Happy Birthday to Me!

*Extremely long and journal like so if you don't care then don't read but some of you will probably hear about it from me so you might as well read to save you and I a lot of time.


I know how selfish does that title sound but really that is what birthdays are all about. Giving people the opportunity to show their love for you with gifts or attention. This has actually been one of my favorite birthdays. Mainly because I made it last almost a whole week.

Last Friday was my actual birthday and my roommate L (you remember, the voice of reason) had already spoken for that day because what she wanted to give me was on that day but it was a surprise. I had wanted to have a party. I haven't had a party for my birthday in a long time. So that was planned for the next weekend. But as the time got closer, it seemed like too much of a hassle so I decided I just wanted to have a dinner with lots of people.

Anyway Friday the day of my birthday, I had a small work party. At my work the birthday person brings treats for everyone. Its unconventional I know that you bring your own birthday treat but that way your sure to get one and then you eat everyone else's when its their birthday. (that's how it was explained to me, not sure I agree with that philosophy) Well, we have donuts and stuff at work a lot and I was sick of treats so I did pizza. I threw myself a pizza party. I invited a couple girls over from the other office too. They even brought me gifts which is extremely uncommon to get gifts here for your birthday. I mean you have to bring your own treat you think you're gonna get a gift. Anyway I think everyone really loved it and they sang to me.

Then that night was my date with L who told me to dress up because its more fun that way. So that made me think we are going to some kind of theatre thing because L believes it should be like in the old days where going to the theatre was a fancy dress occasion. So I closed my eyes as she drove so as not to know where we were going. It was kind of relaxing actually since there are times when L scares me when she drives....she waits a little to long for my comfort to put on the brake (my mom will call me a hypocrite for that). Well, we ended up at Olive Garden downtown and she said we needed to hurry because the thing we were going to was at 8:00 and it was already 7:00 with a 20 minute wait before we got seated. We were a little worried. But we bided our time with running into a member of our old bishopric and his wife and chatting it up. When we were seated we told our waiter we were in a hurry and ordered as quickly as possible. It was around this time that L passed me an envelope which held tickets to the musical Movin Out (you know the one with all the Billy Joel songs). I was really excited.

Funny story behind that too. Everyone kept asking us if we were going to the show while we were at Olive Garden and since it was still supposed to be a surprise L kept saying no. Finally after our waiter asked, she couldn't take lying anymore and that's why she gave me the tickets. Well, we stuffed our food in our mouths and found out that the meal was free because the member of the bishopric that we had run into had paid for our meal. So L got out of that one. The show was good. It was really a ballet instead of musical and they were dancing to a live band playing Billy Joel songs. It was still so good. The lead male dancer was amazing. I love Billy Joel's songs so that was so much fun. The guy singing his songs sounded a lot like him. After that L took me to Iceberg for a shake. When we got home there were a few people there hanging out and they sang to me. It was a really fun night and I was glad to spend it with L. And we had really good seats so it makes me wonder how much L shelled out for this night.

The next day we all (L, me, L's semi-boyfriend D, M and C) had tickets for Crazy For You at the Hale theatre. Everyone but C and I had never heard or knew anything about it except that it was full of Gershwin songs. C's and my highschool had performed it way back when. M and C gave me a birthday present (a small oriental looking rock fountain, very nice) and sang to me. Anyway that was a lot of fun and afterwards we went to Village Inn for some food. This seemed to be the Village Inn where all the punk rock kids work because almost everyone had punk rock hairdos.

And the air of my birthday remained throughout the next few days by me inviting everyone to my dinner which was yesterday. I knew that at least 15 people were coming and 10 maybes so I reserved a table for 25 at Loco Lizard. It was a really good turn out. 21 people in all. I felt so loved. Most of which aren't even my close friends but people I really like and have fun with. They sang to me too. A few were really late so I didn't get to spend as much time with them. Then it was back to my house for cake and ice cream, which I was worried that no one would come for that except the close friends that have to or else I would kill them. But again I was wrong lots of people came and they sang to me. People I hadn't even invited but had been told by those I had. Which was great. So in a sense I did have a party. A very simple and easy going one. Perfect.

To recap how many times I had been sung the Happy Birthday song or some version of it in the past week. The relief society sang to me, my mom over the phone, L over the phone and all the ones mentioned above bringing the total to 8 times. Wow.

New Haircut

So I needed something different. So I got some sweepy bangs and took 5 inches! off my hair. For all those that gasped, don't worry it'll grow back. Unless I decided to go shorter but we'll stick with this for now and see how I like it.

Hiking sucks!

I woke up on Saturday morning and while lying in bed I pondered the pros and cons on going on hike planned for that morning. Pros: Hang out with friends. Won't miss out on anything that may come up in future conversations adding to my involvement in the group. Exercise. Won't feel lazy. Won't be given any guilt trips by friend Cons: Exercise. I'm not a good hiker, I'll hold everybody up (resulting in lower self-esteem). I have to take my car in and get the brakes fixed.

Well the pros won. I couldn't stand the thought of being left out of events and future conversations. People cannot have fun without me! Besides I was told this wouldn't be a bad hike (only 1.5 miles up) and I would be fine. "The trail is completely paved and old people do it all the time." while this was true it left out some crucial details. So I got up and prepared for the hike which was leaving in a half hour.

We had eight people go on this hike. The buff jokester, the sensitive teddy bear, the flirt, the boss/guilt tripper, the new guy and new guy's friend, the voice of reason, and me. We hiked up Mount Timpanogas to the Cave. We arrived at the perfect time to start hiking. Not too many people and right in time to make it up in time for the next tour. I was all set, I had my camera and video camera, 2 bottles of water, granola bars, sunscreen, sunglasses, and a jacket for the cave. We set out.


The crucial details I mentioned above became immediately apparent. Yes the trail was paved but it was almost completely vertical (exaggeration). Seriously the steepest hike I have ever been on. I feared my calves were not up to this challenge. And if old people do this all the time then they are really in shape old people.

Within five minutes of the hike I wanted to quit but you just can't do that when you are hiking with University 46th Ward outdoors club. So I pushed on. I wasn't always the last one behind until it we got 3/4 of the way up. We had to stop for me several times (this is where the lowering of the self-esteem comes in). When people are constantly asking you if you are alright and do you need to stop (even though we just stopped minutes before) or telling you each time they spotted a bench up ahead. Now don't get me wrong, these were all said in the kindliest of ways and I appreciated everyone's help and understanding. The Flirt even offered to carry my camera bag for me, which I refused but she took it anyway. The altitude was affecting me (slight headache coming on and felt my legs turning to mush) I just had to keep telling my feet to put one in front of the other. Along the trail they have markers that tell you have far you've come. They were real motivators especially that 3/4th marker. Several group members took turns to hike with me at the tail end while others pushed on ahead where they would wait for me to catch up. One guy I think got a little frustrated with me and even though I told him to go on ahead he wouldn't he just kept pushing me to go on. That was both great and annoying, but I made it to the top.

We rested for a few minutes until our tour started. The caves were pretty cool. The buff jokester razzed our tour guide the whole time.
There was a lot of ducking and sucking in to get around some big rocks but it was cool. Then we went back down the mountain which was much easier than going up and went very fast, though I was concentrating very hard on how to walk to not put too much strain on my knees and ankles.

We went and got some free pizza from a joint which The Voice of Reason designed. We scarfed that down in no time. Even us girls kept up with the boys no problem. We were so hungry. Then back to Salt Lake and a nap.

I am glad I was able to do it. I got some good footage and pictures too. I don't that I will ever do it again but we'll see.