September 21
First I suppose I should say that maybe a couple, few weeks ago, my sister got me an early birthday present... which for technical reasons I was unable to use, so she returned it. As for today, my actual birthday... okay, another thing I need to say is that for the past couple of weeks, I've been staying at my Grandmother's house, alone, while she's in Ohio. Solitude is rather good for my mental health. It doesn't completely stop me from getting bouts of anxiety and depression, but it helps. Also the internet here is faster. Anyway... I got up this morning, had breakfast (including a Khaos Monster Energy in lieu of coffee), and did a bit of internet. Then mom and dad came by and picked me up, and we went to Caribou, where dad had a doctor's appointment. While they were at that, I sat in the car and started reading (or I should say re-reading) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Because today I turned 42. (If you don't get the significance of that... get out. Just get the hell out.) It's been quite awhile since I read any of the Hitchhiker series; the last time was well before I started doing book reviews. So I decided this would be the perfect time to reread the series and review each book as I do so. Oh, I also had planned to order a t-shirt with a 42 on it, in the middle of a Venn diagram with circles that said "life" "the universe" and "everything," but alas, I ran out of money too late to order it in time to wear it on my birthday. So today I just wore my "Embrace your weird" t-shirt, which has nothing to do with Hhgttg, but it's still cool. I dunno now if I'll ever get around to buying the shirt I wanted. I mean, it's not like I don't have a whole year of being 42, and even more importantly, it's not like it has to apply to my age, anyway. I could wear such a shirt for years. But... meh. I just dunno. There is no longer any particular urgency about it.

Time for a new paragraph. I should also say that mom had given me a birthday card before we went into town, which had in it some spending money for me. Also there was a birthday card that had come in the mail from a family friend. No money, but the thought is always nice. Um... after dad's appointment, we went to Rite-Aid, where all I bought was a pack of the new caramel m+m's, which are okay. I mean, they're good. How could they not be? But they're not quite caramelly enough for me to find them particularly special. Still, half the fun of trying new things is eliminating the desire to try them for the first time.

While we were still at Rite-Aid, my sister called. She was going to Presque Isle for an appointment of her own. But first we went to walmart, where I bought some apple pie flavored Oreos, which are definitely pretty good. And I bought four inexpensive DVDs. One is an animated film called "Underdogs" that I've been wanting to check out. (It has nothing to do with the cartoon character Underdog.) Another was a zombie movie called "Maggie," with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin. Another was "Poltergeist." And the fourth was "The Duff," starring Mae Whitman (who is pretty much awesome in everything I've ever seen or heard her in). Then Beth dropped me off at Burger King while she went to her appointment. While I was eating my lunch, a woman asked if I'd take a picture of her and a few of her friends in the caboose. (For those of you unfamiliar with Presque Isle, Maine, the BK there has an old train caboose attached to the restaurant, which you can eat in if you want.) So I did that, then went back to eating lunch. Then walked over to Mardens, where I bought nothing. Then walked to Shop N Save, where I bought a make-your-own-mixpack of six beers. One of them I had never heard of, but it sounds like it should be pretty good: Elysian Space Dust IPA. So just based on the name, I'm really excited to try that. But I'll have to let you know about it and the other five beers I chose later, because that's not what I'm drinking yet.

After her appointment, Beth picked me up at Shop N Save, and... hmmm, I think after that we went to the Hannaford in Caribou. There I just put a few things in Beth's cart, since she was using one of our parents' credit cards to buy groceries and things, as she often does... and by then I had some money left, but not enough to get what I wanted most. And that was a bottle of Lindemans Kriek Lambic, which is what I'm drinking now. (But remember, "now" is when I'm writing this entry, well after the rest of the story I'm still telling you.) I think it was just earlier this year, or possibly last year, that the store started carrying Lindemans lambics, which I hadn't seen anywhere for quite a few years. But this is the first time I got any since they started carrying it, because it's a bit pricey. Anyway, they only had one bottle left of the kriek, but several bottles of raspberry lambic. I'd really like to get that, and I'm rather upset that they don't seem to carry any other flavors. But I chose the kriek because of one of the minor characters in my book, whose name is Nicole Kriek. (Actually, at this point I don't even remember if the character actually appears in the book at all, or is just someone I've so far only written about on my book's wiki. Whatever.) While at Hannaford, I also got some hazelnut coffee creamer, and some pumpkin spice Werther's candies. And I forget if there was anything else, but I'm sure it doesn't matter.

