there ever comes a day in your lives in which you are so lucky as to have someone love you enough to gift you with a tiny, taxidermied teacup duckling, then from that day forward, my friends, you may rest assured that you have, in fact, Made It.

Today was the day I Made It

I've definitely been stretching out the ol' birthday this year.  It's still a couple days off, but I've had day after day of joyful celebration this past week, and I plan to continue it right on into the next.  Today's Happy Events included my boss taking me out to lunch (gluten-free pizza for the freaking win), and of course the delightful, downright ducky surprise that Kara had waiting for me at Boozeday Tuesday.

Really I'm not sure how my actual birthday is even going to compare with this adorable manifestation.  But I aim to find out.

Waiting Until Fullness

birthday cards

FIVE

3+2=5

0+3+2+0+1+9+8+1=23, 2+3=5

I'm not all that well-versed in numerology, but I'm pretty sure that this will be an awesome year for me.  Doubling up on fives?

5+5=10, 1+0=1

#1 Year.  I just proved it.  With maths.

Okay now I've got the dirt on the number five.  Sounds good to me.  Fives are awesome.  Five by five.  High Five.  Five and Dime.  Heck yeah.  All hail my fiveness.  To the max.

Anyway, enough of that.  It's my birthday!

And what a day it's been!  I slept in a little this morning, but when I got up Nathan told me to go back to bed, because he was going to bring me breakfast.  So I did some yoga and climbed back into bed, where I opened my birthday cards while waiting for my pampering.  My mom sent me a card with a unicorn that says stuff.  Basically it was the best card ever.  I literally shrieked with glee when I pressed the unicorn and it said, "Don't be sad!  If you're sad, I'll cry!"  It says other things, as well as making magical sparkle noises.  My inner eight-year-old won't shut up about it.  (Neither will my external-thirty-two-year-old, apparently)

The breakfast Nathan brought me was chocolate wrapped in bacon.  Yes, you read that correctly.  And yes, it was even more delicious than you think it was.  Also there was a piece of brownie.  And a mug of honey-sweetened chai.  And presents.  My birthday is so rad, you guys.

Nathan got me not one but two new pieces of Humblebug jewelry, so I am pleased as punch about that.  Pictures in the next few days, I'm sure.  I wore one of them (which I have been calling In Like a Lion) allllll day- even tho' it is blingy and dramatic as hell.  On your birthday, you do what you want, and you wear what you want.

Fiiiiiiiive....

I got all sorts of lovely birthday wishes, including a call from a  far-away friend who had feedback on Sleeping Beauty for me, so it was like two birthday surprises in one.  Plus my friends totally got engaged today, which I will straight up take credit for because (as mentioned) it is my birthday.

My boss-to-be brought me a live plant!  This is awesome for so many reasons.  1) I did not tell him it was my birthday.  This means he found out from elsewhere, and chose to act on the knowledge.  Nice.  2) Live plants are always more awesome than cut flowers.  I prefer living things to dead.  Again, this is something he didn't know- just intuited.  3) He got me a plant that needs to be put in the ground because he wanted it to be something for me, not the office.  Now that is thoughtful.  I am feeling pleased with this entire set up.

I went on a long, delicious walk in the gorgeous, dramatic spring weather- sun and clouds and a stiff wind that made all the flowers dance with joy.  Later in the afternoon there as a rainbow so bright it literally dazzled my eyes.  As in, I looked at it, and then when I looked away I couldn't see anything because dazzle.  That rainbow was not messing around.

After work I got all gussied up in a fancy dress to go with my fancy necklace, and Nathan and I went out to a fancy dinner where I had a fancy drink and a fancy dessert that was on the house because (you guessed it) it's my birthday.  Fancy!  And then we came home and got into fleecy pants and life is just all sorts of good, and there's even like two hours left in my birthday so even more goodness could be heading my way!

Perhaps... five more good things?!

Balms for the Soul

This past weekend Nathan and I (and Isis, of course) took a long-overdue trip up to Poulsbo to see our dear dear friends, Lara and Chris (and Moose, of course).

(Isis and Moose not pictured, because they are even shorter than I am.)

The last time we'd scheduled it... well, something came up.  They understood, of course, but that is past and I was super ready  to see them again.

March is a very special month for our foursome, because March is The Birthday Month.  All Caps, because All Four of us are affected.  We like to get together sometime in the middle and celebrate- preferably as Epically as possible.  Our Epic plans for this (self-made) long weekend included doing some National Park hikes... except someone (::coughcoughmeI'mthegimpyone::) managed to aggravate her knee* to the point where anything harder than a stroll seemed like a very bad idea, indeed.

