Happy Birthday To You

My birthday lasted kind of three days. Maybe four. Maybe all week. Anyway, my birthday was on Wednesday, and this is how it went:
I woke up when I felt like it and Kevin made me a tasty breakfast (Justina too, since she was still around) and I opened my presents with Mom on speaker phone so she could participate. I also noticed there was a slightly melty cake sitting there. These are my gifts: (mostly books--one on Florence &Tuscany, one on Greek artifacts, and one on Ancient Rome, Greece, and Etruria. The close up is of the last one. I also got a light house and a pretty sign thing from Justina)

Then Kevin took me to the mall and told me that he would pay for whatever I wanted. We went to all the cheap stores and I got like 5 shirts that each were all under or around $10. What a steal. Then, because it was incredibly windy, we went to Heartwell Park

to fly the kite

and harass the geese.

The kite flew pretty well. So well, in fact, that we got bored with it being up there after about 15 minutes. But we both had our turns flying it, and it was a lot of fun.


Then we walked over to the nearby pond and followed the geese around.

They were more interesting than the ducks. One goose had an afro.

Then we left because it was really, really windy, and we were both pretty tired from walking around all day.
Upon our return home I gave myself a lovely scented scrubby foot bath. Then I changed my clothes, Robert came over, and we all sat around and chatted until Justina came home from her final so we could go to olive garden. We all got tasty food (I got the ... pasta with chicken in some kind of garlic sauce....). I opened the present Justina and Robert got me (it was a kid's cookbook with tons of fun recipes we're all excited to try). Then we sat around being full and ordered a thing of tiramisu to share. To my (not really, because I saw Justina informing the waitress) surprise, the tiramisu came, along with half the waiters in the restaurant, who proceeding to sing an interesting birthday song that had a line or two in Italian. It was pretty cool, especially since I've never been sung to in a restaurant before. The tiramisu was delicious, and we left a tip that consisted of $12, a coupon to the golden spoon frozen yogurt place, and a coupon for butter at Vons. It was pretty fun. We took off so she wouldn't be able to say anything about the unusual tip. Apparently though, Robert does that sort of tipping quite often. We all went home and had cake, then went to bed.
The next day I woke up too early and went to my English final. I finished it in about 30 minutes (twas an in-class essay about Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language"-- which is interesting, if you get the chance to read it). I had to fight the urge to vomit most of the time, however, since it was early and I hadn't eaten breakfast. Then I went back home, packed up lunches for Kevin and me, and I went over to his house and sat around for a depressing hour and a half while he constructed the perfect birthday card for Chris Olivares. Then we went to the Post Office and mailed it, and FINALLY were on our way to California Adventure.
When we arrived, it was cold, and Kevin had mistakenly forgotten his jacket. We ate lunch right away and went into the gift shop outside the park to see if there were a cheap jacket Kevin could purchase. He changed his mind after seeing the price tags and we walked out of the store.
It was pouring. We walked back in to take a second look. After several frustrated minutes Kevin decided on a cheap gray long-sleeved shirt he could wear underneath his T-shirt.
We went to the entrance and saw hordes of people leaving.
"Are they closing the park?" I asked, saddened more by Kevin's bad attitude than the rain.
"Yes, it looks like it," he answered.
"No they aren't, let's go."
So we finally made our way in and were pleased to see that the rain had frightened off a majority of the Adventurers. We decided to make our way to the raft ride first, since we were already completely soaked. We walked right up with no waiting and were sitting in the raft a little before I was ready. We shared it with two bespectacled women who were hobbyist white-water rafters who told us we should try the real thing and got me a little interested with their conversation.
Before I knew it, the ride was over, and I was anxiously awaiting the dry, warm change of clothes I had been intelligent enough to bring (and even more glad I had thought to force Kevin to bring a change of clothes as well). I was saving my jacket for after the raft ride, so I was chilled to the bone. We waddled to the bathrooms (my pants were falling down with the weight of the water) and took our time changing. I was sad I had worn sandals.
I tried to convince Kevin to come on the roller coaster with me, but he was turned off by the loop. So I went on it twice by myself (single rider, able to avoid the crowds).

