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Friday, August 06, 2004

 
2:37 PM: another year older and what did i get? [#] [0]

my birthday was lovely! thank to all who made it so. when i woke up i found myself trying to solve an ipod/itunes issue (still unresolved) which made me a little grumpy, but then i went upstairs while sven made crepes (yum!) and managed to write my birthday poem, which i haven't done on the same day for at least four years. then sven & i went to oaks park, which i've never been to. we rode the carrousel 31 times, each revolution a chance to tell what had happened to me that year of my life. (after grade school it was freaky to realize how much it all blurred together, and after college i was glad i started the birthday poems to give me -some- sort of insight about where i was at that point). we also rode the looped roller coaster, roller-skated, rode the bumper cars, and finished with cotton candy on the ferris wheel overlooking the willammette & western portland.

it began to rain just as we left oaks park, which worried sven mostly because he had built me an 11-foot to-scale burning man wrapped in paper & painted w/ 31 stars, with 31 tin stars hidden inside to fall and twinkle as the man burned on the studio driveway. crazy but true!

fortunately, the rain stopped and the burn occurred as planned:



but i'm getting head of myself, as that was near the end. :)

first there was the party, a decidedly low-key affair after the big blowout michael & i had on the roof last year (we ate for almost 2 weeks after that party!) just hangin' around talkin' and drinkin' punch. it was surprisingly hard to blow out all 31 candles! i only got the last two with my dying gasp, and it didn't even feel like air came out. i must be getting old. :) as the last group of people left, sven and i examine two slugs curling themselves into knots on the side of the house w/ holes in their necks that opened and closed.

but the balloons from the party are spookily making their way upstairs one at a time. every time we go up there or come down, another one has crept stealthily up. it's kind of creepy.

and now it's time for the birthday present round up, which i do less to brag about what i got than to make sure everyone is appropriately acknowledged & appreciated every year. :)

* sven: pineapple upside down cake, a trip to oaks park, a swiss army card, another star lamp, a gorey journal, and a bell for stella!
* michaelmas: a copy of donald norman's emotional design since i introduced him to norman, and lyra's oxford, a sequel to my favorite series of books, his dark materials (which michael introduced me to!).
* mph: nerds mix cd, which includes some original compositions by mph himself!
* carl: cookies & milk & chocolate milk
* laura: rilke's letters to a young poet
* leopoldo: a trip to seattle to see a play (i think i've chosen "fiction") and a parasail kite for burning man!
* alex, amelia & miles: they might be giants' bed, bed, bed
* philip: mix cds "the magician" and "the chariot" from his tarot series
* my parents: what is my cat thinking, a check
* sven's mom: a necklace & earrings made from the oregon state stone
* my grandmother: (a conditional gift) if i visit, a cake and dinner

...also, emails & icards from michaelmas, leopoldo, markalope, briant (!), becky, chuck and packetwarp dan.
...and cards from cyberscribes julie & diane, plus one from my aunt janis!
...and a weird postcard from burning man dan!

thank you, thank you, thank you, one and all!