Birthday wishes

Alright, so today is my birthday. YAY me, I managed to survive another trip around the sun (despite what many Americans think). Not really a big accomplishment considering ~20,000,000 other people are alive world-wide that were born on this day at some point during the last 115 years. Similarly,  ~880,000 other people in the US were born on this day. Hell, I share a birthday with ~150 people in Greenland (Inuuinni Pilluarit! fellow birthdayers). The disconcerting thing to me is that tomorrow is the first anniversary of a set of major seizures I had, which basically destroyed all memory of last year's birthday and most of the surrounding few months. While there is no reason to consider tomorrow especially concerning, it does give me a reason to think about that event more than I have over the last few months. While this year has been an interesting one (with all the baggage associated with 'interesting'), it has also been an amazing one. First, I didn't die. Second, I have mostly recovered from the seizures (I think), although there are some issues associated with the medications I'm on or the psychological impact of knowing there's a potential bomb in my brain. Third, I met an amazing person who I thoroughly enjoy being with. Fourth, watching my son grow up. He's currently 12 with a standard deviation of ± 6 years, depending on the day. Fifth, I am actually generating some data, although given the current funding climate may be a waste of time. Regardless, I love learning new things about the world in which I live. Sixth, I am enjoying making beer and can brew some decent ones (although a solid blueberry ale has still escaped me). Seventh, I enjoy writing and am able to it again (broken hand), but hate that I have not done more with this blog since my brain blowing up. So this is a simple way to dip my toes back in the water. Hope to get a couple more papers out the door this year as well as some grant applications (waste of fucking time probably) and post some items at least a couple of times a month.

Birthday cake (hopefully cream cheese frosting)

If I get a cake with candles, my birthday wish for this year is to not almost fucking die again (included in the previous statements is to not successfully die either).