further festivities

a big thank you to all who came out for my birthday dinner last night (especially nick and libs, who completely surprised me by coming all the way from western mass). maybe it shows my age that i couldn't finish my scorpion bowl, but it was a great time! i also brought roberta , my amazing one-of-a-kind farting hippo, custom built expressly for me by kz. apparently jethro, my mini hippo, was just a teaser. the chinese waiters were definitely puzzled as to how they might cook this strange animal, and what market price would be.

going to see borat on opening night afterwards, with mackey and iggdawg, was quite an experience. the theatre was full of unwashed pubescent bodies reeking of axe body spray, hormones, and pretense. it was warm and humid like the armpit of some feral beast. the posturing and chest-tumping ignorance was palpable; some of the ill-educated remarks were eyebrow raising. but the movie was great; an expose of american culture (or lack thereof) with a brilliant highlight on our charmingly ingrained bigotry. it also made me realize that we have quite a few pentecostals in this country. and they vote. holy shit.

speaking of voting, this morning we went to our regular weekend diner for breakfast (where i promptly announced to our waiter, who seats us every week, "guess what: it's my birthday!" i think i'll be guilty of these self-promotional proclamations far into middle age. it was nice to hear him say that i looked good for 26, but weird to have reached an age where looking good "for it" is a compliment). while i was in the middle of working through my egg scrambler and tomatoes, i wrinkled my nose at a strange scent...middle-aged man, wearing a suit, pattern baldness, and on a mission. it was that exact kind of cologne. then our incumbent congressman appeared at our table and reached out to shake my hand. i wouldn't have known who he was, had kz not pointed out that he was "coming right for us" moments earlier. kz, who is rather immune to stardom and politico clout, was rather nonplussed, as he's met this dude on several other occasions and conversed with him. i had no choice but to shake the papery, warm hand of an elected official, and thinking only of all the many down-home old folks and contractors and sticky-fingered children whose hands he'd shaken before. gross. when kz attempted to engage him in a short conversation, his deliberately patient but obviously hurried, patronizing remarks made me realize there wasn't much behind the curtain. and he was kind of short. it was weird. i kept remarking on how weird it was for the next 10 minutes or so. i'm not used to meeting figureheads, nor to having them act like i matter for a 5 second period, and then flit away to the next constituent. it's kind of schizophrenic, and i'm all set with it. it's really all rather dirty. if only i'd brought roberta out with me; then i could have told the congressman exactly what i thought about his campaigning in the middle of my birthday breakfast.