I figured I'd write a quickie pre-emptive birthday entry... To those of you stopping by to leave a balloon-notated well wishes, thanks! To those of you on my friends list, thank you for being the most bizarre smattering of people I've ever kept in close contact with...I am horrible at most forms of correspondence and how often I try to pepper you with comments is a testament to how awesome I think you are.

I've no big plans for the day... My mom's birthday is the day after mine which has always been a measure of what any plans are, that ultimately being the lump birthday party and/or dinner. When originally asked what I'd care to have for my 30th birthday dinner, I'd boldly chose "Lolo's chicken'.

It's this mystical recipe for fried chicken my filipino grandfather used. To say that it's rarely made is an overstatement. The last time I recall having it was for my high school graduation. Now being in a position where I'd what to document this unwritten recipe for myself, I badgered my mom into consent to this two-day prep project.

Day One was Sunday evening involving a seeming gallon of marinade, trimming, choppin, dicing and whisking. Day Two (B-Day) will be frying & baking and happily absconding with all of the leftovers! I think my Dad holds that one of the great losses of my parents' divorce was his being cut of from this dish. I'd called him tonight confessing what we were having as well as the fact that I'd be e-mailing him a copy of the recipe for part of his Father's Day present. He confessed in only having it once in the past twenty years, he still remembers exactly what it tastes like.

Presents, as one grows older, become a rarer thing and this year being unemployed, it's that much greater. Everyone's throwing b-day money towards me to aid in the lack of qualifying for unemployment. The one gift I'm looking forward to is from AmazonRed13... We've known each other so long that we're quite comfortable just telling each other what we'd care for most in receiving presents. She'd come up w/ scoring me a ticket to see Robert Fripp at Toad's Place. The fact that it's supposed to be part spoken word astounds me as he's a delightful excentric who avoids public speaking at all costs...Joy!

The only other random occurence worth mentioning is receiving a phone call Tuesday morning at about 4:30am, reporting in saying that he'd be on a plane back to Connecticut that same day. Perhaps the return of one of my best friends is the just the 30th b-day present I could want...