the monster turns 38

I've been 38 in my mind for months, but reality has finally caught up, and I'm officially 38 today. I sat down to write a long essay about how thankful I am that my schlong hasn't detached itself and crawled away from me in disgust, but decided against it. My parents wrote to say that a care package is on the way, and my buddy Mike wrote a lively email to tell me about a turd he'd made that was, disturbingly, shaped like a claw hammer.

38 Special.
38th Parallel.
What other famous 38s are there?

I celebrated early by hitting the local Outback Steakhouse last night. Strangely enough, the service was terrible, which isn't normal for that branch. The appetizer took 30 minutes to appear, and the main course followed it two minutes later-- bad form, that. But the food was good, and on the bright side, the wait staff was prompt about refilling my drink. That's something of a rarity in Korea. My brother David, who used to work in the restaurant business, tells me the general rule in America is, "The customer's glass should never be empty." In Korea you sometimes have to flag the server down to get your free refill.

But the weather was fantastic yesterday-- cloudy, windy, low humidity. I loved it. That was a nice birthday present.

Today, alas, I'm on my way to the office to take care of school-related stuff. Will probably be there over the weekend as well. We're still on break for part of next week, but the new courses I'm teaching require a good bit of planning.

And that's what turning 38 is like for me! En avant!


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