21-10

So today is my birthday. I've been going round saying that I'm going to be "21-10" all week, not out of any inability to accept that I'm now 31, but more out of vague amusement at the whole "21-x" approach to ages that seems to be in vogue at the moment. The only time I've shied away from my age was around my 28th birthday, which I described as the 10th anniversary of my 18th :-)

As Alison and Anne were keen to point out last night, after 30 the next milestone to look forward to is 40. Up against that, 31 is comparatively meaningless. It's been quite an odd one this year, or the run up has been anyway. Because of the AFT and all the stuff I did and all the stuff I bought in New York it kinda felt like I'd already had my birthday. In some ways I had, because after all I bought my main birthday present out there, 3 weeks early.

At the moment, apart from the camera and a box of jelly babies, my presents consist of vouchers and money. This is definitely of the good. I try to take the approach of buying stuff I wouldn't normally think about with birthday vouchers, rather than just using them to dent the perpetual wish list I carry around with me and put every last bit of spare cash towards. That makes the birthday spending special. For my 27th birthday I got loads of book vouchers. 60 quids worth or more, I forget the exact figure. I then went and spent it all in one go on books that had always caught my eye but that I'd never given serious thought to buying. That shopping trip was fantastic. I still haven't read all of the books I bought, but that's not the point dammit. But yes, that's the approach I'll be trying to take if I get as far as the shops today.

So yeah, Anne came over last night. It was very good to see her, given the various hiccups that our friendship has experienced recently. Though the conversation seemed to stay clear of the deadly serious most of the time (which was probably of the good), from out of a discussion of the future Alison forced us both into making more in the way of solid commitments concerning our shared desire to get ourselves published, and it was acknowledged that in some ways we're each other's biggest incentive towards actually sending works off to publishers - if one of us takes the step the other will feel obliged to. On the other hand, I think we both want to get our first drafts of our NaNo-Novels out of the way before we start thinking about sending bits of it off. Plus, until the first drafts are finished we can't be 100% sure of how well we stick to our planned outlines, and since publishers will want synopses too... you work it out. Yeah, in some ways it's just another excuse to put it off, but there's some sense in there. Somewhere.

Anne was also subjected to all our holiday pics and the various stories attached. Oh, and there was an episode of Buffy while we were eating. Although it was one I'd seen twice before, it still counts towards the Recommended Daily Amount(TM) of Special K. Heh.