Birthday Balance

Thank goodness after last year, when it poured the entire day on my birthday, I awoke to sunshine, fresh breeze, and mid-60s temperatures. I started the day with yoga class. Erik (who also does handyman work for Yogawood) taught today. He's the limber fellow who can do amazing things with his arms and legs, including handstands I could only dream of. Not surprisingly, he concentrated on standing and balance poses. He was far faster-paced than Karin or Micki, too. I and the other 8 students were hard-pressed to keep up with him!

My next stop was the Collingswood Library for this week's volunteer session there. I returned non-fiction, which wasn't a huge stack. I was in and out in less than an hour. Made a quick stop at the thrift shop after that, but I didn't see anything I wanted and Erica wasn't in.

I had no idea what to do with the rest of my birthday. Since I was already in Collingswood, I hopped the PATCO and headed into Philadelphia. I got off at 10th and Locust, down the block from one of my favorite stores in the known universe, Russakcff's Used Books and Records. A tiny shop in Washington Square, it's filled to the brim with books, imported CDs and videos, old posters, and crates of records. I ended up with three records, the original cast albums for the 1968 Joel Gray vehicle George M! and the 1986 smash hit Les Miserables (I had the cassette for the latter since high school, but it's missing a lot of music), and the rare soundtracks for the Jeanette MacDonald/Maurice Chevalier movies The Love Parade and The Merry Widow.

By this point, it was 1:30, and I was starving. Time to head to the Reading Terminal Market for lunch. Even at 1:30, it was as bustling as ever. I eventually ended up at a Mediterranean/Middle-Eastern lunch counter. I ordered some kind of pita wrap with chicken and a yogurt-dill sauce. I have no idea how to spell or pronounce what it was, but it was delicious.

Spent the rest of the afternoon browsing around my other two favorite Philly stores, the FYE and Borders on the Avenue of the Arts section of Broad Street. (After having to take a detour around City Hall because workers were blocking the Broad Street South exit.) FYE was having a gigantic 20-50% off all merchandise sale. When I asked if they were shutting down, a stock lady just said "Nope, we're overstocked and need to get rid of stuff." I'll take that.

Between the sales and my membership card, I did really, really well there. Got the $19.99 copy of the just-re-released Great Mouse Detective DVD for $12.80, and I grabbed a used copy of the oddball 80s action comedy Big Trouble In Little China for $3.36, marked down from $6. My best find was the 2-disc set for one of my all-time favorite musicals, the 1953 Fred Astaire MGM film The Band Wagon. Originally $27, FYE had already marked it down to $7.97. With the sales and card, it ended up being $5.11. Sweet.

I made my only real splurge of the day across the street at Borders. I've looked for the book Sitcoms: The 101 Greatest TV Comedies of All Time since my online guy-friend Matt mentioned getting it for Christmas in 2007 at his X-Entertainment blog. His favorite Get A Life isn't there...but a lot of MY favorites are, including All In the Family, Get Smart, The Monkees, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Jeffersons, Perfect Strangers, The Honeymooners, and Laverne & Shirley.

(Fans of Matt's will be happy to note that he's finally updating again after having been busy since late December.)

It was quarter of 5 at that point. I headed through rush-hour traffic to the 16th and Locust PATCO station. I was early enough that the train going home was only partially full, rather than stuffed. It was such a nice day when I got in, I took the long way home across Newton River Park.

There was even more waiting for me when I arrived at the apartment. Lauren asked me last week what I wanted for my birthday. She sent me CD copies of the original cast albums for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (my old cassette copy of the 1992 revival got caught in the tape player) and Gypsy (one of the few classic Broadway musicals I didn't have in any form), and the DVD for the other movie that came out in December that I was dying to see, the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes. (Which, interestingly, makes for my second Holmes-themed DVD of the day after Great Mouse Detective.)

I didn't have the time to peruse anything. I changed into good pants and sandals and met Dad and Jodie at Uncle Ken's house. They took me out to dinner at the Oaklyn Manor Bar down the street. We had a lovely time, chatting about Rose's pregnancy (and how eager Jodie is to take care of a newborn), my pride in my independence, Lauren's trip here next month, and the baby shower a few weeks ago.

When we got back to Dad's house, Dad brought out a cute little cake from Super Fresh, and he, Jodie, Uncle Ken, and Dolores all sang "Happy Birthday" to me. We had cake together, and they gave me cards. Dad's card was home-made, with a picture of me from childhood against a Snow White background. (Ironically, I got the Disney Snow White for Christmas.) I got $125 from the four of them all told.

I also got calls from Rose, Mom, and Erica, many birthday greetings from friends on Facebook, and a lovely e-card from Mike Waters in Oklahoma. Thanks to everyone who gave me birthday wishes!