map of the world

spook just bought a new shirt with maps all over it. It's so cool that when he tried it on my first response was "You must have that shirt." For the record, I'm still against having a longhorn skull in my living room.

Tomorrow is my thirtieth birthday, which is giving me a chance to sit back and consider where I've been so far. Of course, I will use any excuse to make up a story about my life and What It Means, but this one is socially acceptable--even socially expected. When I said I didn't feel freaked out about it, Shanghai made a kind of *pssht* gesture and explained "Forty is the new thirty." How am I ever supposed to grow up if they keep pushing the age of adulthood back? Why would I want to grow up anyway? That sort of thing leads to fussy dining room furniture. I want to stay in my "Christmas lights are legitimate interior decor" years a little longer.

Where I am right now wasn't on the map ten years ago--not my personal map, the one I carry around in my head to explain to myself where I'm going. I ignored a few important topographical details... It's rare that you go where you think you're going, but I like to check the map every once in a while anyway, to get some sense of where I might be. Here's good.