05.06
Twenty five years ago from yesterday, I was born. It was a strange coincidence to be born on Cinco De Mayo, as it made for some rather fun birthday parties in central Texas as a kid. It’s a little bizarre to think that I’m a quarter of a century old now, exactly half of my parent’s age again.
Some of my birthdays in recent years have been kinda crappy. I’ve had finals on my birthday, been out of town and away from friends/loved-ones, and even had Mother’s Day on the same day (happens once every 7 years, as it will next year). I’ve some good ones and some bad ones. I’ve had to work on my birthday as well.
Not this year. I had my Artificial Intelligence Qualification Exam on the 3rd. The week leading up to yesterday, I spent being sick. I had developed a migraine on Wednesday, allergies, and a sore throat. I was starting to feel better by the end of the week though. Yesterday started off my running in the White Rock ‘n Roll 5 mile race in Dallas. I’ve had much better runs before, but I was battling a headache and restricted air flow due to the phlegm buildup. I had to stop every half-mile or so and cough up some really nasty mucus. In the end, I still managed to shave about 12 seconds off my 10K PR pace.
The after party to that race was pretty sweet. They had a ton of food like pizza, pigs-in-the-blanket, bananas, oranges, and breakfast burritos. They were even serving beer from a keg! I’ve argued before that the best post run drink can quite often be a beer, so I definitely grabbed myself one. 9:30 in the morning and I had already started drinking.
I took Sunshine to the gym to meet with her trainer while I went and cashed a few checks and hunted for a James Bond DVD boxset. It’s been on my wish list ever since I learned of their existence. Then we met up with some of my running buddies at Chuy’s in Downtown Dallas. Not everyone ran in that race, but Chuy’s has a way of bringing people out of hiding. I had several more drinks there, rendering myself incapable of driving.
By time we got home, I remembered why I don’t normally drink. It makes me sleepy. I always get very tired the more I drink. This time, I had passed out in the car on the way home (Sunshine was driving), and napped when we got back. That definitely did not help with ridding me of the headache.
We still had plans for the evening, so we headed out to Arlington. I bought some decent tickets to the Rangers vs. Blue Jays game earlier in the week. I haven’t been to a baseball game since I was a kid and I was just as excited. I ate a classic hot-dog, a pretzel, and had a blast. The stadium wasn’t too crowded, so we had enough room to move about, but there was still plenty of people in attendance. We even got to see Sammy Sosa strike out. I think we’re going to go catch a few more games this year, so it’s a good thing I can get discount tickets through my employer.
Anyways, all in all, I had a pretty spectacular birthday this year. It’s a shame that I wasn’t able to give Sunshine the equivalent for her birthday; I’ll have to plan ahead for next year.
Happy Birthday!