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Well, there goes another birthday. I spent most of my birthday doing one of my favorite things, riding around aimlessly and occasionally stopping to explore things I usually wouldn't pay attention to. I went as far north as Alameda, and as far south as dvision. I probably would have gone all the way to Milwaukie, but as I was crossing, Division I noticed a peculiar second-hand shop, and decided to give it a look.

I had to. The people that worked there were sitting outside drinking beer in the middle of the afternoon. They seemed to be well into their beer drinking when I arrived, and were very happy to just talk to make words come out of their mouth. I smiled and said "nice day, isn't it."

Inside, there were almost no lights on. It was so bizarre. Asking if they were closing up, I was assured they were open for business. I really wasn't in the mood to look at most of the stuff there, as dark as it was, but I did take a look at all of their bikes, one of which was a black 5-speed Schwinn cruiser with FAT whitewall tires. It was so beautiful. When I get a cruiser, that's the kind I want. Right now, I'm looking for a touring bike, so I had to leave it be.

Continuing to wander, I had forgotten my southward direction and instead ended up at the Red & Black, and then Powell's on Hawthorne where I read a few pages of Baudrillard and bought nothing, as usual.

Earlier, I had stopped at Naomi's so I could see her at least once more before she leaves for Europe. She was babysitting her little brother, so I got to hang out with a little kid too. I never hang out with young people, certainly not 11-year olds. I don't plan on making a habit out of it, but today it was nice, because Naomi's siblings are always very cool. I can't believe how much they all love her. It seems strange to me to see such family togetherness. I don't think I'll ever understand how that happens.

And that's pretty much how I spent my birthday. I'm amazed and satisfied with the uneventfulness of it. My favorite part was telling everybody who wished me happy birthday "thanks, happy birthday to you too." It was my small attempt to remove myself from the focus of the day. I think it worked