The BIG 35

So technically yesterday was my birthday as I blog this near 1am after my bday night.

The big 3.5.

Joy threw me surprise party that I completely had no idea about. Gathering wonderful friends of mine at the Ann Arbor sushi place Godaiko after work. I just had helped enable a surprise party for good friend Steve Bekkala 3 days before on Saturday, and had spent the days since that moving from our house to my Mom's for a week as our hardwood floors were being refinished.

I'll spare the details on how much other stuff was going on that helped me never think something was being planned for me, but I honestly had no idea. We were just having our "date night" at Godaiko but for my birthday, and would sit in one of those little enclosed Japanese rooms where everyone sits low with no shoes on. As I left work with Joy to drive the mile to Godaiko, it just so happened that my Mom called from Delaware where she was helping my Grandpa install a big plasma TV he bought after winning 10,000 in a lottery there. No rouse, for real. I had no time to think or suspect or see clues of friends cars in the lot - I was on the phone the whole time into the restaurant lobby.

I finally get of phone, turn corner to where i think we're to sit and see infamous friend Star Wars Mike sitting there with a bunch of people in the enclosed Japanese room and it hits me. A surprise party. Bam. Got me.

It was great. I never thought this year of all years it would happen, as I have had 3 surprises ruined or foiled before. It was cool to have it finally occur and experience the fun of it. Joy did an excellent lovely job, and I'm so grateful.

ON TURNING 35 --

I've never had a "thing" with any age the way most people freak or squirm at the thought. But 35 has been kinda walloping me. There's absolutely no excuse with this age and the numbers after it -

- getting busted by cops for hijinks
- being concerned with stuff from teen years
- jumping jobs out of boredom

The list goes on.

Even the phonetics of it - THURDY FIGH-VA.
The 'Th' and 'FI' and the 'uv'. All fuzzy sandy slidey sounds. Not much grip or traction audio-wise. 34... 4 is under 5, almost halfway yet not.
4: Even number. Even Keel, divisible by 2. A building block numeral. 2 to 4 to 6 to 8 to 10. Do it all over again, but add numbers in front of it. 12, 24, 36, 48...

But then what about 36? Yeah, but 36 is after 35. After the "halfway point to 70" which 35 is.

6 is an even number, yet still has the "thurdy" in front of it which lisps and slobbers on 6 which is sleek, sexy and also divisible by 2, though it can hang with the odd crowd like 3 and 9.

3 is ok, the quirky kid who only needs 2 friends to be himself and have fun, those are 1 and 2. 9 you have to watch out for - he has enough friends (eight of them actually) that thinks 9 is a cool dude, probably a buddy to 10 by living next door to him. But he's not as gifted as 10. So he shortchanges other number friends. Add anything to 9 and you come up short: 9+5=14, 9+7=16. 9 is so close to 10 that kids like 7 & 8 think that running with 9 might get them to the big teen leagues, so they go with him instead of 10 and take that leap. But it's always one short. 9 is like a bad Hollywood agent - promising A-list parts but once on set you realize he got you the best friend role. 7 signs with 9 hoping to get a 17 role, but only 16. So painfully close.


10 is mature, older, stronger. A pillar of strength. Dependable. So much so that exponentials use 10. Ya ever see giant numbers calculating the universe being to the power of 4?? You're closer to authority when you're closer to a 10. You know what ou get when run with a 10. 10 is all there with who are. You're a 5? Then you're 5 with a 1 in front... 15.

Just a sidebar to see if you're still paying attention, remember that the secret to life is 44% Lettuce


Anyway, point is that 35 is kooky number for me. The first one to really play on my mnid and make me feel like a true, can't bullshit myself otherwise, full fledged adult. I don't think even the sweetest 90 year old Aunts would say at the reunion "Oh, you're 35? You still have loads of time to figure it out."

And by the way, I'm officially not worried about by Corporate Advertising. No longer in the 18-34 group. They're most likely pissed at me for not already having soon-to-be-teenage kids hijacking me for CD or iTunes money.

I was sent a letter by Doritoes, Mountain Dew, and MTV saying the memorial service they held for my demographic PIN number was lovely, went smoothly, and no babies screamed and filled their diaper during the service. I was told Anthony Michael Hall delivered a great eulogy, as Ewan McGregor was "not available." His excuse was that he didn't know who I was.

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