My Birthday

I turned 34 on October 12. As birthdays go, it was not bad, although I have to admit it started out a bit shaky. There were surprises of both the pleasant and disappointing variety.

Bill's gift for me didn't arrive before time to leave, so that was kind of disappointing, for example, but it wasn't really his fault. So he decided to tell me what it was, and that was a very happy surprise for me. He ordered my favorite Walkuski poster, Rosemary's Baby, from a Polish poster dealer. Wow! I hadn't even dared to put that on my wish list; the most I asked for was the Walkuski postcards. How thrilling to be surprised with even more than you could hope or wish for! I can't wait until it finally arrives. I hope we manage to get it framed in time for the party.


I had a really cute email birthday card from my Mom, who had thoughtfully sent me a generous gift certificate for Amazon a few weeks prior to my birthday in order to give me plenty of time to order stuff so it could arrive in time for my birthday. I am just having a little trouble deciding! I'm thinking I'll stockpile books with it.

I traveled to rural middle Tennessee, where I mostly grew up, to attend a fainting goats festival and visit old friends and relatives who still live in the area. I stopped by my paternal grandparent's home to visit them and my Dad on Friday. We had a Sixteen Candles kind of day there, because they had forgotten it was my birthday. I can call it a disappointing surprise, but it stopped being a surprise years ago. But they were nice and everything. I had fun playing with my dad's cat. I taught him to sit on my lap and we became buddies(the cat, not my dad). I also saw my dad's new place, then I left for my hotel room about forty miles away.

Bill had made reservations for a rather nice room in Columbia, TN with a jumbo jacuzzi that was almost as nice as the one we had in Vegas last year on my birthday. No view of mountains in the distance though, just cheesy mirrors on the ceiling. :)

I went for dinner at La Hacienda, which is a modest little Mexican restaurant that Stephen and I used to frequent. I try to go there once in a while and remember old times. The food's not bad, and it's very much the same as it was back then. Afterwards, it was time for champagne and a soak back at the room.

The next morning, I got a pretty early start because I didn't want to be late for the Fainting Goats show at the Goats, Music, and More festival in Lewisburg, TN. I think goats are adorable, so I just had to go check it out. It was basically like a livestock show, the goats were judged based on their body structure and musculature, their propensity for fainting didn't really factor into it. I did see a few goats faint, however. I also saw a goat costume contest that, oddly enough, featured at least two Elvis Presley goats. I also caught a goat impersonation contest, during which one of the contestants dressed up like Elvis Presley and performed a few of the King's standards, punctuated with "bahs" now and then. I have video of that. Maybe I'll post it here or on my web page, if I have a chance anytime soon.

I bought a souvenir tee shirt that says "You get my goat"... and there wasn't much else to do there, to be honest, so I left around noon. I went to visit my maternal grandmother and her husband. for another Sixteen Candles afternoon. My birthday is not such a memorable occasion, I suppose! But, since I was turning 34, maybe they thought I'd prefer they forget. They did have homemade ice cream, though, so that was great! After our visit, I went back to the hotel to rest a bit.

Later, I went to Nashville to check out a Halloween store for possible party decorations. I was going to visit Ricardo, but he was on call for some reality show he'd started working on the day before, so it didn't work out. Then I went to Ichiban, another one of Stephen's haunts, to have some sushi. I had a delicious meal. I had a little bit of Zipang, the sparkling sake, so it would feel celebratory. Then it was back to the jacuzzi for a nice soak.

I came back home rather early in the day. Bill and worked on cleaning up the branches from the tree he cut down earlier in the week.

That was my birthday weekend. It wasn't bad. It had some less than stellar moments, I guess, but at least I don't feel old yet! I haven't resorted to lying about my age! Maybe I should start feeling old, but I really feel like 30s are still young. Talk to me about starting to feel old when I'm in 44, or maybe 54, or... when I'm 64.

I'll try to upload goat footage soon!