it's my party, and-i-will-indulge-in-shameless-self-promotion-of-my-birthday if i want to

it's only 10:45 am, and there have been multiple highlights to this day of me already. these include (but are not limited to)

--being paid court to in one's bed, and receiving bounteous gifts from my (lovely) old man, boy, and family. items included jewellry, crabtree and evelyn loot, kickass red shirt, and sarah vowell's assassination vacation. and yes, i did already get a sewing machine. and yes, i am one spoilt b'yatch.

(note to self, your mum always puts in something for grandson in every package that she sends. she is a good nanna like that. and that said something is always, without exception, delicious english chocolate directly from one's childhood--chocolate buttons, smarties, milky bars, and curly wurlys...--remember to place this package discreetly to one side before letting son rip into it at 6:30am and demand to eat it).

because a) the whole sugar on an empty stomach thing induces the crazy eyes and b) if he sees the loot with his own eyes first, this precludes mummy and daddy from digging into that stash in the interest of "he's had enough sugar today..."

--being a complete bad-ass mother' who, upon chauffeuring boyo to preschool, lets the car-bass reverberate to teeth-jangling levels to gorrillaz' "kids with guns." (another delightful gift).

--being sent an animated greetings card by one's coworkers with an rotund cartoon-man cavorting naked around the screen, emitting noxious fumes, and with the tag line "Curry Fart?" (this being an invitation to have indian food at lunch time).

--receiving the below birthday card from one's mummy and daddy... (in a gesture quite unlike them, and so appreciated all the more for it).

NOTE: before posting this image, i had some inner wrangling over how this might blow the "anonymity" thing. and then i snorted out loud because there is no way in freaking hell anyone would recognize me from this...

a) i now have something on my face that is called flesh

b) the angularity of the 16 yr old me, is utterly, utterly, gone... (sniff? nah!)

c) i no longer sport the ubiquitous 1980s bleached out home perm of which i was so fond (folks, that hair had been permed, blow dried, moussed, and hot-iron tonged. all before school).

[update: also, as i ponder this pic, i am struck by how goddamn conservative i was. (it *was* a school photo, btw). wassupwidat? i know there was a flat-top period in there somewhere, dammit. and then, of course, there are the false-eyelash wearing college years, where the truly whorish "90's-maddona-"i'm, like, in charge of my sexuality"-feminism" (please don't judge me) came in to being... ]

--still to come. an evening of close friends, booze, and fried chicken/cheese/potatoes/ice cream. whatever the hell we can get our hands on... nice!