it is a happy birfday

sitting down to write.
its cold.
i'm tired.

not ideal conditions.


my memory walks to the frig and opens a beer.
a place writers have found inspiration since writing began.
but these are not those times.
so instead, i walk to the stove and boil water.
pour a cup of green tea.
and sit down again.


it was my birthday yesterday.
31 years old.
i'm comfortable with my age.
confident with my life.
but lets be honest, not a sexy number.
its odd, unbalanced, sharing none of the glory
that its younger brother "21" wields...
no, not sexy at all.

my last few birthdays have been celebrated
by traveling someplace new, and (usually) someplace far.
however, as i've burned through all my vacation/sick days
for what may be the next five years, this year would be different.

chas and i continued my fledgling tradition
by taking a ferry from long beach harbor
to catalina island (all of one whole hour away).
officially, we stepped off the mainland and therefore
travelled "overseas" to what honestly feels like a faraway land.
golf carts are the dominant mode of transportation.
buffalo roam in force.
old people are everywhere.
(a great place for feeling young)

biggest changes i've made now that i'm 31:
1. new email address. (a whole different story)
2. use cnn.com for my news/info gathering. why?
york did it, so it must be mature.
3. and beer is now tea. (see above)

other than that, things are still very much the same.
and it is a happy birthday.