Wednesday, April 30, 2008

best. birthday. ever.

today it's my birthday. i am 32.

for my birthday I walked alone from 13th street all the way to penn station with no sunglasses and the sun beating in my eyes.

for my birthday I bought a big container of watermelon slices from a bodega and ate them in under three minutes.

for my birthday I walked through the park and got to see a boy with curly long hair sitting on a bench reading franny and zooey by jd salinger.

for my birthday I walked into a bra store and looked at all the pretty things.

for my birthday I devoured a cappuccino and a vanilla bread pudding heated up and smothered with frosting and strawberries and bananas.

for my birthday I got the new york times with a big picture of obama on the cover and felt my heart go thump thump maybe he'll be our president and the world won't die.

for my birthday I got a flower, and a poster of my favorite wim wenders movie, and text messages and voicemails and emails and I felt loved.

for my birthday I stood at the bottom of the empire state building and looked all the way up to the top.

for my birthday I gave a five dollar bill to a guy playing saxophone in union sqaure station.

for my birthday I ate french food with french wine and then italian food with italian wine and got drunk and am not hungover. but I feel sort of fat.

for my birthday I'm going to see eddie izzard.

for my birthday I did graffiti.

for my birthday I got a soy shake and drank it while I waited for the seven train to take me out of queens.

for my birthday I put on my headphones and listened to "everybody's gotta live" over and over and again and again and lip-synced along and slapped my hand against my thigh in the train and people stared and I smiled at them.

for my birthday I bought that same shirt that john lennon wore in that great photograph even thouigh its a total cliche.

for my birthday I let myself fall in love all day. and its only 6 o'clock.

64 comments:

lentower1 said...

happy birthday, ms a

hope the last 6 hours are even better!

----

hope you read the rest of this comment, after your birthday

----

people have compared obama to jfk, which is bad enough

jfk got very little done, little legislation through congress, and refused to use lbj effectively (i doubt obama will have as a vp an effective a legislator as lbj - they aren't made that way currently)

it was only after lbj became president that much of jfk's agenda got through congress

but to me, obama reminds me of eisenhower, who got even less accomplished other than the negative of bringing nixon to the national stage
principled man who had no idea of how to work with congress

neither jfk, ike, or obama
understood the compromise necessary in congress to get things done

obama will be better for this country than mccain,
but far less effective and far less better for us and the world than clinton

best -len

bobbingforapplesx said...

for your birthday you should do something you haven't done before.

that will make it EPIC.

Greg H said...

For my birthday, I blew off all my deadlines and drew exactly what I wanted all day. Epic schmepic. Politics, schmolitics. It's our birthday, so you, me, Bill Plympton, and Willie Nelson get to do whatever makes us happy.

Happy Birthday!

Solangel said...

Happy Birthday. At first I read your post and was upset that I was by both union square and Penn station and didn't get a chance to wish you that happy birthday in person. But then it seems like you were having a perfect day and I would hate to be the crazy obsessed fan to ruin that. I am glad that you are having such a great day. On a side note, I was at Union Square to watch a documentary that is part of the Tribeca Film Festival that I think you might enjoy. It's called Theater of War and its directed by John Walter.(from the film festivals website) "Art and politics converge in this provocative look at the life and ideas of Bertolt Brecht, interwoven with The Public Theater's staging of his Mother Courage." It was a good watch. Hope you get to check it out sometime. Anyway, enjoy Eddie Izzard. I can't wait for the new album!

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday, you lovely creature.hope the rest of your day is as good as the beginning.

Unknown said...

Happy birthday and best wishes! What a great time of year for a birthday! My birthday is tomorrow and I will be 33 but I feel ageless. Happy birthday again!

Michelle Trottier said...

i would say happy birthday, but it seems like you've already reached that point (without any help from me!), so keep on rockin' and keep on falling in love.

(with that being said, i must admit that i am a bit envious of you because i'm SO hungry and you've eaten about a zillion times already. hehee. ah well, maybe tomorrow will be better for me food-wise.)

Lac said...

Although I'm thoroughly jealous of what a great day you're having (not to mention the fact you get to see Eddie Izzard :P) I'd still like to wish you not only have a happy birthday, but also have another happy spin around the sun.

Lady J said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

looking forward to seeing you in SF next month!

x said...