Kevin agreed to go on Mulholland Madness, which he hated. I did too.
Then we got in line for Soaring over CA, and Kevin chickened out at the last second, which was really annoying, since it's not even scary. At all. It's just an IMAX movie with scented freezing cold air. Anyway, we left shortly thereafter because Kevin wasn't going on any more rides and I was worn out with the rain and trying to get Kevin to ride stuff with me.


But first we went to the Boardwalk Cafe or something so Kevin could have his bread bowl. I got a croisant and some hot chocolate. Tasty. While we were eating a little boy came up to us and told us to be quiet because the dragons above us would wake up. (The eating area was at a closed-down chinese restaurant) He then proceeded to inform the rest of the people eating, finally being halted by a nervously smiling father. It was funny.
The next day I don't remember what we did except that it rained almost all day and after dark Robert and Justina were present, so we decided to watch "Signs". It was fun, especially since Justina gets scared so easily (which is strange since as a child she was a tomboy whose favorite movie was "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle"). Oh yeah, the reason Robert was over was because we had just gone to see "Prince Caspian" and ate at Rubio's.
Saturday we went to Disneyland. It was the first time I'd ever gone and not went on Peter Pan (that I can remember). We went on all the good rides (and then some). We started with Indiana Jones, then went to Astro Blasters. Justina and Robert were with us, and the shooting picture of Kevin and I didn't work for some reason, so here is theirs instead:

After that we went on Space Mountain because the sign said it was only 40 minutes. It turned out to be about an hour of screeching children that probably had consumed too much sugar right before getting in line. It got very tiring standing there for so long, so Justina and I convinced Kevin and Robert to be gentlemanly and make us a chair.
After Justina sat, I did, and then we were done, even though it was nice to not be standing for a minute. We chatted and found out that Mr. Duffin, an Ag teacher I had in high school, lived in Miraposa (where Justina grew up) and taught her in Ag too. We had the same opinion of him. Small world.
After Space Mtn we went in front of the castle and sat down on a bench to eat lunch. We then went on Pinnochio, where I explained to Kevin why the little boys turned into donkeys, and got in line for Haunted Mansion...
...and afterward met up with Ian and Kristina and went on Pirates of the Caribbean. Then Justina and Robert left so they could do laundry and eat inexpensive food, and Kevin and I went on the Mattehorn with Ian. Then we went and found Thomas (Kevin's brother) and Elias and other friends and had a very expensive Caesar salad at the Pizza Port in Tomorrowland. Kevin and I met up with Chris Franco while Ian went on his rides and we went on Alice in Wonderland. I don't think we went on any more rides after that, because I was very, very tired, and we left shortly after saying goodbye to Chris.
Monday Justina and I went shopping while Kevin had a recording session for one of his compositions. Then we went to a Memorial Day BBQ at Robert's house. We met his brother and his brother's friends and I ate Honey Teryaki chicken, homemade potato salad and lemonade with whole raspberries in it. VERY tasty. Then everybody left and it was just us 4 again, so we went to the Ralph's down the street and bought brownie bites. We took them back to the house and had brownies and milk while we watched Fantastic Four (the first one). When it was over, Kevin played piano for us and Justina and Robert told us their engagement story. Then the night was over and we went home.
Yesterday we came back to Fallbrook and I had a cardiologist appointment in Murrieta. I drove myself there expecting (finally) some answers, and what did he tell me? I have no heart condition! Wha??!!??
Yes, folks, I'm healed. I still have symptoms and whatnot, but they are things that happen to everybody. Why do I feel them every day and you do not? Because my nervous system is just more highly developed than yours, thank you very much.
In any case, I feel like this has pretty much been one of the best weeks of my life. I am happy.