As a child, September 28th meant something different. It meant dinner at Red Lobster back when the cheddar bay biscuits weren't the best thing on the menu. It meant I could go right around the corner, hit up Toys "R" Us I didn't have to wait until Christmas to get those two Decepticon planes that combined to make one big plane. (I Googled the heck outta that and I still don't know the names of either plane.) It meant I had an excuse to eat a slice of cake every day for the rest of the week. As an adult, I care less about presents and more about presence. If I invite someone to a party or gathering, then I won't ridicule them for walking through the door empty handed as long as they come with a full heart of love and the readiness for whatever. My birthday might be my personal holiday, but as y'all will see in a very special edition of the "Rave & Favorite Five" to help bring in 37 in a different way, one of the greatest days in human civilization is only as great as the fantastic times with family, friends and loved ones. So cue the Black folks version of "Happy Birthday", pour a few shots and walk with me down memory lane...
#5 MY 23RD BIRTHDAY. 2002 is interestingly enough the only year when I traveled out of town to celebrate my born day and it wasn't anywhere exotic. (I know, I need to step up my celebration game. Might have to start a GoFundMe page.) One of my "brothers from another mother" and I took a trip to my alma mater in upstate New York to celebrate with the majority of my college crew and quite a few factors made this trip worth the seven-hour drive through a bunch of podunk towns. First, although I was amongst plenty of familiar faces, I met a bunch of interesting new characters--including someone who's still one of my good friends to this day. Second, one of my best friends at the time drove six hours to bring me a homemade chocolate-on-chocolate cake and wish me a happy birthday in-person, which is still one of the sweetest gestures overall (no pun intended) anyone has ever done for me. Third, after months of laying down ground work and feeding off of our first encounter, I finally "hooked up" with this girl, and although I saw her kicking it with another guy the next night, I still brought in my birthday with a bang. (That pun was intended.) Fourth, I rewound time two years to my senior year as my crew and I were once again the life of the party--although I now dread the images of being Top Dawg Bamma and doing the Harlem Shake when G-Dep's "Special Delivery" was blaring through the speakers. From a member of my crew nearly getting thrashed over spilling Jell-O shots in our rental to bewildering admissions from petite girls needing super-sized "packages"--yes, that happened--I knew back then that all of the foolishness attached to my 23rd birthday would stand the test of time...
#4 MY 21ST BIRTHDAY. I mean, shouldn't everybody's 21st birthday be in their top five? If it's not, then what lameness were you involved in preventing you from indulging in one of the best ages to turn??? All I remember about the actual day was doing a broadcast of our slow jams radio show, but the Saturday following my birthday was the real kicker. My girlfriend, my crew and I went to our favorite spot off-campus to partake of libations and every tenet of my Just Say No Club pledge was violated that night as everything was passed to me from Bacardi Light, Bacardi Dark, Whiskey Sours, Kamikaze shots, beer and a bunch of other stuff my drunken brain couldn't remember. Although I was having a blast with my folks, the epic fail was not eating much before darn near poisoning myself and when my friends tried to feed me from the local pizza spot, everything went downhill from there. One of my homies had to load me in my girlfriend's Geo Metro, carry me over his shoulder when we got back to campus and I threw up all over her once he put me down long enough. After cleaning up the both of us, she and I were laid out on the floor still drunk AF as I got a "happy ending" to a very happy birthday. As wild as my 21st birthday was, it's frankly carried more by its legendary status than anything else while the next three spot contenders for "Best...Birthday...EVER" hold more personal weight...
