Classic Rant #952 (April 29, 2013): 58 + 1 (Day)

As I alerted you to on Friday, I did have my birthday yesterday.

I reached the magic number of 56.

I don't know why it is a magic number, but to me, reaching 56 years of age is a milestone, so maybe it is a magic number.

With one day of hindsight under my belt--56 + one day--I can provide to you a good picture of what I did yesterday to celebrate my big day.

How did I celebrate?

The celebration commenced on Saturday. My wife took myself and our son out to dinner at a local Chinese all-you-can-eat place.

There are a number of these in our environs, but most of them are pretty bad.

This particular restaurant is one of the few that is quite good.

So we had a nice meal, then we came home, and I passed out watching TV.

No, not fainted, just fell asleep really early, like at 9:30 or so, maybe even earlier, I just don't remember.

Then for my actual birthday on Sunday ...

I woke up the normal time on Sunday, did my usual things, and had a few of the cupcakes my wife made to celebrate the occasion.

My son iced them, unbeknownst to my wife, which made her angry, but he meant well. He wanted to help my wife with the cupcakes, but he made a bit of a mess.

But heck, it all winds up in my stomach anyway, so it wasn't a catastrophe. We all laughed about it afterward.

I received my gifts. My wife bought me some much needed shirts--I wear them out pretty well, so these should last a while before I need new ones--and my parents gave me some money.

My daughter came over for a time, bought me a lunch bag--the one I am using is still usable but falling apart, so when it goes, I have a new one to use--and my sister called to wish me congratulations. I also spoke to my wife's brother, and he wished me a good day, too.

I then went out, got my son his "much needed" Wii controller--he has had the game for a while, and one of the controllers died last week, we bought a replacement, and it didn't work for some reason, so he needed another one--and then I came home, and as is my tradition, I gave my wife and son gifts too.

I bought my son WWE wrestling tickets for June, when pro wrestling comes to Nassau Coliseum, perhaps for the last time.

I bought my wife iTunes cards, so she can download a show which I think is called "The Walking Dead." She has been catching up with the three seasons of the show on NetFlix, so this way, she can watch the most recent season right now.

Then I settled down for the rest of the afternoon, which was going to be sports, sports and more sports.

I watched the Knicks and Celtics battle it out in a terrific game that the Knicks lost. They come back to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, when I hope the Knicks close out the Celtics for good.

The game went into overtime, so I missed the Yankees sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays were supposed to be the top team in the division, but they appear to be headed to be this year's Miami Marlins, a team that made many trades to upgrade its roster but which isn't meshing at all.

The Yankees, however, have had one major injury after another, yet they are playing better than anyone could have dreamed. I watched the highlights, and then moved over to non-sports stuff.

MeTV ran a contest yesterday. Every Sunday, they have a four-hour block of themed programming, where they pair old shows by a common theme. Yesterday, they had the viewers guess the theme.

At first, I thought it was guest stars on the shows that they put on who were born on April. 28, because on one of the shows, "The Mod Squad," the guest star was Carolyn Jones, most famous for her role as Morticia on "The Addams Family," who shares a birthday with me. But I soon saw that that guess was wrong. It took me about two and a half shows, and I was able to figure it out.

No, I am not going to tell you what the theme was, because I want to win a trip that they offered, or at least a T-shirt.

Anyway, we had dinner--peppers and eggs, which was very good and very filling--and my family and I settled down to a nice evening, just watching more TV and relaxing.

I went to bed, as did my wife and son, at 10 p.m. and that was it.

Some might say I did absolutely nothing on my actual birthday, but I say just the opposite.

I did plenty. I did exactly what I wanted, which, to me, was the best gift I could have given to myself.

My daughter's birthday is next, on May 15, and I hope she has as nice a day as I had yesterday.

Thanks to everyone for a nice birthday.