Birthday month

So, it's my 30th birthday later this month. I need to figure out exactly what I am going to do...

For the last few years, I've had a house (well, technically apartment) party. Those parties always seemed to live up to the expectations of the planning process (how did I comfortably manage 30 or 40 odd people each time, I didn't think I knew that many people?!) and everyone seemed to have a great time. Both parties also had memorable alcohol stories (the Brazilian crazy rum 2 years ago, and the Absolut Mandarin shots last year - strange for someone who doesn' tend to drink hard!). Unfortunately, the parties were a lot of effort (cleaning, catering, cleaning again) and I never managed to chat with everyone I really wanted to.

So this year, the house party is no more.

I am also influenced by the availability of friends... this apart, apart from the usual overseas correspondants, I'll have at least another 3 or 4 close friends either out of town, out of the state or out of the country. Thus, I think I'm leaning towards an entire birthday week of activities and socialising... a selfish but completely enjoyable way to go, and a good way to see friends in a more personable way, and have a proper talk. At the moment, my plan is looking like...

Monday - meditation and preparation
Tuesday - drinks with old work friends
Wednesday - dinner and trivia
Thursday - 'Pirates of the Caribbean'
Friday - secret dinner with J-star
Saturday day - pub lunch with cousins
Saturday night - cocktails
Sunday morning - breakfast and recovery
Sunday night - swanky family dinner

Any thoughts on other great birthday week ideas to fill in the empty time slots? EDIT: No more empty spaces...

Ho ho huh?

Anyone receive/give/hear about any worthy Kris Kringle presents this year?

We had a KK at work... I received two rubber stamps from ThinkGeek - "I haven't got time to read this CRAP" and "This is F**KING URGENT". Awesome.

There was an assortment of presents at our Christmas party... from the normal (cook book, mug and hot chocolate set) to the geeky (desk-based rocket launcher) to the humourous (megaphone for the woman with the hoarse voice) to the the extreme (an erotic inflatable love piggie).

Quick hits

Before I go...

...if you called your baby daughter "Dezyre", what sort of life would she lead?

...if you had to buy a $20 Kris Kringle for a childish and arrogant, but entertaining, male work colleague, what would you buy?

...is it wrong to enjoy watching "So you Think You Can Dance?"