18 No More

Well, I had quite a nice birthday here, just a day back from my sojourn in Michigan. In the morning I got to ride my new mountain bike for the first time since the day I received it, got my official high school diploma, and opened my grandparents' graduation card and gift (which consisted of $$, a very generous amount :D). Mom made pancakes and bacon, which was excellent. Then I had a nice long jaw with David in the early afternoon, which inspired me to start writing like a fiend. At about 5:00 I opened presents, which were:

--A splendid pair of brown formal Bostonian shoes from my grandparents.

--Season 1 of Burn Notice (yeah!).

--Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy (All the Pretty Horses, the Crossing, Cities of the Plain).

--A promissory note for a bike helmet and bike shorts to ensure a degree of both safety and comfort once I hit the off-road trails.

--And a blue, 16 GB, 4th-generation iPod Nano. My current music could probably be multiplied by four or five before I maxed out that baby, and I have 2.5 days of music from 758 songs on iTunes. I will certainly not lack for the sound of music, at home or in the dorm. :D

I also have a gift en route from my bro. :-)

So for dinner we went to the Orange Counting Mining Company. For one reason or another they were rather backed up and we had to wait a considerable time for a seat, but once we were seated, it was quite a nice dining experience. A salad and soup bar, plus a New York steak with garlic mashed potatoes and root beer, was by no means unwelcome to the palette. :P Then we popped home, watched half of Appaloosa (our fiendish Blockbuster was completely scrubbed of anything having to do with Defiance, so I'll have to pick it up some other time or just get it through Netflix), and had the traditional and awesome chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and Breyer's mint chip ice cream.

And now I offer this to you, my first blog post penned at the age of 19. What an old geezer I've become, eh what?