An Annual List

Today’s Music: Bronze Radio Return – Shake, Shake, Shake

Once again, my wife (The Most Wonderful Girl In The Universe) asked me what I’d like for my birthday.
– World Peace.
– More common sense. For everyone.
(She thinks empathy should be added in, I think “common sense” implies empathy.)
– Empathy.
(What? When TMWGITU asks you for something, you do it.)
– A new bike.
– The ability to play guitar.
Well.
– More time to sleep.
– More hours in the day.
– The ability to understand stupid people.
– Fewer stupid people.
– A winning lottery ticket.
– The next season of Dr Who.
Now.
– A long weekend with TMWGITU, spent entirely in bed.

In a few days, I’ll wake up a whole year older.
And as long as I’ve got my girl beside me, the rest of the stuff on that list can wait.

Birthday Drinks: The NutMegan Highland

Today’s Music: Sophie and the Exciters – Heard It Through The Grapevine
Note on Today’s Music: Sophie and the Exciters hail from East Yorkshire, much like the birthday girl!

Everyones favorite psychopathic mother-figure, H.E. Ellis, thought that for Megans birthday, a drink menu would be nice.
Psychopathic.
It isn’t like Megan doesn’t have her degree. It isn’t like she isn’t building her own life out there in the real world in the wilds of England.
And nothing was said about how well she writes. I’ve been in the sphere about a year and a half. I met Megan early on in my time here. In all that time, she’s been posting her fiction on her blog. Musings, serials, stories that just flowed and stuff she had to work hard at to make as good as it is.
We weren’t asked to mention all of that.
We were asked to make drinks.

Psychopath.

I’d like to say I did this because H.E. asked.
And she scares the crap out of me.
But the truth is, I’m honored to asked to help celebrate Megan’s birthday here.
So pull up an easy chair by the fire, go read some of her stories, and enjoy a fine drink.

*Whatever you do after is not my fault.

The Birthday Girl at Disneyland!

The Appetizer
The Buzzer (This drink was actually made and named for me. How cool is that?)
To start…
Pour 3 parts rum over ice (I like Pussers. Not only does its history tie back to the British Navy, defenders of Megans home, but if I run out of gas after a night of drinking it, I can always vomit in my tank and move on.)
Fill glass with Ginger Ale
Add a splash of Amaretto
Add a cherry.
Sip, enjoy, and repeat until warm all over..

Now that you’re warmed up a bit, lets move on to something to round you out nicely.
One of the things the greater UK(Scotland specifically) is known for is its Scotch.
The history, the techniques, the flavors.
But how to combine this treasure from Megans general part of the world for a concoction worthy of celebrating the anniversary of such a wonderful woman’s birth?
Royal Lochnager had a Royal Warrant to distill for the Queen.
Now, their product is used in Johnny Walker Blue and Black labels.
The Main Course
The NutMegan Highland
Pour one part JWB
Add a dash of bitters (Angostura, because really, how many bitters makers are there?)
Add a splash of orange juice
A few drops of sweet vermouth
Gently float in a touch of lime juice. (You may want to make a batch of these before you start drinking, Megan, or the dashing and splashing may get a bit out of hand.)
Scratch a bit of nutmeg dust on top.
Sip…and…savor.

Since we’ve been to the Caribbean and toured the Highlands of Megan’s land, lets wrap up in one of my favorite distilling parts of the world, Mexico, for
Dessert
At this point, you probably can’t feel your lips. Or your feet. The room is spinning. Your liver has crawled out your ear to have a serious talk with you, but got caught up in the drinking songs and camaraderie, and now it wants to do shots.

I remember the cactus being greener.
Oh, wait. That was me.

Tequila
Shot glass filled with TequilaI recommend Porfidio Cactus. Not only does it taste great, but when you’re this drunk, you can spend hours wondering how they got that little glass cactus in the bottle.)
Lime
Salt
(If everyone is drinking the same as you, it is totally acceptable to throw the condiments at any and all.)
Three empty pint glasses/one large empty pitcher (The bartender will appreciate your foresight in having receptacles to throw up in.)

Don’t worry if tomorrow you can’t remember what happened. I’m pretty sure many of your friends have recorded it and uploaded it to you tube!

Happy Birthday, Megan, and happy every day after.
And I hope you find everything you’re looking for!

If you’re still thirsty, have some more delicious beverages here.
Just don’t drive…
H.E. Ellis
Sandy Like A Beach
H.R. Nightmare
Archon’s Den

An Iconic Birthday! (Bigger than Arbor Day, Even!)

Today’s Music: Godsmack – Voodoo

El Guapo: No dammit! It’s a party. And we’re all going to harmoniously sing happy birthday. Or else!
Easter Wallaby(EW): Or else what? You’re gonna call me a bunny? Listen buddy, I’m used to that from you people.
EG: Settle down, fuzzy britches. And keep that tail where I can see it this time too. *Grabs the bottle of chocolate liquer from her hand* Let’s not make this any harder than it has to be.
*EW grabs back the bottle*
GroundHog(GH): Hey! No cracks about fuzziness. *to EW* You’re looking good, baby. Can I get a hit of that? *Tips the bottle*
EW: *leans in close* How’d they rope you into this?
GH: I thought there’d be a Kardashian here. Not a bunch of second rate holiday icons. *Leers at her* Present company excluded of course.
Captain Kirk(CK) (standing next to Picard(CP)): People! We have to…settledown…be…ORganized…Thisconfusion…andbickering…iswhatthey…want…fromUS
CP: Oh, shut up you windbag. *drinks tea*
Abe Lincoln(AL) (moving away from the other presidents): Tea! A fine choice, sir. *Claps CP on his back*
Teddy Roosevelt(TR): *whispering conspiratorially* I have a bully accompaniment for that! *pours a liberal slug of whiskey in*
EG: *Wrestling Tom Turkey(TT) to the ground* Roosevelt, if you turn this into another Panama Canal, I will personally send you back up the Amazon with out a paddle! *Jumps back into the fray*
AL: Theodore, you need another drink like I need-
TR: Another hole in the head? BWAHAH-
*Abe Lincoln crams his stovepipe hat onto Roosevelts head, temporarily blinding him, and smacks him about the jowls.
TT has broken free from EG and is now under the refreshments table pecking at the St. Patricks Day Leprechaun. EW and GH are on top of a bookcase, slowly taki- OHGOODLORD! Let’s just say they’re…busy, and leave it at that.

