So, as of last Friday I have reached the grand old rock star death age of 27; the age that many prodigal troubled geniuses find it hard to live beyond. Some examples from the '27 Club' are: Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison (The Doors), Kristen Pfaff (bass guitarist, Hole), Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (founding member of Grateful Dead)...As I recover from my hangover and pack away the birthday cards I can feel my own will to live waning. The desire to drive off a cliff or shot myself in the face, or inject large quantities of drugs into my veins is growing stronger by the day. Actually these feelings are no stronger than usual, I think I may actually survive the year. I guess this means I am not a prodigal genius....oh well. Having reached 27 and not actually done anything constructive with my life yet I have come to terms with this already.

To mark my birthday this year and possibly to prevent me from joining the 27 club, my brother gave me Pride and Prejudice on dvd and a tub of Clover margarine. This is not as dodgy as it sounds and has nothing to do with lubrication, it has entirely to do with the thing that made me laugh the most in 2005: last autumn, Will and I went to see Pride and Prejudice at the cinema and Will accidentily took a tub of margarine with him. That was the event of the year for me, it made me laugh so much I was almost removed from the auditorium for ruining the opening credits for everyone else. It may not sound like it would be funny but let me tell you, there is absolutely NOTHING funnier than someone producing a tub of margarine from their bag in a cinema at the beginning of a period drama instead of the bag of sweets they were expecting. Seriously, it was the funniest event of the last 12 months. Don't look at me like that, it's been a depressing 12 months.

To everyone who forgot my birthday, I expect pots of marg in the post asap by way of an apology.