Happy Birthday Amanda!

it sounds pretty magical, and i hope that it only gets better...though i'm not sure what could better the joy that is the promise of eddie izzard

keep falling in love

grosses bisous

Heather Bryant said...

happy birthday, amanda palmer.
i'm glad you had many marvelous birthday experiences.
i met you at newbury comics two saturdays ago for a few seconds and you seemed really wonderful.

i can't wait to see you perform with the boston pops in june :-)

sarah said...

Amanda Palmer, you're so freakin' adorable. I'm so glad that you had such an awesome birthday!

Isn't the empire state building awesome? the view is gorgeous from atop.
John Lennon is amazing; watermelon is delicious.

You look very good for your age, not that it's old, but still. ya so cute.
I want you to slap my face again. :]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DOLlFACE! <333

Tom said...

Happy Birthday Amanda! Seems like you have been having and will have one fantastic birthday. I'm happy for you, and just a tad bit jealous because I will most likely be working on my birthday.

Jack D said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jack D said...

The hell with happy birthday. Happy month, year, life, afterlife?, eternity, and beyond. I guess it's time to stop when I start sounding like Buzz Lightyear, but I truly do hope you keep doing spectacularly splendidly bootifully well. And now I'm off to look at the pretty things at school ;D
lotsa love from SD -Jack

niki murphy said...

Amanda Darling,
cheers to birthdays
& happy 32nd. I wish you could know the level of inspiration I have this very moment. I hope I can accomplish this much in 17 years.
but I'll be sure to add watermelon predator & train lip-syncer to the list. whatever that list may be.
32 revolutions. happy birthday!
xx

Living Composer of the Month said...

Happy birthday!

Katie and I got a great present today - an advance copy of "No, Virginia" from Warner, autographed to Katie by both you and Brian. A wonderful present for Katie! Bravo - We've listened to it three times already.

And did I say Happy Birthday?!

skeebers said...

you're not fat. you are glorious. I would love to run into you on the subway someday. that would be glorious too. I'd probably be too shy and awkward to say hello, but it would make my day much better if you smiled back.

have you every been to angel tunnel to see thoth prayform? he's there every day, and i think you'd really like him. he has a website, but it does no justice.

goodnight amanda, happy birthday!

ben said...

happy birthday gorgeous.

if you're still in new york, you should go to a bar called great lakes in brooklyn. they have the most amazing jukebox on earth.

fernanda said...

happy birthday from brasil!
have a great day!
:)

andrea said...

For your birthday I am painting in watercolor.

Happy lovely Birthday!

I'll go listen to Everybody's Gotta Live so I know that we shared something today.

All my love,
Andrea

Andy Pants said...

I know you're fourteen years older than me, but I would for you if you asked me to.

Zabet said...

No. Freakin'. Way.

It is also apparently my 32nd natal day as well (with a mere 20 minutes left). (I say "apparently" because I was convinced I was actually turning 34... yeah, me + math = mucho incorrectness.)

Happy birthday!!

For my birthday I was locked in a closet editing video on a PC (not my platform) using Camtasia (which I had the 15-minute crash course intro for) for five frickin' hours.

For my birthday I bought a little tiny Ganesh blank book and everytime I feel angry I write on one of its tiny pages a tiny prayer to help me get over whatever is going on. (Only three pages used thus far, w00t! Two of them are for Camtasia.)

For my birthday I bought myself some footie pajamas. (Yes, they do make them for big kids; Google for "pajama city" or "jumpin jammerz".)

For my birthday I declared a state of emergency that required chips, salsa, and margaritas STAT at 5pm.

For my birthday I drank probably a liiiiittle too much for hanging with co-workers.

For my birthday I have a shindig planned this weekend including a banana-chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.

For my birthday, some folks in the forums I frequent started building a religion around me. (Oooh! Tithes!)

For my birthday, I feel loved!

Chris said...

I'm sure the mini bar felt a little put off what with no visit this year.

David Westway said...

i was having a bad day. then i just got home at 10:30pm and read the list of great things you did today and i feel happy. thank you. now i can sleep well. happy birthday.

i LOVE franny and zooey.

June Miller said...

Amanda,

For your birthday, I played the Dead Kennedys on my gee-tar until my fingers bled. It splattered on to the face of the guitar, in between the strings, creating something beautiful.

Earlier, I heard "Umbrella". Earlier than that, I heard The Damned's version of the Love song, "Alone Again, Or." Both made me smile.

Happy, happy birthday, ma'am. It must've been smashing. :)

ESO said...

happy two and a half hours after your birthday.

congratulations on a perfect day.

Mariel said...

Happy birthday Amanda! Sounds like a fun day, which you deserve of course :D

Emma said...

