The thing with my birthday is that since it is at the very end of April (for those of you who want to get me a present) is that for much of HS and college there always seemed to be something else going on: dress rehearsals, concerts, studying for exams, taking finals…) where it got to the point of me giving up, going “whatever” and not really doing anything to celebrate. So at my 1st job out of college, 3 of us had b-days within a few weeks of each other. While I was busy plotting against them, they teamed up to get me:

When I walked into work on my birthday, they had entirely gift-wrapped my area, and I mean hard-core wrapped: individual books on my bookshelf, stacks of paperwork, file folders, my t-squares, cork board, art supplies, pens, photos, all of my toys…everything individually wrapped. Inc. the phone and the handset which they taped down so every time I tried to answer the phone it would hand up on people. It took me hours to dig out. Then they hid a boatload of super bouncy balls in my top cabinet and I’ll leave that scene to your imagination. Later that night they took me to happy hour for my 1st b-day party in years. And yes, I got them both back on their birthdays.

Gifts, while always appreciated, come and go. But my very favorite birthday memory is from my 19th. A bunch of friends/dorm-mates took me out for dinner at a local Italian restaurant. At the end of the meal, I was presented with an enormous slab of chocolate “cake” (actually more like fudgy mousse) and the waitstaff sang Happy Birthday. In Italian. In three-part harmony. And then we went to see some more friends in a campus sketch comedy show. The next night, my boyfriend at the time took me out to a fancy restaurant at the top of a very tall building. The food was amazing, there was a live jazz band, and a great big full moon was shining right outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. Many birthdays before and since have been fun, but nothing has compared to that one. (Yet.)

I wore a black trash bag over my clothes and stood in the backyard while all my aunts and uncles and cousins chanted “PIE! PIE! PIE! PIE!” There was a dramatic countdown, and my mom laid it on me. It was coconut cream and very delicious.

1. Freshman year of college. My father drives down from Northern Virginia, as does my high school friend Noura and her father. It’s early April, it’s 90 degrees in Williamsburg, so we decide to go to Virginia Beach. By the time we get to the beach, the temperature has dropped 40 degrees and it is freezing.

2. Sweet Sixteen – my friends and I decide to hang out at Reston Town Center. Just recently, the police had busted a teenage prostitution ring using Reston Town Center as their place. So we’re standing around, hanging out, talking – and suddenly, up comes a cop, worried that we’re all teenage prostitutes.

Wow – I just listened to the song…it is in Hebrew. Never mind the previous comment. Do either of you actually understand the words? I can translate if you want.

I don’t suppose your uber-mixing software has a button you can push to suppress echo?

The amusing thing, to me, is that not only did they not purchase the mattress as a gift, but I actually NEVER ended up getting a new mattress. I think a few years later I got a hand me down mattress from an Uncle.

No covers yet, but here’s the Paul and Storm set:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=5d67ab94d87e09e07432d3c9683f450ab005cc90a8590c28b8eada0a1ae8665a

And the main show:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=5d67ab94d87e09e07432d3c9683f450ab931f8b62ac50cb8ce018c8114394287

The titles for the whole thing is “It’s Better Than Pontiac: Jonathan Coulton with Paul and Storm – Live at the Ark (Ann Arbor, MI – 3/6/09)”.
The individual sets have the titles “A Bottle of ‘Aww’: Paul and Storm – Live at the Ark (Ann Arbor, MI – 3/6/09)” and “Two Meme Audience: Jonathan Coulton – Live at the Ark (with Paul and Storm in Ann Arbor, MI – 3/6/09)”.

Covers will be coming when I can get a couple things either scanned up or a good photo of the full thing’s “longbox” style cover.

