I'm Older Still

I turned thirty-three on Friday.  I had a great day with lots of interesting surprises and, as a whole, the birthday was pretty darn epic.  There was definitely some major sneakiness going on behind the scenes and I give a kudos to everyone who managed to pull the wool over my eyes.  Take that acknowledgement when you can, because it is hard to pull something like that on me.

I woke up to some crafty item placements by Alice.  She knows my morning routine fairly well and had placed Scott Pilgrim Volume 3 near my alarm clock.  I hadn't set the alarm, but I did find it first thing.  My next stop after getting up and finding the volume was to go to the kitchen to turn on the coffee pot and discover sitting on top of it, Scott Pilgrim Volume 4.  Alice clearly knows my routine because I found Scott Pilgrim Volume 5 sitting on my laptop.  The only part of her planning that didn't come together was the location of Scott Pilgrim Volume 6, which she had put in the laundry hamper.  She hadn't realized that I had been planning on doing NO laundry on my birthday (can you blame me).  So she handed it to me in person.

Anyway, so my day itself involved spending it in hiding int he world, writing, and in general, doing what I wanted to do away from the house.  I didn't do anything at home, because Alice wasn't getting home until 7:30 PM and I just didn't want to lock myself up in the house.  It was a great day that only got better.  I did a little bit of shopping, mostly getting some things we needed at BJ's.  While getting gas, we had a freak white out.  Eventually, I got home to discover that my friend Judy from Kentucky was here.  She had arrived a day early.  Super sneaky.  She and Alice had a few presents waiting for me when I got home.  Judy had ordered a book from Finland.  It isn't it's own story, it is actually a summary of children's books.  The book is entirely in Finnish and allows me something simple to practice my translations.  At the same time, it might also hook me up with some stories I haven't heard of before that I can also translate.

Alice had another surprise waiting for me, a board game that I have always loved that has been only recently released.  (Hey, I'll take a new edition of the game.  I don't need the original edition that sells for a few thousand dollars).  Talisman is a multiplayer adventure game where you slay monsters, collect treasures and work your way to the center of the board to collect a mystic artifact.  It is a cut-throat game that I've only really played once before and was a hell of a lot of fun.  I'm not sure who I'll get to play this game with me, but I'm really looking forward to break it out and play it.

I did not get lockpicks.  These were not a gift.  I do not have these in my possession.  In completely unrelated news, if anyone needs someone experienced with lockpicking for the purposes of writing research, hit me up with an email and I'll connect you with someone who does.

Anyway, I had a great birthday and I can't think of a better one that I've had before.  I've lived 33 years and I'm looking forward to the next 33 years.