ADDENDUM: My shameless blogwhoring seems to have paid off, as several generous folks have come over here and wished me a Happy Birthday in response to my 'pity me it's my birthday' pleading on a lot of other blogs. I am deeply grateful to and appreciative of all of you, especially whoever it was who posted a comment this morning wishing me a happy birthday that, somehow or other, although I hit 'publish', ended up shooting off to Internet heaven... or, at least, it never showed up in the threads.
To all of you, thanks. To whoever it was whose comment I lost, I did not censor or reject it, it just... vanished. Sorry. Thanks anyway.
Back into the original entry...
Today it's my birthday.
While I've already listed below all the cool stuff SuperGirlfriend and the SuperKids have given me this weekend for my birthday, this morning SuperGirlfriend added two final gifts to the pile o' loot. First, she gave me a truly wonderful present: a copy of Zylpha Keatley Snyder's wonderful, amazing, and unfortunately long out of print children's fantasy Black And Blue Magic, which I loved as a kid and have wanted a copy of for thirty years, at least. The copy she found for me is the same edition as the one I'd enjoyed at my local library when I was around 11, and I'm just overwhelmed by her thoughtfulness, as always.
The second gift she took me over to www.bewilderingstories.com to see. Bewildering Stories has published a lot of my stuff over the past couple of years, so SuperGirlfriend took it on herself to get them to publish a story I wrote just for her. It was her birthday present this year from me, and to see it published on the Internet for all to see really made me feel wonderful and special. (Of course, she edited out the sex scene, but, you know, that was just for her to read, anyway.)
I should also mention that she fixed me a wonderful birthday breakfast of scrambled eggs, link sausages, biscuits, and orange slices. And even before we got out of bed this morning, she (sex scene edited out).
I'm the luckiest man in the world. I am, I am, I am. Although this goddam left shift key that keeps sticking is driving me fucking bugshit, it is, it is, it is.
And, hey, God gave me a birthday present this weekend too -- the Bucs beat Atlanta in a division game, and the Panthers got tromped by da Bears! My Bucs are now tied for first place in the NFC South! If Chris Simms can just keep throwing the deep ball, and Cadillac can just keep running for 100+ yards per game, we may have a shot this year. Thanks, God!
I've also shared the birthday love by dropping around a few blogs I frequent and posting shameless attention getting birthday announcements, inviting people to drop by here and wish me a Happy Birthday. Bear in mind, comments are moderated, so whatever you post won't show up until I have a chance to check my email and approve it. (With me out there blogwhoring all morning, it seems especially important to keep this feature up now, as otherwise there's just no telling what might end up in these threads.)
On that subject, let me say this -- yeah, going onto someone else's blog and posting a shameless commercial for your own blog, along with a birthday plea for attention, is pretty pitiful, and probably quite obnoxious. However, as I have noted at length on precursor blogs, it's all about attention.
Beyond that, all I'm trying to do is get people to actually look at this page. Whether they like it or not, whether they post comments, whether they come back... that is entirely dependent on my content, which is to say, on my talent and my skill. I'm not begging people to love me, I'm just asking that they check out something I am reasonably confident at least some of them will enjoy and appreciate, given the chance. I don't think that's really all that bad... but of course, your mileage may vary.
Oh, yeah, one more thing before I sign off...
Thanks, Tammy. I adore you.
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So this Boy Scout, couldn't have been older than eleven, is holding up this kinda chubby looking Scotch Pine. It was.... ehhhh... okay...
Happy Birthday, young upstart, and many more.
ReplyDeleteThere, now can I stop eating the paste?
Diane
Diane,
ReplyDeleteNo, no, it was 'come post a comment OR stay home and eat paste'. If you're doing both, I've been unclear in my instructions.
But I admire your hand to eye coordination. ;)
I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday...mine birthday is tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Highlander
ReplyDeleteAs Diane says, you are just a young upstart.
Dude...you're totally making that shit up! I never (sex act edited out) or even (kinkier sex act edited out) you. Okay, maybe I fixed you eggs. But you're totally exaggerating the rest of it.
ReplyDeleteAnd, for the record, I adore you, too. Happy Birthday, Baby!
As mentioned in the email early this morning: Happy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteI lost too much time in what seemed to be a couple blinks this morning, as 4:18 became 6:27 in a flash of dark magic, which eradicated some quiet time for anything more detailed.