#3 MY 34TH BIRTHDAY. Although I've had decent celebrations since then, turning 34 was frankly the last birthday I thoroughly enjoyed despite nearly getting off to a rocky start. I went to the barber shop around my way the day before, but the guy who quickly became my regular barber was absent--much to my chagrin. I waited about four or five hours for a replacement barber to take me, but nobody looked in my direction the entire time while people who came into the shop well after me were seen. Needless to say, I was pissed about wasting that much and having to go to my original barber shop fifteen minutes away--which I should've done anyway because the barbers are much better. What nearly added insult to injury was putting together a bowling party with about fifteen friends for a guys' night out; however, the list dwindled down from fifteen to three despite enough advance notice. At first, I was a bit disappointed because it recalled memories of trying to put together parties as a kid, but struggling to get a bunch of people to come because I wanted to have one of those huge birthday bashes like what I used to see on TV. However, all I needed were those three brothers around because 1) I look at each of them like brothers and 2) there have been very few times since then when I laughed so hard for so long to the point where the back of my head hurt. Putting the night in its proper perspective, OG Buddy of the Blog Country told me, "Sometimes it ain't about the quantity of people that show up, but the quality of people." (Oh yeah, and it also didn't hurt to have one of my best nights of bowling since tenth grade.) Leave it to my best buds to turn a potentially disappointing weekend into one of the most memorable without doing anything out of the ordinary...
#2 MY 29TH BIRTHDAY. If I had to rank these birthdays based solely on fun, then my 29th birthday would beat out every other birthday because I was surrounded by some of my favorite people in the whole wide world. On the Saturday before my birthday, Mrs. Scribbler, OG Buddy of the Blog, his girlfriend at the time and I went to Zanzibar and had one of the last great times there before the club unfortunately shut down in 2010 to make way for the new Southwest Waterfront developments. Keeping things lighthearted as we always did and having good drinks with my wife, one of my brothers and someone I still regard as a big sister was the ideal pregame before my actual birthday. On the special day, I went over my other "big brother" and "big sister's" apartment to watch the Skins/Cowboys game, which was the final game at Texas Stadium and a game I don't think anyone expected the Skins to win--especially the two Cowboys fans in the house in both of my "big sisters". So imagine my surprise when the home team not only had the edge for most of the game, but more important, they triumphed to the tune of a 26-24 win and had their most impressive win in an otherwise forgettable 8-8 season during the first of the short-lived Jim Zorn era. (Why didn't Danny Boy fire Zorn as quickly after an 8-8 season as he did Marty Schottenheimer? I mean, I know the answer, but still.) As much as the Skins pulled off the improbable victory and gave me one of the best birthday presents ever, turning 29 also included a feast fit for a born day king featuring my favorite dish in lasagna, a delicious birthday cake topped with an ornamental Optimus Prime (which I still have to this day) and getting lit off of Jager Bombs with my friends while absolutely enjoying ourselves as if we all shared the same birthday. Now, for the Alpha and Omega of all birthdays...
#2 MY 29TH BIRTHDAY. If I had to rank these birthdays based solely on fun, then my 29th birthday would beat out every other birthday because I was surrounded by some of my favorite people in the whole wide world. On the Saturday before my birthday, Mrs. Scribbler, OG Buddy of the Blog, his girlfriend at the time and I went to Zanzibar and had one of the last great times there before the club unfortunately shut down in 2010 to make way for the new Southwest Waterfront developments. Keeping things lighthearted as we always did and having good drinks with my wife, one of my brothers and someone I still regard as a big sister was the ideal pregame before my actual birthday. On the special day, I went over my other "big brother" and "big sister's" apartment to watch the Skins/Cowboys game, which was the final game at Texas Stadium and a game I don't think anyone expected the Skins to win--especially the two Cowboys fans in the house in both of my "big sisters". So imagine my surprise when the home team not only had the edge for most of the game, but more important, they triumphed to the tune of a 26-24 win and had their most impressive win in an otherwise forgettable 8-8 season during the first of the short-lived Jim Zorn era. (Why didn't Danny Boy fire Zorn as quickly after an 8-8 season as he did Marty Schottenheimer? I mean, I know the answer, but still.) As much as the Skins pulled off the improbable victory and gave me one of the best birthday presents ever, turning 29 also included a feast fit for a born day king featuring my favorite dish in lasagna, a delicious birthday cake topped with an ornamental Optimus Prime (which I still have to this day) and getting lit off of Jager Bombs with my friends while absolutely enjoying ourselves as if we all shared the same birthday. Now, for the Alpha and Omega of all birthdays...
