Her Birthday Wish

It is the birthday wish of my blogging friend Lara for all of her readers to celebrate her birthday by giving a gift to someone else and then describe it on the blog. Pretty neat idea, right?

Yesterday I treated a buddy to dinner. Today I helped another move some of his belongings into storage. But those were fairly spontaneous and spur of the moment. I figured I could be even more intentional with this birthday present...

So my gift to Lara today is a virtual one. It is an online ode to another dear friend who just happens to be celebrating her birthday today.

This is a friend whom I've known since my freshman year in college; who led me blind-folded into a fountain on my own birthday six years ago; who has sung some of the best solos in our a cappella group; who is one of the best partners I've danced with; who has been a great source of joy and irreverent fun whenever we've hung out; who is my horror movie-watching partner in crime (replete with snarky comments and rapier wit). This is my friend who goes by the name Kari.

Happy birthday, dear friend. :)

Psst, Kari, you're supposed to blow the candle out, not barf on it.

Pollen, Pathogens, and Flatulence

I've been a ball of snot for the past couple weeks. Besides the events surrounding my last post, this may be due to the pollen in Seattle. I'm not surprised, because I do have a history of allergies to a variety of airborne plant sperm.

On the other hand, I could just be sick from all my recent travels. I know from my college days that I have an immune system about as effective as that of an agar-filled petri dish. So what's the deal? Is my immune system hyperactive or retarded?

No, I'm not done ranting.

Besides my water faucet nose, I also have a water slide throat. One that feels as though some kid slid down it in a sandpaper raft. Ahem. (Ouch.)

I do look forward to the end of this. My octave-lower-than-usual speaking voice was fun for maybe the first hour at work today, but it quickly got old. Plus, I'm flying down to Stanford this Wednesday, so I assume my fellow passengers would appreciate it if I weren't coughing up a storm. That's like the third most annoying thing on a flight, right up there with screaming babies and silent-but-deadly gas-passers.

Speaking of all this, my like-minded roommate shared this image with me last night:

It's an Airbus A340-600 and the ill-placed attack on their competitor is supposed to read:
"Longer. Larger. Farther. Faster. Higher. Quieter. Smoother."

Now, thanks to the careless - or hilariously intentional - placement of the text, all hope of credibility is lost. Gone up in a puff of flatulent smoke, as my friend Jeff Russell would put it.

Awesome.

In other news, I turned 24 on Saturday. My maturity level apparently didn't get that memo.