Age is just a number...

I can't believe it. I know that the difference between 25 and 26 is pretty much just one, a slight number variance and has hardly any effect on my life but the feeling between the two is immense.

At least as a 25 year old, I could claim that I'm still young, still a strapping lad capable of being and doing anything. Now, however, 26 just brings on the nearness of the dreaded... 30. Being 30 seems to signify some sort of death for gay men and almost always seems to be a prelude to a midlife crisis among every male, sexual orientation aside.

How am I going to cope with being on the downhill slope to 30? I'm going to ignore it. At least so far as to ignore it until it gets here. I'll deal with the dreaded 30 when the day actually arrives but for now, I'll accept my 26 as gracefully as an old fart like me can.

As far as celebrating my birthday, Brandon had an entire night and next day planned for us.

We started with my favorite restaurant in Capitol Hill of Seattle. This place is Bleu Bistro where patrons can be served in private little alcoves like the one pictured on the left. The curtains and the setting is what drives my main desire for this place, however, the Wasabi Grilled Cheese and Bleu's Feta Nachos have monopolized our food desires everytime we've been there. They have an amazing listing of drinks too.

Afterwards, we went to a chocolate bar, also in Capitol Hill, called Dilettante Chocolate. We had hot chocolate (his was white chocolate and mine was extra dark) and desserts that put us over the "full" category into "bloated".

Have you ever tried to get drunk while your stomach is already so full that it feels like it might explode? Well, that was our next challenge as we headed down to the Elite for a surprise birthday party.

We both kinda failed at the whole getting drunk thing (there was just no way to compete with all the food in our bellies) and went home to pass out.

Saturday, I was in for more unexpected fun in the form of a trip to a place that I haven't seen the likes of for over a decade: Woodland Park Zoo. We got to see lions! Tigers! Bears! Leopards! Jaguars! Elephants! Even some ducks (seriously, the friggin ducks had invaded every exhibit that had any kind of body of water)! The big cats were my favorite, especially the tigers.

We ended the day with an amazing dinner prepared by one of our soccer club-mates, Todd. I can't even begin to tell you what he made, food-wise, but trust me when I say it is amazing. His blog is here. Check out the 24th of October if you'd like to know exactly what we had.

As of now, I'm winding down the month (October always resonates in my bones) and gearing up for Halloween, my favorite holiday this side of the galaxy.