Birthday Party 2002 at Red Robin's... ah, the memories!

I remember the very enjoyable time I had at Red Robin's last year for my birthday, actually. People were there at 6:30 because they had to leave early, but that was all right. Since two of the people there were from the SDMB (Cheri and Bob), it made for some interesting conversation. When my friends Mark and Joe got there, the conversation turned very interesting indeed. You see, I had met Joe and Irene at the seawall at the Vancouver Dopefest in July, and one of the Dopers with us that day (Kevin) looked like Mark's doppelganger. So we all discussed what went on at the message board, how it came to be, and all that stuff.

Other friends of mine showed up after 7:30, said hi and happy birthday to me, and we all settled into a fun evening of food, friendship, and good times. We talked about our lives, our church, Awana, casinos, and various other topics. I hope everyone had a good time.

After my friend Nathan arrived, I decided to open the presents while the majority of the people were still at the table, and hadn't left. I got three candles from various people (Ivan and Karen; the Dopers; and Rick and Nina), a mug (with a packet of strawberry herbal tea) from Anita, a Christian book and CD (Carol Cymbala) from Phil and Melia, another Christian book (Steven Curtis Chapman) and CD (Brian Doerksen... listening to it right now) from Mark and Joe, the LOTR trilogy from Nathan and my brother Jon (now I have no excuse not to read it), and a decorative plate from Yazmine. (she said my apartment seemed bare to her.. could be)

Other presents I got: a sweater from my parents, $50 and some lotto tickets from my friends Elizabeth and James, a photo frame from my friend Lesley, and some body wash from my friend Dawn. Of course, all my friends' love and everything else is great, too. :)

After all that, we played around with the ribbons and such. We joked that the ribbon could be an engagement ring, or a way for Anita to outdo our friend Helen Yu at her wedding on Saturday. We talked about the Awana leaders' reactions to the kids they'd get this year, church things, etc.

My brother showed up after 9:20, as advertised. (he wanted me to delay the start time as much as possible.. good thing I was able to do that) He arrived dressed up from the function he was at before. No, he didn't have a proper tuxedo shirt because he can't afford one on his student budget. By that time, it was all church people as the Dopers and three of my other friends from other places had left. So we discussed church, people at church, and everything else. Eventually, there were just five people left: me, Jon, Nathan, Sean, and Adela. When I told my brother that the party table had existed in varying forms since 6:30, he was very surprised: "A revolving cast of characters, and we're the late-night crew." Indeed they were, and I loved them for it. :)

Eventually, we started to wonder why there was nobody coming into the restaurant.. we were under the impression that it closed at 1, so at only 10:45 or so, there should be more people. It seemed that we were the only people in the restaurant. There was a Mudd pie dessert, and after we'd finished it, we were doing horrible things to it. (just putting salt, pepper, condiments, ketchup, etc. on it) My brother really wanted to take a picture of it, but his camera was in the car. So when he went to get it, he had to ask Nate to hold the door open for him because the place was closing. No wonder there wasn't anyone else in the place!

I should add that we all left at around 11:15, after having had a very enjoyable evening. So it wasn't all that bad.. now to get to those books and things before people ask if I've finished them before Dec. 18 / 2002. (the date that the second LOTR movie comes out)