no self esteem

I have a friend who is planning her own birthday party. I don’t really understand that since 1) I don’t like parties and 2) I don’t like birthdays, but it makes her happy so I'm going to be supportive. This year it’s going to be 90s themed!

This has spawned an interesting discussion in the office: who should I dress up as. I guess I was hoping to have some cool suggestions presented - perhaps a superhero of sorts? But… I think I am the only one who has voted for anything cool. Everyone else seems to see me as a secondary character that is an idiot, or at least abused. George Costanzia and Al from Home Improvement are currently winning, although Super Mario is running in a close third. Does anyone have any ideas that would allow me to be cool?? Or am I condemned to be the punch line?

'What a difference... a day makes'

An ancient philosopher named Epicurus once said “Of all the things that make life entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.” Now, I don’t know what kind of people Epicurus surrounded himself with (I assume people with white robes and foliage in their hair), but this guy understood the day I had today.

From the first person I saw today till the midnight phone call that woke me up, I’ve been surrounded with nothing less than quality people. An old boss calling to ask for opinion of a new hire, facebook messages from long lost friends, a phone call from a friend trying to brighten his wife’s day, pictures from another showing off the new girl of his dreams, seeing tears from a girl who was determined to make sure her friend was safe, twitter conversations encouraging a guy who’s job sucks, or the manager at Panera who gave me a free coffee and cookies to tell me she missed seeing me around. This list is not in any way exhaustive.

Other than the last 45 minutes of work today, I can’t say I accomplished anything. As a matter of fact everything I set out to do today did not happen. Not a single thing. (Sorry dad, your birthday present will be in the mail tomorrow.) From the standpoint of convenience it kinda sucked. At the same time, I don’t know if it could have been a better day. I learned more about what matters today than I ever could have getting my checklist done, and being a successful “adult.” After all I think the great philosopher Dr. Seuss said it best, “Adults are just obsolete children and the hell with them."