Heh...it's cool sharing a birthday with Harry frickin Potter! We're even (almost) the same age! Wheee! Other fun facts about today, just cause, you know, cause.

BORN:
1965 - J. K. Rowling, British writer
1966 - Dean Cain, American actor
1816 - George Henry Thomas, American general (d. 1870)

DIED:
1944 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer (b. 1900)
1875 - Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (b. 1808)
1099 - El Cid, Spanish warrior (b. 1044) (Heh, that one is for you, cid_hildas)

EVENTS:
781 - The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: July 6, 781).
1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.
1999 - Discovery Program: Lunar Prospector - NASA intentionally crashes the spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface.

Wow. I'm 26. TWENTY-FRICKIN-SIX! The big 2-6. I'm over a quarter of a century old. Grrr argh. I'm still in my MID 20s, though. No matter what my friends say. MID TWENTIES!
Ahem. Honestly, I had a great weekend. Let's see. It all started Friday with the gaming that is had every weekend. It was fun cause it was a "What If" battle between cid_hildas and BASTIAN! It was a battle of the titans, the battle of the fortitude monster and the celestial damage dealing monster! It was to be a kick ass battle! But...um....it turned into a rather long battle where no one really got the upper hand. Well, let's see. Cid has a charm that allows him to attempt a dodge each time an attack (seen and unseen) goes his way. So even though Bastian can obfuscate (go invisible) Cid can sense any attack that is directed to him. Bastian has never been a bigger hitter. He could take hits with the best of him (and did throughout the match, with Cid's attacks bouncing off his fortitude) but he only has a few attacks that can actually go through Cid's soak. So when Bastian would get him in an attack, it'd barely get through his armor and deal damage. THEN he has an amazing charm that allows him to regain energy equal to the amount of damage that he takes. So he would get powered up if he got hurt. AND both fighters have an amazing healing ability, that pretty much fully heals them in a turn or two. So like, no matter how much damage each one dishes out, they're in good shape in a short amount of time. So yeah, 4 hours into the game we were pretty much "let's call it a night." Though Cid has the upper hand (far more powerful attacks) Bastian still has a few tricks up his sleeve....
Anywho, back to my b-day. Spent most of Saturday getting ready. Cleaned up my room, my bathroom, set up all the party snacks and drinks. Ordered the food that was to be had. Yeah. I spent WAY too much money this weekend. Most of that was alcohol, which came in handy later. But yeah, I got so much STUFF for the party, that I"ll be eating in for a LONG time. Ah well, it was so worth it. People started showing up around 4ish and kept on coming till midnight-ish. It was a much smaller crowd than previous years, but still a good 20 people showed up. For the first half of the party, we played board games, specificially PIT . That is such an addicting game! With nine people calling TWO TWO TWO ONE CORNER it got kinda loud, but ah well. A huge pleasure came in the form of two of my high school buddies coming up! They e-mailed me earlier saying they'd try to stop by, but it was surreal seeing friends who knew me back when i had a mustache *shudder* interacting with people who've only known me as the gay guy. It was fun, watching them realize that I am so much different than I was in high school. Theyv'e seen me off and on over the years, but always back home, where a small portion of my high school self comes out. but seeing me in my element, the place I now call home, was interesting, I would think. They kept saying "wow, you weren't like this in high school" or "yeah, he was so differnet back then." And I loved it. It just made me realize how far I have come. From the dorky kid in the corner who never said anything and could count the number of friend he had on one hand to the dorky kid in the corner who people came to talk to because they cared and like him and who had more friends than he could shake a stick at. Made me feel all warm and tingly inside.
I had made an intersting concoction for the party. JELLO SHOTS! But not just ordinary jello shots. I made UBER jello shots. the recipe was as follows

• 1 packet of cherry jello
• 1 cup of boiling water
• 3 cups of vodka

Mix. Chill. Serve. Have fun. Be safe. And let me tell ya, they went over nicely. We also found out if we add a shot to our shmirnoff ice, it tastes delictable AND can get you good and buzzed. I got a good buzz going throughout the evening, not quite reaching the drunken stupor I would have liked. But a lot of my friends were already buzzing and/or weren't drinking. I hate taking shots by myself, or drinking by myself in general, so when no noe was up for it, I stopped. Luckily one of my pal gave me the gift of enlightment through the use of forbidden herbs and spices. I grabbed my two buddies who I knew would be quite happy to partake in said substance, and I was good to go for the rest of the night.
I got some nifty gifts this year. Constantine on DVD, a bunch of HeroClix figures, which I have never played but I really want to learn. In fact, Josh (who works at Gamescape) told me that if I learned how to play, and was willing to teach others to play at Gamescape, I could be the HeroClix Liason whereby I come in once a week to teach others to play and I get free STUFF from the company, basically free figures and what not. If nothing else, the figures are hella tight, and I'd collect just them to have them. So that's nifty. Got a few books (one i already had, but I can always return it to get something else at borders), an IOU for a free dinner and movie of my choice, and I'm supposed to get Angel Season Five on DVD from my roomies and Eric, but it didn't arrive on time, but no biggie. PLUS Nena made me a superhero cake that was in the shape of Superman's Sheild, but a bunch of A's on it. I'll post up a pic later. So much chocolatey goodness, with esspresso powder! wheee! The best gift though was from cid_hildas who got me tickets to see WICKED! I am so frickin excited. I loved the book and have heard nothing but good things about the play. We'll be going in late August, so fun will be had by all. And for myself I downloaded the soundtrack to "Avenue Q" which is awesome. I so need to see it live now.
After a loooong day, I finally passed out around 2 a.m. I still had a lot of guests over, but most of them were spending the night anyways, so I figured it was okay. At around 3 in the morning, a bunch of my friends wandered into my room, looking for a place to sleep. Most fell asleep on the floor, two of my pals crawled into bed with me. Around 4 in the morning, I was awoken by some rather loud snoring, coming from the people in my bed. I kinda tried to drown out the noise but with very little success. I finally passed out and then was awoken again at 6 in the morning by the words "Anyone want to go on a Starbucks run?" I heard a collective groan come from the group. We finally officially awoke around noon-ish, went on a Jamba Juice run, and then came back and cleaned up the house. My pals all left when my roomie Nena came home and we chilled in her room and had a nap. Finished the night with a dinner of ravioli's, busting out the cake and having Chris, Nena, and their friend Nicole sing me happy b-day, and watching Constantine in the living room.
All in all, it was a fabulous b-day weekend. Surrounded by good friends, all who made it very clear that they cared about me. It made me realize how lucky I am. I know a lot of this journal can be all drama filled and what not, but honestly, life is good. If it wasn't for that pesky debt thing and the whole single schtick, I'd be quite content. As is, I'm keeping up with said debt and the single thing isn't bad. Not at all. But seeing the couples at my party made me realize I do miss being in a relationship. Ah well, when mr. right comes along, I'll be ready. Who knows? Maybe my b-day wish will come true. True if it did come true I'd be the omst powerful man on the planet, but hey, if that's not hot, I don't know what is.

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