Howdy Mr. Highlander -- the comments section at Alicublog let me know it's your birthday -- let me be the first^H^H^H^H^Hsecond to wish you a happy one, with many happy returns of the day. (keep your fingers crossed -- that the day should have many returns is currently in some doubt, never mind that they should be happy.)
ReplyDelete^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hthird
ReplyDeleteDude...you're totally making that shit up! I never (sex act edited out) or even (kinkier sex act edited out) you.
ReplyDeleteAhem.
I see you've already had a very happy birthday indeed. Let me add my voice to the crowd - happy birthday, man.
Happy birhday!
ReplyDeleteAnd, as a Bears fan let me say, "No problem. Any time!".
Blogwhoring is great, happy birthday.
ReplyDeleteTim,
ReplyDeleteThank you for wishing me a Happy Birhday. I assume this has to do with Raymond Birh's famous duel with Alexander Hamilton, or is at least a sly, sideways reference to the episode of IRONSIDES where he tries to celebrate his birthday only to have it interrupted by a plague of demonic overlords trying to reopen the Hellmouth.
That was a good one.
I do appreciate your Bears whippin' up on that no good Cajun and his rotten Panthas. I hope you won't mind when my Bux are forced to put your Bears back in their cages with whips and chairs next weekend, though. It's nothing personal. Just something they gotta do.
Scott,
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm having a Happy Birthday so far. Pretty happy life, actually, when I'm not at work. Thanks for the good wishes. Very nice to hear from you again.
Happy 44th, H!
ReplyDeleteSince mine was yesterday, maybe we'll get a late birthday present: Bucs vs. Colts in the Super Bowl. If that statement is ignorant due to being in different divisions or whatever, please direct any comments to my plug (I can be an attention whore and direct the crap away from H's special day)
Happy Birthday!!
ReplyDeleteMrs. The Editors
Wow, all these birthday wishes. Anonymous, Anonymous, Mrs. The Editors, Jenna K, Charlotte, Anacreon, and Tony -- thanks very much. I'm overwhelmed. Now if you'd all just stick around and keep commenting...
ReplyDeleteHey, it's my party and I'll cry if I want to (you would cry too if it happened to you).
Seriously, thanks, one and all. I may never have another comment thread that reaches 17 comments, but I'll always have Paris. Or something.
Oh, and as always, thanks, Tammy.
In honor of your Birthday, I saved some of my paste for you. Here, I even brought you a fresh KraftStik® to eat it with. Happy, happy!
ReplyDeleteSo, just who the heck are you, anyways?
Happy birthday, youngster.
ReplyDeleteChimera,
ReplyDeleteWhen somebody asks you if you're a god, you say, yes.
Tom,
Thanks. And I still really enjoy rereading your work on POWER OF THE ATOM. Stellar work, Mr. Peyer.
Whew...20 comments and counting...have fun, Sweetie!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday, strange person who exists somewhere in the ether. Came here via Unqualified Offerings.
ReplyDeleteChortled over the post on What to say to a call center.
Can I say chortle?
Happy birthday man! Hope you had a great (sex edited out)!
ReplyDeleteCH2,
ReplyDeleteI smell pretty good these days. SuperGirlfriend hoses me down regularly. But thanks for the druidic chanting; it really enlivened my day.
I checked out your blog; it looks pretty cool. I may hang around it a bit in the future.
Species 8,
Glad you liked the call center piece. More to come, I have no doubt. And yes, you can use the word chortle. It is, in fact, one of my favorite words.
I am a very strange person, there can be no doubt of that. Thanks for the birthday props.
Yeah, I'm having a Happy Birthday so far. Pretty happy life, actually, when I'm not at work.
ReplyDeleteWell, better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, as I always say (well, not really, in fact, I may have swiped that one from you).
And I hope you and Tammy have many more happy birthdays together.
Very nice to hear from you again.
Thank you. I've been lurking a great deal, so I've been mostly keeping up to date on the continuing story of Highlander and SuperGirlfriend. Haven't been keeping up on my end of the deal, comment wise, for which I apologise. Although, geez, 25 comments!
Now that it is the wee hours of the 22nd, I just thought I'd check in to make sure you enjoyed your B-Day! Of course you did; with the world's greatest girlfriend, every day is a celebration! I'd better stop with all of the exclaimation marks...You probably have a cake and ice cream hangover.
