BERFDAYS!

forty two.
yeah.
i'm forty two.
...years old ....in a row.
damn.
that's something, huh?
here's another thing-
a surprising one, actually:
it was good!
no, for real.
it was a good berfday.
kayla dominated the whole thing.
hard.
and, after a whole day of good times,
she'd secretly organised a dinnertime get-together.
my other-mother patti and the head homie dennis were there,
my BOI carlos, and his lovely lady, the hannababarian,
plus our friend miranda attended,
and of course,
the mangosteen himself, nate sat at my right hand like how be and that.
y'feel me?
a surprise party, like how you're s'posed to.
no joke.
like, with presents and everything.
...and it was for me.
i am truly grateful, and humbled, that anybody would go out
in frigid, icy, awful temperatures for a non-emergency like my berfday-
but, i'm really F*ing glad they did.
it meant SO much to me to have a good one,
surrounded by good ones,
eating pizza.
yup.
pizza parties are the best,.
and back-to-back pizza parties are the absolute ultimate in first-last-first,
verse-chorus-verse big-bangin' awesome-saucy celebrations.
i can't express enough times, in enough ways,
how good it felt, in the middle of this deep-freezin' dark,
to know that there are worth-a-damn people populating my life story.
*  
and it all got started in the morning, man.
mmmhmmm.
i came home from a brisk and toe-numbing jaunt with crabtree
to a pile of presents, and balloons,
and two cards like how it is when it's the nicey-nice....
but,
that was AFTER breakfast.
and what better way to begin being forty-two than with too much breakfast/
am i right?
you'd better believe it.
neighbors,
from the beginning, we brought the noise-
check the big-B-type teleport:

PANNIECAKES FOR THE BAKER'S MAN!!
yes.
a hundredfold yesses and a hundredfold messes,
and all of it as awesome as you could ask for.
crispy-edged exxxtra-fluffy vegan panwell griddlers for my face?
F*ing expert.
devoured in mere moments after careful preparations and planning,
and all that time-consuming procedure, too...
kayla helped. in fact, she did most of it.
why?
because she figured it out faster, and better, than anybody else:
just be dope, or F* right off.
and she chose the right option.
that's impressive, for sure.
*
those skin-on roasty potatoes, a.k.a homeboyfries,
with the pre-baked crispy crusties,
and GPOP, and smoked paprika, and texas-style cayenne pepper sauce,
plus burnt red onion niblets, and scallion sprankles?
that could've been the whole meal, and it would've been a banger!
*
and that mutha-b!tchin' scramborghini?
maaaaaaan,
tofu scrambo is dope,
but activated scrambo is expert.
peppers, spinach, onions, cilantro, cress, pea tendrils, and micros??!
dudes, get on it.
y'ever made scramble?
you should start today.
here's the thing.
i'm all fired-up on berfday goodness,
so i'm not writing recipes this morning.
even though those panwell cakingtons were the TRUTH!!!
with real new hampshire maple syrup,
because rules is rules, fools.
yup.
no recipes, just enthusiasm.
i'm too thankful,
so i've gotta keep gushing about how good my peoples are.
like, for example:
nate got me a cut-proof glove for cake slicing.
yeah. i know.
ha. ha. ha.
...because i guess otherwise, i just cut fingers right off these days.
still,
i'm gonna use it, AND the sexxxy tableaus he snagged
for my photo-documentation of culinary adventure times
the dude went out and bought BOWS for the presentation, man.
on the ones, that's some serious evolutionary leap-type sh!t.
tight.
-
kayla got y'mans a brand new toaster oven.,
and the toast it produces is magnificent!
mmhmm.
receiving household appliances for the good of the team?
oh, yes, buddy.
that means things must be gettin' serious.
it's a high-water benchmark jauns, for sure.
and there were balloons:

c'mon.
that's kyoooot.
what?
oh, well, yeah,
i have a marginally magical bedroom.
don't judge me, judy.
-
p & d came through, as always, with the generosity,
and carlos really turned up a few notches of thoughtfulness, too.
-
i'm gonna have to repeat myself:
i'm grateful.
i'm very very aware of how fortunate i am for the good things that unfolded across
yesterdays horizons..
sure, they all cost something-
i mean, after all, that was yesterday.
today,
the door to the laundry room burst off of it's hinges just a mere moment ago-
for realsies.
and i guess that's just how it goes when you're a mega-magnetic gravity-well
of see-sawin' balance-beam-me-up echoes of infinite nature.
goods and bads, ups and downs, cause and effect in full F*ing effect.
that's what worthy warrior poetry summons
straight from the center of nowhere at the edges of everything
in a interesting intersection of indirect roundabout roustabout action
and direct participatory activation.
and i'm not even a little bit kidding.
***********
that's that.
i'm 42 now.
hmm?
well, yeah-
there are way worse things to be.
like, i could be as old and busted as this door.
actually,
if i was a bit handier,
or had full use of both my hands, with or without a knife-resistant gauntlet,
maybe i'd repair this newly F*ing ruined bit of the Fortress;
OR,
maybe i should read it as a sign.
like, an incentive to get a damned handyman in here
to make this place the palace it's meant to be.....
time will tell, hopefully faster than it's running out.
i know i caught a flow of positivity,
even if was only for that 24 hour period,
the inverse of my age,
in an opposite-but-equal balance,
i'm still thankful for the day,
and the dudes,
and the good woman,
and the naughty dog that presently form the full-spectrum of this Folk Life;
never quiet, never soft.....