posted 2003/03/19 at 17:59
So I hold a birthday party for myself and invite eleven other people. Even though I fed everyone -- at a superb Italian restaurant to boot -- only two people showed up. That doesn't exactly do my heart proud. Then I wound up at that night's Student Senate meeting, where I had to sit through a lot of parliamentary procedure before getting a chance to speak on something I've been working on for a while now. Not that I expected Student Senate to break procedure for me, but when you think of ways you'd like to spend the night of your birthday, that's not exactly one that comes to mind. More news on that to come next week, I hope.
So I didn't get home until after midnight, meaning that my parents didn't a chance to wish me happy birthday until after my birthday was over. I don't know what possessed them to stay up so long waiting for me -- I think it has something to do with that "love" word I keep hearing but don't understand -- but they waited. My birthday booty from them consisted of the Armitage III OVA DVD (one of the greatest OVAs of all time), and the 2003 Poet's Market. I also got a nice comforter from outside the immediate family, some nice cards, and then one of my Japanese professors presented me with a 24 karat gold bookmark that just about had me in tears when I saw it.
Speaking of tears, I had a meeting with my counselor earlier today, and while I was still depressed about how my birthday didn't turn out like I planned, it was actually talking about the impending war that got my eyes to water up. I have a horrible gift of empathy, and right now I can't help but feel all the vibes going off around the world about how wrong this all is. I'll be in class tonight when the 48-hour deadline passes; somehow I have the feeling that when I get back to my car and turn on public radio for the drive home, I'll be hearing about the first skirmishes.
You know what it feels like? It feels like one of those stories where this huge war or killing spree is about to break out, and this one child explodes in a ball of light that grinds everything to a halt and makes everyone rethink what it is they're about to do. I know that's not going to happen, but I just keep hoping for something, anything that will stop this mess before it starts.
copyright © 2008 Sean Shannon