Tonight was Rose’s surprise birthday party. The surprise ended up being the presence of both Sarah (my friend from back in elementary school) and me, so it ended up being a pretty quiet affair. It was great fun nevertheless. Rose’s parents are wonderful, and the food was delicious. Rose herself seems to be doing quite well.

After dinner Rose’s mom went to the video store and then called Rose (via cell phone) to pick out a movie to watch…it was long and arduous process, mostly thanks to the junky movies that Hollywood keeps pumping out. We finally decided on an inoffensive title: What a Girl Wants. As Rose noted afterwards (and I elaborated on), it takes considerable effort to compress that many stereotypes into a single movie.

I left the movie considerably wiser. Ian asks Daphne, right before they lock lips, “why are you trying so hard to fit in, when you were born to stand out?” I thought about it for the microsecond required, and realized that the life I’ve been living is a lie. I, too, am born to stand out. Be warned. Be armed, too.

The snotty girl’s snotty boyfriend had some deliciously snotty lines, too. I’ll be sure to use them, if I ever remember them—they were quite effective in the movie. One line was to the effect of “why don’t you give me the kiss I know you want to give me?” Another of his techniques I’ll be sure to use is to point out to an eligible female that women can’t resist me, and then expect that female to find me irresistible. It’s so simple it has to work!

The movie was a success, because I only cringed 50% of the time during the movie. In contrast, I cringed 100% of the time while watching the “Mary Kate and Ashley Do Mexico” preview that preceded the movie.

Toss in a dash of reminiscing of things past, such as the FDI and CIDA cards, and the OIC report on Kinko’s, and that summarizes the evening nicely.