Curse of the Day:
• May your cake be too heavily-frosted.

Females and families have a calming effect on men, which you can see in virtually every culture.  Once men get married they settle down and need a good job to provide for their family.  Most crime is by single men, gangs are all young men not in relationships yet, etc.  The fact that there will be 30+ million men who can't get married or settle down in China will likely be a big problem, and as the article says, China might need to put them into huge armies or workers, or burn them off in battle, rather than having bands roaming around the country.

• Southwest Airlines is going to begin requiring really fat people to pay for two seats.  As a skinny person, who has occasionally had some tub 'o guts slopping over the armrest and sweating on me for 5 hours in an airplane, I applaud this measure.  After all, if they can afford all those Big Macs and Ring Dings, they can afford an extra seat on a plane.

• Semi-amusing article about an old guy in Charlotte who reported a friend's death to Social Security, and was declared dead himself.  It's noteworthy for one great quote:

My Granny went the same way.

Anyway, here goes. Billy Joel is in rehab.  I'm not even sure this is news, I mean if you can imagine an aging rock musician with a drug problem?  Shocking, I know.  He hasn't done a song anyone has heard in 15 years, has gotten really ugly, and probably still has more money than everyone reading this, added together, will earn in their entire lives.  Me included.  Bastard.  I hope they have him scrubbing the toilet after Liz Taylor.

t's my birthday.  I'm thi... twenty-seven.  Again.  I'm doing nothing to celebrate it, I'm seeing no one, going nowhere, have received no presents, have no plans for celebrations, and can reasonably assure you I will have no surprise parties.  As far as I know, the only people one earth who know it's my birthday are my parents and step dad.  Possibly my grandparents, but since Granny has been really sick the last couple of years; sick with just about everything, including dementia, I've not gotten a b-day card or Xmas card, or gift, etc.  Gramps is taking care of her, but not really tending to the address/date book, it doesn't seem.  I've sent them b-day and Xmas cards, but not called or bitched about no card for me.  I'm thir... twenty-seven, after all, I can hardly go around crying that I didn't get enough attention on my birthday.

And actually, I'm happier with it like this.  I don't much care for celebrating holidays.  Birthdays aren't really holidays, but you know what I mean.  I don't mind the gift exchanges and going out to dinner and such, but I'm not sentimental about basically anything.  I've not told anyone at work or online about today's date's significance to me, and I'm trying not to think about it.  I have to work tonight anyway, so no celebration even if I wanted to have one.  I don't have any friends in real life, at least away from people I'm friendly with at work, and I don't confide anything in any of them.  I don't like to go out and drink or hang around or go to clubs, so I wouldn't want to do the usual birthday sort of thing even if I had people who wanted to do it with me.

Basically I tend to ignore b-days, my own and those of other people, other than maybe getting/giving a new toy or two, or some clothing.  In theory I'm getting a digicam from my dad, but he's not up to going out and shopping yet, and I haven't read reviews and figured which features I want, and where I want to get the camera yet anyway.  I hate comparison shopping.  My goal has always been to have enough money to just buy whatever the hell I want to, when I want to buy it.  I'd rather work to make more money than spend hours reading about sales or hunting around the Internet to save a few bucks.

Anyway, birthdays: I tend to ignore them, doing nothing to commemorate or celebrate, and forgetting them a few days afterwards.  I don't really think that's the best way to deal with them though.  Even if you don't like them, it's good to have a sort of time-stamp on your life.  New Years Day is a similar non-event for me, but I try to take notice that it's another year, and perhaps give some thought to what I've failed to accomplish that I swore I would, to think back on things I didn't do that I should have, to remember opportunities I let slip through my fingers.  All the usual stuff.

I should do the same sort of thing on a birthday, and set some fricking goals.  I had strong goals for working on my fiction, getting a novel going this year.  Well, it's almost halfway through the year and I still have those goals.  And yes, they are the same goals I've had the last 3 or 4 years.  Prior to that it was to get the novel I was working on finished and try to get an agent to get it published.  So I'm consistent at least.

Setting goals is good.  Remember though, you have to set ones that are challenging and productive and positive.  Setting a goal to eat peanut M&Ms and watch every episode of the X-Files isn't a good goal, for example.  No matter how tasty those little non-hand melting candies are.  I'm good at meeting my goal of spending too much time every day updating a blog that hardly anyone reads, and that has zero potential for ever earning me any money.  But while tasty, this peanut M&M isn't really all that good for me.