Yesterday I was so wrapped up in me, me, me, Grackl, me, me and Spinal Tap that I completely spaced on my best friend’s birthday (and you know I have more than one since I treat the adjective “best” as a category, not as an exclusivity). I did remember to send him card in time. With it being a unique age, I had bought it way back in December at Walgreens; it was one of those cards with an audio recording of Homer Simpson inside. Personally, I miss those machines that used to draw them with felt-tip markers for a few bucks.
Jose celebrated with his wife Nancy back in Orlando. Then they’ll be flying out to Las Vegas within a couple weeks. I wanted to join them but my car decided for me, a resounding “no” since it had developed a problem on a Sunday which I required a diagnosis of unknown cost (it was fixed). The package deal he landed is interesting but it’s a little too frantic for my tastes; I prefer to go at my own pace. It was his birthday so I’d go with the flow for him. When his employment situation becomes more predictable, I think we’ll do the joint trip we’ve been wanting to do again after how well 2005 went.
Meanwhile, let’s cover some factoids Jose has in common other than sharing a birthday with my Grandma (Maier).
Jose loves movies so I’ll start with the show business people: The godfather of Soul, aka James Brown; falsetto singer our parents probably liked, Frankie Valli; and British comedy writer Ben Elton (a major factor behind the Blackadder series). That was pretty thin. Maybe he knows of more since those were all I recognized on imdb.com.
History appears more generous: Ron Popeil who has yet to invent “Head in a Jar;” Niccolo Machiavelli (thankfully, Jose has nothing in common with the author); the first person to actually stand on the North Point succeeds in 1952; Gone with the Wind wins the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 and The Battle of the Coral Sea started in 1942 (the first modern aircraft carrier battle).
History and Hollywood turned out to be pretty thin.
I’ll close with a little history of Jose’s only birthday I remember celebrating, his 21st. I wish I remembered his 20th because I’m confident we did something during the first year we were friends living in the dorms. Back to the 21st. Poor Jose got stuck with trying to squeeze in some fun right before final exams and/or final projects at Marquette. Obviously being college students, even a small event involved drinking and no one was going to turn down the free beer on his birthday at the Ardmore. My relationship with Carrie was on the cusp of turning one so I know tagged along to wish him well. Jose was feeling no pain by the time we arrived. I recall making him laugh and freak out simultaneously with a dirty joke I won’t repeat here; it had a physical element too. For some odd reason, everybody else bailed thus Carrie and I helped him back to Mashuda (his dorm). Then he made us stop to buy a burger at Ma Fisher’s (one of the best cheeseburger’s in Milwaukee). With his food in hand, we delivered Jose safely to the lobby. Phil (roommate) said the chow wasn’t a good idea; shortly after Jose ate half of it all, there was a rush to the porcelain bus. Ahh, good times, good times.
Happy birthday Jose! If you know him, drop him a line through e-mail or you can find him through his Facebook page, wall or whatever it is.