Good rockin' tonight

All you readers in the Redding area: Don't forget that tonight is the big birthday party for Food For Thought: A News Cafe.

Kelly and Doni have cooked up some neat treats. The Jim Dyar Band will provide the entertainment. We'll have cartoonists and columnists and creative types of all stripes. Plus, go-go dancers!

Details are here.

Okay, I made up the part about the go-go dancers. But it still should be one helluva party.

Happy birthday, Mom

My mother celebrates her 70th birthday today. She and my dad are both retired, and they live in the small town of Sheridan, Ark.

On the phone, she keeps saying, "I never dreamed I'd ever be 70 years old!" I don't know what she expected instead. If you hang around long enough, 70 is bound to happen. And that's fine. Isn't 70 the new 40?

I look at 70 and calculate how many books I can write between now and then. Not that I'm driven or anything.

They say it's my birthday

I turned 51 years old today, or so they tell me. I haven't been paying attention. I'm deep into the first draft of a new novel, lost in my own imagination, and I don't know what day it is. I go around dopey and goofy all the time. Not to mention Porky.

Reaching 50 was a big deal, and I celebrated by going to a banquet in Seattle where I was up for an award. A good friend won instead. This is what they call bittersweet. I walked back to my hotel drunk and alone, very late, in the rain. Seattle noir.

What am I doing for 51? I have no idea. My wife's got something cooking, some surprise outing. I feel sure it doesn't involve walking in the rain.

Otherwise, I'll probably be sitting right here. Cranking out more pages on the new book.

Ever the party animal.