Happy birthday, you spectacular creature, you!

For your birthday I... Hmm. Finished a short story that I'm going to present to Neil Gaiman when I see him on Monday?

My last birthday was Perfect. I got a hug from you. *grin*

Idril said...

*sings* Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you looove, happy biirthdaaaay toooo yoooou !

:) To another year of good days such as this one

Hubris said...

Happy birthday. You're one of my favorites.

Unknown said...

Amanda !
I never wrote here before, but *this time* I had to. Never occurred to me to look for your (or mostly any other person) birthday..but imagine my surprise to find out that yours in on the same day as mine ! há ! great stuff !

So, happy birthday to you/me/us/eveybody else on 04/30 !

Stelladia said...

Happy birthday Amanda. Sorry for not publicate this post yesterday.

I love you. You're my God, don't forget it.

I think I'm going to drink a capuccino with vanilla...

Colleen Grey said...

Happy Birthday! (A day late -.- ). It sounds as though you had a lovely time, which makes me smile.

-Kate

Anonymous said...

happy birthday!

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday!!!!

I found your blog a month or two back and have really enjoyed your musings. I normally don't comment, but you always bring such a smile to my face. Thank you for that.

Glad you got to see Eddie. He is awesome!!! I will be seeing him on Friday in DC and Monday in Philly. Can't wait.

I like the pre-order contest you have going on too. I anxiously await the new album. I think I pre-ordered a signed copy too, so I am just beside myself with joy.

I'm looking forward to taking in your Boston perfomance in June for MY birthday. And eating some great food as well. What more could you ask for?

Thanks for sharing your life with us and keep up the great work. You are amazing.

Anonymous said...

happy birthday(:

ewhd said...

On your birthday I listened to Voltaire sing a parody song entitled "coin operated goi", and I thought 'somewhere, right now, Amanda Palmer is giggling with glee".

Happy Birthday, Amanda! I love your words and your experiences, and that you give so much of that to us. I love you Amanda!

Jessica said...

haaaappy birthday!

my college radio station got No, Virginia in the mail on Monday. It is wonderful. I am going to chart the shit out of it on CMJ. much love!

Pintradex said...

please tell me we were lovers in another life

n said...

happy birthday!!!!!!!

:P

David said...

Happy Birthday Amanda. Chris beat me to the mini bar line.

Have a wonderful tour and don't sing too hard.

zingzinga said...

I must tell you- unaware it was your birthday Wednesday, yet on that day, in one of the dips of the roller coaster, I ended up dancing to Dresden Dolls songs for probably an hour. The roller coaster metaphor is still applicable- thanks for the much needed lift!

(You know, hearing Obama gives a similar effect...)

Here's to inspiration- Happy Birthday Amanda!

Jennifer said...

Happy Belated Birthday :)

Sounds like you had a great day! I'm leaving teenagehood in a few weeks for the great grownup world myself, and I hope I have as nice a day as you did. Especially with soy shakes. :)

Unknown said...

Happy birthday Amanda! I have a random question: what courses did you take in college?

Alameda Green said...

Oh, darling, happy birthday. You and your "cliche" Lennon shirt go forth into the world and continue to enjoy yourselves (Yes, I am advising this to the shirt as well, and given what you're likely to do with said shirt, ie wear it, I don't know how it could be unhappy).

Ingvald Havskjold said...

a,

Happy belated birthday. Its nice to see a newish, (& intelligent) rock star who's my age. Gives me hope that I might find something I enjoy doing that also brings in money.

Quick story for you. I teach on an indian reservation in New Mexico. (Some kind of irony there - me the pasty-white goth-nerd. Its weird.) Anyway, when we do book work I let my 7th & 8th graders listen to youtube.

Recently I've been playing your music, along with NIN, Weird Al (who really should do a parody of one of your songs), Combichrist, & AFX, & MSI (who you should tour with, seriously). It screws with their narrow little brains.

Make a mental picture: half stoned, ICP-listening, native american, wanna-be gangsta, middle schoolers popping up & down like marionettes/whack-a-moles, singing Coin Operated Boy through the halls as they leave for the bus.

It disconguously brightened my day. Hope it does yours.

Surreally,

Spike

me said...

happy birthday amanda! i'm a bit late but i thought of you all day on the day. much love. anika.

Lights Out said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
maddog said...

Hey I only just noticed, my birthday was then too but I have had fourteen more than you. Hope yours was as great as mine :)
Stu x

Loser face. said...

