Ocho de mayo

When Sonal was here a couple of weeks ago, she mentioned that I should take advantage of my birthday’s proximity to Cinco de Mayo and have a multi-day flurry of celebration. (She then amended that and suggested I start earlier, on May Day.) Yours truly turns 27 this Saturday, ocho de mayo, as it were. (Thom’s and my first e-mails and blog comments to each other were from about this time last year; in fact, I think his first comment on my blog had to do with my birthday. You may now tilt your head and sigh a contented “aww.”) Well, I haven’t done anything celebratory yet—I think I’m finally getting over my sleep debt, exacerbated by the redeye flight earlier this week—but maybe we’ll go out for Mexican tonight. We’ll see. Mmm, margaritas.

While I was away last week, an unexpected package for me arrived from Amazon.com, and figuring it was a birthday present, I decided to hold off on opening it. The other day, though, the suspense was killing me, so I opened the box; it was from Cornelia! She made use of my wishlist and got me Tom Dolby’s novel The Trouble Boy. I had put it on my wishlist after reading Jere’s recommendation; I started reading it and it’s pretty good. (Even Rufus makes a cameo on page 16.) My only quibble? The book-jacket blurb is a little too comprehensive. I feel like it tells you too much, so when you reach the corresponding plot points, you’re all, “Ah yes, I knew this would happen.” Sort of like movie trailers that make you feel like you’ve seen the entire movie. Anyway, that’s negligible. Thanks again to Cornelia. She’s a doll.