We’ll eat a lot of broccoli and drink a lot of beer
You should be good and happy that there’s something you can eat
A million people every day are starving in the street
Your daddy’s in the gutter with the wretched and the poor
Your mama’s in the kitchen with a can of Cycle Four
There’s garbage in the water
There’s poison in the sky
I guess it won’t be long before we’re all gonna die
Happy birthday
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday
Happy birthday to you
-Weird Al Yankovic, “Happy Birthday”
I turned a grand old 28 today. I don’t feel that old, but it’s creepy to think that in a mere two years, I’ll be 30; odd how these things creep up on one.
I celebrated it in a non-standard fashion this year, as I’ve been in TX for my birthday for the past five years or so: my grandparents were in town, and since they hadn’t yet seen Will, they accompanied my mother in a trip to our house. This was the first time for Will to meet one of his namesakes, his great-grandfather William (Bill). My wife, knowing that my grandparents are life-long Pittsburgh Steelers fans, dressed Will in his Steelers outfit which apparently went over like gangbusters with the great-grandparents. My grandfather was content simply to hold Will, which aggravated my granmother as Bill The Elder kept obscuring the Steelers logo and “ruining” the photos my wife was snapping.*grin*
We supped on meatball sandwiches and spinach salad that my mother brought over and then finished the meal with apple spice cake (complete with “Happy Birthday” candles) and coffee, after which my wife and I presented the great- and regular-grandparents with their Christmas gifts (framed pictures of Will, for those out there keeping score).
Then, I was presented with two gifts that would warm any decent sci-fi fan’s hardened heart: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi from my parents and the Firefly boxed set from my lovely wife.
Maybe turning 28 isn’t such a terrible thing after all…
I have found a new science fiction author who writes something worth reading! A while back, I was reading Doug Stewart’s blog and he mentioned getting a particular book for his birthday. Interestingly enough the author of Old Man’s War, John Scalzi, stopped by Doug’s blog and wished
CRAP! I forgot…dang, I always remembered it was the same day as Boomers too. Yeah that’s how I tried to remember it. Well, not everyone has the now pavlovian response-like birthday that is marked by the worst day in American History! Happy Birthday Doof.
Ooooooh, sure you turn 28 and you get meatball sandwiches, a nice salad and a tasty cake. What, no one in your family eats SOUP anymore!! It’s a conspiracy I say…..C O N spiracy!
Now there’s a nickname I hadn’t heard in years. Heh.
Ahhh, Boomer, I hope there’s Ford Mustangs in dog heaven, ’cause I just know he’d be getting his revenge right about now…
Happy Birthday! I hope you enjoy the book.
What a strange world this is. I wish I could say that I was completely serene about the fact that the author of a book (whose previous work I have enjoyed greatly) just commented on a post on my blog that tangentially mentioned his book, but ohmigoshohmigoshohmigosh John Scalzi just totally posted a comment on my blog!
</Valley Girl speak>
Man, I just had Ghost Brigades on my Amazon Wish List before; now I’m definitely picking it up!
Thanks for making this geek’s day.
Congrats on having the gumption to survive yet another year!
Those are some shiny gifts you got this year. 🙂 I wasn’t familiar with the book but I took a look at the sample chapter on the author’s site and it’s on my list of things to get when I next hit up the bookstore.