21

Well, I've just celebrated the best birthday I've had since the age of 7 (Peppy le Pew themed party was hard to beat). I'm a country bumpkin, so my parties usually involved bobbing for apples and sawdust hunts. This one blew all others into oblivion.

It started around 3pm, when 6 friends and I drove south of Austin to visit Hamilton Pool. Now if y'all didn't know, this is where they filmed that delightful cave scene in the movie, "Teeth". The drive out there is beautiful; I was reminded of the early ride to Big Bend. Once we got there, however, we were forbidden entrance. Apparently after the rain there was an extremely high level of bacteria in the water. Luckily we were tipped off about a place half a mile away on somebody's ranch. We drove out there, were given maps and told not to stay past 9, then traveled down an old gravel road which led to the river.

After a few hours of frolicking and half-assed sand castles, we headed back to get primped & presentable for dinner at The Clay Pit, my very favorite restaurant. If you live in or near Austin and have not had a meal here, I strongly suggest you visit. They serve phenomenal Indian cuisine. Andrew and I chose to go there for Valentine's day and they made it such a charming experience for us. My birthday was no exception. We had an adorable blond waitress this time who was a UT student majoring in psychology. She chatted with us about her dream of becoming a sex therapist and volunteered to take photos of our group after dinner. She was such a sweetheart. Speaking of, my friend Callie earned the entire table's everlasting love by insisting on paying for everything. I've never witnessed such generosity in anyone my age before. She's a gem.

After dinner my face was sore from smiling so much. I drove back to my place and ended the night watching "Mad Max" with three friends, one whom I have known since middle school, the other two I've only just met. They brought a bottle of red wine and we lounged on my bed until 4am laughing at Tina Turner and playing with one of the neighborhood cats who had wondered in (I had to keep dragging it away from Rex's cage). Andrew even called me at one point, all the way from Arequipa, Peru. We could only talk for a little bit, but it sounds like he's fitting in well down there. He was preparing to climb a dormant volcano the following day. I'm waiting to hear how that went.

I'm leaving for Scotland on the 11th. It's scary how quickly that day is approaching. I still have so much to do here, and I hate to leave my buddies for 4 weeks. But like Andrew's trip, this has to be done; I'll go nuts stuck here, deprived of adventure and the sights, smells, tastes, and feeling of new things. My main worry now is that they are going to baby us too much at Stirling. Well, if that happens I'll just have to run off and fight the Loch Ness monster or something. I'm sure everything will be peachy.