Thunder-stealer

Here's why the internet is wonderful: Last winter I included a song by Annie on my 'Best of 2004' mixtape, but her album isn't being released in the US until next month! Here's a great article from the Times.

I'm not an attention grabbing 'lookatme, lookatme, itsmybirthday, givemepresents!' type of person, in fact, I feel kinda smarmy telling anyone that my birthday is coming up. Big deal, a birthday. I don't want any presents, presents are usually disappointing. But it seems I work with someone who needs to tell everyone in the world (office) that it's her birthday, which happens to be on the same day (and year) as mine. And this is fine, she's a good person, happy birthday to her. But this also means we'd be standing next to each other, and a million and three people would come up and wish her a happy birthday, or give her a card or a big bag of cash, and she'd say 'it's his birthday too,' and whoever would say 'oh, i didn't know. uh..... happy birthday.' I signed a card for her that someone passed around the office. It had fifty signatures on it, each with a personal message. And the weird thing is, she's been working there less than a year, so this is the first birthday she's had. So it's not like a big annual tradition or anything. Today a group of 14 of us went out for lunch, and her birthday was supposed to be the occasion. I'd guess barely half knew it was mine too. So when the bill comes, someone says, "OK, divide by 13, since it's her birthday lunch, she doesn't have to pay." And I get out my wallet and someone else whispers back 'well, it's his birthday too.' then there is a long awkward pause, before the first person says, 'well, ok, divide it by 12 then.' And everyone grumbles when they hear what they owe, and one person tells me to put my wallet away while at least 10 others curse my name. I tried making up for it by buying a round of beers after work, but I still felt pretty much like an asshole.