Sixteenthirtysixish Candles.

Hi! It's my birthday today. I'm at work which seems sort of unfair, somehow, but they've all been very nice to me - flowers, cake, gifts, lunch out, I mean, dang. This is a far cry from a few years back when I had the worst/best birthday ever. It was the worst in terms of my job situation and the best because you can't put a price on a call from Anderson Cooper. Most of you know this story, but if you don't, read about it here.

I just got back from the cake-with-co-workers thing and everyone in the office took turns guessing my age. The first guess was a full FOURTEEN YEARS too young. I mean, I know I look young, but HELL. Maybe she was fucking with me, but she really seemed shocked that I was so creakily ancient. Clean living, is what it is. Clean living and lots of candy. Take notes, kids, for I just gave you the secret to longevity: CANDY.

I meant to write more but I'm all jittery from the cake and M&Ms and the twee little dessert I was given at the Japanese restaurant where we had lunch. It was a little white pod that came with a candle stuck in it and all the employees sang. Mortifying! But sweet. Fa ra ra ra ra. The dessert was a mysterious thing - some sort of frozen confection covered in an almost impenetrable paste coating. It was sweet but had no discernible flavor. My helpful Internet friends immediately concluded that it was mochi which I'd never heard of. How is this possible? How is there a dessert I've never heard of? I really must buckle down and start studying harder or something.