#1 MY 30TH BIRTHDAY. Turning 30 marked the beginning of a new chapter in "our" life--that is, the triumvirate of the real me and the two alter ego twins I've created. Over three years before I (as in Dirk Scribbler) became a thing, my older twin A.J. Throwback was preparing to come out of his creative shell. Spending years as a producer for other artists while writing rhymes in his composition books, many of those same artists along with OG Buddy of the Blog encouraged my twin to step up to the mic once they heard a mixtape he made for the Mrs. Angered after watching a male-female rap group diss Wale over Jay-Z's "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" beat in a performance at the now-closed Island Cafe in Northwest D.C. and seeing a bunch of area folks cosign the duo's dissension, he put his pen to the pad and began a two-month process of writing what would become his first official mixtape, Legend of the Fall. (For the record, he never used his original response, but he did flip the overarching sentiment over Jay-Z's "Heart of the City" on "Bushel of Crabs".) With an unexpected outpouring of support and positive feedback, LOTF remains one of his crowning achievements in life for three main reasons: 1) he bet on his talent and skill as an overall artist and made good on that bet; 2) he can always say he put out music he wanted to make even if it didn't mean he would become a household name; and 3) "Granny Smith", widely considered his best song and a fan favorite, epitomizes how he challenges himself as an artist and still sets the standard for everything he's done since then.
What topped off that meaningful experience was my birthday dinner at The Cheesecake Factory in Northwest D.C. later that week. Now I would've loved to put together some big party like my dear, dear friend's frequently-referenced and now-legendary extravaganza this past July; however, as previously suggested, my gatherings pan out better when I keep them small, simple and more intimate. Out of 20 people who were invited, 13 showed up and made me feel like the next phase of my life was going to be well worth it because I had the love and support from some of my favorite people in the whole wide world once again. The funniest story regarding this dinner actually had nothing to do with me. One of my best friends, coworkers and fellow producers/musicians was hitting me with his normal "yeah, I'm gonna come through" okey doke and he had me order his meal. Being the obsessively picky eater he is, I ordered some chicken dish and had me emphasize to our server and the cook to literally burn it--which is due to a previous food poisoning incident. Mind you, nobody at the table but Mrs. Scribbler and one of my other best friends who once worked at the Courts knew who he was, so the detail put into this order drew the side eye from my other brothers. By the time he showed up like an hour later, two of my brothers said in unison, "You're the person he made that detailed order for? Man, we thought you were a woman!" We all laughed so hard at that for like five minutes straight as he still hasn't been able to live that down. So yeah...that's how I brought in 30 and I would've done it the same way if given the chance to do it again.
What topped off that meaningful experience was my birthday dinner at The Cheesecake Factory in Northwest D.C. later that week. Now I would've loved to put together some big party like my dear, dear friend's frequently-referenced and now-legendary extravaganza this past July; however, as previously suggested, my gatherings pan out better when I keep them small, simple and more intimate. Out of 20 people who were invited, 13 showed up and made me feel like the next phase of my life was going to be well worth it because I had the love and support from some of my favorite people in the whole wide world once again. The funniest story regarding this dinner actually had nothing to do with me. One of my best friends, coworkers and fellow producers/musicians was hitting me with his normal "yeah, I'm gonna come through" okey doke and he had me order his meal. Being the obsessively picky eater he is, I ordered some chicken dish and had me emphasize to our server and the cook to literally burn it--which is due to a previous food poisoning incident. Mind you, nobody at the table but Mrs. Scribbler and one of my other best friends who once worked at the Courts knew who he was, so the detail put into this order drew the side eye from my other brothers. By the time he showed up like an hour later, two of my brothers said in unison, "You're the person he made that detailed order for? Man, we thought you were a woman!" We all laughed so hard at that for like five minutes straight as he still hasn't been able to live that down. So yeah...that's how I brought in 30 and I would've done it the same way if given the chance to do it again.
Is your birthday also on one the greatest days of all time? Are you #TeamLibra and have an upcoming celebration?? Do you not fit that criteria and simply want to go down memory lane about your favorite born day shenanigans??? PLEASE feel free to share your top moments in the comments...but when you do, PLEASE don't forget to show a brother some birthday love! Come back soon for a brand new edition of "Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five"!!!
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