It's his birthday tomorrow. He doesn't know that we know, I think. That, or he thinks we forgot. I got a text from him this evening asking if we were out tomorrow, because he would be. No "buy me a beer, it's me birthday" no mention of the birthday at all.

He's a tricky one to buy for. Lots of guys are, but Popeye especially so. We thought maybe a zippo. He already has one, but he adores it. He bought it, I'm told, because he's always wanted one. Now, he probably doesn't need another, but he does tend to carry lighter fluid with him at all times in case he runs out, so we figure that carrying two fully stocked lighters will be much easier for him, not to mention lighter.

A second thought was a silver flask. We've taken to calling him Bacardi X, so we figured that and a bottle to fill it with. I kind of favor that option myself. Another thing I thought of was a swiss army knife with lots of attachments. I would imagine he already has one, though, since he's that kind of guy.

Anyway, there is a perfect store at the mall that I KNOW is chock full of Popeye-friendly presents, so I volunteered to go. I needed to go anyway, so there was no problem at all. Except....

Problem: the store in question is closed for remodeling. Very, very annoying, but I suppose I should have guessed. Nothing is that easy, at least not for me.

So I scoured the mall, damaging many brain cells in the process, and came up with exactly zip. I lie-- I did get a birthday card. ("Happy Birthday!" on the outside, "Happy Hangover!" Inside.) Miss Kitty and Pooka Boy are handling the cake-- even though Popeye hates cake, it just won't seem like a birthday party without one, and it's hard to blow out the candles on a rum and coke. So tomorrow I'll be doing more shopping. I'll find him a the perfect gift if it kills me.

Provided I don't die first. Tomorrow I also have to participate in the Adventure Team!

I have no idea what this entails, other than speaking lots of portuguese. The Adventure Team!, we are told, will be FUN and EXCITING! We will DISCOVER things! We will be SURPRISED when UNEXPECTED THINGS happen! And we'll eat lunch in a TASCA! Yay US!

I'm assuming it's called the Adventure Team! because the owner of the school is a bit batty, and can be more than a bit silly. This is the same woman that makes us sing karaoke fado in class, so I shouldn't be SURPRISED at anything.

She also likes capital letters.