A Chick Called Mick

Today is my birthday.  Every year when my friends and family ask what I want for my birthday, I always think what I'd like is for someone who is not me to plan something and tell me when to show up.  That's what happened last year, and it was AWESOME! 

I'm never quite prepared for my birthday, but his year I have an excuse.  I got a bad case of food poisoning that's kept me out of it since Monday.  By the time I felt better, I didn't have time to plan anything.  Since I've done nothing since I got back from vacation except sleep and catch up on "General Hospital," I spent a lot of my birthday washing laundry and cleaning my apartment.  Still, it was a beautiful day, so I did a little run outside.  All of my friends contacted me to wish me a happy birthday.  I'm going for coffee later and may buy myself a little something cake-like to celebrate.  Come to think of it, the fact that I can hold down solid foods seems like a pretty fantastic gift considering the way the week started off.

It's certainly not the worst birthday I've ever had.  That would have to be the year I spent my birthday on a geology field trip.  My friend Jay Carney--whom I adore--cast the final vote that meant I'd spend my birthday ankle deep in liquefied shale where they were building the tunnel on I-540.  We went inside the hill, which was partially dug out at the time, so Jay gave me one of the hard hats the construction crew was passing out as his present to me.  It's hard to be mad at Jay, but I managed for several minutes that day.

Maybe the worst part was when our instructor, whom we all secretly called "The Gooch" pulled over on the side of the interstate and made us all get out.  We stood there as traffic whizzed by, and people honked and yelled at us, and all the while, The Gooch was sketching on a small white board and trying to point out a nearby example of rock folding.  She was so absorbed with the white board, that she didn't notice when a small faction of our class broke away to run after a car of people they felt had been particularly rude.  They screamed obscenities and extended their middle fingers.  Happy freakin' birthday.

So, I'm a year older.  Because of Daylight Savings Time, I also lose an hour of my birthday.  It's been pointed out to me that I should party extra hard today, since it's the shortest birthday I'll ever have.  I haven't exactly done that, but unless a crazy lady in a geology van shows up (and if I get in, really, I deserve whatever happens after that), it's been a pretty lovely day.