Birthday fun

Thursday was my birthday, so thanks to everyone who sent cards. No, really, all two of you. One of you being S (to whom I happen to be married [see how I didn't end that sentence with a preposition?]), and one was the bloke who sold me car insurance. And that was a postcard, so it won't stand up on its own. Mum sent me an email, although it arrived at 4:05 pm here, which means that she sent it at five past midnight there, which makes it technically late.

S and the boys bought some pastry things for me to distribute at work. The boys chose them, and they were very curious. A bit like apple puffs, except that they had forgotten to put anything inside them. So they were rather uninteresting. Most people ate them politely, except T, who said "They've forgotten to put anything in these", and O, who came by my office to say "Happy Birthday" and then sort of sidled out slowly, looking slightly suspicious when I offered her one, keeping one eye on me, and one on the (dull) pastries.

K said she'd buy me lunch, so I had my usual main course AND a salad AND a diet coke (large!), cos I was splashing out.

(Mark twain said you should use no more than one exclamation mark per 100,000 words. I think that's my first in quite some time. I've made a feeble attempt to do a word count on this blog, but I couldn't find an easy way, except copying each post into Word and doing it there. So I don't know when I can use another.)

My iPod finally arrived, which was the final part of my leaving present from the folks at University of Former employment, which was very nice of them. Actually, even more thoughtfully, they didn't buy it, instead they handed me a wad of dollar bills before I left, which meant that I could buy a bagel from the bagel shop at the airport when I arrived (amongst other things). Naturally I spent them all, and then had to wait until I had some more money.

I threw a little more money at the iPod, to get an 80GB one, so S said that it was like my birthday present, and I wasn't allowed to open it until then, even though it arrived on Thursday. But on Wednesday S had her written driving test, and I said that if she got them all correct, I would be allowed to open it on Wednesday. However, there was (she felt) an ambiguous question, and she didn't choose the right answer. She wanted to appeal, and show the people marking it the page in the book, but was persuaded against it. (The question was about the speed limit as you approach a railroad crossing - the speed limit depends on whether you can see in 400 ft in each direction, but the question didn't specify).

S went out shopping for my birthday present on Wednesday. She only went to thrift shops, because she said that I wouldn't like whatever she got me, and so she wasn't going to spend much money on it. Like I was the one who wanted a water cooler for their birthday, and then when a water cooler was presented (all wrapped up nicely), the recipient said "What's this? This is a shit present?". (We still have the water cooler in the loft in England. And S doesn't like her water cooled anyway. She likes it at room temperature. This is what I put up with).

Where was I. Oh yes, so for my birthday I got a glass punch bowl, with little metal curly hooks that hang on the side, and let you hang glass cups from it. And one of those things that looks like a little table that you prop over yourself in bed. S says it's so I can eat on the sofa without complaining, and then she won't be the one who isn't joining in family meal times.

In the evening, we had G, the babysitter who normally comes in the day, to stay for longer, and we went out. First we went to a Japanese restaurant and had cocktails. (It was decorated with cobwebs) and then we went to a Thai restaurant, and had food. S had Garden Rolls (she normally has spring rolls, but we got a take out from the same place once before, and the spring rolls had celery in, and if there's one thing S doesn't like, it's celery. Oh, and water coolers that are somehow wrong. And ... I'd better stop there, or we'll get off topic again). Garden rolls were a bit like spring rolls, except not cooked - kind of like some finely chopped vegetables stuffed into some rice paper. Then with a bit of avocado stuffed in too. (I had spring rolls, because I don't object to celery. Like normal folk.)

S had green curry, which was v hot, and took it home with her and had it for breakfast. Then we went to the Cold Stone Creamery, and walked to the pier. It was about 9pm (ooh, late), but there was a surprisingly large number of people on the pier. Not a large number, but a lot more than you (well, I) would have expected. Just kind of hanging out and looking at the sea (the pier is made of concrete and has streetlights on it). The waves are usually on the large side (not huge, but big enough to make surfing almost possible and swimming quite exciting) and that night they seemed really loud - maybe it was because it was quiet everywhere else, but it sounded like thunder when a big one came. Walking along at night seems like a dreadful extravagance, because it costs $12/hour, and if you're going to pay $12/hour you feel like you should do something more exciting than stand on the pier and look at the sea. But it was my birthday so we splashed out.

G had put the boys to bed, and in the morning, they told me how G didn't sit on the bed, like Daddy. She sat on the floor, in between them, and that way they could both see the pictures in the story. And that way Daddy is considerably less comfortable.

Then we went home, and watched CSI. (There is five hours of continuous CSI on tonight, and for some of the time it's in parallel on more than one channel, so S has to sit and change over constantly.)

(That was 1,102 words. I'm over 1% of the way to my next exclamation mark.)


Update: 28 October. Mum says that it arrived on my time, and that's what's relevant. Time is a relative and subjective construct, after all.