The Birthday Blog

The big day has come and gone @ last, so I s'pose it's high time I shared my thoughts and feelings about the festivities and events surrounding my birthday.

May 3rd started out as a nice, quiet day. Woke up @ 9:00 to have a birthday chat with dear ol' Mom and Dad which was nice. Their present to me came in cash form...never a surprise, but always welcomed with open arms...their only condition was to spend it on something i want, not beer, bills or eating out. Well, sorry to report, but i spent it on beer and eating out, but not bills. Took it easy during the morning before Leesh treated me to some Mexican food @ Tequila Sunrise...truly excellent. Came home for a bit to read my new books Seb had given me (also excellent, a can't-put-downer if there ever was one) and then headed over to Corey's for some afternoon beers and to make some plans for the evening. Whittled away the afternoon having some beers and a chat when we caught wind of a suprise dinner being thrown in my honour @ 9:30. Naturally, I would be expected to attend and this is where the day went to pieces. I hadn't made concrete plans so I could go where and when the day took me, but suddenly I was thrust into making some decisions and it caught me offguard. For reasons I won't go into, I had to decide whether to go for the surprise or, stay where I was. I tried my best to balance both, but felt as though I was letting people down left, right and centre. Not to make the day sound like a downer, but it was a tough thing to do. I did have many moments of happiness during the night that perked me up. It was great to see everyone and made me feel appreciated they had all gone to so much trouble to come out and see me. The dinner was excellent (mexican, different restaurant but you can never have too much mexican). Still, I wish things could've gone down differently...the lesson learned from this is you can't please everyone all of the time, no matter how hard you try.

So, that was the actual birth day....the rest of the week was almost as busy though. Wednesday was a break so I just rested and recouped. And then Thursday hit...payday and the start of the pre-bbq/road trip shopping madness. Ran my ass off Thursday after work buying camping equipment for the road trip, then searching for a gas-bbq, which I never found. Hopping in a taxi to take my new purchases home, quickly grabbed ahold of Seb and then off to IKEA for some party/house things. Ended up going a bit over budget, but our house now looks like a home and we all felt it was long overdue. Set up everything just in time for Elisha to see...she was pleasantly surprised. Friday night didn't do much, but went on a hunt for a post-birthday present for moi...namely, an iPod Shuffle. After visiting 6 different electronic stores, I finally found what I was looking for (see previous entry entitled "payday" for more info) and spent the rest of the night @ home so we could get an early start the next day.

Saturday arrived, not sunny but also not rainy so we got the green light to go ahead with our bbq plans. Set out early to buy the necessary foodstuffs and equipment and got back around 12. Just in time for a quick clean of the pad, food prep and a shower before our guests began to arrive. The afternoon/early evening went off without a hitch and I'm fairly sure everyone who attended enjoyed themselves.

So, that was the last week or so folks....hectic and full o' fun. Want to send special shoutouts to everyone who sent e-cards, phone calls and birthday wishes my way...they are much appreciated! Up&coming on the May calendar of events is the Taiwan road trip. We've rented a car for the week and are setting out upon the open road this Saturday just before dawn as to avoid the weekend rush of traffic. Needless to say, we are excited and we've already left in my head, now our bodies just have to physically do it. No worries tho faithful readers, yours truly will have camera in hand to snap loads of pictures, and mobile in the other to regularly update our adventures via audio blog. Make sure to tune in and you feel as tho you're riding along with us...ttyl.