Happy belated amanda =)

lots of love <3

Kelley Kipperman said...

happy birthday a,
i was in china during your birthday and therefore it reached me exactly 12 hours before it reached you. i was already wishing you a happy birthday in my head when you were still a day behind. On your birthday i actually went to the great wall, and climbed a section of it. I didn't realize it until that afternoon but i'd been wearing my WKAP shirt all day. I'll have to send you the picture of me with it on on the great wall. sounds like you had a good birthday, and i hope you have a great many more to come. OBAMA '08!
love,
kelley kip

Unknown said...

It's strange how simple solitude can produce some of the best times you've ever had.

Congratulations on discovering how wonderful such can be.

I wish you a wonderful thirty-second year, Miss A, and I am absolutely thrilled to see you performing with the Pops this coming June.

love, Camille.

Wolf said...

Happy Birthday!

Conor Courtney said...

A belated Happy Birthday from Ireland!

I hope it was wonderful!

Mr.galle said...

Hello, this brog is nice!!
I already link to this page.
If you don't mind. Please link to my blog this
URL http://fromyokohama.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Sounds like you had a good one. I've hated ever one since turning 50!

Lola said...

happy birthday amanda!

in honor of your special day and in light of your awesome, talented, gorgeous self - i would like to invite you to do a fashion photo shoot with our brand new collection. its right up your alley and you'd look damn fantastic in it. interested? email info@redbuttafly.com and we can talk more about it. hey, underground fashion for free. come on, how awesome is THAT!

xo

Carly said...

Happy birthday!
PS. Tea & cake or death?

Eddie Izzard ftw.

Curator said...

Allow me to join in the slightly surreal [to me anyway - to someone for whom the internet has not always been there] wishing of a happy birthday to someone that I don't [really] know [at all].

While your day sounds blissful in it's enjoyment of the little things - do you feel scared by the advancement of years [this is not, an any way, a suggestion that you're 'old'! or, indeed, a suggestion that 'older' is somehow worse than younger - you know what I mean...I hope]?

Normally, since 21 and the last of the big birthdays, I've shrugged each year off as it came and went - last year I turned 28 - there is nothing significant to me at all about the age 28, yet I was seriously down about this - for quite a while. In spite of this [or, more likely, because of this] I am having one of the best years I've had in terms of creativity - perhaps the 'older-wiser' cliche bit and I realised the only thing stopping me from creating what I wanted to create was me. I guess, you do what you have to do - to do what you want to do.

I hope 32 is a good year for you.

watarimono said...

I'm glad you had a wonderful birthday.

I want to give you a gift that Gravel gave me: deep political analysis.

However, for the love of humanity, please don't support Obama. Since 2005, I've listened to your admirable songs (The Kill, Night Reconaissance, Sing, Mandy Goes to Med School...), and I don't want a wonderful and brilliant person like you to get conned by Obama.

Obama, Hillary and McCain are absolutely the same. They are all for imperialism, war (Hillary voted for the Lieberman-Kyl amendment, Obama and McCain were absent. Hillary, Obama and McCain all have lobby money from the military industrial complex, including Raytheon, Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, General Electric, Northrop Grumman...look at the financial records at opensecrets.org to see who is lying and who is not for this election and previous elections to avoid getting conned), theocracy (Hillary talks too much about God, Obama refuses to say yes or no on abortion by voting "present" 5 times on abortion, Obama mentions the number of times he prays every day...there is a reason why Obama won the same States Huckabee won, McCain is for creationism, supports Falwell...) and corporatism (they have money from big pharma companies, their health care systems are for profit and give more power to insurance companies).

"Obama has more bundlers than God!"
-Mike Gravel during the April 30th meeting

In any case, Hillary laughs about a war with Iran and 2013 and beyond in Iraq, McCain sings about a war with Iran and 100 years in Iraq and Obama wants to add 100000 troops in Iraq (2013 and beyond too) and add two more wars in Iran and Pakistan. All three of these people want a world depression, I swear (if they talk about hope and change, they are lying, lying LYING!!!).

Get off the Obama express and support Mike Gravel. If you want gay marriage, peace, love, courage, abortion, secularism, the demilitarization of our culture, a change in the notion of human governance (the National Initative for democracy is the only way we can get a real democracy. I've had horrific experiences as I was begging my senators to do stuff they opposed) and really fight global warming (Gravel proposes a carbon tax on industries so that they can realize that alternative energy is more profitable than oil and coal. If Norway has hydrogen gas stations all over the country, then the US can do it. Obama, Hillary and McCain will never do this, I swear), then please vote for Gravel.

