Musing on my birthday

Dear Birthday Santa-
I was finally able to sit in sunshine for a few minutes today after work, since the sun hadn't set yet. It was awesome and got me to thinking about the obvious: my 32nd birthday is coming. Santa, I've been smacked around pretty hard by life these last two years and I think I've been pretty good, considering. And since I've been told I'm difficult to shop for, I'm making a list:

1. awesome socks. My grandma who passed away recently had been my top supplier in awesome, ugly, or just plain "what the hell?" socks for years. I don't think she meant to feed my sarcastic clothing style, but she did. I walk a lot and socks only have so many miles in them. My sarcastic sock supply is running low!!

2. mid-level to fancy tequilla. I didn't mean to become that one girl who is snotty about tequila; it turns out, though, that my taste buds have different life goals than I do. In spite of working two jobs, I am brutally poor (which leads to #3 on my list) and haven't had my own bottle of tequilla in months.

3. groceries. How the tuition taxation works at the day job is that each of my paychecks looks like I make about seven times as much as I really do (even though I'm taking only two or three credits each quarter!!!) which puts me in (approximately) the same tax bracket as a third-tier movie star. I'm grateful for my second job, since in the current economy, there are many people far worse off than I am. And I've been fortunate enough to have two grocery sponsors each month (thank you, thank you, thank you), but I'm starting to feel the moochy label coming on. I know I probably should've put off school for another year, but I'd waited for almost a decade and was feeling a bit antsy, and I didn't think the whole world economy would fall apart like it has. I'm just thinking a little bit of groceries would give me a different option from the bizarre dinners that I've been living on for the past while. Not that it's bad; I'm just saying options are nice.

4. a latte. I had the realization yesterday that I've not had a latte in at least six weeks. This needs to be remedied.

All in all, Santa, life is going all right. I sleep a bit, I work out a bit, I eat peanuts to a probably unhealthy degree, and I play cello to a definitely unhealthy degree. I just know I've been trying to take care of myself on my own for the last six + months and have been thinking about what would be nice to have around as I transition into another year in my thirties. The latte though...I'm really feeling it. I used to go through phases of a latte a day. What would be the best gift to me currently, Santa, is a coffee shop of my own. Hmm. I think I just drooled a little bit.

Birthday Santa, I know you have a few other billion birthdays to attend to, so thanks for reading my wish list. In the past you've brought me awesome adventures and unexpected gifts; I just thought I'd help out a bit, you know? Anyway, my sponsored rice is done cooking in the next room and I've got some music to practice tonight.

Moral of today's story: sometimes John Denver did know what he was singing about. Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy, too.

An Erinku:
hair
finally long enough
for an
80's pony tail.