Today is my birthday, and I always observe my birthday, one way or another.
Here is a nice sad song written by Joni Mitchell, which I first heard in the movie
“Alice’s Restaurant.”
Aging children: I am one.
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
For my birthday: Sammy Hagar sings "I Can't Drive 55"
Today is my 55th birthday. I thought this video would be appropriate, especially since:
- I don’t have a driver’s license;
- I look exactly like Sammy Hagar;
- This song was recorded in 1984, which is a long time ago.
Happy birthday to me!
Friday, October 7, 2011
Happy birthday, Partner
Today is Partner's birthday. If all is well, we should be in DisneyWorld (or Universal Studios) right this moment, having a wonderful time.
Our first meeting was a dinner date at Downcity in downtown Providence in 1995. (The place burned down a few years ago.) I ordered fish, which arrived burnt on one side and half-frozen on the other. I would have sent it back, but I didn't want to make a bad impression on Future Partner, whom (for some reason) I liked very much.
About a month later, we went to Newport Grand. We bet on a few jai-alai matches, and we put down some money on one of the Triple Crown races (either the Belmont or the Preakness – the records are unclear). I'd never bet on a horse race before, so he coached me. He pointed out that my birthday was July 10, and his was October 7, and his sister Peggy's was November 7, so it was obvious that the ideal trifecta bet was 7-10-11.
He was in line in front of me at the betting window. His theory about 7-10-11 sounded interesting, but – I mean, really? So I watched him bet those number, and then it was my turn, and I bet 1-2-3. (In Roseanne's words from the last season of her series, when her character won the lottery: “A perfect straight.”) And I thought no more about it.
Next morning came a call from Future Partner. “We won!” he yelled. “Twenty-two hundred dollars! How much did you bet?”
I was uncomprehending. “I'm glad you won,” I said. “But I didn't bet the same numbers you did.”
He was incredulous. “How could you not - ”
I didn't understand, you see. It was magical. He knew it right away. Me, it took a while.
That was sixteen years ago, when we were both young and foolish.
Now we are old and achy and irritable.
But we're still together.
Partner: I love you very much.
I hope you have a hundred more birthdays at least.
And I will still not bet the numbers you tell me to bet.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Birthday blog: Life goes on within you and without you
Happy birthday to me, kids!
My birthdays make me very thoughtful. (Some say my birthdays make me moody and bitchy, but that's all in the eye of the beholder.)
I get thoughtful because I start thinking about my own ending, which is barreling down the track straight at me. And sometimes I think about the ending of the human race, and the world as a whole.
Isn't that lovely?
I was just reading a review of a new Brian Eno recording. It was described as “hopeful,” and ends with the words “Everything will be all right.”
You know, strangely enough, in the cosmic sense, I think that may well be absolutely true.
Just maybe not with human beings in the picture.
We are absolutely not necessary in the Universe. The Universe got by just fine before we human beings evolved into our current hip/square dichotomy.
I have read lots of science-fiction books in which human beings grow giant heads and colonize every planet in the galaxy; also I have read lots of religious texts in which we sprout wings and fly into a celestial DisneyWorld.
I think either of those conclusions would be groovy. But I'm not betting on either.
Human beings are just another weed in the weed patch. We bloom from time to time, and brighten the summer day once in a while.
But, as the late George Harrison said, a long long time ago, when we were all very young:
. . . You're really only very small
And life goes on within you, and without you . . .
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