My Birthday et sic porro*

* I wanted to show how smart I am and use et al, but I couldn't spell it. When I did figure out the spelling, I found out what it means is and yes I am using it wrong. So I looked up alternatives and found et sic porro which means 'and so on' I liked that, but I continued to search for something else (which in latin is 'cetera') I came across et cetera, but everyone uses that so I decided et sic porro made me sound the smartest. Now on second thought (there is no phrase in latin for 'on second thought' so I guess they never did have a second thought. You know like in some of those wars where the brave 300 went up against the massive Persian army of thousands and no one thought this is a bad idea, but just couldn't put it into the right words, so I sure there is a latin phrase for dead greek army.and I guess I'm rambling)

Speaking of things people are sick of hearing about, well at least I am, it was my birthday about two weeks ago. As you can tell from the amount of time it's taken me to write about it, I'm not overly thrilled about it. My daughter, Nastia asked me a day or so before my birthday, if I am excited about my birthday coming up. I said something like, ah, hell I’m just gonna make it up so I will sound funnier and more witty than I am. I said, wait a minute, I need to think it up first…ah, yes,... no, nothings coming…I'll just going to leave a blank here and fill it in later, or you can supply your own. If you want to mail it to me, and you want it back, you must supply a self addressed stamped envelope, yeah, I know I’ve told that joke before but when you're grasping for straws to stay afloat, sometimes you grab an anchor.

I think I told Nastia that after 65 previous birthdays, I’ve had more than I’ve ever wanted and it would be fine with me (Yes, this is the mostly made up answer) if I stopped getting older for a few years and if you ask nicely I’d consider getting older sometime later, when I feel a little like I’m this old. I was going to tell some dirty jokes that came to my fifteen year old mind (yes, I have the mind of a fifteen year old, dirty jokes and all.) We went to the Outback in Monroe for dinner. I’ve talked about the place many times and had some excellent steaks there. I’ve also gone there and dreamed of drinking some excellent beer. On the two times I was there and the taps were broken, I still hyperventilate when I think of that time and I have to ask for a beer on tap.

I told everyone not to go crazy for my birthday, no one has any money so close to after Christmas and all I wanted were gift cards to the Outback. Some listened, some didn’t, some did both. They were all too generous. Our party consisted of Teri, her sister, Nancy, my mom, Sean, Nastia, Elena and myself. We did call ahead seating and being it was a Sunday,in January, it was not necessary. It did give them the opportunity to set up the table before we got there, so it wasn’t totally a waste. We ordered drinks, I got a tall Sam Adams like usual. We did appetizers and like the usual one was the bloomin Onion. The other was cheese fries. I like the concept of cheese fries, but when it gets cold, it’s not really good.

Salads came next then the steaks. I ordered the usual, but it was not as good as I'd imagined it would be over the about year since I was there. I think it’s like the blockbuster movie you dream about coming out, like oh, let’s say Deadpool 3. Now all you future people don’t ruin it for me, I haven’t seen it yet. The anticipation for it can never measure up to the hype. It’s like the movie Babylon with Brad Pitt made in 2022 or 2023. It got savaged by the critics. I saw it with very low expectations and I liked it, you may never have heard of it, or maybe you future people have elevated it to a classic.

Either way I had a good night. All around us the wait staff would come walking by singing happy birthday to someone who’d rather not have it sung to them. Each time I wondered if they were going to stop at our table.I don’t like the attention. Everytime they started singing and walking by, it felt a little like Russian Roulette. Well finally near the end of the evening I lost and the wait staff stopped at our table. I gave a sideways glance to my wife and I hope I conveyed my feeling, which were,REALLY?? I played the good sport and thanked everybody. I eat a spoonful of ice cream and had to give it away because I was full. To my surprise Elena took it and not Nastia. It was a fun night.