It's my birthday and I'll _______________ if I want to!

Trouble is, I can't fill in the blank!  What do I want to do?  Well, before Sandy Frankenstorn came along and pulverized us up here in the Northeast, I would have filled it in with "call in sick".  Because that had been the plan, to call in sick today and just stay home and chill.

Seems the sick part was to come true, anyway, as I am currently a sniffling, coughing, snotty, phlegmy, achy mess who can barely speak, and whose voice sounds like someone's been over my vocal chords with sandpaper and a hacksaw.

Maybe this is what 54 feels like.  I wouldn't know...it's my first time being this age, you know, so I have no prior experience to draw from.  All I have is anticipation...and a bug.

So, you ask, what am I going to be doing today to celebrate my natal day?  Well, let's see.  Already I'm celebrating not having to wake up at 4:30 in the morning in order to get to work on time so my asshole of a boss doesn't have THAT particular thing to hold against me in his campaign to remove me.  And of course, I'm celebrating not having to BE at work today, because when Halloween falls on a school day, we're expected to search the students as they come in, and today we would have had to go out after school to herd them off the streets, into buses and on their way home.

What else?  Well, I plan to go out a bit later, buy me some wonton soup, and maybe some chicken soup if they have any (they didn't on Saturday) from the Jamaican store -- soup seems to hit the spot better than anything else these days -- and maybe another bottle or two of perfume at the mall.  Then it'll be back home to gorge myself on action erotica and if I'm up to it, out for the birthday dinner later.  At the very least, I'm going to get some more sleep...my body seems oddly STARVED for it!

So, happy birthday to me!  And to Mannu (Sonny), who shares today's birthday with me!  May you enjoy wonderful treats this Hallloween!