so my eight days of birthdayness are now almost over. it was like... hanukkah. only not. thanks to all partygoers and well-wishers, including the ENTIRE CONGREGATION at the second service today. oh my.

and the rain FINALLY stopped. it was a beautiful weekend, in many ways.

and i now return you to my regularly scheduled non-birthday life.

"Chuck always ends up forcing his head over Jon’s shoulder and pressing it firmly into Jon’s left ear because it’s the only pocket of breathable air left in a car stuffed full of limbs. When we all climb out, one after the other, leg after leg unfolding like a wallet full of pictures, I imagine that we look like a circus family, a freak show."

- from dooce

ah, the joys of gangly limbs.

[on the phone]

me: "guess what i'm making right now."

kt: "COOKIES?!?"

me: "um....... no. but i appreciate the enthusiasm."

+++ 

kt: "whatever happens this weekend... it needs to involve some drinking."

+++

tiff: "what IS this channel? i don't understand it."

me: "it's... i don't know. channel six. i think it's PAX or something."

tiff: "it's so strange."

me: "i know. it's like... christian weirdness channel."

tiff: "yeah. but i feel like it's not even christian anymore, it's just... weirdness."

+++

also, if you'd like to know how i spent the latter portion of my sunday evening, go here. auto responders are FUN... well, when they function properly, anyway.

a post from mdog!

the other surprise of the weekend came in the form of a party. [woohoo, party!] a secret birthday gathering was in the works for a friend of mine, but unbeknownst to me, my upcoming birthday was also being included in the planning.

sneaky.

bloggingpaul was a little late, and he also ended up doing a good job of scaring away the children. but i guess we'll show some grace there. really though, it was a good time... food, drink, friends and fun, all in large doses. i feel very loved tonight.

lots of things converging in my head right now. kt's discussion on the meaning of home; a friend at the party tonight reflecting on the people in that room; me thinking about dear ones in my life, people i do life with, people with whom i feel at peace.

the town i live in is pretty transient. people come and go in the blink of an eye. this sounds fun at first -- a novelty of newcomers! -- but after a while you start to realize just how hard it is. some days i want to say the hell with it and refuse to befriend anyone new because they're just going to end up leaving anyway, right? but other days -- most days -- i think otherwise. because this is where life happens. the excitement of new relationship, the mutual growth, the inevitable parting, and everything inbetween... sometimes this is a long process, one that grows deep roots; sometimes it is a short turnaround. sometimes people move away and you find a bond that continues to grow strong; sometimes they are rediscovered years later and you find they reflourish.

in most cases i find that you have no idea what route things will take upon the first meeting of a friend. but i know they won't go anywhere unless you start.

i think about the dear ones in my life -- so close that i can't really remember what life was like before they entered the picture -- and i am so thankful i took that risk. and i think about the others in my life, and those i will meet in the future, and i wonder how many more i will be able to hold that close. and i am overwhelmed.

walked into the women's restroom a few minutes ago to find drippage happening from around the fluorescent light fixture. informed the building manager. in the last ten minutes the smell has intensified into horrific proportions. it is not water but SEWAGE. i have just been "offered" the opportunity to use pto hours [vacation hours, essentially] to escape for the day. what a bunch of crap [no pun intended]. but i can't stand this. i'm leaving.

ugggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh.

THERE IS TOO MUCH STUFF IN THIS OFFICE.

half of the time i don't want to finish certain duties, simply because it will be more work finding room for the end result than doing the actual task.

someday i want to work in an organization that has its shit together. that would be nice.

i'm heading to the funny farm this weekend! well, maybe not. but i'm sure it will be fun. and it certainly COULD be funny. but not like that. maybe.

anyway. it's nice to get out of town now and again. if you need me i'll be hanging out with kt and the lambs.

other than actually waking up, my most unfavorite part of every weekday morning occurs at the tail end of my short commute. oftentimes the universe conspires against me, and i am forced to rage against the surrounding drivers.

richland and 682. four-way intersection. me, i'm turning left onto richland. across from me are seven hundred people coming off a busy highway wanting to turn right. this becomes a problem when i have a green left arrow [which i have previously discussed here OH MY GOD WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE], giving me the right of way, but the highway morons are obliviously continuing to turn right. i swear i'm going to end up smashing into these people someday and I MIGHT NOT REGRET IT.

okay. so. between here and the next stoplight, we branch out from two lanes to three for various directional capabilities: left, straight, right. if you're local, you know that the lanes in this town are generally wide enough for your car and perhaps a tonka truck without actually sideswiping neighboring traffic. so creating three lanes where two used to fit comfortably only 50 feet back is just a little bit harrowing. and of course i'm heading straight. people turning left have this need to swing right before they turn, and people turning right have this need to swing left before they turn. one of these days i'm going to get squished between a bus and daddy's suv right in the middle of the intersection, and damn, i'm gonna be pissed.

add to all of this people traveling at eight miles per hour and pedestrians crossing at their leisure and PEOPLE NOT USING THEIR BLINKERS, EVER and i think i'm going to have an aneuryism one of these days. 

reason #17 [and #8].

reason #38.