Live long and prosper....

My friends Marcelle and maboroshimaki and I have a longstanding tradition for our birthdays: we go to a local Chinese restaurant called Mitzi's (our favourite) and eat. Because lmondegreen and backbyrde are coming over to my place tomorrow - to celebrate backbyrde's new job and new job-designations for Marcelle and lmondegreen and my birthday - we made today the day for our Mitzi's dinner.

I had a light lunch. Finding some excuse not to go to the fitness club today, I ate in the Green Room and read the rest of the hardcover volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, which I started last week. Then I napped. I seem to have only two lunchtime modes: go to the fitness club and work out, or stay at the theatre and nap. There is a more rare third mode, shopping. This was a nap day, and it was very welcome, too.

The idea of having a light lunch because I was going out for supper was well-intentioned, but sabotaged when I was presented with a birthday cake in the middle of the afternoon. My co-worker Jennifer's birthday was yesterday, mine is tomorrow - we got a joint birthday cake. Strawberries! I ate two slices.

Jennifer had the nerve to gripe about getting old, which is nonsense, as she's a good decade younger than I am and I'm not getting old yet, not by a long shot. And not planning to do so any time soon, either.

By the time I left work it was pouring rain, but I had my jacket and my audio-tape of a mystery novel, Margin of Error by Edna Buchanan, whom I'd never heard of. I know I can't be expected to know all the mystery writers there are, but I am astounded that there is suddenly a huge new crop that I'm unfamiliar with. If any of you have any recommendations, I'd be delighted to hear them. I'm certainly enjoying this one.

So I walked through the rain, got my feet soaked, and wore out the batteries. I listened till the traffic drowned out the weakened volume and gave up.

Next: my yoga class. So many of us were looking exhausted that Barbara, the teacher, made it a 'restorative' class - fine by me. I was still tired from staying up too late sewing two nights in a row, despite the lunchtime nap.

Then: Mitzi's and lots of delicious food, most of which I don't know the English names for, except the crispy beef with sesame and the sweet and sour fried bean curd. Marcelle and maboroshimaki gave me my birthday presents: the DVD of Daredevil with Ben Affleck and Colin Farrell, and the DVD of the first season of Smallville. Picture me as very, very happy.

The bus boy - the son of the owner - saw the DVDs on our table - Smallville first. "That just came out today," he said. Then he saw Daredevil and asked, "Are you a comics fan?"

"She certainly is!" said maboroshimaki. So he and I had this mini-conversation about Daredevil and how the movie really didn't do justice to either Matt or Elektra, though I said I thought it did justice to Matt's father.

I love it when you can run into a comic book fan like that, and have an interesting, though brief, conversation.

Apparently there are extras on the Smallville DVD, though no indication yet whether there is anything that isn't on the DVD of the pilot that I already have. My request to the universe is for all sorts of "extras" that involve pictures of Michael Rosenbaum, bloopers showing Michael Rosenbaum, specials showing Michael Rosenbaum doing exciting things like sitting, breathing, walking, or just being his normal smart-ass self.