Yep, this past thursday was my thirty-fifth year on this earth, and unlike most birthdays, I celebrated this one in style! This is not to say that none of my previous birthdays are fun (my 31st at a friend's concert and my 19th at a water park come to mind), I just usually don't make too big a deal of planning an outing unless I have a really good idea. Luckily for me and everyone else involved, this was one of those "creative years." Let me just go through a rundown of "my day's" events for June 11th, 2015:
We (my mother, sister, and sister's boyfriend) began the day with a trip to the Long Beach waterfront to take a short cruise on the Aqualink, a water-taxi operated by Long Beach Transit. I discovered this service several months ago when I took my mother down to the LBC for the first time. The vessel is a sleek, air conditioned catamaran that costs only $5 per person each way between the waterfront and Seal Beach. It was a fun 45 minute cruise along the Long Beach coastline---------and they serve drinks! So, after finishing my Bloody Mary shortly after arriving at our final destination, it was off to Seal Beach Pier to explore and take pictures. By this time, we were all getting pretty hungry so we went headed back to the waterfront via Uber (as we missed the boat ride back and were pressed for time) for an early dinner at Yard House. Why an early dinner? Because this was only part one of my birthday. Part two started later in the evening at my good friend Andy Cogan's stand-up comedy show at Malo Restaurant and Lounge in Silverlake. More drinks, more laughs, and even more fun overall. Andy even wished me a happy birthday before he started his act. The night ended with a few more drinks at the El Cid bar down the street. It was great introducing my family to a great and talented buddy of mine, and that they all got to celebrate my special day together.
So here's to a great birthday full of boat cruises, drinks, food, laughs, and numerous facebook messages that I all appreciate. Despite all that I'm going through both emotionally and financially, it was nice that for at least 24 hours, I was "King."