bday and aftermath

What a nice time my bday weekend was. Friday night Linus and I went out for a nice Italian dinner (something we don't eat a lot of--all that pasta and cheese...). It was GRAND....our favorite item was the blood susage. I kid you not--great stuff. A cousin of the Slovenian krvavice, the Italian version of blood sausage is thicker and grinds up the barley for the filling instead of the putting the grains in whole as the Slovenians do. That was Staramama's theory, anyway, when I asked her about it on the phone on Monday.

Saturday was the party day. It started off with rehearsal for Beethoven's 9th, then dropping shoes off at repair place, then getting yelled at by a cop for not having my front license plate attached (long story why...but I didn't get a ticket). Evening came, and Linus and I made our way to the designated party locale--El Carmen--early to grab some food. Alas, we arrived and the door was locked! Several phone calls later we get through to someone inside who explains they are closed for a private event. Thanks for letting the rest of us in on it! So after a smallish panic attack courtesy of me, we did some fast maneuvering and redirected ourselves and the impending group to Tart on Fairfax. Tart was all well and good, complete will food, until it closed at 11pm (whoops!). We had to relocate a second time to St. Nick's Pub. But all in all it was fun--people kept a sense of humor about the craziness (the 5 or 6 drinks helped me with that) and we had a great time.

Sunday I taught for what seemed like forever, and then went almost immediately over to UCLA to sing for the 4th movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony. Younger groups don't perform this so how appropriate that I should perform this particular piece the day after i enter my official mid-twenties.

More on that later. The "aftermath" has been a little ugly.

Monday I did the thank-yous. I called Grandma & Grandpa and Staramama. How nice to hear from them. I miss them enormously.

I'll post about how I'm feeling today--and how I felt yesterday--later. Let's just say there are a few choice blogs from people older and wiser than me who are getting me through it.

OK, lastly, if only to not break with tradition, here is my 2008 Birthday

Loot List:

3 "I Heart Guts" toys: pancreas, liver and uterus (thanks, L!)
1 black tee with some cool patters (thanks, L!)
1 white tee that says "I've Been to Duluth" (thanks, L!)
$800 (thanks Dad, Staramama, and G&G)
$50 worth of Barnes & Noble gift cards (thanks D&K, and my coworkers)
a bookmark (thanks coworkers)
Flight of the Conchords DVD (thanks, Nicole!)
1 bag of Maltesers (thanks T.C. & Leo!)
...and cards (thanks G&G, Dad, Franz, Linus, D&K, coworkers, Dan, Nicole, T.M.!)