Sunday, July 17, 2005

funny...i don't feel old.

naked duff
well, it's happened. i'm officially 27 (by almost exactly three hours).

how am i celebrating? well, i'm at work.......all day. however, working at the radio station means i can play last year's birthday serenade from my sister again....which i just did. you can listen to it here: sister_bday
i'm also spending the day demanding that would-be requests be prefaced by "happy birthday, duff". (yes- that noise you just heard was yours truly cracking her whip.)

while we're at it, if you're really lucky, i'll put up my biggest fan's birthday wishes from last year. (when he called today, not only did he forget to wish me a happy birthday, but he also called to tell me that if i hear from a particular listener, i am to tell her that he saw her on t.v. when she was 8 or 10, and thought she looked very pretty.)

anyway, back to me.

in honor of my birthday, i'm starting a new blog. it's going to take me a little while to perfect it, but if you'd like, you can sneak a peek at it here.

i don't know about you, but my birthday tends to depress me a little. if i sit still too long, i start pondering my own mortality and dwelling on my (lack of) accomplishments.

so, instead, this year i'll try to focus for a moment (or two or three) on what i've accomplished thus far. (i'm allowed to toot my own horn on my birthday, right? right?)

1. i was born on 17 july 1978 at 5:28 a.m. (or was it 5:22? i can't remember...feel free to correct me mama- after all, you were there.) since so many things could've gone wrong between conception and my debut, i consider being born my first accomplishment.

2. a tornado tore through our neighborhood (in a denver suburb) when i was three. obviously, i survived. (i thought it was a train and kept heading toward the window for a better look.)

3. despite my underachiever tendencies, i scored high enough on the ACT to earn a scholarship.

4. i was voted "class clown" my senior year of high school.

5. i've been to mardi gras.....sober.

6. i made it through college in four years...with three BAs.

7. shortly after college, i moved halfway across the country- by myself. i pulled into columbia, sc, five years ago today with a carload of my worldly possessions and directions to keith and rhonda's house. (on a side note, when i called each of my parents to let them know i'd arrived, both of them forgot that it was my birthday. i was crushed.)

8. i've had a paying job in radio since i was 21. (an NPR affiliate in college, followed by classic rock and modern rock stations upon my arrival in south carolina, and i've been on the air at wnok for over 3 1/2 years.) i was on full time briefly at one point.....i'd like to get back to that sometime in the next two years.

9. i've hiked to the bottom of the grand canyon.....and made it back out again under my own power.

10. i've kayaked on the colorado river.

11. i've been to every state except washington, oregon, idaho, montana, utah, texas (i don't count airports), alaska, and hawaii. i've also been to spain twice (madrid on one trip, barcelona on the other), france (mostly paris), mexico (twice...once in a stroller, and the second time this past april), and canada (manitoba, quebec, new brunswick, nova scotia, prince edward island).

12. as of this coming wednesday night, i will have seen three out of my four favorite bands in concert...twice each. (inxs in april 1994 and september 1997, depeche mode during the devotional and exciter tours, duran duran in november 2003 and on wednesday night, and u2 during their popmart tour.)

okay....so i suppose i've got a couple of entries for my life resume. over the next year, i'd like to add the following:

1. visit three new places. (i've got two planned- just need to work on a third.)

2. eat 100 tacos (no problem there)

3. find an intact conch shell at the beach. (this seems to be the holy grail of shells for me....i can find broken ones, but an intact shell seems to be just out of my reach for some reason.)

4. get in a position (financially) where i can afford to work less and play more. (actually, i may need a couple of years for that one.....)

5. take a picture every day...and remember to post them on my new blog.

oh- and don't think that just because i'm 27 now i'm going to start acting like a grown up. maybe i'll consider it by forty...though i doubt it.

29 comments:

SappyChick said...

Happy Birthday!

And believe me, you'll probably always question how much you should have accomplished with each passing year. I still do it at 33.

Hope you achieve your next five goals! :-)

Larry said...

feliz cumpleanos.

The Lone Rangers said...

Happy Birthday, great site btw!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday, and congratulations for all those accomplishments.

duff said...

thanks for the birthday wishes, gang (and the reassurances that i'm not old- which you'll repeat for me next year, right? right??)

nj: well, i haven't worked a weekend in....a week. (not counting yesterday, of course.)