So.  We kept it low-key and instead took a two-mile "nature walk" (as Lara put it) in Twanoh State Park.  The dogs loved it, although the leisurely pace was not, perhaps, their favorite (in addition to my limitations, the guys were having Camera Bonding Time, which meant lots of stopping and fiddling).  The humans loved it, too- it was really pretty, and not at all difficult.  Sometimes it's nice not to push too hard.

These dogs are lying about how tired they are.

Moose very sweetly helps Isis out with her Heavy Chin syndrome (common amongst the block-headed pit bulls of the world).

That night we went out for some wine to celebrate the birthdays- we each had two glasses, because we are crazy-indulgent that way.

CRAZY INDULGENT.

"What's that, Jenny O?  Wine?!  What happened to 'no alcohol in 2013'?"  Yes, well, we'd already agreed waaaaay back in January that our birthdays would be Special Days on which we would indulge in sugar and alcohol if we wanted to, thus relegating those substances to "special occasion" rather than "every day".

However, I have to say that after two glasses of wine (one a Riesling, one a port), I felt like such crapola the next day that maybe I am done with wine forever.  Grape wine, anyway.  Experiments must be done re:apple wine and mead, because those are my favorites and I'm not going to make any assumptions about them.  But.  Experiments must wait until next year, I suppose.

Speaking of the next day, after a delicious paleo breakfast, Lara and I decided to get our Domestic on and make organic lip balm and bath salts (not the zombifying kind).  We made a half batch of the lip balm because we were sort of getting a feel for it in anticipation of Greater Experiments later in the year (Crafts for Christmas!  Yay!)  One thing we figured out is that although we were pleased with the results (which we put into four tiny jars and one tube) we want to use less oil and more peppermint extract next time.  Also, I'm thinking perhaps coconut oil instead of almond oil.  We shall see.

The other ingredients were honey and beeswax.

You're technically supposed to wait two hours for the balm to set before you use it, but do you think that stopped me?

No it did not.

Check us out, lovely ladies with lovely, soft, and smoochable lips!

Sorry boys and girls, we're super-taken!

I don't have any pictures of the bath salts (I know, I know- you were hoping for demonstration shots.  Sorry again.) but rest assured they smelled of lavender and lemongrass and worked quite well.

Our next adventure was to plant some seeds.  This was a Big Deal for me, because as we all know, gardening is Not Exactly My Forte.  In fact it intimidates the hell out of me, so having a friend almost literally take me by the hand to guide me through some steps was sorely needed.  Lara is currently rocking some gorgeous kale...

Also Swiss Chard

...so I felt particularly safe in her work-gloved hands.  She'd already bought everything we needed, because she is the sort of thoughtful friend who says to herself, "Jenny O is not comfortable with this 'gardening' business, so I will make it as painless as possible for her!"  She'd even saved up a bunch of egg cartons so that we could just stick the little suckers straight in the ground once they've sprouted.  She is a Rock Star Urban Homesteader for sure.

I hand-labeled cartons, because I AM comfortable wielding a sharpie.

Lara fills the cartons with bat poop**.  (And some other stuff, but mostly we were giggling about the bat poop content.)

Ready for action!

This may have been my favorite part, bat poop or no.

Those teensy little things are mint seeds.  I kept mongo-ing them, so who knows whether or not they'll actually grow.

Into the bat poop, little seeds!

 So that was well and good and I came away feeling like there's hope for me yet.  That evening we all went for a nice long walk, and then came home and played Cards Against Humanity, which is one of my all-time favorite (grownup) games because I am a horrible, horrible person, and so are many of my friends.  Here is just one example of a winning combination:

"I'm sorry; I'm still laughing about child abuse!" said someone about half an hour later.  It may be a new catch-phrase.

We stayed up way too late.  So late that Lara fell asleep and I desperately wanted to, but the boys were adamant that we finish the deck and I am a sucker for proving I can keep up with the boys.  (AKA "dumb".)

The next morning we went with them to their box so we could cheer them on as they (re)did Open Workout 13.2  They both improved their scores, which was definitely something to cheer about.  As for me, I was warmly welcomed and chatted up by multiple people, even tho' I was just strolling around with a sketch book, which was awfully nice.  I met and cheered on one of Lara's friends who absolutely blew my mind with her performance, and was ridiculously sweet to me when I told her how inspiring she was.  The whole experience reminded me how fun/awful/fun CrossFit can be, so maybe I'll return in the near future...  Plus I miss making CrossFit comics...

