birthday turned out to be pretty great thanks to some secret surprises delivered on behalf of my friend shannon by two of her girlfriends here (one of them my raquetball nemesis — whom i will obliterate in the near future, mark my words). now this was fantastic because, well, for one, shannon’s in italy and the fact she went so out of her way was very touching. and secondly: cheesecake. hot damn do i love me some cheesecake. that girl sure knows what she’s doing. so getting great presents and a birthday cake from a girl overseas can kinda turn a birthday into a big deal all of the sudden, and i ended the day very happy.

now i have to get this class crap out of the way so i can come home and play final fantasy X. my favorite part of that game so far? i got to change the main character’s name to brian, and one of the magical monsters’ name to josh (my roommate) because it has weird piercings like he does.