today, my mom told me to go easy on my liver. she says that every time she reads my blog, i am either in the process of being drunk or recounting some drunk escapade.

while this may be true, i assured her that it just happens that almost everytime i get drunk or hungover, i also find myself near a computer (plus, drinking is so much more rock n roll than listening to lectures on roman history, and i’ve got a persona to maintain :)

with that as a disclaimer, here are the highlights of my “birthday bonanza” 2005:

* drinking beers before getting on the plane to go home (night 1)
* drinking beers in the hot tub with three of my best friends (night 1)
* getting unexpectedly drunk out at the bars with one of the best men living, john w belveal (birthday shots will do you in every time)(according to belveal, there was a point in the night when i said, loudly and perplexedly and in the middle of a club where he and i were having an unsuccessful time with the ladies “we’re good looking and charming. did no one get the memo?” oops :) .. (night 1)
* smashing a watermelon in the middle of the street (night 1)
* having dinner at home with my parents (night 2)
* opening presents (top gift: Collapse, by Jared Diamond [author of Guns, Germs, and Steel] on 8 Cd’s.. our next tour will inevitably be filled with more historical trivia)
* running and jumping into the very cold pacific ocean at 3am with belveal and another great man, sid slater (night 2)
* laying out on the beach (where belveal was hit on by older women and sid was burned to a deep red) (day 3)
* drinking lots of margaritas in my back yard (day and night 3)
* coming home from the bars and finishing off the last of the tequila (night 3)
* hurting all day today

and finally
* reading the dozens of birthday wellwishings from all of you wonderful quasi friends/strangers.

thank you friends, family, and fans for making this quite possibly the best birthday ever.

and sorry mom, about all the alcohol. i definitely didn’t have a sip today :)

on the eve of my birthday, i’m drunk, b/c everyone kept buying me drinks tonight…

more articulate thoughts tomorrow, i hope..

my current birthday philosophy:

i feel the need to defend/explain this public push towards my 23rd birthday (which in on Friday, May 20th :)..

when we were young, birthdays were a big deal.. my grade school got out for summer
at the start of June, so I'd always get a few cards and wellwishings from classmates
on the day itself, plus a party on the weekend, plus presents from my parents. more
generally, there was the sense that we were advancing toward something: the difference
between eight and seven was a big deal to an eight-year-old (and a big deal to a
seven-year-old too). turning ten was the end of the era of being able to write your
age without lifting up your pen. at thirteen you finally became a teenager.

at my high school, the year ended right around May 20th, so the day-of well wishings couldn’t be counted on, and formalized parties were also on the wane. instead, there were tangible, legal ramifications for birthdays. at fifteen, the permit. at sixteen, the license. at eighteen, the vote, the military, smoking, and porn (never the last three, mom:)

college started the backslide into birthday boredom.  these weren't people that you
had grown up with, and your parents and siblings weren't around to leak the word, so
the only people who knew were the people you told.  my school always got out at the start
of may, and my best friends from high school didn't get out till mid-June, so things
got anti-climactic.  the last big one was twenty-one, but that's behind me now.  i used
to look forward to twenty-five, (car rentals), but in recent years car companies have
relaxed their policies so much as to eliminate the incentive.

so, a drop in the coolness of presents (this year a major gift will probably be the financing of my health
insurance, which will be greatly appreciated but not as exciting as the original Nintendo
with the Legend of Zelda and the Karate Kid that I got when I turned nine), legal perks (twenty-three
is actually a cut-off for a few student discounts), life significance (sweet, I'm one year closer
to being too old to flirt with college girls.. am I already too old to flirt with college girls?), etc.

what is there left? 

self-propagated fanfare. 

May 20th is my birthday!  I'm going to see my family and friends, think about going
to Chucky Cheese and ultimately decide not to, have my buddies show the bartenders my ID to get free
drinks, and come home and read the nice things that you all have been sending
me (I screwed up and read a couple early ones already.. I've gotten an invitation
for cribbage and beer, a singing E-card, an offer to buy a t-shirt bearing the likeness of a
great fan, and a well-wishing from France.. and who knows what the PO Box may hold :)..


so, there it is.  my 23rd birthday treatise. 
now I'm off to recover from the ass-kicking that the ocean gave me when Dave and I
tried to surf it today.