Right then, so, My birthday.

Let me go back a moment. 2 years ago I had what was easily the worst birthday of my entire life. God awful. I say this is in direct contradiction to my entry on that day, which says the one prior to it was the worst. The one 3 years ago was stressful, but by and large much less emotionally scarring. I chalk my clouded statement of 2 years ago up to the Guinness referenced in it, and my clarity of observation now up to the continued and obsessive review of my own life's events.

Anyway, on that day 2 years ago, I resolved to find someone who would not treat me the way I was treated that day. I was seeking someone who didn't settle for me. Someone who accepted and even celebrated my goofy and altogether strange nature. As I pointed out in this entry, I found her.

I found a girl named Mia who was every bit as goofy and strange as I was, and was just as interested in not having to hide it, or anything about ourselves, ever again. A girl with a sense of humor and whimsy that it has been my delight to partake in daily for the better part of 2 years now.

Now, this year, I had been surrounded by a doppelganger world of secrets and lies for a week preceding it, as Mia had engineered a number of surprises and covert happenings, so in a weird way I was apprehensive going into it. In and amongst all the cloak and daggery I'd also been running a record sleep deficit, and so I would have been quite happy to just sleep through the whole weekend and call it a day. I will blame this on the daylight savings switch until the day I die.

Mia, though having a disturbing ability to bend the world around me into a scary place full of deception and..well, cahooting, did indeed succeed at her goal of winning at birthday. I had a fantastic rollercoaster ride of surprises and gifts I did not deserve, and over the course of the day received ample proof that I in no way have earned the fantastic life I lead, nor her even spectating it, much less being the central component in it. I am still not quite clear on why she even talks to me, and here she is spending many hours of her day turning all my friends into operatives in a grand scheme to make me unspeakably happy.

It is no surprise my search ended forever with her.

Part of this scheme involved a very elaborate arrangement for a video conference with someone I hadn't seen in the better part of 10 years - which is worth commemorating as a very important milestone, but this entry is about the girl who made it happen - my baby. The effort that took is already staggering, but the sentiment behind it is truly beyond my skill with the english language. I know it wasn't easy to arrange in any sense of the word, and it's something I can't give enough gratitude and praise for. A selfless lack of spite that was at once her defining characteristic and yet a step against a very ingrained habit and psychology - all in the name of an incredibly sweet gesture designed for the sole purpose of making me happy.

Anyway, I once dedicated a song of mine to her - but I'd like to do it again, with someone else's:

You might be the one that I've been seeking for
You might be the strange delightful
You might be the girly who shall end all girls
You might be the sweet unspiteful

--mike doughty, 27 jennifers

[also she totally made me egg foo young]