Birthday Stream of Consciousness

Author's Note: This piece started out months ago as a stream of consciousness and I recently picked it up again and finished it off. I focused on voice, sentence frequency, and my word choice.

That awkward moment when it's your birthday and everyone sings to you, but you don't know how to react. That exact experience is the one I'm feeling right now.  Who cares, I get presents after it's done. In my younger ages I would ask for money or gifts cards for a game system or major purchase I was planning for, but this year I just want to be surprised. I've been thinking that maybe the surprise of your gift could mean a lot more than the gift itself. As all these thoughts run through my head I zone out of the out-of-tune singing and just sit there when by tradition I should be blowing out candles. Another awkward moment. It seems that these moments occur more frequently when your relatives are around. I now come back to my senses and blow all 16 candles out until they just sit there smoking and charred. Also at many family gatherings I am never hungry for dessert. I always seem to forget about as I stuff my face in the main course, which is usually tacos or steak on my birthday, as per my request. Also something different about this year is the cake, or what should be a cake. For dessert this year I went with classic apple pie, since it’s my favorite and I’m sick of cake. I guess all of these changes must mean that I’m growing as a person. Or it’s just that I’m bored of the same-old-same-old. The time for dessert is a blur due to my anticipation of the presents that I explained earlier, but I make sure that there are at least three slices of leftovers for me from the pies. Finally, the moment I have been waiting for over the past 364 days. Gift opening. Wait, just wait a minute, I never remember any of my aunts and uncles bringing any presents in. This is a disaster. My emotions are swirling and tumble inside of me, but I show no expression externally. Everyone reacts as though they’ve forgotten all about my present. It’s a good thing that my family is absolutely rock bottom in acting skills. I easily analyze a surprise coming. As I predicted everyone shouts out “Surprise!” and neon yellow Lamborghini Murcielago rolls up the driveway. Just kidding. My whole family did surprise me, only it was with an iPad 3^rd gen. I guess they must of pool all their money for it. I don’t know if anything else would have been a more perfect gift. The element of shock was just what I had been yearning for. This is the best birthday ever.