Had an early birthday celebration with family and it went surprisingly well, probably because there were actually things to do this time. We played Mario Party (but didn't finish), Mario Kart, took a walk, and played Connect 4 Spin. I had never tried Connect 4 Spin before but it seems like my sort of thing, with being easy to explain and quick to play but quirky in a neat way.

And now it's my actual birthday (I'm 28!) and I get to try doing my own cool celebration with friends. I should probably also make a homemade pizza today which would lean into the idea of me making today cool myself (but also because I have open ingredients to use the rest of).

It was a really underwhelming birthday; most of the people who said they'd show up didn't, so I didn't end up doing most of the stuff I was looking forward to, and it didn't really feel like a party or anything.

But the pizza I made was nice, I got to play some Mario Party, and I got surprised with gift art. And I also took the day off, that's always good.

I feel like I want to do some sort of birthday celebration re-do because I was really looking forward to having a cool party with my friends where I didn't get misgendered, unlike the party I had with my family, but I don't know what I should do to try to avoid a situation where almost no one shows up again.