Awesomeness

My birthday isn't until Sunday, but it might as well have been today, because today was AWESOME, and I don't know what good or bad things are in store for the rest of the weekend.

Here is a list of awesomeness:

1. I finished my freelance piece on time (sort of) and my editor seemed happy with it.

2. Co-worker Justin told me that since my birthday was on Sunday, today was my "weekday birthday" and I could therefore eat whatever I wanted. That included leftover pasta salad from a meeting, pizza, and birthday goodies I'll get to later.

3. Ironically, this is also the day that someone finally noticed my weight loss. Super-ironically, it was my co-worker CD, who is mostly blind and uses a special computer screen that blows up all text so that approximately two letters fit on said screen, who noticed. She wins the prize, which is actually nothing. And lest you think my optically-challenged friend was wrong in her assessment, another co-worker chimed in that she had noticed I'd dropped some lbs. as well.

4. My two editors, BB and Ed, threw me a little party. I got a very nice card, and shared some really good company. I also had a Pepto-Bismol-colored ice cream cake filled with cookies and creme ice cream that BB specifically bought at Baskin-Robbins because they have 31 flavors (or are supposed to) and I am turning 31. Ed also bought me a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, one of my favorite cereals, and the lime-flavored Tostitos I love so much.

5. BB gave me a book he found at a used book store--sketches and descriptions of cats starring in their own versions of famous movies. I don't usually like getting cat-related stuff, but this was hilarious. And since BB thought I'd be paranoid and assume that anything like that from a used book store was a gag gift, apparently I'm getting a "real" gift on Monday. Paranoia pays off, finally!

6. I realized that someone is never going to be my friend, and I thought that was going to put a damper on the day. See, we had a falling out a few months ago, and I've been trying to patch things up. But today I realized it's for the best if I just steer clear of this person, and that's fine. We don't really work together on anything. And it really didn't bother me a bit after about two minutes, because I can stop the charade of trying to be friends, and there were plenty of people around who at least pretended that I am awesome, and some that just plain think I am awesome.

7. I finally got rid of my disgusting old orange backpack and bought this new red messenger bag.
And hilariously, my sister tried to tell me that I could have saved money if I took a bag off her hands that had barely been used and looked almost identical to my new bag. Great, Sis, except that she was trying to give me a DIAPER BAG.

8. At lunch at the pizza place, a guy put his bag down to save a seat. A woman came and was going to sit there, and I told her to sit there--it wasn't right for the guy to save the seat. And then I came up with a scenario where they'd have a fight, but then realize they were perfect for each other and get married. But she went and sat somewhere else, and we left, and I'll never know if it was true love.

9. Someone asked a bunch of us for a gift suggestion for someone else, and here are two responses to my suggestion:

Carli, you are the best gift-idea person ever!!!
AND
It’s uncanny. It’s like she has an advanced degree in gift-idea generation.

10. Early in the day, I had an itch to listen to the song Funkytown. And I went searching desperately through my co-worker's shared libraries, till I found that Awesome Rob had it. Awesome Rob also had Eleanor Rigby when I absolutely needed to hear it last month. And Awesome Rob ALSO had both versions of The Safety Dance. This is why Awesome Rob is Awesome Rob.

11. The last song I randomly listened to in my own itunes library is "I'm Still Here." It just came up out of nowhere. It's from Stephen Sondheim's musical Follies, and it really applies to someone older than me. But there's a line that really spoke volumes to me.
"I got through all of last year, and I'm here. . . I'M STILL HERE!!!!!!"

12. My sister and I had an 18-message email thread about Cabbage Patch Kids.

And I still have cleaning to do, so that's all for now.