01.04.02 - 10:48 a.m.

I am going to New Orleans! With my boyfriend! For my birthday! This is so exciting. I kind of feel bad, because it's such a better birthday present than I got him, even though we're paying for our own tickets so it's not really a present, but just being around him and taking a trip together is a gift in itself.

So yay. Now I just have to figure out how to take that day off from work and we should be fine. Hooray for boyfriends!

Ah. It is so tough to write an entry just because you know now is the only time you'll have to do so and who cares if you're feeling inspired or not. All I wanted to do yesterday was write about how excited I am for my trip, but then the phone started ringing and the eager puppy new co-assistant showed up and I had to train him (like any good puppy owner would), and then he was on the computer and there was no time for the rest of the day. And though I'm still just as excited today, it doesn't seem as fun to write down all my bouncing, insane little thoughts.

Everyone here thinks the copier doesn't work, and though this may be partially true due to the fact that half of the machine has been taken apart and is sitting in the corner crying, it IS still possible to get some copies out of the old bat. You just need to know the trick, which I do, because I am the only one for whom it is essential that copies be made. I am forced to come up with creative solutions to impossible problems as part of my daily existence, whereas it seems like everyone else can just shrug their shoulders and say, "oh well, it's still broken."

I bet if I went over there right now I could fix that copier and make it spit the papers out, but I won't, because then I'll become the Copy Girl who knows Every Solution to Copy Problems and everyone will know it. And I don't want to be that girl. I want to fix things for my own benefit but not necessarily for everyone else's.

Oh, and if anyone out there is still caring, it's Michael Stipe's 42nd birthday today. Yes, he's still alive and not dying of AIDS or any other ugly rumor. My first favorite musician crush and my favorite number, together. Yay!