Two entries in one day. Unusual, I suppose, but I keep meaning to write something about this, and then forgetting to.

It is sad, then, that what I want to write about is gratitude (the sad part being where I forget to be grateful and write about it). The gratitude I have for the people in my life. Just after my birthday is a good time to think about this, I guess, because in the past week I have experienced so much that simply amazes me.

JC, who knows me mostly from reading this, dropped me off a very pretty helium filled birthday balloon this year, and I thought it was wonderful. I love balloons (always have) and this is the first time I've been given one like that. It's shiny. She does nice things for me all the time, and sometimes I think I'm never properly grateful for them.

We all know that Elliott Smith killed himself a couple of weeks ago. I haven't written very much on this yet, because I haven't known what to say. It is the first time that someone of 'mine' died. (I was never into Nirvana). The closest I've come to feeling like this was when George Harrison died, and even that...well, he was older, and he never really belonged to me as an artist because I was always experiencing him from afar, and through the filter of 40 odd years. Elliott Smith was 'my own'. I discovered him on my own, and I fell in love with his music. I felt (feel) that he and the Finn are the two best songwriters of the last decade, and his loss hurts.

My (old) friend Phil went to a memorial service for him in Toronto a few weeks ago and lit a candle for me there because he thought of me and knew that I would be unable to make the trek from North Bay Rock city.

One of my roommates from first year dropped off a belated birthday present yesterday with a long letter telling me that she was grateful for my friendship and that even though she seldom sees me anymore, she still thinks about me lots and hopes that I'm doing okay.

What a beautiful world it can be sometimes...and wherever you are, dear reader, I am grateful for you too.

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