northern

Well, it's that time of year again.

My birthday.

Okay, actually it was a few days ago, on July 14.

I'm 39.

Yikes!





My mom joked that from now on, I'll be lying about my age.




My actual birthday was very uneventful. In fact, I slept a lot and had a headache.

The highlight was my annual late-night birthday call from my best friend Lene. She always calls, and as soon as I answer, she sings the Danish birthday song.

Well, it's in Danish, and she sings it on my birthday, so I'll take her word for it that it's a birthday song.




I spent the couple days before my birthday in Toronto.

My brother is getting married this September and his fiance was having her bridal shower, so I drove my mom down to attend.

A few days before that, I had seen that Flit was having a party for her birthday on the Friday.

As you may have guessed from my gala review in my previous entry, I have a bit of thing for her.

Not even sure what exactly that thing is. She's just really great, and I feel a really good connection with her.

But I guess since I live so far away from Toronto, I hadn't been invited.

A simple oversight I'm sure.

I mentioned to her that I was coming to Toronto that day, and thank God, she invited me to her party.




My mom and I set out early that morning and got to my brother's place mid-afternoon.

They didn't seem to mind that I was ditching them for the evening (I think my brother was pleasantly surprised to learn that I actually have some friends), and they gave me a key so I could let myself in that night.




I managed to get myself downtown and find a place to park, and arrived a few minutes after the start time.

Some of you may have guessed that I like showing up when something is scheduled to start. I've never understood the concept of 'fashionably late'.

I wasn't even the first person there.

I was the second.

Dusti and Flit greeted me at the door, and Lisseth was already there.

I won't go into a minute-by-minute detailing of the evening, so you're spared that.

Suffice to say that I had a wonderful time.

No exageration.

There wasn't a huge crowd, so I actually managed to meet most of the people there, and they were all really nice.

For a good portion of the evening I was actually the only male there, which made things more comfortable for me.

And, well, Flit's friend are all really attractive.

There were a few people I talked to a fair amount, but my capacity to remember names is severely limited, so I have no idea who most of them are. If you happen to be reading this, say hi.




But I have to make mention of one person who stood out from all the rest, and really made it a fantastic evening.

She used to be around on SG, but although I was aware of her existance, I never actually spoke to red_vinyl.

She arrived shortly after I did, and when she walked in, I just about fell over, she was so beautiful.

Then we talked, and wow, is she ever charming.

I won't embarass myself with singing her praises any further.

I am, however, amazed at myself for being able to carry on a conversation with her, and several other great women, without making a complete fool of myself.

I have a pretty good track record, both online and in real life, of making a poor first impression.

Either my sense of humour conflicts with theirs, or I say what I'm thinking, or I flirt terribly, or just plain try too hard.

It was nice to leave at the end of the evening feeling as though people liked me.

Of course, I may have the wrong impression. I'm easily deluded.




The Saturday was fun too.

My brother and our uncle and I spent some time chatting while everyone else was at the shower.

But then we got permission to show up before it was over.

It was pretty fun.

Loads of people, so again, I can't remember the vast majority of names, or how they're related to my future sister-in-law.

Lots of food too. And desserts.




On the Sunday, before leaving Toronto, we stopped at Planet Organic, a grocery store.

Got some stuff, all of it all-natural, most of it vegetarian or vegan.

They had these vegan chocolate cupcakes. We each got one. I should have got more.

They were really good.

In my time on SG, a few people have mentioned vegan cakes and cupcakes, and I've always been curious as to how they might taste.

Good is the verdict.

But the drive home was awful.

I mean, traffic was fine, but it was so HOT and HUMID.

I think that's why I had a headache the next day.




I'm tempted to do my usual birthday moaning about how I haven't managed to do much with my life, and how my life has not turned out even remotely like it should have.

But I'll spare you.

Of course, if you want to read about it, you can go back and read my entries from around this time last year and the year before.

Nothing has actually changed, except that I'm even older now.



But I'll leave on a more positive note regarding my age.

I was the oldest person at the birthday party.

By quite a few years.

But I didn't feel too old at all.

I think that's probably a good thing, so I'll feel good about it.