Happy Birthday to Me!

Hurrah, birthdays are the best. Ever since I started calling myself an adult, birthdays have been equivalent to a “get out of jail free” card. Seriously, you can get drunk, dance wildly, and be the biggest goof as long as you end every sentence with “well it is my birthday, yeeeeeah”! Now I have had some pretty amazing birthdays, but number 28 might be the best one in the last few years (and that is saying something because 25, 26, and 27 were all a rock’in good time).

Friday night (the actual day of the birthday), my super fun friend Allison flew into town. Now she had to take a test on Saturday to get into this assistant directors program, but it was sure convenient that it also fell in line with my birthday. You may also remember Allison from her infamous New Years Eve experience in a previous blog post. Anyway, whenever her and I hang out together, it is like the perfect storm. Seriously, she always has these crazy funny experiences and stories. When you combine the two of us, it is like a double bounce on the trampoline.

Allison and I have a tradition of sending each other mixed cds. Well the one she gave me this time was full of songs geared towards putting you in the mood for love. She kept raving about the last song. However, I was not allowed to listen to it until I had heard the entire cd because it was like building to the end climax. Well the last song did prove to be awesome. It sounded like a cheesy 1970’s Donnie and Marie church fundraiser song with a xylophone as the main instrument of choice. However, the lyrics would put it in a whole different category. The opening line in the chorus was “do you take it in the ass”. No imagine a sunny singsong female voice sing that with special emphasis on ass (more like aaaasssss). Ah ha ha ha. Here is one verse or chorus or whatever:
Do you take it in the ass
You are beautiful and curvy
But if you are not a little pervey
You and I will never last
Unfortunately, I cannot figure out to download it into the blog. What a riot.

So Allison and I met Kate and her cousin (I swear I knew her name but the massive amount of booze has made me doubt what it was) out for dinner at this West Village authentic Mexican place. Since we didn’t have a reservation, we mentioned to the hostess that it was my birthday. Yep we got the sweet table/booth. Hurrah! While waiting for Kate & cousin, Allison and I ordered sangrias. The drinks were soooo cute. They came out in little individual pitchers. Plus they were super cheap as well. Double score! Anyway, when we were ready for the check, the staff came out with a huge slice of cake con leche (milk cake) and glasses of Champaign. The cake even had a candle! Hurrah! It was sooooo good and made even better with the candle. I think if you want to jazz something up, you should put a candle on it. Seriously, next time you go into an interview, put a candle on your resume and have the guy blow it out. Who doesn’t like blowing out birthday candles….I mean you get to make a wish each time!

After dinner, we headed over to a Village bar called Kenny’s Castaways. It is a small venue that often has local live music. Well the boyfriend, Marshall, just joined a rock band last month. The band’s lead singer left for CA and they went out hunting for a new one. They had already booked Friday’s show, so Marshall had three weeks to write and learn six new songs. All of our friends were excited to finally see him perform….that is with an actual band (his nights doing karaoke do not count). He gets up there and they rock out! One thing we all noticed was his shirt. He was wearing a red plaid butten down collared shirt with (get this) short sleeves. Allison described it best as a junior accountant from Washington state. Anyway, the poor guy talked to us afterwards. Independantly we all said “yeah you guys sounded great, but your shirt…hmmm”. When he finally got around to me, and I said the same thing, he sighed and said “really, everyone hates my shirt? I just bought it yesterday specifically for this show. What should I do….burn it?” Awww sad sad little clueless boy. The story is made even better by the fact that it was slightly too big so he pinned it in the back. He couldn’t turn around while performing. Okay I shouldn’t take joy in someone else’s misery but ah ha ha ha!

After the show, the crew (Ali, Bree, Farrell, Bethany) headed a few doors open to the bar that Marshall works at. Basically we were looking to get free drinks before heading out to a late night dance club that Ali’s friend Fadel is promoting. Anyway, Marshall told his boss we were out celebrating my birthday and his first band show. The guy (who usually is pretty rigid) surprised us all with a free bottle of Champaign! Yeah, birthdays are the ultimate VIP hookup.

One too many glasses later, Marshall and I hit the road for some late night eats. Now I have often heard Marshall’s neighbor (kindly deemed “gay-bor”) blasting Elton John, Cher, or some techno combination of the both late at night. At the food joint, I spotted a candle on the counter. We convinced the clerk to give it to us (since it was my birthday) for three cents (our change). Being the Rent fan that Marshall is, we started drunkenly singing “would you light my candle” on the way home. Just when we got to the stair landing, gay-bor flung open the door and joined in the last part of the song. What a treat it was finally meeting the guy behind the door. I imagined him bigger but he was only about 5 feet tall and 100 pounds soaking wet. He wanted us to stay and hang out with him, but his apartment was completely devoid of any furniture. Seriously, the place had a few piles of clothes and one mattress on the floor. Depressing, but hey it is New York City.