this was us on jeff’s birthday last year. he said he was getting old. said he’d rather have a full 8-hour sleep than a sleepless night of drunken parties. he just wanted some peace and quiet. an age-appropriate celebration befitting of the numbers that spell out his age. the kind your grandma would totally gatecrash.

and so we only had a simple dinner in the city. at this vietnamese restaurant whose name i can’t remember.

it was a really cold night, i can tell you that right now. 3 layers of clothing and my bones were still feeling it, man. as a consolation, you have to give my beanie some brownie points. didn’t really help much with preventing hypothermia but, well, what can you do? that shit was on sale.

oh, and what’s up with the 6 of spades? well, outside the restaurant, there was this street magician doing some card tricks. you know how they let you pick a random card from the deck and you sign your name on it and then they put it back into the stack and shuffle it like crazy to give you the impression that your card’s just as lost as nemo in a sea of spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs? and then all of a sudden, with a handful of exaggerated gestures and facial expressions, they fish out that one single card with your handwriting on it?

yep, that trick.

except that he used this plastic-y thing which then revealed my card. something like that. whatever. it was so long ago and i don’t exactly have photographic memory.

unless i’m trying to phish jeff with personal questions i already know the answer to. that, my friend, is my forte. as well as every other woman’s out there, whether they care to admit it or not. lol.

anyhow, jeff’s not getting any younger so as you can expect, it was still a pretty laid-back birthday celebration this year. although he just kissed his last year’s wish of a full 8-hour sleep goodbye because, you know, chubby cheeks.

his parents shouted us dinner at china bar signature asian buffet. an all-you-can-eat resto at burwood east. where i stuffed my face full with sushi because i’ve been so deprived of it for 10 long months i almost forgot what they taste like. (like heaven!) and, oh, i discovered a new japanese favorite: seaweed salad.

so as not to waste the $65 meal, i also stuffed my face full with oysters. too much that i felt drunk with it. tipsy. i didn’t even know oysters could do that to you. or maybe it was just me. but that didn’t stop me from going for more, nonetheless.

maybe because i also kind of miss getting drunk. no, not make-out-with-the-toilet drunk. just, you know, chill drunk. the kind that lowers your self-consciousness and raises your endearing lameness to an all-time high. laughing your gums out with your buddies at 3am, talking about ridiculous nonsense that you’re bound to forget the morning after.

those were the days.

and if you ask me if i want something like that for my kid as well, the answer is:

HELL, YEAH!

but only when she’s 23 and i’m one of her drinking buddies while her dad DJs somewhere in the background.

i swear we’d the coolest parents ever! (i’ll bet my false teeth on it. lol.)

*raven at 1 month old