Birthday Madness! (Post 1)

Post 1 will be what I did. Post 2 will be how I feel about it.

My absence on the net has largly been due to party fever. I don't know if it's because this birthday is a milestone or what, but I more or less started celebrating the Monday before last. In JW culture, you don't celebrate anything except their version of Passover and maybe your (or someone else's) wedding anniversary. No birthdays, no Christmas. So birthdays are sort of new to me. Even though I've been out for 11 years now, for the first few years after I got booted out, I never really celebrated. It was all too weird. After that, I'd go out for dinner. I always got a few presents, but it never really mattered to me if I received anything or not, because I was so accustomed to having nothing. Any little thing was a bonus.

So last year's birthday was OK. Nothing wildly special, the usual dinner and a few presents thing. For some reason, this year's birthday experience has been wildly different. This has been a party sort of month. I began in a party mood with America's birthday. Then there was Dante's birthday. Mine is two weeks after his. I started partying wa-a-y in advance. I've had three birthday cakes from three different sources. I partied all weekend in Pittsburgh. I opened my presents early and didn't give a shit about tradition. I blew out candles on a birthday cake (the 2nd of 3) for the first time ever. I had steak grilled outside for my birthday dinner. I was very demanding. My Director/Buddy commented that I had "a big dose of the birthday ass all week long."

I told anyone who would listen that it was my birthday. Before it was even my actual birthday. "Are you going somewhere this weekend?" "Yes, I'm going to Pittsburgh. It's my birthday." "Oh, it's your birthday today!" "No, it's my birthday in 4 days." "Oh, that's nice." "I'll be 30. Whoo-hoo!" Weird looks followed. I bought myself as many presents as I received. I had to force myself to quit buying presents for me. I cracked my birthday wine (last year's present) a week in advance. I danced around the house every day up to my birthday singing "Birthday, birthday, birthday!" for no good reason. I would say I did this for 5 days.

I went to Pittsburgh for my birthday weekend. I saw a Pirate's game (they lost to the Astros 2-1). I bought a hot dog and an overpriced beer (birthday baseball!). The bases were loaded in the bottom of the 9th with the best batter at bat and almost a full count, so it was a genuine first time experience, even if it was a heartbreaker. There were fireworks after the game (birthday fireworks secretly for me). The view in the stadium is beautiful. The stadium is across the river from the city, and it's a very aesthetic experience as the sun is setting. Sort of like this, but a bright sunny day that fades into a gorgeous orangey glow:

I went to the Carnegie art museum on Saturday (birthday art) which was displaying lots of American masters (American birthday!). I love art museums, but I can't visit for more than an hour or so before it all starts blending in together. There were lots of charcoal and graphite pictures, my personal favorite mediums. I ended up buying myself a ring (birthday present!) made by a Canadian who works with only steel, bronze and rubber. That has the potential to be an addiction, as his work is within my price range and I'm fascinated with stuff like that. My Tiffany's wedding ring is solid silver by Paloma Picasso, a double band that crosses in the shape of the infinity symbol on top. It's heavy and I love it. I had birthday barbeque that night.

On Sunday we went to the zoo. Most of it was great, but we went a little too late in the day and caught most of the crowd. Some of the exhibits we passed on because there were just too many people and too much noise. I'm never quite sure how I feel about zoos after I've been to one. Sometimes it seems like a good idea. The zebras looked happy. Two baby elephants played and wrestled in the water, which was fascinating for a good 25 minutes. The lions were gorgeous, although in the wild they sleep up to 20 hours a day and are only active to hunt. Since they don't have to hunt in the zoo, they're active even less. That can't be good. The monkey house had so much shit in it you could smell the ammonia. That can't be healthy. Sometimes the animals looked really bored. I bought a coffee mug that said "extinction is forever" and had a polar bear on it (birthday present!). I discovered that I am allergic to big cats and to camels. Fascinating.


The night before my birthday, I got into my presents. Among the presents I got were an Ipod (exciting!) and the book I'd been wanting for months. It's called In Vogue, and I was thrilled to get it. My presents are still sitting on display. The newness hasn't worn off yet. On the actual day of my birthday, I went shopping and bought myself, among other things, three Ian Fleming James Bond novels and Freakonomics (because I'm an economics freak myself), and a swimsuit. I bought myself 36 roses in varying colors. I stopped before someone got hurt.

Next year, I'm considering partying all month long. After all:



-- Virgil