*grin* People are funny. I've gotten several "happy birfdays" and some of my friends have posted on their blogs regarding my "birfday" celebration. I call Gord any assortment of weird names, and people pick up on them and use them. I'm a trend-setter!

Anyhow, I want to thank everyone who called, emailed, or left notes on here or their own blogs wishing me a happy birthday. It really means a lot to me to have them do that, and that's just fantastic. Warm and fuzzy feelings all around. :)

But before I discuss that, there are other exciting events in the world of Jen. Friday night was D's going-away party. I worked at the bookstore for 8.5 hours, then headed over to my other job to learn that the computer I use was having barf fits and was thoroughly unstable. Of course, I only learned this after I tried to upload things (and got a few done); so I had to copy everything over to CD and try another computer. That took me awhile. :P

Once I finished that, I met up with D and the others at the bookstore, about 10 minutes before close. We headed over to the house where the party was being held, and started meeting and drinking. I impressed a couple guys with my ability to take a straight shot of Goldschlager without flinching, wincing or crying (which is what some of them were doing, minus the crying), one of whom, after giving me a high-five, stated, "You must be dating D."

I had a drink and shared some pot with a few people, then got pretty tired and relaxed pretty quickly. D dragged me out for a walk so that I wouldn't go to sleep right away, and had to pester me to open my eyes. :) I kept finding my way onto the roof, where a number of people were sitting early in the evening, and was somewhat tempted to fall asleep there -- although I was still very much sober enough to know that that would be a terrible idea.

Various people stole all of the sleeping areas, including the reserved guest room that D and I were to occupy, so I wound up stretching out on some pillows on the floor and catching a few hours. I woke up when D was about to join me, at which point one host was setting an alarm clock for two hours later and the other host was playing music rather loudly. I suggested to D that we simply head over to my apartment -- the accomodations would be the same (i.e., sleeping on the floor), but that at least it would be quiet and there would be a lack of alarm clock. We did so and caught a few hours there.

Before I forget, I should mention that the cops showed up at the party (apparently twice, though no one talked to them the first time), and one of my coworkers went out to the bushes to throw up and wound up passing out out there. Cute, eh? :)

So Saturday D drove me home, I changed into some new clothes and then went out to Canadian Tire and WalMart with my mom. We got some more home furnishings, including a microwave stand, and I relaxed on the couch for a bit with Shadow snoring into my thigh. Got myself ready and headed over to D's place for presents (yay!) and heading downtown to meet everyone.

My dinnerlicious extravaganzapalooza went well. All told, there was Will, Gord, Shawn, Matt, Stefan and his girlfriend Heather, Jake, my girlfriend E, D, and myself. I just wanted to hyperlink everyone I could to show just how geeky my friends and I are. :)

Anyhow, there were others who were invited and either didn't get the invite until too late (like Heather), who couldn't make it (like Mark and Lucas), who thought about tagging along and changed their minds (like Jordan), or who didn't reply whatsoever. As tempting as it is to name those people and point grumpy fingers, I won't. I simply shake my fist in their general direction. *shakes fist*

So, we had some dinner and we had some walking, and then we kinda split up. No one was terribly interested in going on my crazy expedition to the male strip club (or even the female one, surprisingly enough), and we were all kinda tired. I know I was pretty zonked from not getting enough sleep the night before -- my hips don't deal well with sleeping on the floor, it seems.

I got to bed around 2 that morning or so, and slept fairly straight through the night. Today I finally got to do my massive book purchasing at the bookstore, and picked up a bunch of classic novels, books I've been meaning to own, or books I've been meaning to read. It feels nice to consume. :P :)

D and I dropped my books off in the car and headed into the gym. I'd been planning to do just cardio, but that was boring and D showed me some ab exercises, so I wound up doing a round of lower-body working out as well. Tomorrow I'll have to warn my trainer that I did strength training today, so that might screw up her plans for me. :)

I have a love-hate relationship with the gym. I don't like being sweaty, but I don't seem to mind the after-muscle soreness, and it's good for me to do. The cardio sets are sweaty and mind-numbing, but I'll start keeping a book or magazine with me more often and that might help. I've done rounds on our bike at home with a book, and it's not easy to do, but some people manage it -- I saw a girl at the gym today with a book. :)

I was disappointed the treadmills were shut off today, though. Last time I went I managed to do some jogging, and I thought I might get some of that done today, but no luck. Ah well. I can already tell that my abs are going to be sore tomorrow, so I know I did something. :P :)

And that's about it. :) Congrats go out to Gord/Glord/Glorg for his job and Jacob for his as well. Congrats also to them for their rad new place, although there's no way it can be as hot and fantastic as mine -- after all, mine is tiny, has me, and is downtown. Rockage all around, and an open invite to anyone who wants to hang out and entertain me, 'cause otherwise I'll be sad and bored. :)