It's all good

Another birthday has come and gone, and I'm a little bit closer to being a quarter of a century old. I learned, rather painfully, to be more appreciative of the people who truly care for me. Keep your best friends close, your family closer. They will make everyday special for you.

I will also take this opportunity to show off the birthday loot. I sense it will be a good year in words:

I am so far loving A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore. The man is hilarious, positively irreverent. You can read his entertaining blog here and his expositions on the Beta Male here. (This is his old blog URL.) The Beta Male Manifesto comes in three parts, and each is incredibly...accurate. Haha.

Here is T-rex taking a chunk out of Totoro's face. Gentle giant meets Jurassic carnivore. You will notice the hilt of a light saber in the background. This is life with a 10-year old boy:

Yesterday, in the jeep on my way home from taking Jake to school (wow, look at all those prepositions), I sat next to a girl reading The Hunger Games. I peeked discreetly over her shoulder and it was the night just before Katniss enters the arena. Oh this girl is in for a treat.

The Australian Open is in full swing. I watched my first match last Tuesday and it couldn't have come at a better time. The opening round match, which was between Roger Federer and Igor Andreev, had an inevitable end, but it was exciting nonetheless. Federer was working out the kinks in his form, poising himself for a long two-week challenge. Unforced errors flew off his racket, shanks left and right. Andreev won the first set and I panicked a little. If you are a Federer fan, I'm sure you understand. Come to think of it, every Federer fan I know has just a hint, if not an abundance, of neurosis. We dwell on the Past and try to predict the Future. And we certainly love greatness. Roger won the match 4-6 6-2 7-6 6-0. I like to think the last bagel was the Champion making a statement. (He played another match earlier this evening against Victor Hanescu. I'd fallen asleep, but it appears to have been a routine thrashing: Federer def. Hanescu 6-2 6-3 6-2. Schedule of Play here.)

Tennis royalty hobnobbing with, er, royalty royalty.

Good TV has also returned to me. Chuck, finally, is back on air. When the second season ended, a third was believed to be non-existent. Because fans clamored for its return, NBC caved and brought it back. Even better news is that the show has been renewed for a full 19-episode season.Woohoo! Episode 4 just aired last Monday. It's been a sweet return thus far.

How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory have also re-entered my entertainment circuit. And Nicole has just informed me that Leverage has a new episode out. So really, I haven't been particularly busy. Just well-entertained.

Let's take stock. I have a bunch of new books and wonderful people who love me (and whom I love back). My tennis life is resurrected with a grand slam and Roger Federer in good form. And there is riveting TV to numb my optic nerves. I have to admit, this is not a bad way to start my year.