As of about 7 a.m. this morning, I edged into what some would describe as the second quarter of life. Granted, it's all just numbers, but I'm now 26 years old. In terms of birthdays, this is the one that I've actually thought about the least beforehand. Not only have I been super busy, but instead of looking into the numbers of it and worrying about getting older or anything like that, I've just sort of been focusing on getting things done. As I've mentioned at some other point, I'm in the best shape of my life right now, so it's not an issue of feeling older. Not only that, but this last year has probably been my best one ever in terms of personal growth and different things that I've wanted to accomplish (both with this site and outside of it). I've done lots and lots of reflection on every subject from relationships to things that I didn't like about myself (you'll have seen lots of both of those if you've been reading this section at all) and I think I've figured out quite a few things about both.

In the piece I wrote last year about my birthday, I told stories of past celebrations, while in the piece I wrote before that, I tried to be humorous about things and discussed renewing my drivers license and a couple other rather silly things. Because I've already much of the reflecting that I would probably do in a piece for this year, I'm just going to write about what I've done this weekend for my birthday, because it's been a great one.

While it technically wasn't my birthday yet, yesterday I got up and hung out with my brother for awhile. We went shopping for a new racquetball racquet for him (my birthday gift to him), then went to a music store where we both picked up a couple things. After that, we stopped off at another store and I purchased a web cam (stay tuned, it will be showing up on my site sometime in the future) with some birthday money that I'd received.

After going home and listening to some of my new music, my brother called me up and we went and played some racquetball. He ended up beating me 2 out of 3 games that we played, but it was some good exercise and we stopped by to see our grandma after we'd cleaned up a bit. When we arrived, she was watching CNN and launched into saying something about the election results. I'd never seen her so fired-up about something and although we differed heavily on our political views, it made me think that perhaps all this crazyness might actually be good for setting a spark within the population as a whole to get more interested in politics.

After the political discussion cooled, we had a bit of cake for both my brother and my birthday (his was less than two weeks ago) and we left and went back home. I called a friend and then showered and shaved and busted it over to his house where several friends were waiting and we all went out to eat at a Thai restaurant. It was tasty as usual (it's my favorite place to eat in town) and I went home full as my friends picked up the tab (even though it still wasn't technically my birthday).

After hanging out for awhile at my friend Andrews house, several of us headed downtown to the club that I frequent and danced a bit off and on. I had a couple drinks, which was quite enough to make me a smidge tipsy. At about 1am, we all left and went back to Andrews thinking we might hang out again and everyone got into a snowball fight while I started making a snowman. There were only about 3 inches of snow at the most, and when I rolled the snow, it left bare ground, but after about an hour, we had an almost 8 foot tall snowman with stick arms and a beer bottle (that we'd found in the yard) nose.

After that was over, my hands were cold, so I went home and my friend Josh came over and looked at some pictures I'd taken recently and chatted for awhile. I got on my computer and checked email, then went to bed.

I slept in quite late and it was finally offically my birthday. My mom and step-dad called to wish me happy birthday, as well as my dad and step-mother. A friend of mine came over at about 1 and brought me white cupcakes with chocolate frosting- my favorite kind. We hung out and talked for awhile, then went downtown to the used bookstore where I picked up a Richard Feynman book and played with the kitties. After getting back to my apartment, I went back over to Andrews to see if the snowman was still alive, but it had toppled unfortunately (either from the melting heat or from someone pushing it over).

After grocery shopping, a bit of writing for my site, and dinner, I went back over to Andrews house and everyone had planned a party for me. There was awesome chocolate cake, tasty nachoes, and mini dove bars. I ate all kinds of unhealthy foods and there were even presents. I didn't expect so much and the fact that there were so many people there and the fact that they had taken the time to make food or just show up meant so much to me. I had a camera there and we shot through a whole roll of film documenting things, and I got a load of cool stuff from everyone.

Even then, it wasn't over. I came home at about 11 o clock at night and another friend of mine stopped over with flowers and another gift. We talked for awhile and while we were talking, another friend called and played me a song over the phone and we talked for awhile, then I went back to talking with the first friend. Right before midnight when the 12th was ending, I got a call from yet another friend wishing me happy birthday. I was inundated with calls and friends, and thoughtful statements and I just couldn't quite believe it all.

Now, it's over, but it's not over. It's 1 in the morning on the 13th of November and I should probably be sleeping for work tomorrow. I just can't quite stop thinking how nice the weekend was and how flattered I was with all the kind words and thoughts that I'd gotten over the past 36 hours. Although I've lived in Lincoln for a couple years now, it was the first birthday I'd had here where I felt really embraced by friends. I smiled a lot and I'll keep on saying the thank you's for weeks I'm sure.

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