Blow 'em all out

If I look as if I'm going to collapse right into that birthday cake, write it off to the exertions of turning thirty. The hardest thing about being the guest of honor at a surprise birthday party is convincing people you actually were surprised, which I certainly was.

The party, adeptly organized by Richard, who invented an entire decoy event to throw me off the track, was a wonderful climax to my birthday vacation. Although we did not make it to Disneyland, my cosmic twins and I had a great time in San Diego, including eating red mint chip ice cream at Korky's, spending the mortgage at Brady's for Men, and riding on the Giant Dipper, the very roller coaster (I found out later from Harcourt editor Allyn Johnston) that inspired Marla Frazee's Roller Coaster.

Beautiful, but I don't know how people live out there. "Wonderful weather," I kept hearing, but it's more like wonderful climate. Weather changes; this was more like nonstop perfection. Not my thing.