Good weekend

By Shamus Posted Sunday Aug 23, 2009

Filed under: Personal 48 comments

My wife has her birthday on the 20th and mine is on the 24th, so we usually celebrate them together. On Saturday we had our birthday date.

We went to see Funny People. I’m one of those hated people who actually enjoys the standard-issue Adam Sandler movie where he stumbles around, babbling like an ignoramus. But Funny People mixed this up by having Sandler play an actor who was typecast as a babbling ignoramus. Somewhere down that particular hall of mirrors was a charming film with solid laughs that was a bit overlong. The ending worked, and we left the theater thoughtful and talking about the characters rather than re-hashing the jokes in search of our favorites. Unexpected.

Then it was to Red Lobster. I usually tell people, “I don’t eat seafood 300 miles inland”. But we were in the mood. Today’s catch: FRIED BREADING. What luck! That’s my favorite kind of fish!

After that was home, where we fired up Netflix and I watched The IT Crowd for the first time. Good stuff. I’m not prepared to embrace it as the next Red Dwarf, but it was fun.

Then Left 4 Dead. Incidentally, if you play Left 4 Dead on the Twenty Sided server from time to time, then you might want to download Death Aboard, and / or Dam It!, which are user-made campaigns which have been added to the server. Not quite up to Valve level quality, but they’re still fun and a nice change of pace.

Tomorrow I turn 38. Today is the last day I can tell people “I’m not old”, in the Dennis the Peasant voice. So, I guess tomorrow I turn old.

Bah. I’ve had worse.

 


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48 thoughts on “Good weekend

  1. Mom says:

    How can one who has eternal life be old, except as in rich in experience ?

  2. Henebry says:

    Many happy returns!

  3. Mari says:

    Happy birthday Shamus and Heather!

    For the record, the older I get the older “old” gets. It’s an odd phenomenon but essentially at this point “old” begins at 85. I can’t help but wonder if one of these days I’m going to be reading the paper, scan the obits and declare, “A shame! So young…” over a centenarian.

    Besides, Mom is right. How’s that for reassuring constancy?

  4. Jonathan says:

    Happy Birthday, and I agree with Mom.

  5. James Pony says:

    No more Dennis for you, but is it Murtaugh or Riggs you’ll be looking for advice on how to handle your age?

  6. UtopiaV1 says:

    Happy Birthday to you and your wife Shamus, and fyi it’s great to see americans finally embracing some new british comedy (season 4 of IT Crowd is currently in production I believe, so hopefully we’ll see it soon).

    If you liked it, might I also recommend Father Ted and Black Books? (by the same director)

    Have a great day old man! :P

    1. Shamus says:

      My wife is crazy about Black Books. We also got into Spaced.

      Netflix has been a boon for fans of Britcoms. We used to have to wait for PBS to pick stuff up, and they weren’t always smart about picking shows. Now we can go right to the source and see what’s good.

      Although we must always be grateful to PBS for bringing us the Pythons.

  7. Rutskarn says:

    Sounds like a nice weekend. Happy Birthday, you guys!

  8. fenix says:

    Happy Birthday Shamus and Heather!

    May there be many more!

  9. UTAlan says:

    Happy bday! Hope you have a good one.

  10. Happy Birthday Shamus & Heather!

    But as a life-long vegetarian, I have to ask: Is BREADING a fish?

    Leslee

    1. Shamus says:

      Leslee Beldotti: I was kidding. They always advertise their “catch of the day”. Which will be some crazy breed of fish, which means nothing to me. White-tailed Moosefish or Alaskan Brine-sucker or whatever. But it all tastes the same once you bread it, fry it, and douse it in condiments. It’s like McDonald’s advertising where today’s french fries were grown. :)

  11. Sheer_FALACY says:

    The breading is a variant on the standard bottomdwelling jokefish. Its delicious, cholesterol-filled, crunchy flesh can be found in a wide variety of places, from KFC to various tempuras.

    (it’s dough applied then deep fat fried)

  12. Nyaz says:

    Happy Birthday to you both!

    Also, my birthday is, ironically, on the 24th as well, so happy birthday to me too :P

  13. Patrick the Malcontent says:

    Happy Birthday Mr and Mrs Crappy pants. Enough with the introspective “Gosh I’m getting older” posts. Make me laugh monkey boy!

    Amuse me!!

    Captivate my attention with a biting, yet humorous, rant on the short-sighted design of a beloved game franchise!

    Anyways…. Wanna go halfsies on Mom and Daves Christmas gift? I’m thinking we splurge and get them each a card this year.

    You’re old. Lame-o.

    1. Shamus says:

      Pat: We’re going to see District 9 today.

      Your attendance is mandatory. My people will be in touch.

  14. Simon says:

    While I am a compulsive lurker who normally associates posting on anything with , I feel I have to make an exception this once to wish you both a happy birthday. So Happy Birthday and best wishes towards this next upcoming year. :)

    PS. And happy birthday to Nyaz too.

  15. Cody says:

    I didn’t really like funny people, it dragged on and had roughly 800 trillion different side stories that all went nowhere.

    district 9 is great, you will love it.

  16. Danath says:

    40 Is old, 38 is still middle age!

  17. RichVR says:

    Happy and Healthy birthdays to you and your wife!

    Edit: I’ll be 51 this February. You kids make me laugh.

  18. Yar Kramer says:

    Yeah, happy birthday and stuff.

    Right now, my personal “old” is 50. I’m less than half that, of course, but still.

    I think I tried “Dam it!” once, but then during the finale, I discovered an object lesson as to why most campaigns have multiple maps: if you die on the finale, YOU HAVE TO START THE WHOLE DAM[sic] CAMPAIGN OVER AGAIN. So, um, gonna give it a miss I suppose.

