Got up at 1PM today and did not feel like butt (I actually feel almost rested). Not a bad start. And then AIM consolidates the multiple logons. Now I can be on the same screen name at multiple locations without needing 2 screen names. Conductor of BSO will now reign supreme. This is perhaps to make up for the advertising kick in the balls. Every once in a while the stupid IM window will scream a movie trailer at me and that is NOT appreciated.

So I guess I'm "older" now, by some arbitrary standard of time, planetary, and solar alignment. No privileges come with this ascension in age though. I gotta wait till 25 until I can be all pimping with the car rentals. So what is this day good for? Who knows. It is truly arbitrary in essence but practicality, you get an excuse to call on your friends and play, to be introspective, to assert your youth (or geriatricity if that's more your dish), to really just do things you want to do and nothing else. It's also a pre-New Year new year where, again arbitrarily, you can ponder about the future, and set goals (how many years do we have? The birthday year, the calendar year, the academic year, the fiscal year...). What are my goals for the next year? Hmmm...surprisingly, I have a good idea (in vague chronological order):

1. Play the piano when drunk enough to be dizzy
   
2. Ski/snowboad whenever I get a chance
   
3. Give a talk at SMT West Coast
   
4. Give a talk at AMS Regional
   
5. Submit and get published at least one article in a journal
   
6. Achieve basic proficiency with German and Japanese.
   
7. Don't sit around on my butt all day [Read: Running, Weight Training, Nunchucks]
   
8. Work at Latitude Inc. over the $ummer and earn $ome money.
   
9. Go visit relatives in China during the summer
   
10. Get a convertible (Z3 or Miata or something of the sort)
    
11. Get into a decent apartment for next academic year and squat there for the remaining 4.
    
12. Pimp out (in a non-pimpish sort of way) said apartment
    
13. Get around to surfing or kite boarding
    
14. Give a talk at SMT National (and at AMS national) <--unlikely though
    
15. Have a life <--also not likely
    

Well there you have it. My life as an ordered list in HTML. I don't think that another year of life under my belt really allows me to do any of these things but it sure does make me approach them differently. So maybe age is good after all, as long as you still act like an immature little brat on the outside but mature on the inside. Kinda like Fat Croc Shiraz. Cheap and funny on the outside, surprisingly good on the inside.

Ah well, time to go be a birthday boy and drag whoever is still here in SB to come play with me whether they like it or not. Project for tonight: HOT POT!!!