Happy birthday to me!

I originally felt kind of weird mentioning this here, but then I thought, 'If I can't mention my birthday on my own blog, where can I mention it?'

So, there you go. It's my birthday! Yay me :)

What am I doing on this most glorious of days? Well, aside from sitting at my computer ... not much. I've been sick since Wednesday, though, so "not much" is actually preferable to most activities at the moment.

I am doing one fun, game-related thing (besides blogging) while I sit at my computer, by the way: I'm finding all sorts of ways to spend the chunk of change my parents sent me as a birthday gift.

Specifically, I'm buying some of the games (mostly Japanese ones, but not all) that I've been dreaming about for the last few months while I've been broke.

(Note: The cake in the photograph above is a recreation of the birthday cake that appears in the Animal Crossing games. To make one for yourself or someone you love, check out the Gourmet Gaming blog.)

'Pixel Cake'

Anyone who played and enjoyed--or should I say endured--Capcom's Mickey Mousecapade as a tot should recognize the subject of the following painting, produced by Atlanta-based artist Ashley Anderson.

"This image is from a videogame I owned as a kid," Anderson says on etsy.com (where the 12-inch-by-12-inch piece is being sold for $80). "I feel a special, almost visceral bond with this health power up, partly from playing the game it was in and part(ly) from my affinity for cake."

See also: 'Dark Cake'