my first 39th birthday present
Saturday 1 March 2008 | 2 cookies in the jar
Yes, I am aware that I needed another zippy bag like a new orifice but it was lined in lavender, people. I held out as long as I could and then I snapped.
Per Aunt Freud’s instructions I will summon fake bravery and list the things I did in the last couple of days of which I felt proud. [I saw her again yesterday; much to say about this shaky and still uncomfortable new relationship; I only wish I had a photograph of her for illustration.] I mowed about three-quarters of the lawn and edged a good deal of the back. I swept the kitchen. I balanced my checkbook, paid the rent and put this month’s petrol in the car. I took out the recycling. I fed and watered the cat, the dog, and the Brujo’s cactus seedlings. I went to F’s birthday party even though I felt shy, offloaded a tray of homemade vanilla cupcakes, ate a dripping slab of eggplant off the grill, drank a Coke out of a can (!) and spent a couple of hours hanging with my fellow creative writers, bantering and teasing, finally leading everyone in a hideously offkey version of “Happy Birthday,” strumming the cupcake rack with my car keys and jangling them at the end of every line. I made it to therapy only five minutes late. I finally emailed Ms. Librarian. I posted the ad for a housesitter. I emailed my parents. I mailed seven parcels at the post office. I wrote a reference letter for a former student and took it to school and left it outside my office for her to pick up (skulking in my hoodie along the building shadows, hoping I wouldn’t run into any current students). I typeset the flyer for the Brujo’s show in Santa Fe tomorrow and I started designing a CD cover for the forthcoming recording.
And I wrote a blogpost. And it was hard not to mention that the cupcake mix came out of a box; or that the stack of still-ungraded papers to the right of my elbow is (measures:) nearly five inches tall; or that the bag cost $9 with shipping which I really didn’t have to spend; or that it’s 5 am and I should have gone to bed hours ago but I get all disregulated when the B. is out of town even though the other request Aunt Freud had of me this week is that I please please please use my lightbox in the mornings—but I have mostly managed to mention none of these things….mostly.
Go me! Still the prettiest elf. Or anyway the elf with the prettiest zippy bag.
2 cookies in the jar
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Yeah, I hear ya. I just bought another corset I don’t need….!
Hey!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jen! I hope you have/had a wonderful time, whatever you do.
Cute bag - now I know that your weak spots are turquoise, purple, AND lavender. Thanks ;) LOL