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happy birthday to a friend

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

My long-time friend and business partner Jon is turning 40. Shiftless cads that his friends are, we didn't plan anything.

In the end, I pulled together a small number of people for an intimate dinner. Mari and I scratched our heads about what sort of gift might be appropriate, and in the end our gift worked. At a couple of times during the evening, Jon made jokes about turning "twenty-one" rather forty. Happily, our gift was a 21-year-old bottle of Scotch whiskey.

While we'd been out on the whiskey expedition, Mari had spotted a fun "Happy Birthday" shirt onto which the gathered crowd is intended to write their greetings. We presented that with a couple of indelible pens and let everyone go nuts. At the end of the evening I put the number "40" on the shoulders in hockey jersey style, with suitable 'names' beneath the number in both cases, one name in Japanese—'おやじ'—and one in English—"fogey!!!!".

In one of my trademark moves, I managed to be using the toilet when they brought out the cake and sang "Happy Birthday". Rats!