Me, May, & My World

Hello friends, family, felons, falcons, and farfegnugen. I'd like to thank you sincerely for the birthday wishes, whether by phone, email, facebook, blog, or just by thinkin' of me, and I'll tell you about how my big special day went, tell you why I'm excited for May, and what else has been going on in the crazy world of Austin. (Just like your world, but crazier).

Tracie and I woke up, made breakfast (she made deeeelicious lemon poppyseed pancakes, I made myself a kick butt omelet and made her 2 eggs over hard) and then I opened my presents. I got:
-The Original Where's Waldo book, updated (they moved Waldo and added
some friends. After seeing his friends, I see why the poor schnook is
always hiding ;))
-A Nosehair trimmer. Not my favorite present, but one I need (not TOO
badly, but it will be nice to have.)
-The Incredibles (my favorite Pixar movie)
-The Indiana Jones Trilogy (in anticipation for the NEW one coming out!!!)
-Enter the Dragon Special Edition (so excited to watch this)
-A new polo shirt, for all the Polo I play. (I'm sorry, sir. You can't play Polo. But I have my horse and my club! Yes, but not a Polo shirt. ...Never again!) Tracie's one of the few people that can buy me clothes without me trying them on and they look awesome on me.
-The complete works of Oscar Wilde. (I've needed this awhile. I have a book of his plays, one of his novel, one of his short fiction, and one with a combination thereof. Now maybe I can throw some of them out. ...Or not)
-Stuff for a husband from a loving wife. (:D) Like a cute card game similar to uno, except when you play a wild card you have to kiss your partner in the way it says. Very fun.
-an iTunes gift card that I've already spent.

And there you have it! Not as insane as Christmas, but still enough to make me feel spoiled and therefore happy. ;)

We then went to church, came back from church, and went to Tyler and Cheryl's house and enjoyed a wonderful dinner and dessert. (Tracie made rockin' mac & cheese, as Chandler would say, we also had beef, chicken, guacamole and hummus, asparagus, beans, and other yummy treats courtesy of various McNeils (mostly Tyler and Cheryl)). For dessert, we had a
strawberry cake with strawberry frosting and strawberries on top, it was very pink. (I wanted a strawberry cake, ok? Is it my fault that the cake looked like the birthday cake for a 6 year old girl?) It may have been pinker than the bunny costume worn by Ralphie in "A Christmas Story",
but it was deeeelicious! We also had my favorite ice cream, spumoni to complement it. Alan, Kris and Taylor joined us from their return trip to Las Vegas, and we played Tyler & Cheryl's Wii, as is becoming custom.

All in all in all, a wonderful birthday, thank you again to everyone who made it so great, especially Tracie. I miss my family, but was overjoyed with all the phone calls and birthday wishes I received.

Why May is going to kick butt.

Yes, my and Tracie's birthdays (and more than half of our families) are in April. But I am excited for May. Why? CONSUMERISM!!! Because there are movies and albums and books coming out that I'm excited for!!! And you thought it was something deep or special! HA!

Gavin Degraw- Tracie and I saw him in concert before we got married, and LOVED it. Now that it's been 4 years since his last album, it better be good. Because I'm buying it.

Jason Mraz- Another one of my favorite contemporary artists, (and one of the few musicians out there deserving the title "artist," imho) is also coming out with a new album. I'm buying it.

Barenaked Ladies- Probably my favorite band still making music is releasing their "for kids" album. Since I'm a big kid at heart, and a BNL fan, I'm excited for new BNL music, whoever it's made for.

Percy Jackson- The Battle for the Labyrinth is coming! The teen greek demigod is back for his Fourth book! Thanks to Uncle Jim's family for
introducing me to Percy, Grover, Annabelle, and friends (and enemies) I
haven't been this excited for a kid's book to come out since Harry
Potter 6!

Iron Man- If you don't know why I'm so excited to see this, just watch the trailer.

Narnia- Prince Caspian is making his way to a theater near you! Though the cute Pevensie kids from the first movie are getting older and therefore more British, I don't watch Narnia movies for the looks of the kids. Not my favorite Narnia book, but the one before it. As long it's at least half as good as the first movie, I'll love it.

Indiana Jones- I could (and should. And probably will) do an entire post on this movie; I have to watch it first. Suffice it to say I've waited over 10 years for it, and I love it without having to watch it. And ABOUT TIME!!!

Those are just 6 reasons why May is going to kick butt. I'll tell you more about it when I get there, during and after. :)

What is going on in the Crazy World of Austin
(Try Crazy Austin World Lite: now with half the fat, but twice the crazy!)

Another semester over. Just a million more to go. I'm pretty sure I got
A's in both, as every assignment I got an A. I'd have to have done
pretty horrible on the finals to merit anything less than A. I like
saying A. I think I've said it before, but might as well again. I'm
taking 2D Design in Spanish Fork on Tues & Thurs evenings, and American
Civilization on Saturday mornies. I'll miss my teachers and classes, and
subjects. And, sleeping in on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

I still love American Idol, and am excited to go watch it again tonight,
though I now want them all to stay. Let's have a 6 way tie. Please?
I know that will never happen. Paula Abdul will make sense, Simon Cowell
will be nice, Randy Jackson will be significant and Ryan Seacrest will
be interesting before that happens.

I'm excited for Tracie's birthday on the way (8 more days!!!) and
nervous as well. Having a birthday so soon before my wife, she has my
birthday fresh in her memory, so I have to go the extra mile to make
sure she has one that compares with the funfest she gave me. I'm not
good at throwing parties. I can throw presents at you, but I have
trouble giving her fun. But I'm going to try to throw her a surprise
party (shoot, I ruined it) so I'm going to try to throw her a party.
I'll let you know how it goes, and if anyone is speaking to me
afterwards.

I wanna be a writer. For lots of reasons, but mostly because I enjoy it
and (eventually) I'll be able to sleep in. Hence the big reason behind
why I tried writing a novel in November and tried writing a screenplay
in April.
While both were fun and worthy goals, I bit off more than I could chew
both times. Therefore, I'm devoting myself to short stories for now, I
can hammer one out a couple of days, revise them a couple more, and have
Tracie refine and polish them. The plan is start sending them out to
magazines and journals and publishers and whatnot and start getting
recognition, as well as just improve my craft.

I feel like I'm forgetting somethings, but the good thing about the
bloggage is if I forget I can just post again!