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i was born in 1974.

for those of you who can do the math, you'll realize that in 2004 i will be turning 30. it's one of those milestones in life i guess. i wouldn't be making such a big deal out of it, except people keep on asking me, "so, what're you going to do?" i'll cross that bridge when i come to it. in the meantime, i could visit somebody who was turning 30 on this very day.

when i got up this morning, i made some flan again, then i went to eliza jones' place in jamaica plain for brunch, she had the auspicious january 1st birthday. i stopped off at star market to buy a bag of oranges as a present, no particular reason, just didn't want to show up empty handed. there were two camps, david, eliza's enfermo roommate, represented one camp, parked in the living room on a corner of the couch, getting people who took pity on his plight to service him, working the crowd like a histrionic diva. they were mostly his friends. in the kitchen was the other camp, more of eliza's friends, and she spent most of her time in there. as for me, i sat down on the piano bench and rarely left. i had some french toast with berries, along with a cup of champagne, and then later a cup of red wine. besides eliza and her roommate dave and a few other faces i vaguely recognized, rob house showed up as well in that small world kind of way, a friend of dave's (review: rob and i know each other from our screen house days, then later he did a brief stint at srm, working with me as well as eliza). here and there were also eliza's coworker friends from her current job and as well family members.


trying to solve...

...boggle!

guests

more guests

playing elton
on the piano

birthday cake

there was a spontaneous flash of boggling, rob and i flipped through eliza's stack of art books, much carrots were consumed with dip, and david mustered enough strength to play and sing some elton john on his piano. at one point everyone gathered in the kitchen to sing "happy birthday" and to present the birthday cake. eliza told me she got the birthday card, i was surprised since i sent that out tuesday morning. i talked to a friend of hers who rides a scooter year round, sharing stories. i left after nightfall, feeling a bit tipsy from the alcohol consumption, stumbled my way back to the t station and headed back to cambridge. i bumped into john at the very next stop, one of dave's friends. during the whole train ride i had a tremendous urge to use the bathroom (number one), and i had to make an emergency pitstop at the porter exchange when i got back to cambridge.

i called my parents on the cellphone and was instructed to wait for them at the white hen pantry's parking lot. i took the opportunity to get a snack, a spicy pickled sausage (yeah, i didn't know they make them either), and sat outside waiting for my parents to show up. once they did, we went to belmont to pick up my sister (where i saw that the puzzle was finally complete) then drove to boston to have dinner at victoria's on commonwealth avenue.


egg drop soup
with crabmeat

twin lobsters

lamb with
tofu skin

fried baked tofu

salt & pepper
shrimps

me & mother