And then, sadly, it was time to head home, so we packed up our exhausted puppy and hit the road.

Three days of wresting with Moose wears even the bounciest of Pigs out.

So that was my super-fun weekend.  How about you guys?  Do anything that repaired your soul?





*(Apparently if one has taken four months off from commuting by bike, one should not assume that one can ride as hard as one could at the end of the season.  Not without properly warming up first.  Nor should one further aggravate the knee by hyper-extending it.)

**(bat poop)

Happy Birthday, Isis

Today my dog turned one.  Good job, Isis!  Way to not eat anything too poisonous in your short little lifetime!

She is mostly a pink dog.

Birthday Card in Color

An integral part of the humor of this card is that my buddy has a four-year-old daughter:

(Name redacted to protect the innocent.)

(Aaaaand also the not-so-innocent.)

B&W Birthday Card

One my my climbing bro's birthdays is on Thursday, and as such I have begun making a card for him.  Here is the main illustration:

It is a punchline.  Honest.

I'll add color to it tomorrow, but for now?  Bed.

Nerdy-One

If you had asked me even six months ago if my idea of a good way to kick off my birthday included doing eighty-four burpees, I'd have said,

"What's a burpee?"

And then, once you'd explained it, I'd have said,

"Ninja you crazy."

By which I'd have meant:

"Oh hell no."

And yet...

WOD:

21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3
Burpees
Kettlebell Swings

"Just look at it this way," said Jack.  "Each round you do will the the longest one you'll have to do for the rest of the day."

"That is a great way of looking at it," I said.  "Let's see if I can keep doing that by the time I hit the 9 round."

(I totally did.)

So yeah, that's what I did with  my (birth)day off from work- I went to Crossfit and did some freakin' burpees.  And as an added birthday bonus, I was not the slowest person.  Woo!  Finally!  I've been going for over a month, and this is the first time I have not come in dead last.  (We will ignore the fact that the one person who was slower than me was using a significantly heavier weight...)  Of course, I was the slowest person in my two-person session, but the other guy totally cheered me on through my last two rounds, which I so needed.

Man I love this stuff.

And now a preface to today's doodle: Jack and Aubrey have a very sweet, very mellow greyhound who occasionally hangs out at the box.  Today was one of those days, and she was being (for her) pretty excited, doing short little sprints and happy little leaps.  Jack explained that that's because she gets fed at 1000 (I went to the 0900) so she always perks up around that time of day.  Well after we finished our workout and were recovering, I found myself the subject of an adorable Greyhound Stare.  Adorable until I realized what she really wanted...

...because she wasn't going to get her breakfast until we all left!  Hah!  So I did, and broke my fast in the ultra-indulgent manner of bacon-wrapped chocolate (seriously you guys- it was so good).  See, there is a birthday tradition in my household of chocolate cake for breakfast, but throughout the years I've occasionally had to substitute various items (the year I had my wisdom teeth out I had chocolate pudding- Cosby approved, either way, amIright?).  Hence, in light of my new dietary lifestyle... chocolate-bacon for breakfast.

Happy Birthday Lil' Bro!

Yay!  At last I can post the card I made for my brother's birthday!

(Probably only funny to people who do Crossfit)

And I'm glad that I have that for today, because the other bit of "art" I did is pretty much boring (converting an icon into a cross-stitch pattern).  (The towels that result from the patterns will probably be worth sharing, but the scratchings on graph paper?  Not so much...)



PS, in case you were curious, here's what "Mary" looks like

Neither Over the Hill Nor Under It

It’s my birthday!  And I’m 30.  And I’m pretty good with that.

We’ve been back in the Portland area for about three full days now, two of which were devoted almost solely to apartment hunting (bleh) and one of which has been devoted primarily to editing the travelogue (to be posted as soon as Nate finishes processing the photos) and talking on the phone to well-wishers (so nice to be internationally loved!)  I don’t know that I’ll be doing anything to rival last year’s Skateboarding Incident, but hey- the night is still young.

We really enjoyed our Road Trip (although that did not keep us from really enjoying it being over), and one thing that I found particularly valuable was the trip up the California coast- valuable to my story, that is, since the female protagonist travels through similar geography, and now I have a lot more detail I can add to the story.  Always a good thing.  Not to mention I’ve had at least three other Story Seeds spring up, which I will probably detail in the near future.  I’m anxious for us to get settled, because I want to get back into my Routine, which will include the first rewrite of the novel.  Oh rewrite, I dread you so- but you are so very desperately needed, and I think enough time has gone by that I can actually do a decent job at it.

