Birthday: In Review

It all began on Sunday, two days before my date of birth. It's customary in our family to invite our relatives over for feast and for presents. Now, usually I have a hard time with this event. Between my grand father's state of perfection I feel that I am at best mediocre. This, I thoroughly believe is a threat to us all, and is liable to rip a hole in the space-time continuum. I do not care if I am great or horrible, as long as I don't land in the middle of the spectrum.

But this time was different. I give credit to my 2 years of teaching karate, for giving me the skills to be able to communicate with someone other than just making stupid jokes. Everyone arrived at 5:00 and I sensed a haste within them as we began eating my delicious tacos promptly at 5:05. We sat around a table for close to an hour discussing Track-a sport I do not play- and The Golden Compass- A book I have not read.

My mother then made the executive decision that I was to open presents. So I sat on the floor in our family room, ten people staring at me, as I began surgically removing the tissue paper from bags. I received Pulp Fiction, Guitar Hero III, A day planner, socks, and an electronic turn table wherein I can convert my records to MP3s. The only problem with the latter is that I do not have a computer to use it with.

We ate cake. Within an hour we were saying our goodbyes, and for some reason I have not yet discovered, I was begging them not to go. It seemed like there was some unfinished business we had to discuss.

Monday passed without any problems, and I awoke Tuesday feeling the same. Every year I do this to myself. On November 19th I promise myself that when I wake up the next morning I will feel somehow different, somehow older, but then I realized that I'm just a day older than I was yesterday. I did the same routine as always got in the shower, got dressed, and was off to school. I had conflict with the administrators, I knew that they put us in school that Tuesday just in spite of me.

I walked up the stairs of our JHS and as I did I obligated myself to step on the rubber part of the steps because I needed to hear the sound. When I got to the top I stood there and laughed at my stupidity. How into myself was I that I had mandated that my body make certain sounds?

In years past it has been my personal experience that birthdays and school don't mix. As teachers force their minions to sing Happy Birthday to a person they would probably not know otherwise. This was especially painful in Spanish when I had to stand in front of class while I was serenaded by maybe 5 of 20 kids singing me feliz cumpleanos.

At four o'clock I made haste to the residents of Rachel James. There I was promised a present. I found wrapped neatly in a bag a copy of the book "The Fuck Up," a necklace which I need to find a charm for, a box of fruit snacks, and last but certainly not least, a Kirkspuhler.blogspot.com T-shirt that I am wearing right now. Yes, it was a good day.