Soon to be the Next National Holiday!

Today is my birthday. As anyone who knows me can tell you, I have a tendency to either be childlike or maudlin. When I was 6, I was all about birthdays, as it meant I would be lavished with toys and cake. Now, however, I rarely receive toys, and as an adult, I'm quite capable of purchasing cake whenever I so desire. This reality takes a lot of the exuberance out of the event.

I typically get introspective around birthdays. The age of 35 seems to be an odd one these days. I'm still at what I consider to be an entry-level position - as are many of my peers. For some reason, though, I tend to think I should have gotten a little bit further in my career by this point. What can I say? I tend to be pretty hard on myself.

On a personal front, things aren't perfect, but I guess they're better than they have been. I finally managed to get married a couple of years ago after going through a couple of decades of abject solitude. (Then again, are we surprised this guy had trouble getting dates?) Really, though, I should be grateful. If things hadn't happened the way they did, I probably wouldn't have met up with Mrs. The Jim, and I can't fathom anyone out there better suited to put up with my crap.

We don't have kids yet, which sometimes gets me down. I may have my math wrong, but I believe my mom and dad managed to have 4 kids before they hit 30. It'll happen, eventually. I just hate the idea of being the 85-year-old dad dropping off his kids at elementary school. (No, I don't tend to exaggerate. Whatever do you mean?) More than anything, I suppose I'm just anxious to have kids so that it's socially acceptable for me to have comic books, video games, and cartoons all over the house. (As it stands now, I probably get a couple of Man Points deducted.)

I'm not sure what The Wife has planned. She typically goes overboard on gifts, so I could end up with anything from a gold-plated Porsche to a giant, diamond-encrusted monogram. Really, I'd be happy with just going to dinner and hanging out with a couple of peeps. (Well, that & Rock Band 2.)

I'm sure that once a week or two has passed, I'll completely forget all about my birthday as I get wrapped back up in the everyday drudgery that we all have to battle.

Anyway, I'm not sure where all this was going ... seems more like random, stream-of-consciousness ramble than anything else. So, on that wacky note, here's a picture of a guy in a pig outfit running through the forest:


Until next time,
The Jim