Obviously it always rains on my birthday in Skopje

Last year it was raining, too. Not that I mind, because I quite like the rainy weather for a change, and the temperature hasn't plunged too low; yesterday it was 17°.
Woke up at 4 a.m., but that wasn't too bad, because I'd fallen asleep around 9 p.m. yesterday, so that means I actually got 7 hrs of sleep. The sudden tiredness last night was probably caused by the drug residue in my system. Or not. I slept well, and that's what counts.
Refraining from doing any exercise yesterday took a bit of willpower, but in the end I succeeded in convincing myself that using those poor muscles too soon -- and there's no way you can exercise and *not* use your lower back muscles -- might result in a lot more no-sports days than just two or three.
Since I've planned the birthday dinner logistics to a t, I might be able to get in some 45 minutes of light exercise in the late afternoon at home. If there's too little time, I may exercise to my heart's content tomorrow, because I took the day off work. Not only might there be a hangover to be slept off, but Slavica only comes Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, i.e. I'll have to deal with the birthday dinner aftermath by myself. If I went to work tomorrow, it would be another 7.30 to 22.30 day, with no possibility of going home in between (and, erm, no sports), and so I'd have to face the dirty dishes when returning home late in the evening. Not good, and I don't leave glassware and porcelain out and about on principle, on account of ze boyz. They're good boyz, but they're also cats, and when they're having their crazy 10 minutes, they might break something.
So for tonight I'll prepare a lovely green vegetable cream soup (courgettes, peas, avocado) to which the guests can add various things like pumpkin seeds, sour cream with herbs, roasted bread, ham cubes, truffle oil etc. according to taste. Originally I meant to do the same mix-your-own-soup with carrot cream soup, but since lots of people hate carrots I decided to stay on the safe side. If somebody dislikes the soup, they can enjoy the yummy Slavica-made breadsticks with the sour ceam and herbs.
Slavica will make Turlitava -- Macedonian variety of stew -- for the main course, and I'll get those delicious-beyond-anything petits fours from Slatkarnica Romanca for dessert.
All planned out, and I'll make the soup when I return from work, but that doesn't take more than an hour, including the preparation of the things to be put into it. Besides it's a completely informal thingy, so if I happened still to be busy when the girls arrive, that wouldn't be a problem. We'll be 5 instead of 6, because Alexandra can't come -- business trip starting tonight -- and I don't invite people at the last moment, because that makes them feel like stopgaps. Besides, it's a German-speaking group, so inviting a non-German-speaker would be awkward anyway.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I finally got a facebook account, not because I'm such a fan but because Daniel the lovely nephew has all his New Zealand photos posted there, and I want to see them. But I also got back into contact with two of the few nice people from Ankara (military attaché's no.2 and his wife), which was a great surprise, and I discovered that it's also the ideal way to communicate with my brother. More benefits, then, than just fotos and communication with Daniel, which of course would be enough in itself.
Had one of my nowadays very rare bloody-hell-my-father-is-such-an-arsehole moments yesterday. My mother tried to call me twice, and both times I didn't hear the phone ring; the first time I called her back her phone was switched off, but the second time I was lucky. Her tone of voice immediately told me she couldn't talk, i.e. my father was somewhere close, and so the Happy Birthday conversation lasted all of thirty seconds. This is really, really shitty. I mean, it doesn't upset me anymore, honestly, and of course it's also her fault -- she could leave the room or tell him to do so, but the problem is that she just can't/doesn't -- but it reminded me of how much power this man used to have over the two of us and how ruthlessly he exercised it. Brrr. Well, I didn't decide to cut him out of my life on a fluke. I did it because I knew that this person was bad for me. He happens to be my father, but that only means he had more ways and power to be bad for me.
Speaking of fathers and psychology and stuff, I can hardly wait until In Treatment season 2 comes out on dvd. Must have a look at amazon today, maybe there's already a release date. *wibbles*

OK, time to get the boyz-related chores done.

Playing the game

Needed to talk to Mr H yesterday, purely work-related. Being the considerate person I am, and knowing how often he is in meetings etc., I wrote him a text message asking whether he was busy or if I could give him a brief call (work).
No answer yesterday.
By now my zen has taken on epic proportions (why? I mean I saw him wihtout shirt!), and so I merely thought "mannerless bastard" and got my information elsewhere.
He called back today.
Or rather, he has already called three times, and I didn't answer.
And it, erm, feels good. How immature is that? Very, very immature. But that doesn't make it less good.
On one's birthday, especially when it's a not overly spectacular but irritatingly high number, one is entitled to a bit of silliness right? Oh, and pettiness. Pettiness is nice :-)
I'll wait till much later, maybe 7 or 8, and then will write back something along the lines of "thanks for calling back, have been busy, question has resolved itself"
*sharpens and lovingly contemplates clawses*