My Birthday...

...was on Saturday and I had decided to throw a nice picnic party in Balboa Park. Let me tell you, it could not have been any more pleasant of a day. I had invited about two dozen people there, and everybody enjoyed themselves as they listened to relaxing music, flung the frisbee, attempted to fly kites (well, just myself and the 4 year-old Elisa, who fared quite better than me), and threw a softball, a football and water balloons.

The grill was there as usual, as my newly acquired (through a trade!) portable gas grill was on hand to cook the burgers and hot dogs and chicken breasts. Romeo came and helped save the day again as he wore the Grillmaster hat. My roommate Susan was the one responsible for making the yummy Guacamole and French Onion dips, as well as the roasted garlic butter that dressed the grilled corn.

In the end, it felt so nice to have everyone out there celebrating, for me! Here are some memorable moments:

• water balloon exchange between Elisa and me. J: If you throw one at me, I'll have to throw one back at you. E: Noooo! That will get me wet! (She then throws it at my feet.)
  
• Judi and Ayelet pelting me with balloons that refused to break, creating sounds of slap, as they bounced off each of my pectorals, followed by a loud "OWW!"
• Cotton candy
• Chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting
  
• Rika met Kenji, then started having a whole conversation in Japanese. It was also my first discovery of his fluency.
• Tan and Danielle (aka Tanielle) showed up 5 minutes before the "official" end of the party, and managed to help extend it by an hour as the spiraly/nerf-ish football given as a gift (I think from Kenji, but I can't remember!) was thrown around. My arm is still sore from playing quaterback.
• The clean-up took well over an hour, partly from said football play, but also due to the neverending banter that occured as nobody made any initiative to go home. I like stalling banter.

It feels really good to be 24.