:| raven |: said...

Happy Birthday Duff. you're just a pup .... and have a lot a head of you.

you know i live in Colorado right? do you remember the girl that was almost killed in that tornado? she was picked up in her car and carried several blocks and was in the hospital for 3 months? she is one of my closest friends .. although i didn't meet her until 7 years later.

:| raven |: said...

ps .. i can't see the new site? :(

duff said...

i don't remember much about the tornado in thornton, since i was so young. however, i do remember that it tore up a few houses in our neighborhood, the sky was green, and it sounded like a train.

the new site will be up before midnight...or else my web guru is in big trouble. as soon as it's up, i'll activate the link.

right now, i'm trying to drag hom to the machine where i've recorded the phone calls so i can get them put up. bear with me.

Kal said...

Happy B-day, Duff.

duff said...

thanks, kal. (and raven, too- i forgot to mention that in my last comment.)

Larry said...

All those promises of a naked photo, for that. You are such a tease. :P

duff said...

i won't dispute that. actually, when i got up this morning, i thought about putting up the naked baby picture (i was 11 months old, actually) and following it with a current (yet carefully posed) birthday suit shot, but common sense prevailed. (basically, my dad, bosses, and a few coworkers check in at regular intervals)

however, i'm not ruling it out as a future option.

besides, you have to admit i was a pretty cute kid.

Ren said...

Happy B-Day... Just got that in with seven minutes to go. Whew!

duff said...

thanks for getting that in under the wire, lab boy. it's good to see that you've returned from the dark side, by the way.

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday :) belated wishes.. hope you had a great day..tc

Penny said...

Hope you had a great birthday Duff. Sorry I missed the actual date, but the sentiments are there.

Mossy Stone said...

I'm with the other folks about the nudie shot. Surely your fans deserve better. Well, maybe not creepy obsessed radio fan guy. He gets no nudies.

Stephen said...

belated happy birthday! [and nice legs!]

Danikabur said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! (a day late ooops)

Kal said...

Wow, Duff in the Buff. Been waiting for that. Now unfortunately I have to go to jail for viewing that picture... Damn.

duff said...

deepthi: thanks for the birthday wishes. i'm glad you stopped by.

penny: thanks. i'm sure you and mossy were too busy this weekend to check in on my (recently) rarely-updated ol' blog. ;~)

mossy: i'm quite certain he has magazine subscriptions to satisfy those needs. (and no, i'm not in any of them....or at least, if i am, someone's had a high ol' time with photoshop- hope they at least toned my thighs for me.)

freewriter: thanks, and thanks. (so, about that maple syrup.......)

danikabur: no worries- you're still ahead of digitalicat and mph by a mile.

kal: it's a perfectly innocent picture- i believe this was the time i went on "sit-down strike" because i didn't want to take a bath.

so, in some strange way, it's a publicity shot for my childhood activism. (more cookies! fewer baths! footed pajamas for all!)

i don't know if that last part made sense. maybe i should try that "sleeping" stuff i've heard so much about.......

Joe said...

Alright! I've finally seen a picture of Duff naked. And yet, strangely, I'm not satisfied.

If you're concerned about the wrong people seeing it, you know you can always give a racy pic to me to post for you. Honest, you can trust me. Really.

Joe said...

And happy birthday, too! So when do you want your b-day spankings?

duff said...

digi: i knew there'd be a photo request from you- i should've put money on it when i had the chance. however, if i send you a picture (which means i'd actually have to take a racy picture), then larry'd get jealous and want one...and then freewriter would want one (for further evaluation of my legs), and then mph would get cranky over being left out and.....i just can't do that to you guys. so really, when i say "no", it's for your own good.

as for the spankings, i will collect those as soon as i am certain FIB didn't get any first.

Stephen said...

i'm a believer in sharing. especially maple syrup.

duff said...

bring it on, freewriter.

D said...

um, you kept that damn recording of my bday song from a year ago? i'm telling mom!!!!!!!!!!

duff said...

go right ahead.....i played it again this year, too.

perhaps i'll play it again next year as well- after all, you're 500 miles away.

D said...

yes, but i see you every xmas.