I’m going to have the nicest-smelling desk chair in the town of Auburn (maybe even the whole damn state) if I don’t stop spilling my perfumed oils on it. I try to gently pull the caps off the vials, but sometimes it comes flying off and causes a bit of a spillover.

So now that I’m smelling profoundly of aloe rain I can say that my birthday was both fun and annoying. I didn’t care for the long drive into the Citrus Heights/Sacramento area or the walk down Memory Lane, but it was fun to leave it all behind in the end. Yeah, we went by the old storage place and there I was remembering those desperate 36 hours of homelessness, thinking we were dead for sure and wanting to smash all our stuff so no one “profited” from our deaths. I remember trying to sleep in the truck and how uncomfortable I was in the old heap of shit, how cold I was, how helpless and hopeless I felt.

Last night Maliheh was the first to “sing” me happy birthday. 

Well I don’t know how long it takes to get this email so ill send it a few min earlier Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you haaaaapppppy biiiiiirrrthdaaaay deeeeeeeaarrr Jooooooodddddiiiiiiiii. Haaaaaappppyy biiiiiirrthdaaaaY toooooooooo youuuuuuuuu. It’s 12:00 December 4th I hope I was the first to sing you a happy birthday. I sure hope what e er you do for your birthday you enjoy it I’m beat got a long day coming up. Over and out

That was so sweet of her. :) Andy, Aly and Kim also wished me a happy birthday. I’m really surprised, though pleased, that Tammy didn’t contact me. But I am kind of surprised that Nane, Mitch and my cousin didn’t even have the decency to leave a quick hello on my Facebook wall. Especially since I remembered their birthdays. So today was a reminder of just who cares about me and who doesn’t, and to those that actually give a shit, I am very grateful. :) Still, maybe the message I intend to leave on my wall later on will slap a little guilt over some people’s heads. grins devilishly I’m more into treating people how they treat me as opposed to treating everyone the way I wish to be treated, so I just may get hit with amnesia when certain birthdays roll around. :)

I had a dream a while back (I think I wrote about it) where Maliheh and I were dining out somewhere and she shook her head in shocked wonder and said something like, “How can what we’re so sure are the wrong people be so right while the right people are so wrong?”

It’s true, too! Never in a million years would I have guessed she’d care as much as Tom and my folks! But she does and it makes me both happy to have her in my life as well as sorry I can’t hug the hell outa her for it. Oh, man, if somebody had told me 5, 10, 15 years ago that she’d one day be the first to wish me happy birthday, then care enough to want to hear about it, I’d have laughed my ass off! I just never would’ve believed it. Life ain’t what we plan it, but some of life’s surprises are really great! I know there are no guarantees in life, but I hope she’ll always be a part of my life.

Maybe buying a deserted tropical island wouldn’t be that much fun after all if we ever struck it rich, because as Tom pointed out, I wouldn’t have my cyber friends, including Maliheh.

So on with my birthday adventures. I slept till 11am and we left right before 1pm. As I said, it was a long drive with some unhappy memories, but if there was any good in it, it was knowing that they are just that – memories. It was a great feeling to leave the city behind on the way back and know that we didn’t have to return to some motel room or the scummy apartment complex I thought we’d end up in. Not even a “tooth house” as I call those damn houses that are just a few feet apart.

The crowds and traffic were plentiful and some of the lanes were so backed up it reminded me of Phoenix and L.A.

The only other negative was the restaurant’s “signature” screaming. Yeah, sure enough, just like every goddamn restaurant we go to, including when we were last at Red Lobster 3 years ago, we just had to get stuck with some little kid screaming in our ear. I don’t understand why they don’t just leave them at home and why they would want to take kids that young to restaurants. I swear they should have a section just for little kids!

Despite all the noise, the lobster was delicious! There’s not much to a ¼-lobster, but I still enjoyed every bite of it. The waitress helped me crack the claws open, the hardest part to crack, and took one of them back because it was undercooked. So that made us have to wait around even longer when I just wanted to get away from all the damn screaming. It was so nice when we finally did escape to these peaceful woods, reminded that we don’t have it so bad after all and how glad I am to never have had kids of my own.

Someone else there had a birthday today too, and a few of the waitresses sang them Happy Birthday. Tom said he’d tell our waitress it was my birthday too, but having Happy Birthday sung to me by strangers isn’t very exciting. It really only means something to me when it’s from someone special.

When we got back there was a message from my folks both wishing me a happy birthday. I called them back, thanked them for the GCs and got to laugh at them for waking up in the 40s tomorrow morning. I told them my face looked 50 and my body looked 30 and Dad said that averages out to 40, LOL.

Before Tom went to bed he said he wanted to take me birthday shopping sometime since I didn’t get anything today, but being with him, having good friends, and eating my favorite foods is getting more than enough. :)

I’m glad I got myself on days for today. At least I can do that much for a week or two. Around Christmas, I’ll start aiming it for New Year’s Eve so the shooting they do out here won’t wake me up.

Maliheh went to bed early after saying “Hey, birthday girl. I want to hear all about it tomorrow.” She must’ve had trouble sleeping, though, cuz she checked my blog a minute before I posted this birthday entry online.