A day of harmony! A day of music! Beethoven's Birthday!

I came, I saw, I conquered. I suppose you could say I am a success. I survived my birthday with no severe blows to the head or concussions. And I saw the end of my birthday curse since 1997. This birthday turned out to be just fine. HUZZAH!!!!!!!!!!!! Every birthday from 1997-2004 had something happen which proved to taint the rest of the day; which birthdays clearly should not have happen! I think I do believe in the legend of 7 years of bad luck when you break a mirror. I obviously broke a mirror as a novice 17 year old, and the bad luck only falls on the day of the damage. How silly of me to do so on my birthday! :)

To give an accurate account of my birthday, I must start with Saturday night. I saw Lone Star and Laundry and Bourban at the BAC with Stephanie and Shana. I knew three of the six performers: Chris, Andy, and Amy. They all did a good job, I felt. Jeff directed, and overall I like it, so he did a good job as well. After the play, I went to The Nugget (blech) with Chris, Leoney, Rick, Kelly, and Elizabeth (who I met that evening). They not only sang to me once the time had reached around midnight, but they got the waiters to sing to me (and bring me a free sherbet) after; and the five of them sang again! It always embarasses me to get sung to.

For the actual day, I ended up going to see the play Amadeus at the Bruka Theatre in Reno with my parents, Nina, Chris, and Stephanie. It was done well, overall. The man playing Solieri had talent, to be sure, but was a little over the top at times. However, since he says at least a good 65% of the script, that may have added to this opinion being formed. I really liked the guy who played Mozart, though. I actually want to see the movie again, now. Anyway, after we saw this, Janina had to provide a meat platter for her friends' birthday party, so she ditched us! The rest of us went to dinner at P.F. Chang's. Neither Chris or Stephanie had been there before, and claimed to enjoy the food. Yeah! After that Chris, Stephanie and I went to my apartment to play a lively game of Phase 10 before they insisted on singing "Happy Birthday" at 11:59 p.m.

So, I had myself a pleasant birthday. No fiascos. No sitting around and feeling sorry for myself. I was sad that the other people I invited couldn't be there, but it's fine. I would infinitely prefer a smaller party to a bigger one on almost any given occasion! And one of the best parts? I didn't have to go to work yesterday!

Happy birthday to the memory of George Washington today!

The title comes from the song "Beethoven's Birthday" from the 1999 revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Very cute number, btw. I figured since it mentions both BIRTHDAY and a CLASSICAL MUSIC COMPOSER, the appropriateness of such a title would be apparent. I have a lot of nostalgic memories connected with this show, since it was the first "big" show I ever did at the impressionable age of 13. Granted, I was "bitten by the bug" when I was 6, and I've been in plays since I was 3, but it was the first thing outside of church and school my parents let me do. And I loved it.