September 15
Today (Sunday) there was a joint birthday party for my mother (whose birthday was last Saturday) and my grandmother (whose birthday is today). While I was there, Uncle Alan gave me a book/magazine thing, The Official 50th Anniversary Doctor Who Annual (from 2013), which he and Aunt Brenda had picked up at some store downstate. I don't think it's meant to be any sort of birthday-related gift, just something they got for me because they happened to see it and thought I'd like it. Well, I've leafed through it, and it does look nice. One of these days I'll have to actually read through it, but I'm so far behind on reading not only actual books, but comic books and other stuff (including other Doctor Who stuff), I'm not sure when I might get around to it. But I appreciate it, and I'm choosing to consider the gift the official start to my birthweek. (My own birthday will be this coming Saturday.)

September 19
Thursday. Went shopping. Was supposed to get pants and shoes with mom's credit card, for my birthday. I got a couple pairs of pants, but didn't find shoes I wanted or that would even be acceptable. (The custom orthopedic inserts I got earlier this year would need to fit comfortably in them.) Also I bought myself (with my own money) a fall mixpack of Samuel Adams, which includes the new flavor "Kosmic Sour," as well as three older varieties (Boston Lager, Octoberfest, and Sam '76). Mainly this is to make sure I have something to drink on the night of my actual birthday, a couple days hence, but after a long day out, I'm surely going to have some of the stuff tonight. Also, when we got home, there was a birthday card for me that came in the mail, from Gail Torosian. Oh yeah.. also today we picked up a couple of ingredients for the punch I want to make for my birthday party on Sunday.

September 21
Saturday. I reckon it was around 2 AM when I added Not 20 Anymore to The Music Exchange (in the facebook group and the YouTube playlist), because I also am not an age anymore. It's just that for me, that age is 43. Anyway, then I tried to get some sleep, but didn't do a very good job of it. When I eventually got up, I made myself a breakfast samich with a couple of frozen waffles, sausages, egg, and cheese. That is a lot more complicated than I can usually manage when I first get out of bed, but... it's a special day. Then Mom gave me a birthday card from someone at church who I don't even know because I don't go to church anymore, as well as an Amazon gift card from our Ohio relatives. So I look forward to spending that. But first, my sister and I must go to Caribou for a little while.

Well. So, in Caribou I got a flu shot. I also got a six-pack of Budweiser "Discovery Reserve Red Lager," which I've been meaning to try for some time now. When we came back to New Sweden, Beth dropped me off at Aunt Marilyn's house to do some painting and whatnot. That was about 3 and a half hours of work. Now we're back home. And... I didn't get anything good in the mail. I'm really disappointed, because there's a free sticker I ordered from NARAL on August 19 (though I actually paid $7 for it). Week after week I've waited for it to arrive, and I started to think maybe it would arrive, coincidentally, on my birthday. But it didn't. I wonder just when that thing will come. I haven't been able to discern any way to track it online. Anyway, there's another thing I'm disappointed about: before September started, I had planned to spend this month reading "Mostly Harmless" and have it finished by my birthday, to write a review. But I haven't read it (or I should say I haven't re-read it). I'm still somewhere in the middle of "Catch-22," which I don't work on reading nearly often enough. I am such a slow-ass reader, it's really sad. But anyway... I've been typing up this paragraph sitting in bed to recover some energy after painting, and now I guess I should just click "save" and maybe check facebook and then... I need to go out and refill the bird feeders. Then go out to the garden for my traditional birthday carrot!

...After eating my carrot, I picked one of my turnips, brought that in, and cooked it. It's not bad, but it's not what we normally have for turnips. I don't know what variety it was. And... later I was gonna take a shower, but the water stopped working, so I put my clothes back on, and that was when mom and dad got back from dad's dialysis, and after awhile he got the water running again, but now I don't even feel like I have the energy for a shower (or even undressing again). But I should definitely do that sometime today. Also, Dad gave me a funny birthday card with some money in it. And um... I ate a piece of leftover birthday cake from last week's party for mom and grandma. And now... I don't know what I'm doing.

And later Beth gave me a card. And I used up most of my Amazon gift card on four DVDs (two of which are double features, so really six movies).

To cap off my night, I wanted to watch stuff. I tried watching an episode of "Niko and the Sword of Light" but before long it stopped to buffer because our internet sucks. So I gave up on that, and tried something else. I started watching a movie on Amazon that I've been wanting to watch for quite awhile, and I got a little way into it, despite frequent pausing to buffer, but soon gave up on that, too. So I watched a DVD of Batman & Robin, since today also happens to be Batman Day (the date of which changes every year). But I need to sleep and so I'll write a review sometime later.

September 22
Today I have mixed up a jug of punch that includes ZaRex, water, Fresca, and pineapple juice. (The Zarex must be old, because I read online that the company that made it stopped production in 2008, but it still tastes fine.) Anyway, we'll take that to the birthday party this afternoon. Oh, and I'm also wearing one of the pairs of pants I got the other day.

Okay, back from the party. I got cards, and money, and a bag of coffee, and some snacky foods as gifts. So... now my birthday is basically over, I guess. It wasn't bad.

October 1
I got one last birthday card & check. And as long as I'm mentioning that, I could mention that I did get new shoes awhile back. Other than that... I don't suppose I need to mention all the things I've bought with my birthday money, but I will say it's mostly DVDs (and most of those are Halloweenish things to watch throughout this month).