ReplyDeleteMark
P.S. my word verification was hqqsy...so Hqqys B-Day!
Okay, one last pass through to clean up details I've foolishly overlooked:
ReplyDeleteTo the Anonymous person who's birthday is today, Happy Birthday!
To Jenna K, thanks for taking the time, and yeah, blogwhoring IS great, apparently. People shouldn't encourage me this way. But I'm happy they did.
Tony, thanks for ALL the birthday greetings, and Happy Birthday to you on Sunday, too. We could hypothetically see a Bucs/Colts Super Bowl, as they are in opposite conferences, and the Ponies look pretty well unstoppable at the moment. However, two things stand in the way of that:
(A) Chris Simms probably needs more seasoning before he can take the team all the way; chances are we'll do respectably this year, but get knocked out of the play offs by, say, the Bears or the Giants. (It's likelier to be the worthless stinking Panthers or the miserable and appalling Cowboys, but I hates them, I hates them forever, so if the Bucs have to take a fall, I'd rather it be at the hands of Chicago or New York)
(B) the Colts are a dome team and can't play in cold weather, so even though they will almost certainly make the play offs, unless every elimination game is somewhere warm, they're going to fall to the ground and shatter into pieces like the sugarplum fairies they are at some point (and, like Dubya, I say "BRING IT ON!!!")
Mike and Mark, thanks also for all the birthday greetings, here and emailed.
Dosali,
SuperGirlfriend gives the BEST (sex edited out) in the universe. Believe it.
I TOLD you I didn't (sex edited out)! Why won't you people believe me?!?!? I mean you're all just going on and on like I'm not even in the room. Geez....I'm standing RIGHT HERE!!
ReplyDeleteYeah, okay. She totally didn't (sex edited out) me in this very chair Sunday night, and she also totally didn't push my pajama pants down, push me back on the bed, drop to her knees, and (sex edited out) me half an hour ago before she left for work, either.
ReplyDeleteHeh.
Um...upon advisement of counsel...and without admitting any wrongdoing whatsoever....I am hereby uttering "Uncle"...and withdrawing from the field....
ReplyDeleteHighlander,
ReplyDeleteYou seem to always think I hold a grudge. Nope. Happy wishes are sincere.
Your Colts analysis is missing one bit -- they're pretty likely to have home field advantage throughout the playoffs, and with the Super Bowl in Detroit they would never have to even set foot outside in the playoffs (well, assuming they drive the team bus into both stadia).
I figured the Bears for a .500 team at best before Grossman was injured, much worse without him. They're living on defense and magic, and I always expect that to collapse. So, don't color me surprised if the Bucs do do their Bear taming act this weekend.
Tim,
ReplyDeleteI think we may both be a little prickly still. I intended nothing but japery; I sincerely took your good wishes as sincere. I apologize for anything in my tone that indicated otherwise. On the other hand, if both of us can't get to a point where either of us can use and perceive dry humor, we're probably wasting our time on each other. And I certainly hope we're not.
The Colts will almost certainly have home field advantage, since you mention it... hard to imagine anyone else going into the play offs with their record. But I have absolute faith in Tony Dungy; the man can get teams to the play offs, but he can't get them into the Super Bowl.
On the other hand, I find it unlikely the Bucs will make it all the way to the Bowl this year, and if they do, it's hard to believe they could beat the Colts playing in a dome. Still, Simms is getting perceptibly better with each game. If he keeps that up, he'll be the new Dan Marino by the time the Super Bowl rolls around. As always, it's a game of wait and see.
Which also goes for the Bucs and the Bears next weekend, of course. I have to hope the Bucs can continue to roll, but I don't have any real faith in the team as yet. Still, as some fictional FBI agent or another once said, I want to believe...
We're cool, I just wanted to be sure you understood my tone.
ReplyDeleteHmm, interesting. You (and maybe other Bucs fans?) sound like most of the Bears fans up here. There's really no faith in the team in any given week. That's compounded by the fact that I think they've been favored going into exactly game this year. I don't expect that to differ this weekend.
Well...better late than never. Just send me a 5-gallon bucket of the paste...
ReplyDeleteHappy Belated Birthday (although I did e-mail natal greetings...)
My verification word was zjlxtz. Kinda reminds me of Superman for some reason... ZTXLJZ!!