Our development machine is down due to a bad motherboard (we think), so no work is being done today. Instead we wander around aimlessly, closing office doors to chat. This would be more pleasant if we hadn't also had yesterday off due to the company picnic. As it is I'm sleepy and headachey and knowing that I have bugs which I am even now not able to fix gnaws at me.

But I should talk about my birthday! After putting up my last entry I went home and helped Jim clean in a leisurely fashion. Eric showed up and got stuck stringing lights -- Jim had bought 650 coloured lights to decorate the house with, knowing how much I love them. Then Czr and Julie showed up to go shopping with us, and as we were leaving Jeremy and Rachel showed up... so in the end Eric and Jeremy and Rachel stayed at the house doing lights while Jim and Czr and Julie and I went to Milk Pail to buy tons of cheese and fruit and fresh bread.

By the time we got back more people had arrived, so there was no shortage of hands to help with the food -- which was good, because we had tons of food and I was fluttering far too much to be very useful. Omi and Vivek showed up from work; Omi sat with Rachel and peeled pomegranates, while Vivek wandered around looking at my books and being amusing. Then at some point we were suddenly done, and I went and changed into my new gorgeous brown dress, and then people were arriving and there were lights and balloons (decorated as *sheep* -- Earl did that, and some of them were hysterically funny, such as the balloon with Yin&Yang sheep on one side (interlocking legs) and a Mongol Sheep on the other) and tons of food and goodness it was a party.

Lots of people showed up. More people than I can keep track of. Horde people mostly, but also a few people from suspects (much to my delighted surprise!) and Daniel who I worked with at Netcom, and the long-lost Jill who I met at SGI, and Moria from here. It was lovely. Eventually they brought out my cake (mocha buttercream, my eternal favourite) and I blew out candles, and then everyone stared at me while I opened presents and tried not to be too silly.

Presents included:

• A bizarre flashing-light Halloween decoration from Eric McColm, which generated much amusement and is even now hanging on our patio window taunting the cat.
• A prism from Moria, which I must remember to hang in Vivek's window here at work -- although it might not get enough sunlight.
• An adorable bear wearing a Caltech shirt from Earl, which matches last year's USC bear (named Cedric) quite well. Earl said Cedric needed a companion, which is true.
• A variety of presents from Rachel & Jeremy, including a stuffed lion with a bright purple velvet cape, a huge set of coloured pencils, and a notebook with a purple velvet cover.
• A nifty burgundy tank top from Marith which she dyed & decorated herself -- just the perfect thing to wear under my black leather jacket...
• Trip gave me a copy of Diana Wynne Jones' latest book, which is only fitting -- a few summers ago we checked out all of her books from the Mountain View library and devoured them, and then he bought me Minor Arcana (her short story collection) at WorldCon.
• From Chrisber I got a copy of Full Contact, which is one of my all-time favourite Hong Kong movies. Now I can show it to Jim and he'll finally understand why I had to buy myself a bali-song.
• Elizabeth Hunter brought me red & white roses, which are even now drying in my closet. I love white roses. Swoon.
• Last on my list due to their incredible coolness -- there were two of those little gift bags, one metallic purple, one irridescent. I picked up the first one and said, "Who is this from?" and Jim (sitting beside me) admitted it. So I opened it to find ... sheep slippers! Absolutely adorable blue flannel slippers with white sheep (some of them numbered) on them. Cool! Then I picked up the other bag and asked who _it_ was from. "Me again," said Jim. I open it, and inside are sheep pajamas, a la Ally McBeal. Blue flannel sheep pajamas, like I've been wanting since January. I melted. Even writing about it now I get this disgusting grin on my face. Wow.

I hope I'm not forgetting anything -- if so someone should remind me and I'll be appropriately penitent.

The rest of the party is sort of a blur for me. I talked with Jill a lot. I talked with Daniel a little bit. I talked to Christina Palmer & Mark Weaver, neither of whom I'd met before that night. Howard showed up with his wife, who I embarassingly didn't remember meeting, and I chatted with them a little. As always I was too distracted to eat (although I did better this year) and didn't get to talk long enough to anyone. Jim and I started cleaning up the food around 1am, and threw everyone out at 2. Cleanup was surprisingly easy -- I have tidy friends.

So that was my birthday. It's always so hard to describe; in my mind it's just a whirl of lights and music and people and food. But a wonderful whirl.