Let me know if “Someone is Crazy” got screwed up, I’m afraid it might’ve uploaded wrong or incomplete or something.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As for the audience participation thing:

-Best Birthday Present: The Beatles “The Beatles” (the White Album for those who don’t know). I was 10 at the time. It kicked so much ass. Now that my musical tastes are much wider and deeper, I STILL consider it the greatest album ever recorded.
Runner-up 1: Death Star AND Millenium Falcon miniature figure playsets. For my 6th Birthday. (They would be #1 but a lot of the tiny pieces got lost pretty quickly and they eventually accidentally got broken while the White Album is still in great shape and gets a lot of listens.)
Runner-up 2: An acoustic guitar. 12th Birthday. I never got lessons and have terrible dexterity in my fingers or that would probably take the #1 spot as well.

-Worst Birthday Present: A couple scratch-off lottery tickets with incomprehensable rules. That was for my birthday this year (20th Anniversary [of my Birth]).

-Best Birthday Memory: Major Magic’s (a Chuck-E-Cheese type place) was rented out by parents/grandparents for a few hours. Video games, pizza, and creepy singing animatronic critters galore! 7th or 8th Birthday.

-Worst Birthday Memory: Having to spend my 17th Birthday “Party” with relatives I barely know at a boring restaurant with crappy food. No presents at that dinner either. There was cake, but it was neither delicious or moist.

-Best Birthday Cake: This year. A mint ice cream cake from Coldstone.

-Worst Birthday Cake: Also this year. A half-assed cupcake with an unlit candle on it (had seperate parties and celebrations due to a split family).

-Most Awesome Mundane Thing I Did on a Birthday: Registered to Vote (on my 18th Birthday).

-Suckiest Mundande Thing I Did on a Birthday: Algebra Test, 14th Birthday.

-Most Awesome Present That I Didn’t Recieve But Later Found Out I Could’ve Gotten: Tickets to see David Bowie on his Reality Tour (2003-2004). 14th Birthday. My mom planned to get a pair and take me, but she hesitated too long and both nights he was in town were sold out.

My most memorable birthday memory is that of my only true birthday party (age 7) in which I invited everyone I knew and 1 person showed up. No one had even informed me that they would not be coming and my mom went all out on the food and decorations just to have no one come. Since that day, 11 years ago, I have never had a real party.

The best gift, however, was just a simple chain necklace my boyfriend gave me. I still wear it everyday.

Yeah Paul FTW – happy firbday.

I have run a checked, Veronica is running “Apache/2.2.3″ you guys are as well, albeit yours identifies itself as “Apache/2.2.8 (Ubuntu) PHP/5.2.4-2ubuntu5.4 with Suhosin-Patch mod_ssl/2.2.8″ so actually you guys win.

There’s no, no, no partying without, without, without cake
Where, where, where, where, where, where, where, where is the cake?

Ah. So, that’s the price I pay for my hiatus from the social networking. :-p

Storm, I think Operation Blue Mountain was a great idea! MitchO, thanks again for the heads up for those of us who didn’t get the e-mail.

My portion of the server fund $ = put towards whatever you want, particularly if what you want is “Paul and Storm have even more concerts in Michigan.” (Where, of course, you’ll get even more of my money; it’s a win-win situation, guys.)

As far as gifts, one of my favorites is one that my husband (then fiancé) gave me for my birthday in 2007. He told me that we were going away for the day, but he wouldn’t tell me where we were going. Our destination turned out to be the Steam Railroading Institute and it involved a ride on an steam-engine train. Now, this may not sound like a big deal, but I *LOVE* trains of all sorts (especially steam-powered ones). It was a really cool experience, and a thoughtful present.

I can’t think of any specific bad gift experiences aside from the year where I accidentally found my dad/stepmom’s Christmas shopping list. Under my name it said: socks, underwear. Under my brother’s: Sega Genesis. It turned out that the Genesis was actually for both of us, but I remember feeling terrible in the days leading up to Christmas when I thought they loved him more.

Thankfully, I’ve never had a bad birthday experience. One of the nicest (as I look at it in hindsight) occurred during a family vacation ride through southern New Mexico. We had dinner in some little local restaurant, during which I had to use the restroom. On the way back, I noticed my parents talking to the waitress…sure enough, a little later I was presented with a dessert and a song. As a little kid, I felt embarrassed but enjoyed the dessert. Now that I’m older, I appreciate it much more than I did then.