That's my age for about a year now.

...I've survived another trip 'round the sun.

( Preserved comment(s) )

Current Mood: happy

It seems to be the day to pester express good wishes to a certain jaguar.

jugularjaguar: Silly Tuar
well thank you, thank you. When is your birthday??

Hugs From the certain Jaguar

vakkotaur:
What's a tuar?

As for my birthday, the anniversary thereof is May 12.

A recent post, protected so I won't bother linking to it, brought up a bit of how people treat anniversaries and holidays differently. I find I tend to recognize them, but I'm not too big on holding to exact dates for things. I think that came about from sharing, or perhaps not sharing, a birthday.

My sister and I have the same birthday, separated by five years. This wasn't planned, so we have been told. She claims, or at least once claimed, that somehow I had stolen her birthday. She is five years younger than I am, so I don't see how that could be.

The result was that when we were kids there had to be two cakes, at least. Generally what would happen is that we'd each have a cake on a weekend, and it would two different weekends. I forget how gifts were handled, but what I think happened was that we'd each get something on each weekend, probably by visiting different sets grandparents on each weekend.

The result of this is that I don't consider the exact date of my birthday to be important. I had to explain that once when someone sent me something and it didn't arrive on or before that date. The sender seemed to feel bad about it, but it simply wasn't important. That the sender thought to send at all, that was important. Even that wasn't necessary. It was just nice.

If I do remember a birthday - other than my sister's - it isn't because I really remembered it, it's because I looked at the calendar in the office. I made notes of folk's birthdays and wrote them down and now mark up the calendar before putting it up. Sometimes I still miss things. Nothings perfect.

Last year Jay and I visited my folks for Thanksgiving and his folks for Christmas. My folks and my sister and I simply moved Christmas to Thanksgiving and that was pretty much that, no big deal. In fact, I rather liked that - it got things out of the way and I got (most of) my Christmas shopping done before the wretched "Christmas shopping season" which I find to be overcrowded and far too loud. It was amusing hearing the news reports on how the shopping was and such and not caring one little bit as it had been taken care of already.

( Preserved comments. )

Current Mood: calm

Got a couple cards in the mail. Typical family humor, bad puns and twisted humor. Various wishes from folks around the net, too. And Jay got supper. And I now have a pair of noise-cancelling headphones.

It's interesting to hear/not hear them work. I can switch them on and the sound of the computer fans (mostly) disappears. Jay's voice seems to change, gets more... telephonic. The low end of all sounds gets knocked out. Makes for odd sounding coughing, and the crinkle of opening a candy wrapper, for example, is rather different.

The only downside is that it seems to enhance what hum there is in my soundcard/speakers. It may be interesting to try it on other things, like a dedicated CD player or tape player.

Heh, phone rings sound weird too.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Snuff Out the Light (Yzma's Song)

...I've survived another trip 'round the sun.

[UPDATE]

The day started out nice, and keeps getting better. A faire merchant with which I placed an order in September and haven't heard from since - despite multiple messages left on an answering machine and a couple letters - finally called today. Not only am I going to get what I ordered (a pair of tights for I was actually measured, for once) but I should be getting two pair rather than just the one. I didn't ask for that - I just wanted what I ordered, and would have appreciated notification of any problems earlier - so they're certainly putting things right. If things go as claimed, I should be wearing a pair at the Waterloo faire at the end of the month. Huzzah!

[Addendum: I got only the one pair, and despite the measuring, they tend to be loose. Naturally, I will not be giving any more business to someone.]

Current Mood: pleased

Weather
Friday, the 14th, we had a sample of Winter. A few inches of snow, and wind to blow and drift it. Fairmont was not entirely missed by the storm this time, but still got off rather lightly. The few inches was pretty much dealt with Saturday morning and it's been nice since. Meanwhile other parts of the country got hit and hit hard. This, with Jay's traveling has resulted in a curious reversal. He's experiencing more Winter type stuff than I am.

How to Get an LJ Entry Ignored
Take an okkay entry, ideally a longish one, and have it center justified. Centering works for some poems, and short items, but otherwise... BLARGH, say I.

( political commentary )

Scaring Coworkers
Sunday I stopped in at Family Dollar and picked up a few odd things. Okkay, I went nuts. See, they had Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Every store has those, you say. Ah, but these were not the regular 2-packs. These were 10-packs. And they were on sale. Very much on sale. Fifty cents per 10-pack on sale. A case holds 36 of those 10-packs. A case for $18 and tax. Like I said, I went nuts. I bought a case, somewhat to the astonishment of the checkout clerk. He started to apologize for not having a bag that'd hold it. No need, they come in a box already. And today I brought them, the Peanut Butter Cups, to work. A third is by the Engineering secretary's desk now. Another third is on the filing cabinets near sales. And the remaining third is on filing cabinets in the Ag. & Force Measurement area. I hit the three main places for goodies on my side of the building. The fellow next to me wonders what I'm up to. I'm being far too nice, he claims. And that scares him. Even more than I usually scare him.

Importance of Birthdays... No, the Unimportance of Age.
A Diplomat is a man who always remembers a lady's birthday but not her age. That's how one saying goes, as I recall it. Birthdays, or the anniversaries thereof, tend to have some importance to a person. It's nice to be remembered and all. (Sharing a birthday with my sister, I don't forget hers, nor she mine, but also we're both used to having one or the other moved celebration-wise... siblings rivalry and such - and two cakes not at once.) But age is different. Age is important only at times. When a little kid "I'm three and a half!" The next time it's of any notice, really tends to be around 16, when one can get a driver's license. Then 18, for voting (if you care enough to) and for men, registration. It used to also be a time when one could purchase alcohol. Now 21 is significant for that. The age of 25 is a marker when auto insurance rates drop. And then, with a few exceptions (like running for some political offices), age doesn't matter until retirement. And after that, it matters not at all except as way to impress the younger that you've survived that many trips around the sun. This is why I have to compute my age if asked. It is not a number that is important to me. "You don't know your age?!" Well, why should I? It's not important. I know the current date, and I know my date of birth. I can compute my age on the vanishingly rare times I need it.

Current Mood: good