Barmy Blue's Bland Blog

For the past month I've been asked here and there what I want for my birthday. To be honest I can't think of anything. I tell a lie. There are lots of things I wish I could get but they're either expensive/a waste of money or just impractical/impossible and with such things it's best if I buy them myself. So. I've been thinking about my perfect birthday plans for this year. It's tricky that Mother's Day is the day after my birthday but it is over a the weekend so that's nice. For Mother's Day I plan to try and bake secret cupcakes again but with pink and green icing this time and maybe set up a little Sherlock DVD marathon.
So for my birthday I'm thinking of equally nice and simple plans.

Mum said that she hasn't planned anything like an outing or something this year and I'm okay with that, to be honest I'd feel a bit guilty if she had. She asked if I wanted to do anything after Napoleon called. I couldn't think of anything I really fancied doing. There's nothing at the cinema that appeals to me. Although I did see 300 on my birthday a few years ago but I just don't fancy seeing the new one, at least not now, maybe I'd be interested another time (I looked at local cinema listings just top see if there was anything I might like). Mainly I still feel let down my films these days. Most of the time a film sounds good but when I see it I'm left disappointed, so now I wait for it to be shown on TV then If I do hate it then I have the sense of relief that I didn't pay to see it (although we pay TV license but most of the time the good stuff balances out the rubbish so I don't think about it).

Napoleon's birthday was last week but he doesn't come to see us on his birthday anymore, there's no point really. He usually comes on my birthday and we give him any of his birthday stuff we have then. As an only child, and quite a selfish one at that, I'm not thrilled about sharing a small portion of my birthday with him but I can get over it easily enough. It's hard to get him birthday presents. It's hard to get me presents too but at least I have a small list of interests that you can take inspiration from. Napoleon only has two. Work (building work) and trains. Also it's quite disheartening giving him gifts because he rarely seems pleased. He will often ask why we got that or where we got it, he could've got it cheaper at such a place and so on. To be completely fair he's not always like that but those are the ones that really stick in your mind. I at least pretend to be pleased. Although I think mum knows when I'm faking. When I really like something I'll usually look at it for longer and have my insanely happy face for quite some time.

So. Birthdays.

I'm too old to have a birthday party. I haven't really had one for years anyway. When you run out of friends and you don't have any other family members locally then having a birthday party with just you, your mum and possibly your dad for the first quarter or so until he buggers off, is pretty pointless really.
We all used to have parties when I was little. Usually the whole class would be invited to a party at a venue or someone's house. Sometimes I liked them and sometimes I didn't. It was at children's parties that I discovered the ultimate party snack. Ready salted crisps and chocolate (preferably chocolate buttons because you can have one with a small crisp. Alternatively alternate between eating one crisp then one chocolate button then one crisp in quick succession. Salty and sweet at the same time. Somehow it just worked and it still does today).
I quickly realised that I wasn't so fond of party games. I didn't really like musical chairs, mainly because I was too slow to do well at it and also it seemed so unfair that someone got kicked out every round. You almost have to fight for the chair and I'm usually a polite person so it's wasn't for me. Which became evident at my own birthday party at McDonald's where I was out in the first round. All the adults gave an audible "Aaawww" to say poor thing lost right away and on her birthday too. They wouldn't have had that reaction if any other child were out first. Also I didn't actually want to play anyway so I was glad to be out first. Besides. Those are the rules of the game. There can be no exceptions otherwise it isn't fair. I was pretty happy about it, I sat in the corner and ate cake, I didn't see why everyone should feel sorry for me. I think that year it was a Mr Blobby cake. That's the only one I can remember really, because it stood out so much.

I don't much feel like going out at the moment. Even if I did I can't really think of anywhere. It could be a bit tricky since it's on a Saturday. About half the time my birthday has coincided with the Easter holidays or a weekend. That was nice when I was at school because I had the day off (I would never have had the day off on a school day). But now it's just like any other day.

