Hippo Birdies to me!

So, today is my birthday. Do you know what that means!?

• I am 21! Legally able to drink! Something I celebrated last night at Jillian's bar by having a Sprite+Vodka (Sprodka, a term I first heard from ndrumm), getting my ass kicked at pool, losing badly at Mortal Kombat, and walking into an arcade machine.
• My parents are here today! Hooray!
• There is some sort of celebration going on tonight at the Black Brimmer, from 5 to 8ish. After that, we will be returning to The Commune. If you want directions to either, let me know, either by land, sea, or cell phone (603.264.2294)
• I got an iSight! Jess gave it to me for an early birthday present when I was rabblerousing in #lj_support last night, so that I could properly cam whore. The quality is absolutely amazing in comparison to even the more quality webcam I used to have, and the software for the mac is a million times as doubleplusgoodlike, so I can do live streaming broadcasts, and I can do all kinds of other fun stuff. if you care about watching me be a camwhore, plz to be letting me know when I'm around, and I can share the URLs, but it attaches to the laptop, so viewing is transient.
• I'm getting a haircut today! hopefully going to do that in about 15 minutes.

I'm another year older, and hopefully wiser. I have completely changed my life around, and in my opinion, it's for the better all the way around. I've got a wonderful girlfriend, two swell kids, a job, and now this. (It's a paraphrase from the musical "Bye Bye Birdie", something that I was in in 7th grade, around age 12.)

There are dozens, or hundreds of people, that I would love to thank for supporting me and getting me to where I am today. Everyone from the handful of IRC channels I talk in most regularly to the wonderful girlfriend in question, who I have now been with over two of my birthdays. From the friends who are going to show up for my birthday today (I'm doing my best to avoid specific knowledge of who, but I know there's a pretty big crowd) to the friends who can't, from the encouragers to the discouragers.

This has been the single year where I have felt most productive in my life. I've gotten a new job, which is my most impressive achievement so far, but I've also gotten other oppourtunities for jobs, showing me that my efforts outside of work are appreciated as well. I've got people who care about me, and people who care about what I do, and to me, that's the most important thing in the world.

Hippo Birdies to me! Hope to see lots of you today!