birthdays and oscars

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Fune My family celebrated my birthday yesterday since I won't be around on my actual birthday this week. We went to Fune. Sara and Annie ordered their favourite sushi: tako (octopus), ebi (shrimp), and ikura (salmon roe), with noodles on the side. They both know how to use chopsticks.

After dinner, I visited the ladies' room. During the few minutes I was gone, the restaurant host and waitresses brought a cake out for me, sparklers and candles lit, about to launch into a rendition of "Happy Birthday". When they discovered I wasn't there, they had to sneak into a side entrance with the cake to avoid running into me coming back from the ladies' room. I discovered all this later, of course, but did wonder why my family looked so strange as I resumed my place at the table.

"Don't go away again, Auntie Debbie!" Sara told me.

My presents: hand-decorated framed artwork from both Sara and Annie, a cardboard rocketship made by Sara, a cardboard castle made by Annie, a pair of cool earrings chosen by Annie (I'll wear them to FKO), and a 2-DVD Toy Story set (from my Dad).

After dinner, Jeff and I went to Andy's and Christine's to watch the Oscars. Much fun, but I was too tired to stay until the end; I've been waking up around 5:30 or 6 am on a regular basis these days. In contrast, Jeff is staying up later working and playing Quake, then sleeping in. We're both trying to adjust our hours so we can spend more quality time together. :-)

Morning/Night people

I was delighted to discover that my friend Parki was a morning person recently. I found out when I sent out a question about Perl to several of my technonerdboy guy friends early one morning (my subject header: "Perl guru needed!), and Parki was the first to respond. A few hours later, Bryan posted, "What kind of Perl guru is awake before 9:30 a.m.?!" Parki's response: "I am not a Perl guru. I am a free man. Cheers, #5."

When I discussed the issue with Parki later on, I found him remarkably leery of being labelled a "morning person". He claims to not be truly awake right away, that he needs his coffee, and so on bla-di-blabla. Jeff is also this way...even if he does happen to wake up early, he's Mr. Grumpypants until he's had a chance to adjust to the shock of being conscious again. Jeff's sister was the one who came up with the name "Mr. Grumpypants" for Jeff, by the way, when we used to share a house.

Anyway, what is it with this prejudice against morning people?! I really want to know!! I say we morning people need to stand up and be proud of who we are and what we stand for!!!

(rousing patriotic orchestral music swells here)

That's all for today.

Update 11:03 a.m.: I lied, that's not all for today. In response to my paragraph about him (see above), Parki e-mailed the following response:

"I take umbrage at the 'bla-di-blabla' above, which you cavalierly toss into your diatribe as this as if the first coffee of the day is not important or is some frivolous 'drink'.

You should have more respect for the coffee.

The coffee greases the wheels of life, 'specially when the train of thought is having a hard time leaving the station in the morning.

:-)"

Ha! See how insecure these Morning Coffee people are?

For the record, I do drink coffee occasionally, but only when enough cream and sugar have been added to completely eradicate any remnants of actual coffee taste.





Today's Blatherpics:

With Annie and Sara at Fune.

Oscars night at Andy's and Christine's.