As far back as I can remember, I don't recall anyone orchestrating a surprise birthday party for me. Heck, I can't even remember the last time I actually went out on my birthday. Sure, I'd go out for other people's birthday, but I always stayed under the radar when it came to my own. Well, that all changed about a week ago. A number of my friends secretly devised a master plan and succeeded in pulling a fast one on me despite my belief that I knew about it the whole time. Normally, I would be posting this as a story in my "yet to be developed" story section of the site, but until then, this blog will have to suffice.

So the story begins about two weeks prior when Shawna asked me if I might want to have dinner on a Friday or Saturday to celebrate my birthday. At this point, I hadn't suspected anything. I was pleasantly surprised at the kind gesture to show an old man a good time and we agreed to have dinner at Nakama. Over the course of the next week and a half leading up to the Friday of the event, you can thank my com-padres for dropping accidental hints leading me to believe that something was in the works. I won't name names here (Craig/Joe/Pat), but I began to unravel the situation piece by piece.

In fact, Joe called me on Friday…the day of the dinner. He asked me if I wanted to join him in West Virginia for an Extreme Fighting event that was being held down there and then he mentioned that he and his brother were headed to the Eagles shortly thereafter. Now Joe, first off, that was a fishy story…you always tell me way in advance about these kind of things. Not only that, but I could just sense in Joe's conversation that he was up to something and well, it could only be one thing. So at this point, I already had a few of the evildoers identified. Nonetheless, I played along with the story and pretended I had no clue what was going on.

So now it's time to leave and head out to that fine dining establishment they call Nakama. I had never eaten there before and was looking forward to some Asahi beer (pictured to the left), one of my favorites that I first had in San Diego in the Gaslamp district. As we arrived, I recognized a fine collection of people standing outside of Nakama…what a surprise, it was exactly the people that I thought with the exception of my buddy Will from work, Joe's brother (Jeff), and Jen. Since Joe, Jeff, and Jen (3Js) were not initially on the list to attend, we unfortunately didn't have reservations for them. No problem, they headed over to the closest watering hole and had a few beers while we grabbed some grub. So Craig, Tim, Will, Shawna, Karli, and I headed into Nakama for a birthday feast.

Birthday present winner – Joey D wins the award for best birthday present. While I won't go into detail here, let's just say he put them on the line and the field-goal was good. Thanks Joe, I won't soon delete that video!

As we made our way into the establishment, we sat right down and boom, there was a hibachi grill right in front of us. I ordered my favorite beer (Asahi) and some exquisite hunk of beef identified on the menu as "Hibachi Chateaubriand". The chef grilled it right in front of us, it was amazing. I had never been at a joint like this so as he made fire shoot from the grill, flipped his knife around like a whiteboard marker, and then created a musical drum melody from his various spice shakers, I must say, I was quite taken back…what a birthday so far.

When we were wrapping things up, there was trouble brewing in the air, or at least I thought. One group (3Js) wanted to goto somewhere low-key, everyone else wanted to goto Elixir. Me, being the birthday boy I was, didn't care either way, I just wanted to hang out with everyone. So I successfully talked the 3Js into coming with us to Elixir, but unknowingly, this was their plan all along.

As we enter the semi-luxurious longue/club called Elixir, I quickly made my way to the bar to purchase a beer before anyone had the chance to offer me shots of god only knows. We then made our way upstairs, I believe I was falling last in the line of people slowly moving up the stairs to the second floor. After getting upstairs, I knew instantly something was fishy. Everyone kind of looked at me and then it hit me as I glanced to the right. There were two small beds with pillows and a small placeholder that said "Reserved". I guess what really gave it away was the fact that there was a clown-like birthday hat with polka-dots and some birthday noisemakers. Beyond that, we had our own small table of strawberries, lemons, limes, Belvedere vodka, and Craiger's favorite, Red Bull. Rotten devils, I had no clue this was coming. But that wasn't the end of the surprises.

As the night passed, the upstairs became more and more crowded. I then here this voice in the background and say to myself, "Is that Cleary"? Low and behold, the tremors I felt earlier in the evening weren't imaginary, it was he and his wife Nikki making their way to join the party. It didn't stop there, Carlo (a.k.a. LoDogg), Matt, Scooter, Pat, Ryan, and a host of other friends also joined in the fun. It really was quite a pleasant surprise to see everyone in one room together again having a good time, especially since I hadn't seen some of these friends in quite some time.

So my hat is off to you all, especially Craiger, Shawna, and Tim, who I still believe covertly masterminded the entire shindig. I had a blast and thought I'd write about it on here. Here I was thinking I knew what was going on and you managed to figure out how to pull the wool over my eyes. Payback is a beoooch! Thanks to everyone, I've also included some pics below with a touch of commentary.

Lodogg Pits – As you can see, Carlo was an active participant in getting his strange, but unique groove on that night.

Undercover Lover – Cleary, those glasses were made for you dude. Don't stop rocking the old school gear old man. If you pay close attention, you can even see that Carlo is excited about your visual decor.

Heeey Maaan – Craig, dude, what are you doing? Oh wait, it must be the red bull talking again. Either way, that's Craig, Tim, and Scooter showing the camera what's up.

Dip Baby Dip – Like I said, when it comes to unique and strange grooves, Carlo has them mastered. Work it dude, work it!

Westside, Eastside, No-side – Featured in this fine image you have Matt, Shawna, and Karli. I'm not sure how many drinks it took to create that picture, but it probably took a few more than one.

Nikki Rockin the Aviators – Not only does Cleary have some hella style, but his wife does too. Don't get too close guys, mess with that chick and Cleary might take a bite out of ya!

Ellen, Brooke, and Jackie – A few of Tim and Craig's friends even showed up for the mayhem. Planned, coincidence, who knows…but the more people the merrier.

Jackie Groovin to the Music – Not sure what kind of pose she was going for, but all I have to say is that I hope that's not Merlot! Ever seen "Sideways"?

Erotic Bald Man – Cleary, did you really think I was going to let this one slip by? You were having way to much fun with those strawberries, but this picture was a good laugh as usual.

Techno Tim – This guy is 100% techno fuel. It doesn't matter if it's 50 Cent, Biggy Smalls, or Britney Spears…this cat finds a way to integrate electronica into any set of flailing body motions which he likes to call dancing.