So I ended up having quite a festive birthday yesterday, and it was a complete surprise.

My husband did say rather repressively that I was too old for birthday cake, once he saw that I had two, but he ate some.

And many thanks to my xangan neighbors who wished me a happy birthday, too.

It was especially fun to think that most of the people I celebrated with yesterday I did not even know a year ago. In fact, my life has changed quite a bit, one way and another, since a year ago. Last year at this time I was feeling a bit alarmed about the possibility of changes, since I had such a nice life, but the changes have turned out to be good. I still have quite a nice life. I could make more changes and continue to have a nice life.

I plan to make a new goals list. Not that there is anything wrong with my current goals, but I like the Ubiquitous Capture part of the GTD system well enough to try adding the Projects List. “Ubiquitous Capture” could be a good name for a band or a pet, while “Projects List” is not very cool at all, but it could be useful. Most of my current goals are finishing up kinds of goals, and I think I will add some striking out kinds of goals to the list. Since the GTD defines everything with more than two steps as a project, my typical three to ten projects or goals would be only a starting point. The ladies at yesterday’s little party, some of whom are older than I am, had all kinds of projects going on.

CD is completing her counseling degree, and she kept asking me personal questions. I don’t usually answer those questions, let alone tell stories of my youth, and I did both yesterday. She must be good at that. Frankly, my youth sounds altogether too strange and eccentric when said out loud.

In the evening, I watched the election news with my kids, one of whom is voting for the first time this year, and my husband, who is not a citizen and therefore takes only an abstract, though intense, interest in American politics. I also read about the vanished megafauna of North America.

I knew about the giant sloths, and about Thomas Jefferson’s conviction that there were mastadons and things roaming around the interior of the country (a major reason to send Lewis and Clark out), but I had no idea that we ever had armadillos the size of Volkswagons.

Coughing was another major feature of yesterday. I don’t know whether it is allergies or a lingering virus, but I am sick of it. I have stayed away from the gym and taken things easy, and still I keep being under the weather. It’s making me cross.

The weather is odd, too. It snowed last night, and there is quite a bit on the ground. I have a workshop scheduled today, and the rest of the day in the store, but the workshop is at a school, so they may not be there today, in which case I might not attempt the drive. Yet, the weather has been so warm that the roads might be clear. When the sun comes up, I’ll check on that.

I would be completely in favor of a snow day.