Let's Have A Moment of Silence...I Mean Let's Have Some Cake!

The rain and clouds have not been much help today in getting me not to think about the 5th anniversary of our nation's tragedy. I have tried very hard to ignore it, but the flags at half mast, the constant NPR coverage in the cab, and the gigantic 9/11 spread on my newsy homepage on the computer made that a challenge.

However, beyond that...it's been a nice birthday.

Today I woke up very early and very hungover to start my new parttime job and decided that on birthdays you are allowed to spend money you don't have on cabs. So I took a cab and had a nice time at the office where two of my friends from college also work. I thanked my coworker/friend for setting up my computer with all Webster University wallpaper and screensavers and then we spent a few moments discussing the age of 27.

"Happy Birthday. What year is this?"

"27...it's a dangerous one."

"How so?"

"Well, Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison...you know...I'm going to have to avoid being a rockstar this year, that's all."

"Yeah, no karaoke bars for you"

"Right, no guitars or beaded necklaces or flowers in my hair either."

"Right, no jamming whatsoever."

"Or....I could just avoid overdosing on drugs."

"Yes, that would probably be easier wouldn't it?"

After a delightful morning of work I then walked over to Pockets for lunch. I'm not sure why, since I don't really like Pockets...but it was there and I was hungry...and I have trouble making decisions when I'm by myself sometimes. So, I ate a calzone and listened to a mom and a little girl in a tutu pretend to have a tea party with their lemonade. That was nice.

Then I walked some more and found myself on Belmont so I called my friend David Zak who is the Artistic Director at Bailiwick to see if he was in his office. He was so I stopped in and gave him a big hug and he gave me a piece of strudel which was nice.

Then I walked down to Clark and waited for a million years for the bus. But I was listening to Postal Service on my pod and I hadn't heard that cd in a while and I put my hood up because it was raining a little and I don't usually have a reason to put my hood up, so that was nice.

Then the bus came and I went to a favorite store and bought myself some presents with some birthday money. I really wanted this fake pearly necklace and I couldn't decide between black or white and then randomly I found one that was black AND white! So that was lucky. When I went to check out the guy at the counter said to the girl at the counter, "Oh by the way...Happy Birthday." And then I said, "It's my birthday too!" And so the girl and I had the standard "doesn't our birth date kinda blow, but we're making the best of it" conversation. As I was leaving I prayed that I wouldn't set off the alarm, because even though I never steal anything I somehow always set off every alarm. I of course DID set off the alarm because we had been so caught up talking about birthdays that the girl forgot to take the beepers off my sparkly silver shoes. But then it was fine.

Then I went to Walgreens and bought some tights and a razor, because my mom gave me a gift basket of lots of fun shower stuff last night but she bought razor refills instead of an actual razor. So I got that and some lemonade and some other little stuff I needed.

Then I took a cab home and when I got here there was a present from the birth-fam which was so nice. I got IPOD speakers! So now my pod will have a little place to hang out. So nice.

Then I had millions of emails and ecards and myspace comments and things, that was the most fun. Brannen wrote me a mushy email because he totally loves me and it was my favorite thing.

Now it's time to go straighten my hair and get ready for a yummy dinner with a couple friends.

For being such a crappy day in so many ways...I thought it was also somewhat lovely.