It's Dai Time

Katie & Scott & Simon & Cecily.

Tag: birthday

Day 365: this is it

February 11, 2010 / / 1 Comment

The last day.  The final piece of this year-long puzzle.  The coup de grace.  My 26th year of life.

In some ways, this was an ordeal.  There were days when I had to actively remember that I had a blog post to write and stumble to my computer, fighting off sleep, only to stare at an empty text field for fifteen minutes before going to look at random stuff on Facebook.

But in many ways, this wasn’t that hard.  Once I got the ball rolling by not failing to write a post for the first month or two, it was pretty hard to miss a day.  It became part of my daily routine.  Much like Katie always takes her prenatal vitamins before bed, I always write my post before I go to sleep.  I’m sure having a small (but devoted?) readership that would judge me harshly if I slipped was also a good incentive.

Really, it became just another thing I did each day.

And I liked it.  I think I’ll be done now, for a while.  I think 365 daily posts in a row is enough.  While I enjoyed the routine of forcing myself to write each day (maybe something I can use in next year’s NanoWrimo?) and I loved the conversations it would occasionally bring up with the friends who read these posts, I think I’d enjoy a nice break.  After all, any day now, the amount of free time I have is going to change forever.

I appreciate any of you who stuck with me for a whole year, anybody who joined midway through, or even if this is the first blog entry of mine you’ve ever read.  Knowing that there were people who were interested in my rants and thoughts and ideas was great.

Thanks especially to my wife, Katie, for putting up with me coming to bed half an hour later than I would have otherwise for an entire year.

That’s it.  We did it.

Day 364: birthday burger

February 11, 2010 / / 0 Comments

There’s only one day left until my birthday.  And the week that leads up to my birthday is great.

Why?  Because, as an avid joiner of restaurant mailing lists and “e-clubs,” I get inundated with coupons and free meals or portions of meals from many different restaurants the week before the big day arrives.

It usually starts 7 days out, and none of them really require them to be used on the exact birthday anyway.  It’s more like all of mid-February is a big cheap eats zone.

My favorite consistent birthday treat is the Red Robin coupon, which nets me a free burger with no purchase necessary.  What’s more, telling the waiter that it’s your birthday also gets you a free sundae dessert.  It’s essentially a completely free meal for me, which is something that most other places can’t match.

Being on the Dave and Buster’s email list is also rewarding, although we don’t go there all that much, as the nearest D&B is a good half hour drive away.  Still, I get small amounts of free game play to add to my card throughout the year, meaning that I rarely have to spend much to play games when I get there.

I like it when huge faceless corporations wish me a happy birthday a week early by giving me a coupon.  A free Arby’s shake with a combo?  Yes please!  A free milkshake or dessert from Armadillo Willy’s?  Why not!  20% off DVDs from the Warner Brothers online store?  That’s just what I always wanted!

Day 4: babies

February 15, 2009 / / 2 Comments

I had a small post-birthday celebratory day yesterday.  Katie made me a delicious maple cake, and people came over and played Halo and Rock Band (3 and 2, to be precise).  I also bought a beginner’s acoustic guitar, then promptly proceeded to snap the first string by tuning it too tightly.  Sigh.  All in all, a good day.

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Since about high school, I’ve always thought that if nothing else, I’d make a good father.  I know, pretty arrogant, right?  It’s because I love the idea of babies and of children and of being one of very few people that another human being trusts and learns from so completely.  Also, I like to think I’m kind and caring and patient and all that generic good stuff.

That is, I thought I’d be a good dad until we got cats.  You’re supposed to clean the litter box for cats every day and it’s sometimes hard to believe just how much a cat can excrete.  I don’t clean it every day.  Perhaps when we first got cats, we did so daily for a few weeks.  Now, in Sims terms, I only clean it out when it starts affecting my environment – not, ideally, when it’s affecting our cats’ hygiene.

Translated into baby terms, this means that I’d let a baby sit in a stinky diaper for several days before changing it because the smell actually started to bother me.  Now I know what you’re saying: “Babies and cats aren’t the same!”  To which I reply: yes!  You’re right!  Babies are even harder to take care of!

I have no doubt that if and when I have a child, I will love it more than I love our cats.  Still, there’s a nagging doubt that perhaps my behavior toward our cats is a harbinger.  I can only imagine a scene where we have two kids: a big fat one that licks everything and a small crazy one that sprints around the house for no good reason.  And we just sit there, taking pictures of them and chuckling.

Day 1

February 12, 2009 / / 0 Comments

I’ve decided, partially inspired by the 25 Things epidemic on Facebook, partially because I miss writing, and partially because I’m a narcissist who loves a challenge, that I will write a short blog entry every day of the 365 days from today (my 26th birthday) until my birthday next year.

What will I write about? I’m not certain. I can’t guarantee that each day’s entry will be fascinating reading; in fact, I can probably guarantee the opposite. There will be days when what I write about will hold no interest for you whatsoever. There may be days when what I write about spurs you to engage in a discussion with me (or others) about the topic. I’m not really doing it to pound out 365 juicy bits of prose that can later be compounded into a bestselling Web 2.0 self-published book – although if I actually complete this, I may do that anyway. Minus the bestselling part.

Also, this is the only post that will show up on the front page of this blog. For all future posts, click that year26 link that’s on the right side of this page.

A few guidelines for myself: it’s not the length of the entry, but the content. I’ll try to keep things under 500 words a day so I don’t burn myself out or overwhelm anyone reading this. I’ll attempt to also keep up with everything else I’m doing in life – this daily post should not take away too much time from my busy life.

And…I’m 26 years old. Two baker’s dozens. And while I’m no Dakota Fanning or Michael Phelps, I feel like I’ve done OK with my 26 years so far. I’m very happily married, own a house and two cats, work in a job that I adore, and have enough extra income and savings to be able to not worry about dining out or splurging on entertainment from time to time.

If there’s anything I miss, it’s theatre and improv and, in general, storytelling on stage. I feel like I’m often too busy for such things now, although that’s really an excuse, just like I’m “too busy” to exercise. Perhaps this year I’ll persuade myself to audition for a community play or local troupe. Or, like I always threaten, maybe I’ll finally direct a hit Youtube series on inner city life.

Lastly, this Onion article about being 26 is only partially correct.

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