A Birthday Filled with Friends... and Science!

A popular exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences on Thursday night.

I'm now in my early thirties.

Yesterday was my 31st birthday.

I celebrated by going to NightLife at the California Academy of Sciences with some friends from Menlo Park. The motivation to go into the city was all Alex's. When he learned that he was going to be gone for my birthday, he started scheming about ways to ensure that I had a great day anyway.

He got the ball rolling by coming up with a few ides for things to do and talking to a few of our Menlo Park friends... then he left for the east coast... with the ball still rolling and no one exactly sure where it was supposed to stop.

After a little bit of confusion, plans were set. I coordinated with the people I knew Alex had talked to, called a few others, and away we went.

Upon arrival we learned that not only is NightLife free if it's your birthday (or the week of your birthday), but also the birthday girl (or boy) is entered into a raffle for a to-be-determined gift. We also learned that the Planetarium tickets were already sold out.

We spent our time inside the museum being entertained by human-sized sea creatures on roller blades who were encouraging humans to give each other insightful compliments (which we actually found hard to do when put on the spot), exploring the many levels of a rain forest canopy while marveling at the butterflies and geckos, feeling the pinch of an anaconda and the shock of an eel when studying the underwater creatures, eating fancy food in a high-school-like cafeteria, dancing for beetles, and eyeing the ennui of the penguins among the science tarot.

I did not win the birthday raffle. I lost my raffle-winning karma when I accidentally used my flash inside the rain forest. The winner was announced over the intercom seconds later.

The infamous picture.  With flash.

But, I had a great time. My 31st birthday was a success.

The birthday gang.