We Have Many Beautiful Pinatas for Your Birthday Celebration, Each One Filled With Little Surprises

I just had a birthday.

So did these folks.

I'm not one to make a big deal about my birthday- though I don't mind if you are. Advancing in years isn't much to me, advancing in maturity is. Not that I am mature. I still snicker at the word booty and passages like Ezekiel 23 in the Bible. Things like that. Not mature at all. Why just the other day I asked Grandpa if he wanted his soda in the can.

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You may be too mature to get that
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I am maturing. I can see differences between skybalon today and skybalon of days passed. For one thing, old skybalon (meaning younger) had no problem performing minor surgery on himself. Old skybalon had a very liberal sense of what counted as minor surgery. Old skybalon would've thought something like this was something he could take care of on his own.

Now skybalon thinks better. Experience, connections, sensitivity to others, other stuff.

So happy birthday to me.

Did you know that May 1st is also a legal US holiday? It's Loyalty Day. No kidding. "The holiday was first observed in 1921 as 'Americanization Day,' and was intended to counterbalance the celebration of Labor Day on May Day which was perceived as communist." That's right, celebrating the weekend, a 40 hour work week, ending child labor, honoring work instead of mammon- that's communist.

What can you do? Different folks have a different sense of what loyalty is. Some people are surprised to hear I un-ironically have a gigantic American flag. Some people are surprised that I consider myself a patriot. But some people think you can only be loyal by being on the side with the sticks.

Does that make sense? It will.

What A Smart Little iTunes
One Flight Down- Norah Jones
South of the Border- Patsy Cline
Won't Get Fooled Again- The Who
Theme From "Mr. Broadway"- Dave Brubeck
Groovy Situation- Gene Chandler
Rebellion- The Arcade Fire
I Fought The Law- Green Day
I Started Something I Couldn't Finish- The Smiths
Black Math- The White Stripes
Whatsername- Green Day
Sing It Again- Beck
Retired Woman...- Jad Fair and Yo La Tengo