One Great Idea

Before all, I want to thank you all for helping me get birthday wishes from 9 of the 23 people on my list. That is 9 more than I ever thought that I could ever get.

Secondly, I'd like to thank the nine people on my list who gave me a shout out. You guys and gals are hilarious, kind, and thoughtful individuals, and I look up to you more now than before. This is for you.

This has been the wildest week in my life, but it has been wild in a good way. One of my friends who blogs religiously told me I needed to “storify” the past week, and that is what I intend to do-- if “storify” means put it in timeline form, that is. I hope you’ve eaten recently because this post is going to be wicked long, and I wouldn’t want you to starve while reading it. P.S. I've added a lot of hyperlinks in the text, and they are all wonderful. If you have the time, click on them and enjoy the extra material. 

Here’s a play-by-play of how I ended up having the most kick ass birthday in the history of birthdays, despite the fact that my mother wouldn't let me have a goat (and, yes, that includes the time I wrote a letter to the dolphin trainer that my mom read about in Reader’s Digest, and he invited me down to Gulfport, MS to feed the dolphins for my sixth birthday) The goat story will be told another day. And there will be video.

Tuesday—Nov. 20

I listened to this week’s episode of Comedy Bang Bang! for the second time, which just so happens to feature Lennon Parham. Sidenote, I had tweeted her and Scott Aukerman the day before about that episode, and Forsythia, Parham's character, dedicated a song  to me.

I’m pretty sure that I have listened to every Earwolf podcast that features her and Jessica St. Clair because they are all hilarious. You should do the same. Anywho, I had a little insomnia, so I started watching YouTube videos and found a 40+ minute video of Parham and St. Clair talking about Best Friends Forever. I thought to myself, “Hey, you know, it’d be really cool if I could be best friends with them.” BAM! The idea for my birthday challenge was incepted into my brain, and I posted it on the blog.

Wednesday—Nov. 21

9:00 am: I woke up to my friends already bombing the comedians with birthday shout-out requests

4:30 pm: I got home from work and saw that I had received tweets from Retta and Julie Klausner

5:08 pm: Chris Gethard called

5:10 pm: I hung up and proceeded to hyperventilate.

5:42 pm: Vacation Jason called

5:42 pm and 45 seconds: Riley broke character and introduced himself and made me want to hug him through the phone. He said he felt so honored to be on the list with so many funny people. I think he sells himself way too short. He’s hilarious. Watch this. 

8:00 pm: I headed to Tupelo to watch the Truth & Salvage show at Blue Canoe

9:30 pm: I danced my socks off

Thursday—Nov. 22

12:38 am: I got a mouth kiss from Truth & Salvage member Tim Jones

Tim Jones and myself after the show

11:30 am: I went to the assisted living home with my mom to eat lunch with my 98 year old grandmother (She’ll be 99 on Tuesday, y’all!)

12:30-3:30 pm: I took a nap. 

4:00-bedtime pm: I had Thanksgiving dinner with my brother, his wife, my sister and her husband and their herd of children. I played football with the little boys out in the yard for a little while. We all took a field trip up to the newly converted barn-to-cabin at my sister’s family’s farm. My brother-in-law told me we need to work on some Christmas decorations for one of his workers. (He wants to build elves out of rebar and put lights on them and have the lights flash so it will look like the elves are humping. I told him I could probably make it happen and that it could be my project for the rest of the holiday break.)

Friday—Nov. 23

9:30 am: Woke up and went to work where I painted the stripes on plywood candy canes

11:00 am: I left work because it’s my birthday. Shannon O’Neill tweeted.

1:50 pm: I designed a circuit for the humping elves. 

2:30-5:30 pm: I rode around town with my friend Jay, and we visited with high school friends.

5:38 pm: I received tweets from Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham saying that they have made a video for me. I watched it and literally cried from laughing and happiness.

6:42 pm: I drove to my parents’ and showed the video to my mom. She thought it was glorious and thinks the idea of famous people talking to a kid from Northeast Mississippi is awesome.

7:40 pm: I drove up to another friend's dad’s land for my bonfire party that she planned. I caught up with a lot of people I haven’t seen since I left for college. It was very nice talking with everyone and seeing what career paths everyone has followed. I kind of felt like a doop since I’m still in college, but maybe I’ll make the big bucks and cool stuff in biomedical engineering one day, and I can say that all this school is worth something.

11:50 pm: I got back to the parents’ and checked the mail for birthday gifts from my pal Bankard. He sent the poster that's at the bottom of the page. One day we were studying on the balcony of the biomed building, and he asked what I wanted for my golden birthday. I told him that the only appropriate golden birthday gift was a goose that laid golden eggs like the one in Willy Wanka. That’s why I now have a poster of a goose laying a golden egg.

11:55 pm: I checked my email and had this little baby waiting for me.

As evidenced by my tweets, Facebook statuses, and perpetual smile, the past couple of days have been amazing. I am so blessed to have friends who would bomb complete strangers’ social media accounts just to make my birthday wish come true.

I never would have imagined that the comedians who I idolize, and whose work I quote, would ever see this blog, tweet, call, or make a video in my honor.The internet is truly a wonderful invention. Thank you, Al Gore.

Once again, thanks for greatest day ever. I love you all. 

Oh, check out all my birthday gifts, y’all!

Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson; a graph paper Moleskin; some really butch work boots; Jason Isbell: Live in Alabama,;Jarritos grapefruit soda; a goose picture

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