the abyss

Somehow the post from my birthday on Friday disappeared into the abyss. That's probably why the commenting feature wasn't working for that post. Now the whole post is gone and I didn't delete it. Told ya bad/weird shit like that happens on my birthday. Oh well, it was all just bitching and complaining anyways. Why don't I post up a few photos from that evening instead. We had dinner at Turtle Bay near my house to celebrate my turning 03. The seabass and fresh oysters were awesome and the live jazz was nice too. The owner came over to the table to say hello and by the end of dinner the restaurant regulars and staff were dancing, some on top of the bar. All of them were older than us by at least 20 years. It was an impressive sight to see.

After dinner, Simon and Shannph headed to Safeway to get some warm up drinks to do what they call car bar. Yes drinking in a parked car is totally ghetto and something you do when you're 19 but now we're 30-something and not rich like we expected to be when we all moved to Silicon Valley so screw it. Car bar ended up taking place back at our place a couple blocks away because we decided to break out the Absinthe that Simon brought back from Toronto. The stuff is 70% alcohol and originally was made with wormwood which is some sort of hallucinogen that made Hemingway and Van Gogh a little wonky. You are supposed to light a sugar cube over it and then add water to lessen the bitterness but it doesn't work. It tastes like crap and burns your throat. After some Absinthe, more drinks, and an hour or so of watching the Olympics we finally headed back out to a swanky neighbourhood bar called Stinger Lounge. It was a little embarrassing to go there and not rack up a huge tab like we usually do (John the owner loves us because we're thirsty people) but we had arrived pretty warmed up from
drinks at home. Anyways, we stayed a while and then headed over to IHOP for eats. It was the most fun we've had hanging out within 4 miles of my own home.

Oh yeah, so one of my gifts was a wireless mouse for my laptop. What is up with the packaging of electronics lately? It took a swiss army knife, a pair of scissors, and a lot of brute strength to get all the pieces out of that package. It protects the product well but there's no way that we need that much plastic going into landfills. And half the time when I'm trying take it apart I manage to cut my hands.

Anyways, last night we did celebration round 2 by going to see Paul Van Dyk at 1015. I'm not sure why these things always happen when I'm around, but some guy got shot in the basement while most people, including us, were upstairs or in the main room watching PVD. We didn't even know it happened until my friends tried to leave and the bouncers ordered no ins and outs while they investigated. I guess the panick was relegated to the downstairs. At the end of the night it took forever to get our coats because downstairs where coat check is located was roped off as a crime scene and they had to bring our jackets up one by one as we waited in a huge line. Weird tragic night. But the party was otherwise great. We spent the afternoon today wandering the mall to stretch our legs and get a free massage from the massaging recliner at Sharper Image before heading home to do some work and watch TV. I'm so glad it's Presidents Day tomorrow. I need a day to catch up on my work and lament the passing my 20s.