I don't have one big thing to talk about today, so I'm gonna give you some Damian vignettes, just a little sumthin' sumthin' to get you by for the weekend. The weekend that includes my 35th birthday, just in case I didn't mention it 3945924 times already. Hey, at least I'm consistent.

• Nonetheless has a show tomorrow night at our home away from home, Tomcats. It's a benefit show, with all proceeds going toward Brian's House, a halfway house for children with AIDS. It's a good cause, so if you're in the DFW area, come on out. We're headlining ('cause that's how we roll, bitches), so we'll hit the stage around midnight. Come out and help the kids.
• I got prizes! Laurie and HDW totally hooked a brotha up with birthday gifts, for which I'm very, very thankful. Aich Dee Dub got me a couple of things off my wish list - the Busta Rhymes CD (because who doesn't love Busta?), and "Every Dead Thing" by John Connolly, both of which I coveted. And Laurie got me THESE:

Thank you, HDW and Laurie! Books, CDs, Samuel L. Jackson wallets, and fine bacon products (gummy bacon, bacon air fresheners, and bacon band-aids, to be exact). I am in heaven, or at least close enough to hit it with a thrown rock. You are both the shit.

• Shaving has gotten to be monotonous and tedious to me, so in rebellion, I'm growing a beard. You see, with the gray and the turning 35, I just didn't think I looked old enough, so I figured I'd add even more facial hair. Next I'm buying a pipe, some reading glasses, and some Metamucil. Wait, I already have Metamucil. Long story. Let's just say I've visited Colonoscopyville, and I did not enjoy my stay there.
• Ordinarily I don't get all demonstrative in my Christmas displays, but this year...I don't know. My cubicle is ghetto fabulous with Christmas lights and a 10" pre-lit Christmas tree. There's no bah in MY humbug this year.
• And can I just say that it can sometimes SUCK being Santa Claus for your kids? Especially if your kids want every...single...thing they see on TV? How many times must I hear "Daddy, I want that. Dad, can I have that? Daddy, get me that" before my head implodes upon itself, leaving a black hole that sucks the rest of my body into it? Tell me so I can make them say it more often. I'm looking forward to that black hole. My stock reply lately is "Well, maybe if you stop acting like a donkey, you'll get some of what you ask for. And you BETTER be happy with WHATEVER you get, 'cause Santa works hard to get you little ingrates most of what you like. YOU GOT THAT?"
• For some bizarre reason, I went out on Black Friday at 5am to Best Buy. It was my first Black Friday. It was my last Black Friday. I wanted to punch all of humanity in the neck.
• Tomorrow is 3YO's birthday, and we're having his party in Satan's Foyer, better known as Chuck E. Cheese to all you non-parental units. Is there anything better than 15 or 20 3- to 4-year olds, running and screaming, playing loud-ass games and kicking your shins, all while demanding tokens and pizza and more tokens and something to drink and still MORE tokens? Yes. Everything else on Earth. I think I'd rather be beaten with a double-ended dildo than to work at Chuck E. Cheese. Hell, even going there gives me hives. Tomorrow should be a footlocker chock full o' fun.
• I haven't seen "Heroes", except for the pilot. All the others were DVRed. The very next person who tries to tell me what happens gets a neck punch. That's all I'm sayin'.
• Jali is coming to Dallas next week, and we're gonna see about meeting up. I'm sure hilarity will ensue.
• Wanna know what's funnier than me trying to hit the high notes while singing "Sunglasses At Night" by Corey Hart? Failing.
• Please, please, please go vote for HDW, who is a Weblog Award Finalist in the category of Best Diarist. Her blog is called Green Apple Martini. Help her beat Dooce and that other chick whose blog is utterly unreadable except by bulemic lemurs snorting aspirin while swinging upside-down over electrical substations. Please. Rock the vote, people - she deserves it.