Happy Birthday, Nym!

[angus]

Happy Happy!  Like Jesus, Elvis, and my son, you are capricorn.  Industrious and attentive to detail.

We celebrated my son's tenth birthday today as well.  We went skating on the ice!  It has been 41 years since I have done that.  (Daddy took me skating once when I was about 7 years old, and that's the only time I can remember ice skating.)  At first I was holding the wall like a chump, but after about 20 minutes I was into it.  We skated for two hours straight, and I didn't fall once!  I even went backwards a bit.  I didn't try to pirouette or anything fancy like that, but I was skating like a champ for two hours.  It was my son's first foray onto the ice.  He held the wall for the first 20 minutes as well, but eventually he got the hand of it.  He fell about ten times, but seemed to enjoy the fall.  It's amazing how smooth the surface of the rink is when they first open, and how very rough it is after two hours of people skating upon it.

After that we had mall food.  Thai mango chicken, noodles, rice, and some mystery vegetable.  Mmmmm, mall food.  Then we got hopped up on mall candy and tea and Auntie Annie's pretzels.  Then it was off to Toys R US for presents.  Normally I buy him a gift and shroud it in mystery and wrapping paper, but this year I gave him a 100-dollar budget (and we very nearly stayed within it shopping for his birthday presents.)  Of course, I stopped at the liquor store on the way home and got some bubbly.  Blanc de blanc.  It was sparkling wine, and it was from France, but it's not from Champagne, so I won't call it that.  Anyway, I always celebrate my son's birthday with sparkling wine from France, and I celebrate the following day, New Year's Eve, with Spanish cava.  Those are the only two days of the year when I drink bubbly. 

We'll have his "party" later.  We always have to wait a few weeks after his real birthday to have a party with his chums, since he has his birthday during the holidays.  Normally my wife is with us, but she's 12 time zones away this year looking after her 75-year-old father who suffered a heart attack earlier this month.  We'll do the Skype thing this evening at 9:34pm, or 9:34am for her, to celebrate the actual tenth anniversary of the boy's birth.

Anyway, I definitely recommend ice skating for your birthday.  Tie them up tightly, and don't be afraid to fall!  Anon.  Happy birthday to all, and to all a good morrow and a prosperous new year!