I also neglected to mention that Now It Is February.

As far as I am concerned, the only really enjoyable thing about this month is that my birthday falls on the 27th. Well, maybe that's enjoyable. Adult birthdays tend to be kind of a gyp - you never get cool toys any more, and you often have to work on your birthday, and it's not quite as much fun to have cupcakes at school when you're the one who has to bake them.

As for the rest of the month - eh. Groundhog's Day? It's a lie. The deck is stacked so there's ALWAYS six more weeks of whatever cruddy weather. Super Bowl? Please. I could not care less. Valentine's Day? I hate it in only the way a single, unattached woman over the age of 25 can hate that day. And even more - I hate the whole guilt-trip nature of the day, the way the television insidiously tells people (men especially) that they are real louts if they don't go out and buy, buy, buy for That Special Person. No matter whether they're a gem the other 364 days of the year - they're a loser if they don't make with the jewelry on Feb. 14. Or, by another token, somehow the "right" gift can cover up a lot of past transgressions, a lot of past unkindnesses or inattentiveness. Feh. And President's Day? Totally fake. It's a Make Your Own Holiday where no one was actually really born who is famous or notable, the REAL birthdays of the notable people falling inconveniently in the middle of the week (or on a Saturday where having a bank-holiday wouldn't make much sense). And it's a day when banks close and no mail is delivered, yet I still have to go to work.

And of course there is also Lent. Even though I've never been devout enough to give anything up, it always seemed vaguely unfair to me to have my birthday in the middle of a span where you are supposed to be denying yourself and repenting.

I have no plans for my birthday this year; it falls on a Sunday which means I go to church (and I'm supposed to teach Sunday School that day, and IIRC I'm supposed to preside over communion that day) and besides, nothing 'round here of interest to me is open on Sundays. So I don't know. If I felt I could spare the time I'd take the Saturday before and make a Longview-pilgrimage to the yarn shop and the big big bookstore, but I have a sinking feeling I *won't* be able to spare the time.

Maybe if I pretend it doesn't happen, I get to stay 35 for another year?