The 31st birthday

It is my first ‘single’ birthday in 4 years. Last year this time, I was drowned in depression. I still remember the 6th of November last year. It was Vinokur’s birthday, and I had a gig that night. Before leaving for work, I had manually changed by date of birth on all the social networking sites to May 7th to make sure that I don’t get flooded with the ‘happy birthdays’ — happy was a word that I was averse to then.

This year, I did the same thing to confuse everyone. I was partially succesful. Some of them still remembered and wished me. The others saw that some people are wishing me and joined in. Besides, I am at a much saner state of mind to respond to the word ‘happy’. Also, almost to give me a helping hand, FaceBook has allowed us to ‘like’ others wishes instead of reciprocating to them directly.

Last year at the gig, I remember wearing my b’day gift from Vinokur — the T-shirt that read ‘I my Weiner’. This year, I didn’t receive a gift from him. Instead, I received a Skype call on the 3rd of November. He wanted to wish me for by b’day earlier because he was going to be out of station for a week or so — he is celebrating this year driving up to upstate New York. On Skype video, he looked plump but still managed to retain that wonderful aura combining handsomeness, intelligence, and love.

The fact is that I still love my Weiner.