Had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine regarding friendship tonight. She commented that she had always had volatile friendships that ended in anger or betrayal. I already thanked the people that made my birthday great; I want to extend that thanks to all my friends that make life livable, especially those who can be brutally honest when needed.

Had a damned good birthday a couple of days ago. Got to see many of my good friends, had fun (without getting totally wasted.) So, thanks to everyone who helped make it a good time. Now for some rough edits from the vault.

When the human is removed from its natural environment, it, like other animals, experiences some distress. A good friend of mine has been visiting from out of town for the last week and a half. The other night, we were out with some friends having a few drinks, after dealing with a number of frustrations. On the way back home, she began saying that she hates everything, but explained that this was better than certain other people she knows who feel nothing at all. This was when she started crying. She commented that she's going through an existential crisis, and lamented the fact that it, like every other experience is trite because it's already been done. It occurred to me that this seems to be more and more common in our world of affluence, and I wonder if the Romans had existential crises before the barbarian invasions.