Tuesday

[clevermanka]

I'm not a birthday person, really. It's not that I'm opposed others celebrating their own. I just don't care about them?  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I had a birthday party for my 8th--it was my first slumber party--and I'm sure I had other birthday parties when I was young but I don't remember a single one. By high school I wasn't doing anything for my birthday that I wouldn't do on a regular Saturday. For my 21st I went to a restaurant I normally frequented anyway and had two beers. A friend made me dinner and baked a cake for my 30th--that was nice. For my 35th my partners gave me a surprise party I explicitly said I didn't want and I was uncomfortable the whole evening (really should have taken that as a sign and bailed from that disaster relationship). I did throw a huge dance party for my 40th and it was amazing. It was also the last party I hosted since that was the year my health really went to shit. For my 50th some friends were going to take me to the drag bar in Kansas City but I came down with a migraine instead. I posted the first chapter of Ghost Story before it hit, though! And then COVID happened and now I'm 53.

This afternoon I have a zoom call with the three faculty members from the English department I'm still friends with. At some point I might have to deal with my parents calling to sing the happy birthday song for me (ugh) but they've both texted me already so perhaps I'll escape that particular torture this year. Here's hoping!

A few angels have sent me birthday money, thank you thank you. 😚 I'm going to shop around for a commercial quality whisk since mine died an unfortunate death yesterday. If anyone has recommendations for restaurant supply stores that sell to individuals and don't have a minimum order let me know please?

There's no snow on the ground and even though it's only 12F (-11C) it's sunny so that's a rarity for the day. I'm going to take it as a sign that this year will be better than the last. 🤞🕯️🙏

Comments

[minoanmiss]

Happy birthday! But I know what you mean. My SO wants his birthday ignored.

Wow, the polenta defeated the whisk!

[clevermanka]

Polenta was like NOT TODAY BUDDY 😂

[hdsqrl]

Happy Birthday! I shall celebrate over here in your honor, and you're free to ignore the celebration entirely. ;) <3

[clevermanka]

Excellent! 👍

[msmitti]

I know what you mean about the birthday being just another day. However, I do celebrate that you are in the world!

I don't remember having birthday parties as a kid (I'm guessing I didn't) but I do remember a Halloween party that I think one kid came to. My mom had decorated the basement as a haunted house with a food bar to touch innards (grapes for eyeballs, spaghetti for guts--that kind of thing) and made popcorn balls. I think I was fourth grade-ish. Parties are a terrible source of pressure and anxiety if you ask me, especially for a kid.

I do remember your 40th though. I think that was the one. It was fan-fucking-tastic!!

[clevermanka]

That was a great party, ngl! Glad you were able to come and had a good time!

[trobadora]

Happy birthday!

(I never celebrate mine either.)

[clevermanka]

*clink*

[goss]

<333

[clevermanka]

[write_out]

I'm glad you're here! <3

[clevermanka]

Thank you, bb! 😚

[seascribble]

Happy birthday, my friend. I hope the year is good to you.

[clevermanka]

Thank you! And yes, fingers crossed!

[wrote_and_writ]

Happy birthday! I feel you on the no party thing. I don't mind using it as an excuse to go out for dinner or desserts with like my mom or bestie, and if I can make it an excuse to see my niblings, all the better. Although I did want to have a big party for my 40th, but COVID. There was a rare earthquake in Idaho that day (hundreds of aftershocks and rockslides in the mountains where the epicenter was, but just some mild shaking down in my hometown). Love me some portents of DOOM! :D

[clevermanka]

Yeah, that's not the way I want the earth to move on my birthday.

[wrote_and_writ]

Not at all. Although that's a great Carol King song.

[umadoshi]

For my 35th my partners gave me a surprise party I explicitly said I didn't want and I was uncomfortable the whole evening (really should have taken that as a sign and bailed from that disaster relationship).

AAAAAHHHH. *skin crawls* NO.

*hugs!*

[clevermanka]

Ysa it was AWFUL. Like, when someone explicitly says "I do not want a party" why would you throw them a party? (especially someone who has Does Not Like Surprises as a personality trait)

[umadoshi]

Ysa it was AWFUL. Like, when someone explicitly says "I do not want a party" why would you throw them a party? (especially someone who has Does Not Like Surprises as a personality trait)

Just. UGH. So horrible. Save that stuff for people who actually want it! It's a complete asshole move when someone's been clear that they DON'T want it!

(I keep thinking about that recent case [maybe two similar cases? I'm fuzzy on details] where some poor guy's workplace insisted on doing a birthday thing for him and then they were all furious and nasty with him when it messed him up exactly how he'd said it would. So glad he beat them in court. Fucking people.)

[clevermanka]

Oh yeah, that guy who sued bc they fired him for not being ~fun? That was wild.

[umadoshi]

Oh yeah, that guy who sued bc they fired him for not being ~fun? That was wild.

Yes! That one! Why are humans LIKE THIS?

[nnozomi]

Finally getting through my DW backlog, so my comment is very late, but happy belated birthday! Hoping for a year (and thereafter) that keeps getting better from here. <3

[clevermanka]

Thank you! And yes, fingers crossed!

[brandywine28]

Oh, my gosh, no, no, no! I'm sorry my birthday greetings are so belated! I really, really wish they weren't! Gaahhh!

A low key birthday never hurt a soul. (My dad died on my fifteenth, and I'd be lying if I said that didn't kill my enthusiasm for them in a long term kind of way.) But your big 40th dance party honestly sounds like it was a blast!

And then COVID happened and now I'm 53. YUP. If there's a better sum-up of the last three years, I don't wanna hear it.

Fun fact: you share a birthday with my Aunt Marilyn, whom I haven't spoken to in over a decade and who is a wretched bitch of the highest order and magnitude! (OK, I guess that wasn't really fun, but it's all I got. Woo! Birthdays! :)

[clevermanka]

LOL no worries on the belated wishes. Obviously natal days aren't a big deal for me.

That sucks about your dad dying on your fifteenth birthday, oof. Yeah. Yikes.

I hope the awesomeness of my existence can balance out the shittiness of Aunt Marilyn at least a little.