The Weekend Assignment is posted each Friday at Outpost Mâvarin; a roundup of responses goes up the following Thursday, so if you’d like to join in, you’ve still got some time! And while you’re at it, go over and wish Karen a happy birthday!
Let’s get right to it:
Weekend Assignment #206: My birthday is coming up on Monday. In the grand tradition of the Beatles and my mom*, I magnanimously declare this to be your birthday, too. So, what would you like for your birthday? (And no, I won’t actually be buying it for you. Sorry!)
Extra Credit: Do you ever tell anyone what present(s) you want in real life?
I’m wondering if I should even do this assignment. I’ve already mentioned that I have a birthday coming up this month; in fact, I’ll mention it again in tomorrow’s post, which was drafted before this one – and hopefully you’ve seen your party invitation over in the sidebar by now. Anyway, Tall Paul has been giving me a fair amount of good-natured (?) grief over my making such a such a big thing out of “my” day as it is, and now this – but I swear, it was Karen’s idea, not mine!
To answer the extra-credit question first – yes, I do tell people what I’d like as a gift, but only if they ask. My family’s pretty big on the asking for suggestions – because the goal is to give the birthday person something they actually want and will like – so I usually comply (and I do the asking for their birthdays, although it’s not usually a problem with my husband; he’s already working on a list for both his late-October birthday and Christmas by late summer).
I already know that I’m going to get the one thing I most want for my birthday – a day off from work! My birthday’s on a Saturday this year. However, I am giving myself a long weekend, taking vacation on the Friday before and the Monday after. I don’t have any major plans for the time yet, but we’ll have just come through my agency’s annual financial audit by then, and I’m sure I’ll be able to make good use of some time just to relax!
There was one leftover item from my Christmas list that I’d be glad to get for my birthday: the Season 3 DVD of Lost. I did get the MacBook I asked for at Christmas, but I still need a car charger for it, and that would be nice to receive from someone. Since I gave up going to bookstores for Lent, I’ve been making a list of books I’d like to pick up after Easter, and I’m always happy to be given gift cards for book-shopping; I’d actually rather get the gift cards than the books themselves, because I like to buy those for myself. I wouldn’t mind a gift card for my favorite day spa, either. The truth is, I have no objection to gift cards in general.
I really can’t think of much else I’d like for my birthday, other than a chance to celebrate it with my family. What would you like for your day?
Ah, the audit! Yes, that’s something that has marred many a birthday for me: the need to finish the year-end accounting. Enjoy your time off!
Tall Paul and my husband. Birthday are meant to be big deals! 😉
You will definitely be ready for your long weekend after the audit, no doubt. I am sure the little extra time off will have been well earned by then. Probably is well earned now, actually.
Karen – That’s right, I forgot that you’re an accountant too. Hope you had a great birthday!
Literary Feline – I am quite sure I’ll need the long weekend very badly by then. 🙂 I’m hoping for some nice long blocks of reading time!
Sounds like gift cards are the way to go with you. I just used a few today myself. It almost makes your birthday seem to last longer. 🙂
Mike – Exactly – you totally get it! If you actually enjoy the shopping, which I do, the trip(s) to spend the gift card(s) is like an extension of your birthday. Hope you enjoy what you got with yours!
Let’s hear it for time off on your birthday, whoo-hoo! Here’s hoping you get enough gift cars to get your DVD and some of the other stuff you want!
Kiva – I hope someone else gets me the DVD, actually, so I can use the gift cards for other stuff. 🙂 But I’m really up for that long weekend!