    I’ve downloaded Death Aboard, though, along with a bunch of other campaigns yesterday. I haven’t tried any of them yet, though. However, my “Addons” folder now has 1.6 gigabytes worth of campaigns across six VPK files, including Dead Line.

  19. Ian says:

    Happy birthday, Shamus and Heather! :D Hope you guys have fun on your future birthday-related outings.

  20. Mom says:

    Re: The definition of “old” and “middle aged”.
    Life expectancy in the US is 80, give or take a few months depending on whether you are male or female. Now these terms deal with our adult years which can hardly be said to begin until 20. The middle of the span between 20 and 80 is 50 which represents the middle of middle age. My calculations put middle age at between 40 and 60. Of course in America, 60 is the new 50 so I AM still middle aged and can therefore hardly have children who are middle aged, much less old!
    Happy birthday to you youngsters.

    Also, when I was in college and gave up my maiden name for the last name of Young, I had a (very goofy) astronomy professor who loved to remind me I would always be Young. Well, history did not bear him out but his prediction will certainly be true for you, Shamus.

  21. Cuthalion says:

    Happy Birthday to you, Shamus, Heather, and Nyaz!

    Anybody ever notice that every time “Happy Birthday” is sung, it sounds horribly depressing? Maybe it’s only when adults do it, ’cause I remember it being much more joyful as a youngster…

  22. thegrinner says:

    Happy birthdays.

    Re your post directed at Pat: District 9 is awesome. Different, but awesome. It would be awesome if you’d consider writing some thoughts about it when you’ve got free time?

  23. OddlucK says:

    Happy Birthday, Shamus, Heather, and Nyaz!

    District 9 was very, very good.

    As I see it, once you hit 20, “old” is precisely twice as much as your (for any given ‘you’) age minus five years. Or something. I think there’s some fuzzy math involved, as well as a little Multivariable Calculus and Numbers Theory. Or, I could just be making stuff up. I’m not really sure.

    Birdy!

  24. mookers says:

    Happy Birthday to Shamus and Heather… and Nyaz… and myself :D

    I think I already knew we shared a birthday Shamus, from last year’s or the previous year’s post. But anyway, I hope you have a good day :)

    p.s. it’s already the 24th here in Australia.

  25. Joel D says:

    Happy Old day, Shamus!

  26. Altsoph says:

    Happy Birthday!

  27. Kdansky says:

    38 is only a number. ;)

    Happy Birthday.

  28. Josh says:

    Happy Birthday, Shamus!

  29. Uncle Festy says:

    Happy birthday! =D

  30. mlkjhgfds says:

    Happy birth-day!

  31. David V.S. says:

    Hippy Papy Bthuthdth Thuthda Bthuthdy!

  32. Old_Geek says:

    Congratulations! I’ve been 38, and I’ve got to tell you…its worse then death. Seriously, life as you know it is over. You think I’m kidding, but you’ll see. One day everything is normal, than WHAM!!!! Your hair is grey, you eat dinner at 4:00 and attractive women look at you as a father figure.

    But Happy Birthday! At least you have your memories.

  33. Greg says:

    Happy Birthday to you both!

  34. toasty says:

    My dad hasn’t had b-days in a long time ago. Just anniversaries of his 39th birthday. That way, he never actually turned 40, you see? :D

    Happy Birthday.

  35. Jazmeister says:

    Ding gratz! I know what you mean about Sandler films. It’s like enjoying junk food, you know?

  36. Avilan the Grey says:

    Happy Birthday to both of you. And today is your actual birthday, too, so I am not too late yet.

    Personally I am not that much of a fan of breading; too many school lunches I guess (School cafeteria workers can kill anything).

  37. EMK says:

    Happy Birthday!

  38. Arquinsiel says:

    Happy increment day!

    The IT Crowd has to be understood as the next Father Ted, rather than the next Red Dwarf, which in turn makes it an Irish rather than British comedy. Black Books was largely written by the same people IIRC, so if you haven’t seen Father Ted and are enjoying the other two look that up too.

  39. Avilan the Grey says:

    I must say I can’t stand Father Tead, but LOVE Black Books.

  40. Ross Bearman says:

    Happy birthday Shamus! It’s also my dad, my sister and Stephen Fry’s birthday today.

    1. Shamus says:

      And Orson Scott Card.

      I’m pretty sure he’s exactly +20 years from me, so he must turn 58 today.

      Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone.

  41. Zaxares says:

    Happy Birthday to you both, Shamus and Heather. :)

  42. Deoxy says:

    Happy Birthday, of course.

    As to age, I think that “old” starts when your body says it does (especially in this day and age), but “not young” starts, basically, at 30.

    Why? Well, the last milestones of childhood are 21 and (for a few things) 25, so until you are 30, you are still a “twentysomething”. But once you’re thirty, well… none of the other decades really mean quite as much anymore.

  43. El Quia says:

    Hey, happy birthday to you both! (a little late, I know). Also, what’s the deal with all the people being born around these dates? I had my birthday on 29th, and I always find hard to organize a party without striking a deal with at least 5 friends that have their birthday around these times. And it’s not a seasonal thing, because I found it both with people from the north and the south hemisphere. Maybe random chances put all those people in contact with me?-

    Also, I loved the first season of IT Crowd. The following seasons, on the other hand, aren’t that great…

    0118 999 881 999 119 725…3

  44. Caelestion says:

    I share my birthday with you! As do Stephen Fry and Rupert Grint (and Orson Scott Card apparently) :P

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