Happy Birthday to Deaner!

I am so glad that it is finally Friday! I don't think I could have taken another day in the office. It certainly hasn't been my worst week of work ever (there have been FAR worse) but I feel like it has really gone by slowly. I think that now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with my job it is going to drag out until the end of March. I will miss having my own paycheck but I will NOT miss my job. At all. Ever.

So, tomorrow is Deaner's 32nd birthday! Happy birthday feee-yaaan-say! I will buy you one of these big beers tomorrow! Well, maybe not, I'm not quite sure where we might find those beers in Atlanta. I think they are reserved for the tackiest place on earth, Helen, GA. And they would probably cost $35 here instead of $6!

I have always heard people with December/January birthdays complain that it stinks to have a birthday so close to Christmas. Let me tell you what, it is MUCH harder on the poor people who love you and want to give you gifts for each occasion! Last year I went overboard on Christmas and come January 10th I didn't have one thing to give Deaner for his birthday. Zilch. I felt awful and was determined that this was not going to happen this year. As I stood back and gazed at my beatifully wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree this year it dawned on me that I did it again. I did not hold back one thing to give Deaner for his birthday! I am thinking that we might have to appoint a date sometime in July and give Deaner a new birthday. Think he will mind?

Anyways, I was pleasantly surprised this year when I inquired what he would like for his birthday and I actually got an answer. Typically I would get some hemming and hawing about how I didn't have to get him anything. This year I got an e-mail response stating there was a particular computer game he wanted and he even provided a link for me with a COUPON. Done and done. I ordered that thing so fast and never thought about it again. I am now realizing that I might have been tricked. I think that Deaner might have anticipated that I would purchase the first thing he asked for without taking a moment to figure out what it really was. He was right and I think I have "been had".

On Christmas Eve this year I was at my parent's house and engaged in a conversation with my sister, brother, and future brother-in-law. Someone casually asked me what I had gotten for Deaner for his upcoming birthday and I responded with "just some stupid computer game he wanted". My 19 year old brother, who doesn't speak much, looked at me funny and asked which particular computer game. Uhhhh, something called World of Warcraft I think. From the response I got, I have clearly been living under a rock. My brother fell on the floor laughing and my future brother-in-law, Andy, slowly muttered, "oh my god". WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL? I explained that Deaner had mentioned something about getting an XBox but that I was never planning on spending that much on a birthday gift. My brother looked at me and said "take it back and get him the XBox, you will be glad you did". My brother went on to tell me that he too used to play Warcraft and that when he got it he did not get out of the computer chair for ONE YEAR. Andy informed me that the most recent article he had read was entitled "If You Don't Want Your Teenage Boys Having Sex, Buy Them World of Warcraft". My brother offered to "sell" me his "weapons" for CASH. Who has ever heard of a computer game where you can buy imaginary weapons for real money?

So here we are, on the eve of Deaner's 32nd birthday, and I am about to lose him to the 9 MILLION teenaged boys who play this game online. How was I supposed to know? My only hope is that his 32 year old mind will grow weary more quickly than the mind of a 16 year old. I swear if I see him wearing a headset, I am pulling the plug...