Happy Birthday To Me

Well, about 4 and a half hours ago, anyway. Yep. 27. Somehow, God's let me survive for another year. We'll just chalk it up to a temporary bout of indifference up in Heaven. And you know what? I'll take it. It's another chance do something right for once. We'll see how I use this year.

We went out to Jim Gould's for dinner with some friends (GQ and Becca, JP, Yoder, CJ, Meitl, and Darren), and then had some drinks afterwards at KO Fusion, as Laura and Fetz joined us. Okay. That was a lie. We had more than a few (but not quite a butt-load) of drinks.

The food at Gould's was excellent - there will be a lunch and dinner write-up for the place over at my foodgeek site. Most amusing thing about dinner? Watching people try raw oysters for the first time. They weren't the greatest oysters (some shell bits flaked off into the oyster when they were opened), but they were fresh and they were tasty. We ordered a small order so that everyone would get to try one. A couple of people liked them, some people were indifferent, and some of the folks hated them. Probably an accurate sample for general populace. But overall, it was fun to try different dishes and have everyone pass food around. I don't get to do that enough.

As for the drinking afterwards, it really wasn't bad. Just a round of sake bombs followed by 2 bottles of cold sake out at KO Fusion. They were big half liter bottles, and CJ and I took the lion's share of the sake, but it was just sake. All told, I figure that it was about the same as having 4 drinks, but it was a fun buzz since it was so gradual. Afterwards, me and CJ caught up with some of his friends from work and had a couple more beers. A nice horseshoe sandwich at Merry Ann's capped off the night.

It was a good time. No complaints about the company (in fact, it was very nice to hang with a big crew for a while), and the food/drink was all good. I do get to ponder my mortality, where my life is going, and all the rest that is associated with a birthday after a so-so year (which really has been the case for the last 4 birthdays). I get to ponder the prospects for a 27 year old who hasn't been in love, can count the number of relationships that have lasted over one month with one hand... check that... with his nostrils (that's 2, on me at least, for the anatomically challenged readers). I get to ponder my dwindling number of friends as I remain in good ol' Champaign-Urbana, while everyone else around moves on to different (not necessarily greener) pastures. I get to ponder my body which is falling apart, which was at it's peak over 4 years ago when I was a strong 230, could grab the rim with one hand, best most people off the dribble, and could play shut down D on the perimeter. And I get to ponder where my path diverged with God's intended path and how I get it back.

There is much to ponder. But I have a whole year to do it.

-Chairman