A loud crash freezes everyone.
A cloud of dust and debris floats around the remains of the front door, which has been mostly replaced by the nose of a classic red Cadillac. in the back seat, Lipschitz, Otis, Bown Shugga and Mrs. Claus choke in the fumes, as Santa Claus bounds from the front seat.

SC: HO HO HO!!!! Why so cheeeerless, everyone? We’re here for a very festive occasion!
EG (*dusting the fallout from his lederhosen*): Thank you Kris! Now as I was saying before, we are going to sing a joyful Happy Birthday to a wonderful (wo)man. A (wo)man who has touched us all deeply, whether by collecting travel pictures for charming young lady who’s battling cancer, or bringing us weird pictures of Invisible Man fellatio.
A (wo)man who has stuck to her dream to publish – not one, not two, but three!!! books, with the promise of more to come!
A (wo)man who I am proud to call a friend.

And HE would apprecia-
SC *head snapping around*: Who? Who’d you say, boy?
EG: HE is the (wo)man we should all be proud- no, privileged- nay, HONORED! to sing happy birthday to, to wish H.E. Ellis the best birthday EVER!
*EG realizes he’s been shouting into a suddenly still room. He opens his eyes slowly from his fervor to see that he is now surrounded by a whole bunch of not-so-festive looking holiday icons, all of them victims of HE Ellis’ sharp and delightful wit.* Um…maybe we’ll just send her a card! *Runs off*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, H.E.!!!

Sincerely, from me, and all your blogtastic friends!
Edward Hotspur
Ginger Snaap
Cheeky Diva
LizzieC
Rogue Blogger
SandyLikeABeach
Trask Avenue

Edward Hotspur and the Birthday Wishes

Today’s Music: The Gazette – Red
Note on Today’s Music: Don’t watch if you don’t like gender ambiguity.
But it’s a great song!

Edward Hotspur has been splashed in these pages before. But not this time, since we know how he hates unoriginal.

Let the rainbow urine wash the streets in celebration!

His poetry (both humorous and serious) are well known around the sphere.
Read one of his delightful true stories, and you’ll be wondering what else you were taught that was so wrong. Just stay away from the one about mayonnaise. Seriously, it’s a little disturbing.

I could go on, linking to posts about his love of Gazette, or his unabridged lists of search terms, and you’d still have no idea what the hell I was on about.
(Although you’d get to read some pretty good stuff! Including one of the best stories I’ve read. Period.)

Bent. But joyful.

So the reason for all this (if you didn’t read the title) is that today is Edward Hotspurs birthday!
I’ve known him for all of my blogging career. I’ve seen him stand up for what he believes, I’ve seen him stand up for other bloggers, and I’ve seen him be an all around stand up guy.

In one of my rare, sane posts, I’d like to wish him the happiest birthday ever! Until the next one of course.
And we’d like you to come along with us on his birthday adventure.
Happy birthday, Hotspur!
Come journey into the weird, sublime, unfettered journey into all things Hotspur.
Where?
You choose!
Either way, It’ll be a lot of fun!
Oh, and it only gets weirder from here.
Does Hotspur get earthy and romantic? Or is he headed to outer space?

Yes, we already know what Hotspur would choose.

See what other choices await for Edward Hotspur and the…!
Romance…!
Space…!
P.I…!
Poem…!
???…!
Sentence…!
Puns…!
Autobiography…!
Flowers…!
Squee…!
Relationships…!
Bacon…!
Unicorns…!

And Bonus Hotspur birthday wishes from
Polysallabic Profundities!
Stuph Blog!

Even Better Than The End Of The World – The Beginning Of A Year

Today’s Music: Eric Clapton – Rock and Roll Heart

Back when I started blogging, I found a lot of the blogs I follow by reading the commenters on other blogs. Good comments led to a link click, and to some of my best online friends today.

Except for one guy. He was on a lot of the blogs I read, commenting, back and forthing with other comments. But his link was just a gravatar pic.
One of the first things I learned about him in those comments was that he loved goats (seriously).
I kept an eye on him. Because he’s weird.
Then one day, the blogosphere was awhirl. Atwitter. Agog, even!
After months of gentle berating and cajoling, this whackadoodle got his own blog!
But it wasn’t all things animal. For instance, he doesn’t speak cat. For goodness sake, he drove a Vega!

Vega! Don’t laugh.
Well ok. But not too hard.

But before you mock him too harshly, he’s one of the few I know who’s successfully used vomiting as a pickup technique. And there was a sci fi convention involved, so he’s got that in his favor too!

He has a deep knowledge of history, and important world events. But mostly the world wars.

Yep, John Erickson got hisself a blog.
And to go with it, he’s having a birthday.
NOW!

A boy and his goat

Happy birthday John, and many more to come! Stay entertaining. Stay irreverent. Stay yourself.
I’m happy to just come along for the ride.

And they are too!
Doggy’s Style
A Frank Angle
Fifty Four and a Half
Life Of Jaimie
Benzeknees
BrainRants
Fasab
The Idiot Speaketh
Madam Weebles
WhiteLady In The Hood
McCrabAss