Birthday Post-Game Wrap Up

Things worked out pretty well. Much of the credit should go to the good folks at work, who must have gotten tired of my bellyaching about how birthdays tend to suck for me. They took me to lunch, loaded me down with a variety of sodas and quirky gifts (including a bottle of 10 year-old single barrel bourbon) and basically made me feel like I mean something to someone.

It's funny how I need that sometimes. Most men live lives of quiet desperation. I'm not most men, I bitch about it and when I can, I poke fun at it. Still, it's nice to feel appreciated. It's fucking amazing.

I also got a ton of facebook messages wishing me well and a few notes via e-mail, suggesting or offering me other ways to make extra cash. It was very thoughtful, though probably I'll be bleeding for a while to come. Anyway, it meant a lot that a couple of people wanted to give me a hand in such a way.

I still wound up mowing the lawn. I did not go to the track, but I did hit the local goodwill and found a trench coat in my size (a bargain at less than $6). Dinner at the house was a low-key affair, but peaceful.

The best part is a little thing. I got a couple of i-tune gift cards, good for music through the i-tunes store, something I've never used though I've had my i-pod now for six months. On i-tunes, I found an obscure Pink Floyd song called "Number 51 Your Time Is Up," a variant of another obscure song called "Careful With That Axe Eugene."

The song is on a film called Zabriskie Point --never seen, don't know what it's even about-- and the last time I heard the tune, it was 1989 and back then I didn't know what the song was called precisely or what it was from. I've spent 21 years looking for that song and now I own it.

It's a trinket, an artifact from my past, but one I've wanted returned to me for a very long time. Just getting that one 99 cent song would have been enough to make my day and I got so much more.

I am incredibly grateful.