Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Yo, Alexander - I feel you, dawg.

I have to say, yesterday was pretty much the suck. My secretary didn't remember that it was my birthday, which is a problem because she is in charge of the cake and (more importantly) the email that says, "It is so-and-so's bday, join us for cake." While I'm all about cake (cake!!), the point is that the email alerts everyone you work with to back off a little. No cake, no email means the peeps are not on notice.

At one point during the day, I was in a meeting in my office, being purposefully late for another meeting (this was my last opportunity this week to talk to the person in my office), and keeping an eye on the phone because I hadn't found time to call an attorney in Kansas. When I got out of the second meeting, it was 7 pm. Nice.

The ever-sweet brimful had sent out an eVite update to the peeps doin' it up with me on Saturday with some changes, and noting that it was my birthday. After the email, I received voicemail from two of my closest friends who really should have known better.

I've written and rewritten this part, and I think I have it down to two things: (1) because I'm laid-back about most things, I sometimes feel that people take me for granted and/or I don't end up getting what I want, (2) do not bullshit me.

Example for point (1): I ended a friendship with a woman who refused to eat "ethnic" food. She said that it affected her stomach, and I was sympathetic at first, but I really can't stand having "American" food all the time. If you can eat a burger and fries with impunity, you can find something on a Thai, Indian, Mexican, etc. menu that you can eat without ill effects. Her insistence became emblematic of narrow-mindedness, and the idea that her wishes were more important than mine.

On point (2), I really don't care if a friend forgets my birthday, but don't insult my intelligence by telling me that you "didn't have a chance to catch me at work." If that's actually what happened, you would have just emailed me - like everyone else. Sending me a voicemail after b's announcement is rather telling. This is the second time that this friend has ventured into bullshit, so I'm not feeling very generous.

I feel bad for feeling bad. No one (I know) died. It's not as bad as my 16th birthday (Persian Gulf War, anyone?) It could have been much, much worse - but feeling guilty about feeling bad still feels bad.

Amiga saved me from crying into my Tom Yam: we met at one of my favorite Thai restaurants in Palo Alto. You know how much I love the Thai. Then, the night just got sweeter - brimful and Roopali met me at the Cheesecake Factory for the Cheesecake. A great end to a bad day.