September 20
So, my birthday is tomorrow. I shall turn 40. That is kind of insane. Anyway... yesterday I was at a birthday party for my cousin Jessica (whose birthday was the 11th) and one of her sons (whose actual birth date I don't know). While there, I talked with Jess's husband, Andrew, who said he had pre-ordered for me the first volume of the upcoming Avatar comic miniseries "Smoke and Shadow," which will be out on Oct. 6. So that's something to look forward to. Though I always feel bad about people giving me presents when I can never afford to give anyone else presents. Anyway, after the party, I went to Grandma's house for like an hour and did some yard work for her. When I was done, she paid me ten dollars, but I left it behind, because I wanted the work to be my birthday gift to her (her birthday was the 15th). But I didn't tell her that, because... talking to people is not my thing. Today, we went to a party at Grandma's house for four relatives. Last week there was supposed to be a party for Mom and Grandma (mom's birthday was the 7th), but it was cancelled on account of a funeral for someone I'd never heard of. So their party got combined with today's party for my cousin Janice and myself. And when I got there, Grandma insisted on giving me the $10 from yesterday, even after I told her the work was a gift. And... I didn't argue, because first of all it wouldn't do any good, and secondly because I think my taking it would make her happier than my not taking it would make me. Oh, and after the party, when we were about to go home, Mom mentioned this thing I had bought for her earlier in the week. She asked what she owed me for it, but I told her it was a birthday present. (Because I hadn't mentioned that on the day I got it.) Anyway, she accepted that, and I was glad she did.

Um... I should mention that today was the first time the weather felt autumnal at all, like 20 degrees cooler than yesterday. It's been crazy how long summer has lasted, but I think it's over now, probably. But that's not important. I was going to tell you about things I received at the party. First of all, a bunch of cards, most of them with money inside. So I look forward to going to the bank sometime this week, to make a deposit. I ordered some DVDs from Disney Movie Club the other day, so it'll be nice to be able to pay for them when they arrive. Also I'm going to want to get some DVDs from Amazon. As for gifts, there were three, all from Mom. One was a DVD I picked out myself at Walmart a few weeks back. It's got four Stephen King movies on it, but the one I was really interested in is "Silver Bullet." Another gift was a Net10 cellphone. I haven't had an active cellphone of my own since... oh, I think I cancelled my service in late 2011 or early 2012. I could no longer afford to pay a monthly bill since quitting my job in June 2011 and moving back in with my parents in August, and I didn't want Mom paying the bill for me indefinitely. But... I guess this uses prepaid minutes or something, instead of a monthly bill. And... at this point I think she's really anxious for me to have a phone, for reasons. But I'm not going to go into that. Whatever, if she doesn't mind paying for minutes whenever I might need them, I'm not going to worry about it anymore. And the third present is something my sister ordered for me, but I guess she must have gotten money from Mom for it. It's Felicia Day's memoir, which I've really been looking forward to reading. So that's cool, and I reckon I'll start it after I finish my current book, which I'll probably do tonight. (Mark Twain's Best.) Anyway, after all four of us opened our cards and gifts and passed them around for everyone to look at, we had cake and ice cream and other party foods. Then I went off to be alone and read a bit of the Twain book and play a little bit of the Pokemon Sapphire game that I had started earlier today because I had had a sudden random desire to catch a slakoth. Then we went home. I wrote today's entry, did some other internet, then finished reading the book and wrote a review. (And edited this entry to say so.)

September 21
Woke up earlier than I would have liked. Tried to get back to sleep. Failed. Got up, made coffee. (I opened a new bag of Dunkin, instead of using the same old can of Folgers.) Did some internet. A birthday card came in the mail. Oh, also for some weeks now I've planned on posting the fourth closing theme from "Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals," Icha Icha Chu Chu Kyappi Kyappi Love Love Suri Suri Doki Doki on facebook, because it's by a band called Happy Birthday. (I meant for it to by my first post today, but it wasn't. Which is fine.) And um, I tried to nap, because I was really tired all day. (I don't know how many hours of sleep I got last night, maybe five or six, but my level of fatigue today felt more like I'd slept two or three hours.) But I failed to nap, of course. Later, I watched the season premiere of "The Big Bang Theory." There was a new show I was thinking of checking out, but decided not to bother.

Finally, I did something I'd been planning for several years. I watched The 40-Year-Old Virgin. That was fun. You know... the movie's kind of ridiculous because it makes being a virgin a way bigger deal than it actually is. (The fact that I'm a 40 year old virgin doesn't bother me, but there are things in my life that do bother me, like the fact that I'm living with my parents, at my age. But that's on account of things that can't be helped, my depression and anxiety and Asperger's syndrome and all that.) Anyway... it was fun to finally watch this movie. And to drink some beer while doing so. (I have a mixpack of Shipyard IPAs, including their standard IPA, and a black IPA, and Monkey Fist, and the awesomely named Little Horror of Hops.) And now I really should go to sleep. It's nearly 1am, but dammit, I'm not ready. Maybe I'll try watching something on Hulu....

September 22
So, last night I ended up watching three shows on Hulu ("Dan Vs.", "Naruto Shippuden", and "Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals") Then sleep, but again not enough. So today I am again too tired, and of course napping just doesn't happen. (I have plenty of time, but my brain just won't shut down during the day. Even if I'm too tired to actually think clearly or do anything particularly productive. But I will try to do some things today. Maybe.) Anyway, in the mail today I got the two DVDs I had ordered from Disney Movie Club, much sooner than I expected them to come. ("Mr. Boogedy"/"Bride of Boogedy" and "Hocus Pocus".) Also the order included a free pumpkin carving stencil kit, which I'm sure I won't use, but it's nice to have. The booklet also includes some stickers and the back page has a couple of other Halloween decoration craft ideas. Also in the mail today, I got a really cool birthday card from my Ohio kin. The front has an outline of R2-D2 surrounded by sparkling fuzziness. (I scanned it, but it looks and feels cooler in person.) And it came with an Amazon gift card, which I'm sure I'll put to good use.

September 23
Deposited some birthday money today, and went shopping. Didn't buy too much, and it's not really worth specifying. In fact I'm only making an entry today to share a link to today's xkcd. It has nothing to do with me, but it is about birthdays....

September 25
Mailed the payment for the stuff from DMC, and used my gift card to order things from Amazon. Oh... actually I guess I ordered one thing from Amazon yesterday, or a third party seller through Amazon. And there was another thing I was planning on ordering, but it currently costs too much; I mean, more than I'm willing to pay, not more than I could currently afford. (It's really annoying how something I want can be available for a reasonable price when I don't have the money, but I can only find for an unreasonable price when I do have the money.) But maybe I'll see it listed cheaper again sometime. Meanwhile, I'm happy about the things I did order, and I look forward to receiving them. (Even though it's always stressful choosing what to order, because there are so many things on my wish list.)

September 29
A couple of things I ordered from Amazon arrived in the mail: Haruhi Suzumiya playing cards, and a DVD of "Watcher in the Woods" (Anchor Bay edition). Still waiting for more stuff from Amazon, which I may or may not mention when it arrives. I probably wouldn't mention the stuff I got yesterday, except I also wanted to mention that Steve Burden stopped by and dropped off the "Smoke and Shadow, part one" comic that Andrew (his son-in-law) had pre-ordered for me (as I mentioned in the opening paragraph). It's not officially out til October 6, so I just felt it was worth mentioning that it arrived early. Even though I don't expect to read it until next April, when the third issue is released.