Happy Birthday

Today was my birthday. I didn't make a big deal of it and didn't really mention it to many people. If you're my friend and wondering why you weren't invited to the party, there was none.

It was a good birthday though - I took care of some business in the morning, went for a nice walk in the foothills while discovering a great new album on my ipod, and won at online poker. I then watched a fantastic football game and afterwards had an inspired conversation with Paul and Truman about tournament poker.

The real highlights, though, were getting birthday phone calls from my ex-girlfriend Laura and my sister Rose. It's funny. I had a lot of friends and family wish me happy birthday, but the most meaningful were from a couple of ladies with whom I've had up-and-down relationships. I thought it was nice that they thought of me today. It's interesting that I could get more satisfaction from them than from more "consistent", "reliable" friends and family. It's not fair, I guess, but that's the way it works sometimes. It worked like that in middle school, it's how Jean-Robert Bellande operates, and it's how Ryan Adams still has a career.

One of my all-time favorite movies, Meet Joe Black, (which I somehow forgot to put on the Underrated list) is all about this concept.