It was 38 years ago today...

Okay, it was actually yesterday, but I didn't get online until something like 9 o'clock tonight and it took me about three hours to read all of my email before logging on here.

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. And thank you, hico - your generosity knows no bounds. Okay, now how am I going to find 12 more icons for my LJ... and mood themes... and all that other funky stuff that come with a paid account?

My parents both called today to wish me a happy birthday - both of them within five minutes of each other, and while I was in the bathroom. Oh, well. I didn't want my mother to ruin my mood anyway. *grin*

I thought about going out tonight, but I don't want to be too hung over to find my way to the TTMB pubnight tomorrow. ;) And besides, Brandon no longer works at Woody's, so I'd have to buy all my own drinks anyway. (He was a bartender there who remembered my birthday every year and would buy me a drink.)

*off to play with the shiny paid account*

GIP!

Thanks to evenstar_estel:





And I uploaded a bunch of other icons as well, including the PSB ones I created a few months ago and some that I got from queerasfolkfans - now I just need to go back and see who created them so that I can credit it properly.

AIDS Cure possible...

According to an article in today's issue of The Lancet, reported here, a cure for AIDS may be possible in 5-10 years. Latent viruses can hide in the DNA of human cells, which is why the current cocktails can reduce a patient's viral load but not eliminate it completely. They've discovered that an epilepsy drug, of all things, flushes the latent virus out of these cells.

Good news, if it pans out. One of the things that has kept me (relatively) sexually inactive over the past several years is the fear of infection. Not that I'm planning to turn into a raging slut - I don't think I have it in me (so to speak ;) ) - but it would be nice not to be afraid of contracting HIV, or to know that if I did, it could be cured.

And, of course, I'm hopeful on behalf of the friends and acquaintances I've made over the past few years who are HIV-positive.

Is it enough
to live in hope
that one day we'll be free
without this fear?
I'm going out
and carrying on as normal

¿Hay una discoteca por aqui?

-- Pet Shop Boys, "Discoteca"