He switched parties because winning the democratic nomination is impossible (Dean called him an a-hole the moment Gravel wanted to hold people accountable, the DNC and general electric approved of Gravel's exclusions from debates the moment he denounced Hillary's vote on the Iran war resolution in September 2007 (no candidate denounced the censorship Gravel endured. It's bad enough that Gravel only received 5 minutes during two hour debates, but then he got censored and the effect is real because if people knew who Gravel was then they wouldn't support Hillary or Obama for even five seconds) and when the democratic party acts fascist by saying "if you want to appear on the ballot in Texas, endorse Hillary or Obama in advance") (fortunately, Gravel was on the ballot in MD, but as you can see, the democratic party really fixed the primaries)). He switched from democrat to libertarian, but his progressive ideas are still the same. If Bill Clinton used the DLC to make the democratic party become Republican-lite (the top-tier democrats are raising more money than the republicans and they're getting the same sources of money from the people who OWN the republican party), if Reagan and Bush made the republican party become theocratic, then Gravel can make the Libertarian Party a sane party (he wants to put Cicero's definition of liberty "freedom is participation in power" with the Ni4d, which will allow you to make laws and vote on laws and work in partnership with the Congress. Gravel is against the anarcho-capitalist loons of the libertarian party. Gravel is against corporatism).
I've met Gravel on April 30th, he told me that I had the morality to lead, he told the truth during a discussion with a few students at a coffee house, and I proudly work for him as county director (I try to tell people whatever I know).
Gravel ended the draft for you and released the Pentagon papers for you. So help him win the election because he cares about you.

Hillary, Obama and McCain only care about the MIC and lobbyists.

He is also incredibly creative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA2LgJviH9w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S2zkh6ZOGE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhK4vg_Q-GA

My gift to you is presenting a sane candidate who can save the world.
www.ni4d.us
www.gravel2008.us
www.youtube.com/gravel2008

I wanted to show you this candidate because he reminds me of your songs and your creativity.

Your songs in 2005 made me realize that I am not alone (especially girl anachronism, half jack and bad habit).

Remember, I switched candidates twice (I nearly got conned by Obama and Richardson, and I only discovered Gravel in June 2007 during a democratic debate on racism on PBS). So you still have time to switch to Gravel.

Obama is like the 1968 version of Nixon who claimed to be anti-war because the party label happened to be different from the incumbent's label (Bush is in the same situation as LBJ, and McCain is in the same situation as Humphrey), but Nixon spread the Vietnam war to Cambodia, imposed Pinochet on the Chileans...

Please don't get fooled by Obama who has done really nothing remarkable in Congress.

Vote for Gravel because he did good things for you and me in the 70s. I'm only 19, but I'm glad Gravel ended the draft for me (a way of trying to take a chip at the militaristic culture of the US).
Throw away the newspapers because they're trying to tell you who to vote for (any candidate who will guarantee more news reports to the media ie more misery).
Vote with honesty for Gravel in November.

I'm saying this because I don't want you to get fooled by Obama.
I got conned by Ben Cardin and Van Hollen in 2006 (democrats who claimed to be anti-war, but took lobby money and were absolutely pro-war. I should've voted green). So please don't get conned by Obama (he claims to not take lobby money, but he does take lobby money. Look it up on opensecrets), especially since the stakes are way too high in 2008.

The Mighty Doll said...

damn, I missed your birthday.

Happy Belated Birthday, Amanda!

I turned 32 on my last birthday too. It felt weird. Much, much weirder than 30.

emotionalwench said...

Happy belated birthday, Amanda! Sounds like it was a good one.

And congrats on seeing Eddie Izzard! Where did you see him, if you have already? I'm going to see him in Nashville!

Brian Sibley said...

Hello Amanda Palmer:

Just a share on your birthday post (and I know it's not your birthday anymore).

I'm on a business trip in Seattle, and I checked into the hotel, and after settling in, I whipped out my iPod and suddenly was inspired to put on "Me and The MiniBar" because in truth, it is just me and the minibar this evening. I left my family at home earlier today.

Strangely enough, only after getting halfway through the song did I realize that I was checked into Room 318, the very same room number you mention in the lyrics.

I'm not one to read too much in to superstitious coincidences, but I did particularly get a kick out of that one.

I just thought I'd share. Your music is a good companion to me on this lonely night when my daughters are asleep so far away.

-Brian