Quarter of a century

Yesterday I turned the big 2-5. To commemorate this occasion, here is a photo of a much younger me that I found while cleaning out my desk:
Kind of adorable if I do say so myself. Even though I look like a boy and the photo quality makes it seem like I was born in 1933. Apparently camera technology was a bit behind the times in the good old USSR.

This year I spent the majority of my birthday attending a staff meeting and editing random articles. And what a joy that was. But in case you are feeling sorry for me I should probably tell you that my weekend was chock-full of birthday week celebrations and that I’m heading to Lake Powell on Wednesday to soak up some rays on a houseboat. Plus Butch sent these little beauties to brighten up my cubicle:

I also celebrated my 25 years on this planet by consuming as much raw fish as humanly possible. I had lox and bagel for breakfast in the morning (thanks, Helen!), met up with my sisters and baby Anna at Happy Sumo for lunch, and when Butch asked where I wanted to go to dinner, my answer was Takashi. My sushi philosophy is that there can never be too much of a good thing. But don't worry, I diversified my diet a bit when we met up with friends at Leatherby's and I inhaled the better part of a black and tan. Gotta give my aging bones some calcium. Side note: I realize that this post would be better with pictures but for some reason few things make me more self concious than taking pictures in restaurants. Is that weird? Although in hindsight I don’t think taking pictures would have drawn any more attention to our group than the Leatherby’s staff singing happy birthday to me while kneeling around the table in one of the more awkward restaurant birthday rituals I’ve ever seen.

We finished off the night by watching the Memphis/OKC game, which nearly ended my life prematurely with its anxiety inducing triple overtime. Here’s hoping Memphis can pull off a win next time.

Oh, and Kevin O’Connor? If you’re reading this I have a birthday request for you. I would like Shane Battier sporting a Jazz uniform by this time next year please.

Thank you in advance.