We went to a wonderful party last night at a dear friend’s house, full of wonderful people (but then I guess that’s generally what makes a wonderful party).  There was good food and good drinks (Kraken black spiced rum was new to me, but I don’t intend to let it remain a stranger) and good conversation about passions, and of course the all-important dancing.  I look forward to re-establishing a community up here, and it’s heartening to have so quickly made some new friends to go along with the beloved old friends.  Joy joy joy…

Speaking of which, I have a job interview in the morning.  It’s in downtown Vancouver, and I’m feeling pretty positive about it, so fingers crossed that I will soon be once again gainfully employed.  Full-time, I mean.  With benefits.  Oh, wonderful benefits…

Portrait of a 29-Year-Old

Well I must say, it's been a damn good day.

Several very nice things happened today (including a lot of very good food) but by far the very best part of the day occurred while Nate and I were out with our friends Tim and Meredith (and their daughter) to do a photo-shoot involving me on my longboard (skate not surf, in this instance). Skating is always fun and good (despite my so-low-as-to-be-non-existant level of skill), especially with friends in lovely weather. Anyway, long story short, I basically ended up wiping out, which is a great deal more painful on asphalt than in the ocean, in spite of the fact that I was wearing jeans (and thank goodness for that, although I'm mildly put out that they now need some repair).

I know, I know- you're looking back at that first sentence and wondering if you need to re-read it with your sarcastic mental voice- but you really don't. As horrified as Nathan was by the whole incident (fortunately he didn't witness it- just the aftermath), I'm actually really glad it happened. I'm glad I ate shit because it means that I'm still doing things that come with a risk of eating shit. I'm glad I wiped out because it's the first time I've done so on this board (that I've been skating on for over two years), and I no longer have to wonder/dread what it will feel like. I'm glad I got hurt because it gave me a chance to jump back up and get back on the board, proving that I am not, in fact, a whiny little bitch. I'm glad because it means that getting older has not made me go soft- it may take me longer to recover from the shit I do to myself, but at least I'm not afraid to do it. Although I will admit that the (mass)x(acceleration) involved in someone my size hurling into the pavement probably does a wee bit more damage in terms of contusion than that of an eight-year-old...

So yeah- I'm pretty pleased with myself as I sit here with my knees bandaged, elevated, and on ice. I shall wear my scabs and bruises like the badges of honor they are, and see what I can do in the coming year to earn more.

(Portrait of a 29-Year-Old)

My Final 24 Hours as a 28-Year-Old

Oh, and we're well into them. As of this moment (apx 2043 here in Birmingham, Alabama, but already 0243 in the place of my birth, the now-defunct Hahn Air Base in what-was-then West Germany) there are only about eighteen hours left.

Yes, yes, I know- 28 to 29 is not exactly a "milestone" birthday by any stretch of the imagination. So why devote an entry to it? Well, several reasons- the first of which is that it's about to be my birthday and I'll do what I want. The second of which is that although I am only turning 29, three of my best friends are all hitting the big 3-0 within the next two months, which is generally considered a milestone. Writing their birthdays on my calendar at the beginning of this year was a bid of an ice-cube-down-the-back moment for me. The third reason is that we are in the middle of watching Julie & Julia, which is (as you mostly likely know) about a woman who starts a 365 project (not that she calls it that) on the eve of her 30th birthday and thus my brain is firmly stuck in turning-30 mode rather than turning-29 mode, which- come to think of it- there probably isn't a mode for, anyway.

Anyway my point is that I've got Significant Birthdays on the brain, regardless of whether or not this is one. Although I don't see why it shouldn't be.

Tomorrow also just so happens to mark the one-year-anniversary of Nathan and I being married in the eyes of the US Government. Yep, that's right- one year ago, tomorrow, we waltzed on down to the courthouse and signed some documents, and made it all legal. Of course, we count April 5th as our actual wedding anniversary (that being the day we actually had a wedding), but I cannot help but hold a special place in my heart for March 20th, entirely aside from my own natal-related self-interest. I told Nathan it was the best birthday present I'd ever gotten- and it's pretty likely to remain that way. I mean, how do you top that? I don' t think you do. Not that I'm not game to try. I am, in general, a pretty big fan of things getting even better than I'd have thought they could.

I had an interesting little brain-storm for a story today, about Queen Louise of Prussia, but I think it needs a little more percolating before it makes an appearance on here. Right now it's barely even the whisper of a story-seed. But it's there. I shall have to nourish it with birthday cake, I think.