I've thought of some nice simple little things I will/could do.
Tonight I'll be wearing some cute new pyjamas, there's just something nice about new pyjamas. And it'll probably be after midnight when I go to bed so technically that will be on my birthday. So that's a nice start to my birthday.
Not sure how to fill in the rest of the day.
I'm not sure if mum has a cake for me or not at the moment. I only wonder because it would be hard for her to hide one since I'm at home all day and it's not like when I was a child, I can see and reach anywhere she can now. I have a thing for chocolate cake again this year so my ideal cake this year would be a chocolate cake, with chocolate shavings round the side and a little of the top with chocolate stars and the words "happy birthday" written in dark chocolate (probably over white chocolate stars) and/or some bright candles that spell out "happy birthday" (we had some of those for one of my previous birthdays, they're fun) with a "26" or preferably a "2" and a "6" as separate candles, a different colour each. Something along those lines is possible but I wouldn't hope for that exactly, it's just that if I were designing my own cake this year that would be the design.
But if for whatever reason I don't have a cake then I could bake one. I got a box of caramel cupcakes mix. I could put it all in a cake tin and try to cook a regular sized caramel cake, they come with a mix for caramel butter cream too. I could dig out some of the candles we've kept from and for many birthday cakes over the years. I could top it with some of the chocolate hearts I got for Valentine's Day (they're actually more for topping cakes that chocolates but I bought them for Valentine's Day to give my chocolates a little flair if I needed) and I also got some little chocolate stars a while ago that I might still have lying around. I'm sure I could write happy birthday with something. I still have a little dark chocolate left over from Valentine's day so I could melt that down and write happy birthday. My only concern is that if I have a birthday cake either way then if I bake cupcakes for Mother's Day then we'll be overloaded with cake and mum doesn't like cake that much (she likes it but if I waited for her to finish it then it'd go stale, so it's generally expected that I eat the majority of any cake we have, especially if it's chocolate, since mum doesn't like chocolate cake so much).
So We'll see how we go with cake. I can be happy either way.

Also it would be nice to watch something nice on my birthday. I'm thinking of watching Howl's Moving Castle again. I've only ever seen the dubbed version because I like it a lot and it's for the same reason that I've never read the book. I worry that reading the book would ruin the film for me because I know that they're quite different.
It was the same with Eragon (which I never actually finished reading. I got about half way but since I've read that much of the book I can't stand the film anymore) So much is cut out that it might as well be two different stories, although having seen the film ruins the plot of the book because you know what's going to happen and how it's going to end. It's like the film is a watered down version of the book. I know why. It's because seeing something and having to imagine it through someone else's words is very different. Also as you read you form your own vision of what is being described and someone else who reads the same book will form a slightly different vision so it's hard for any visual rendition to be perfect. Also books can be long with clever detail and intricate plot twists but to condense it into a standard length film things will need to be altered and/or cut. That's just how it is. It's just that, for me personally, one will ruin the other pretty much every time. So I try to avoid that problem because it makes me depressed.

In some recent news.

When we went shopping this week Yuki got stuck in my room again. I have no idea why since she hasn't gone in there willingly since the last time she got stuck a couple of years ago now. Yes i took her into my room to help me find a mouse but she was so anxious to get out the whole time I figured that she'd want to avoid my room even more. Since she stopped going upstairs I've stopped shutting my door when I go out, there didn't seem to be a point, she'd learned her lesson, or so I thought. But We came home form shopping and weren't greeted by an excited dog. We looked around. Not on her bed. Not in her den under the table. Not in the kitchen (She'd opened the door so we thought she might be in there). She didn't come when we called her and we couldn't hear her whining. So I decided that she must be in my room. The door opens inwards so once you're in you're stuck unless you can work a door handle (which she can't). I thought no, she couldn't possibly be in my room. She wouldn't be. Not after last time.
My door was shut. I didn't shut it. I opened it and out sprang the beast, so excited to see me.
I would dearly love to know why she decided to go in there in the first place and also how long she was in there and what she was doing before she realised she was stuck. Did she realise right away and try to get out or did she sit on my bed a while and then realise she was stuck? I will never know.

I can't think of anything else to say and this is long enough so that's it.

Bluebiird out