This (mostly) Just In: Totally Personal Edition

I had a birthday and everyone noticed - So, I'm 30 now and recovered from my birthday hangover. Thanks to everyone who sent happy birthday wishes via email or text or Facebook. Special thanks to Pistols and MelO for designating a special place for me on their blogs. I started to feel guilty about being so obnoxious about my birthday, but I said, "Self, you only turn 30 once. Be as obnoxious as humanly possible!" I think we can all agree, mission accomplished. I now promise to never discuss my aging again. You are welcome.

I went to a strip club and it was kinda weird, but mostly not that weird - When my grandma asked what time we got home on Saturday night/Sunday morning, I told her, "3:30ish." "Don't bars close at 2?" she asked. "Yeah. We went to an after hours place." That place was Deja Vu. My takeaways from my first strip club experience:

1. The odds of being hit on or even noticed at a strip club are lower than at a gay bar.
2. The ladies room apparently also doubles as the stripper's dressing room/coke den.
3. Watching women dance naked while your 2 male friends honestly and evenly evaluate their looks, taste in music and effability tells you more about those friends than you could ever hope to know.
3. Ginger strippers love me...that's all I'll say about that.
4. The best hot dogs ever are consumed after 2am.


The only birthday picture I can post without incriminating myself or others

I failed as a sports blogger - A year and a half ago, Liz, Dave and I started a little sports blog called Pink Hat Nation. We tried to keep it going, really we did, but no one has posted anything since the Phillies won the World Series. This weekend we all agreed to put it out of its misery. Thanks to the 2 of you who read it regularly. It will always have a special place in our hearts.

I Think About You Nightly

To prove to ourselves we aren't grandmas, Liz and I went to see Ra Ra Riot in concert last night. The doors opened at 8 so we arrived at 9:30, figuring we'd be just in time for RRR, but the doorman told us they didn't go on until 11:30. 11:30 on a Sunday night! So, like the classy ladies we are, Liz and I walked a few blocks to one of our favorite watering holes and had an Indian law student buy us drinks and tell us we looked "intelligent, artistic and 21," while asking the skeezy girl at the bar to slap him repeatedly. He was awesome. Around 11, we wandered back to the Casbah just in time to experience what we'd stayed up way past our bedtimes to see.

An indie band from Syracuse, New York, Ra Ra Riot consists of 6 kids who look like the nerdiest drama club/band geeks to emerge from your local high school (the lead singer wore a tie-dyed Yoda t-shirt, for chrissakes), but they mix rock with an electric cello and violin for a really cool sound Liz calls "Arcade Fire without the histrionics." While not as good live as they are on their debut album, Ra Ra Riot got Liz dancing and me telling the lead singer I was from Baltimore...basically, rocking to them live made us a little giddy. Or maybe that was the Guinness.

Anywho, check out Ra Ra Riot because they are cool and when they blow up you will be able to say, "Pshaw! I've known about R cubed (as I'm calling them now) for ages." It's all about bragging rights, people.