This past week was filled with a whirlwind of emotions. After I recovered from the shock of being employed and the shame of crying during my interview, I put all my energy into being as annoyed as possible that my boss wanted me to start this new job on my birthday, September 4th. Thankfully, that got old after a day or two, especially once the birthday presents started rolling in.

Jacob bought me the amazingly appropriate t-shirt on the left that says, "I'm blogging this." I now want one for every day of the week because it's pretty much how I live my life these days. Every moment is potentially a writing opportunity, which is something I actually really love about blogging. It makes you view each day as something special, even if all you do is sit on your ass and play The Sims from dusk 'til dawn.

Tyler, on the other hand, proved the usefulness of having a brain too big for his skull when he bought me the fourth season of "Samurai Jack" on DVD as well as Sondra "Golfwidow" Harris' fantastic and hilarious book, Getting My Think On. I never tire of Samurai Jack's mad skills, Aku's flaming eyebrows, Genndy Tartakovsky's brilliant animations, or Sondra's pure genius as a writer and her loveliness as a person. It's hard to have a bad week with that combination of awesomeness in your life.

I received a few other gifts, but I'll refrain from swooning over them until I find the time to take some accompanying pictures.

Oh, but wait! I actually did get a gift from a complete stranger today. The gift of plagiarism! w00t! Golfwidow, the same lovely woman who authored the book I received from Tyler, pointed out to me that this entry on Multiply looks a lot like one of my entries! Nifty! I've never had that happen before — well, not to my knowledge, at least — so I'm really not sure what to do about the whole thing. I contacted Multiply via the "report abuse" link. When I receive a reply, I can figure out how to proceed from there. (Updated to add: Oh look! Stolen entry versus original entry again! Neat. Looks like this person has a thing for Harry Potter entries.)

Meanwhile, I'll bask in the glow of my pile of real presents and thank the Lord that I have some of the coolest and most thoughtful friends on the planet. Much love, dearies!