and yes I said yes I will Yes.

It is the 104th Bloomsday, as such things are counted. For a fine fine superfine look at Joyce's Ulysses and the reasons it is set on June 16, 1904, check in with the foine foine superfoine Ms. O'Malley HEREIN.

It is also my 40th birthday.

If you want to be precise as to time and all, it's about another hour or so as I write this (which is when I will be expecting the yearly call from Mom, who remembers the minute quite well).

Thanks to all who have sent cards and gifts, real and virtual.

I had various plans for today that have not panned out - first, there was to be a party, but that proved too complicated and tiring to deal with immediately post-Ambersons; then I was going to get away from the city for a few days and relax and write for the August shows that need it, but the car is in the shop and by the time it's out, even if it's today, there's no point in going anymore; then B & I thought of having one of our private birthday times together (usually done for her) where we go down to Coney Island and play a lot of Skee-Ball and drink pina coladas and eat at Nathan's and maybe go on a ride or two that scare the hell out of us and we regret immensely, but a look out the window combined with the weather forecast makes this unlikely (and very glad we didn't have the party, too).

Now, I'm thinking of spending the day dealing with the DMV, as my driver's license expires today (one of the reasons I was going to Maine, to renew it there). Unfortunately, I've checked their website and discovered that they apparently absolutely require a piece of ID I haven't seen in years (my Social Security card), so I may be screwed on this. A fine birthday this is.

So, I'm 40. Better, as they say, than the alternative, but still odd. Not the 40 I expected for at least the first three decades of my life, but all good, all fine, OK, OK, really. So, it'll be just another day on earth today - I'll be bored, I'll nap, I'll wait to hear about the car, I'll maybe get some writing done. Maybe we'll have a nicer dinner than usual. Oh, I have a wrapped present sitting around from my in-laws-to-be waiting to be opened, that's right - well, that's a nice birthday-kinda thing to do.

Not exactly a powerhouse day in history for events and birthdays, this one - though Bloomsday ain't too bad and I've always enjoyed that connection (right, I have to read some Joyce today, that's a ritual I never miss). Let's see . . .

I share this birthday with Adam Smith, Geronimo, King Gustav V of Sweden, Stan Laurel, Arthur Pierson, Ona Munson, Murray Leinster, Helen Traubel, Jack Albertson, Ilona Massey, Enoch Powell, Anthony Sharp, Katherine Graham, Irving Penn, Faith Domergue, Bebe Barron, Vilmos Zsigmond, Bill Cobbs, Ondine, Jim Dine, Erich Segal, Joyce Carol Oates, Lamont Dozier, Joan Van Ark, Roberto Duran, Gino Vannelli, Laurie Metcalf, Ian Buchanan, Arnold Vosloo, Adrienne Shelly, Jenny Shimizu, Tupac Shakur, and Tom Lenk - who are all the people I've ever heard of from the various lists I've seen.

Them! was released on this day in 1954, and Psycho in 1960. The Monterey Pop Festival opened on this day in 1967.

In the Catholic Church, it is the feast day of St. Benno, the patron saint of anglers, weavers, and alliteration, St. John Regis, the patron saint of lacemakers, and St. Lutgardis, patron saint of childbirth and the handicapped.

Also on this day: In 1858, Abe Lincoln delivered the "house divided" speech; 1903, the Ford Motor Company was incorporated; in 1933, FDR opened the New Deal program; 1961, Rudolph Nureyev defects; and in 1963, the USSR launched the first woman in space.

Whaddya know, Mom didn't call at 10.45 am (probably thinks I'm sleeping in today, when I haven't been able to sleep past 6.30 am in weeks). Ah, well, back to figuring out what to do with the day . . .

( A VERY Limited View of Me in Pictures, skewed massively to the last few years: )

Well, the car is fixed, and maybe I'll drive up to Maine anyway, just to have something to do . . .