Anyway, then we went home. I had planted some carrot seeds earlier in the summer, and for a long time it looked like only one from the whole packet was going to grow at all. But within the last few weeks, a few more carrot tops popped up out of the soil. I waited til today today pick what I expected to be the biggest one. I have no idea why I had been planning on having a "birthday carrot"; I'm just weird like that. It was actually pretty small, but it tasted okay. Anyway, I'll give the others some more time to grow, but I'm sure they'll all be really small, and I'm really disappointed with the seeds I bought. (Then again, maybe I planted them wrong.) Um... also while home, I watched last night's season finale of "Salvation" on the DVR, but it's annoying, because it ended on a major cliffhanger, and I have no idea yet if there'll be a second season or not. On a much brighter note, another thing I watched on the DVR was last night's second season premiere of The Good Place, which was absolutely brilliant. OMG, is that an awesome show. Like, wow. And then mom made supper, and then we all went to a birthday party for both me and my cousin Janice. I got a bunch of cards with money in them from various relatives. And from my parents I also got a gift bag with some chocolate and pistachios and the complete series DVD set of The Secret World of Alex Mack (which I'd known for quite awhile that I would be getting; my sister ordered it after seeing me post about it on facebook, then told me not to buy it for myself).

After the party, Beth dropped me back at Grandma's house, so I'm alone again, drinking my lambic. But man let me tell you, I worked up a sweat getting it open. First it seemed simple, just needed a bottle opener, which I had handy. But under the bottle cap was a cork that i wasn't expecting, and I wasn't sure if I could find a corkscrew in the house. I did find a very old, pocket-knife-style corkscrew, and it took a lot of work just to get the cork halfway loose. When it seemed like it wouldn't come any further, I tried pliers... which broke the half that was out off of the half that was still in the bottle. So I went back to the corkscrew, and after some more hard work, finally got the rest of the cork out. It's a birthday miracle! So, as I said... that's what I'm drinking now. And... it... is... delish.

Also, mom had me take some leftover chips and cookies from the party with me. So basically, I am set for awhile. And... oh, while I was at home between shopping and the party, I talked to Grandma on the phone. She said she'd sent me a birthday card, but it hasn't arrived yet. So I have that to look forward to. (And it's always possible there are still other relatives I might get cards or something from sometime soon.) Meanwhile, I just checked my email, and I got 25 bonus birthday points from Disney Movie Rewards. And now... I think I'm done with my birthday journal for now, but I expect to add more later. Cheers!

Okay, so the movie I planned for some time to watch tonight and therefore ordered from Disney Movie Club was Condorman, something I remembered fondly from my youth. And it was fun watching it tonight. Meanwhile, the bottle of lambic (the delicious, delicious lambic) went very quickly, and seemed to have little if any intoxicating effect. So I started on the mixpack. First I had Harpoon house golden ale, which was okay. Then... well the next two I had, I don't now remember the order in which I drank them, were Jack's Abby hoponius union IPL, which was quite good, and New Belgium citradelic tangerine IPA, which was quite good. Of course by now my birthday is over, because it's after 2am. But I think I'll be online a bit longer so it's not really over.... So I moved on to watching some of my YouTube subscriptions. And had Sam Adams harvest hefe, which was pretty good. Then I had a Stone IPA, which was good. And I checked my Amazon watchlist, because I've been doing a free month of Amazon Video. And the next episode I was up to on "Just Add Magic" was about Darbie's birthday and I was like, "Ahhhhhh!" So I had to watch that. Right? Now anyway, I have one beer left and it's the one I mentioned earlier. So I should pick something else to watch I guess. (Or I could just go to bed.)

Ah, the Elysian Space Dust. It was good. But not as good as the name suggests. I mean it's such a freaking cool name, it should be mind-blowing, but it's just another IPA. I dunno, maybe I would have appreciated it more if I'd drunk it first instead of last. Or maybe not. Whatever. It is now way beyond time for bed.

September 22
Slept very late. Got up for just a little while. Went back to bed, slept some more. Finally got up again and had leftover spaghetti for "breakfast." Also coffee with that hazelnut creamer I got yesterday, which was pretty good. Then goofed off on the internet for awhile before deciding to start doing some semi-productive stuff on my website (which is likely of importance to no one but me). And later, my Uncle Alan stopped by and delivered a couple of birthday cards that had arrived at my parents' house. Both from Ohio- one from Grandma, and one from the Treus. Both cards had checks in them. So... between last night's haul and today's, whenever I next get into town (probably on Tuesday; today is Friday), I'll have plenty of money to deposit. Hurrah.

October 2 - 3
Uncle Alan stopped by and gave me a 2018 calendar, one of the ones he and Brenda make, as well as a card with a check. Also Beth told me there's a package for me at home. (It arrived on Monday Oct 2 and I got it on Tuesday Oct 3, when I saw my parents. It's something I've been wanting for quite a few years now, which I finally ordered with some birthday money. The Stanley Kubrick Essential Collection DVD set, which includes nine movies plus a documentary about Kubrick.)