To Dana on Her 30th Birthday

As your elder, I'd like to share with you a few things 30 has taught me:

1. Sometimes life throws up on your shoes, sort of like George Bush Sr. once did to the Prime Minister of Japan.
2. Ruined shoes (figuratively speaking), emotional potholes, and other curveballs are much easier to deal with when you have good friends and good (or, hell, any) booze at your side.
3. Now and well into your 30s, you're still allowed to do things that are silly, immature, and sometimes outright dumb.
4. The Burton snowboards ad from 1989 was right: the more you live, the less you die.