May 28th, 2004, 5:45 pm

Turning 23

Last night, I threw myself a little birthday/going away party, and we had the most splendid time. Highlights include: My badass birria tacos; Eric spilling his hard-squeezed lime juice (2x); Cesar, Michael and I rhapsodizing over the chile rellenos we had made the night before; watching the Blue Planet DVDs twice without seeing the same thing, and most definitely Jacinto busting in the front door at midnight, playing Happy Birthday on his trumpet. Fun gifts were brought: thank you to Xelena for the classy business card holder; Jacinto for the wine and the song (sure way to gain the affection of any lady); Michael for the beers and the iPod headphones; Matt and Ruben for making margaritas; Gilbert and Elda for the almanac and FL guidebook; Eric for forgetting a bottle of rum; Alicia and Michael for the bad-ass“culture vulture” T-shirt; and most of all to Laura McK, who brought me a can of Raid that I have since used to vanquish a gigantic mutant roach.